“You need to condense the air more, pull it together tighter and push your mind more to keep control.”

He had been training with the kid that had gotten an air affinity, but damn was he getting frustrated at her lack of control. He knew that it wasn’t an easy thing to do at first but he willpower was just so low that she couldn’t hold the air like she needed to.

These past 24 hours had been a mix of training skills with Eli and his team, training Tris, the girl with the air affinity and then meeting with everyone so they could form a plan of attack once everyone was in position.

It was going to be another two days before they could launch their assault on The Pantheon, having decided that they would push most of their people into four different places. The first being the three outer fortress on their side and then the last being the outer fortress they were currently in. When everyone was in position most people would head towards one of The Pantheon’s outer fortress and he with a smaller group would head to the other, leaving behind only a small defensive team in each of the fortress they had claimed.

It was a solid plan, but before they could enact it they needed more information on their opponents numbers and where they were. No one had come to attack them in the 24 hours it took to claim this fortress out from The Pantheon which did not sit well with him.

Either they had no idea what was happening here, which he doubted considering that when they claimed it a notification went out to everyone that they had claimed the first fortress on an opponents side. Rather he figured that they were consolidating their people to launch an attack on them when they knew they had the upper hand and could win the fight.

This is why they needed more information, sitting and doing nothing was not going to help them win the event. That’s why as soon as the fortress shad been claimed he had decided to set out again and gather information. He wasn’t planning on attacking, not unless the opportunity presented itself and he knew he would be able to win quickly. The event was moving into the stage where large scale fights were going to occur and knowledge in these situations was power.

When he left the fortress he did so knowing that while he was gone there was a chance that The Pantheon would show up and push them out, but it was a risk that they agreed was needed in this situation. They couldn’t have him curl up in the fortress just in case someone showed up. The first place he went to was the two outer fortress that he was confident that The Pantheon would have claimed by now, or at least be in the process of doing so.

He had been correct, although not in the way he thought. The first fortress he showed up was in the process of being claimed by an army that, although large, was definitely not the bulk of their people. What was interesting though was that he found two of the Charlo there, not Jason though. The number of people they had present was just enough that he couldn’t risk the fight without putting himself at risk of being overwhelmed but also not quite large enough that he didn’t consider fighting.

He didn’t know if this had been planned or if it was just coincidence. No one had picked up on his presence yet and he planned to keep it that way as he retreated. He explored the area towards their central fortress and found a much larger army heading towards the outer fortress. At the pace they were traveling it would take at least a day for them to get there, if not just a little longer.

Their own army wouldn’t make it there before they arrived so if they proceeded with their own plan they would be outnumbers and have to break into the fortress. Having gathered the information he needed from this side he moved over to the next. What he found was the same situation here, but this time Jason was in attendance and the Fortress had been claimed completely.

None of what he saw gave him hope of his armies winning in a fight, there was too many of them and if they approached the fortress they would be picked off before they even approached the wall of the fortress. He had to give it to Jason, he was smart and knew how to use numbers and positions to his advantage.

Rather than waste any more time he made the decision to fall back to his own fortress and think up a new game plan. From the numbers he saw he guessed that a majority of Jason’s people were at or heading towards those two fortress, from there they would be able to move out and retake the central fortress easily enough. From there they would have no issues moving like a wave through his own side and they would have no choice but to fall back.

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His attack on the central fortress had made a dint in the numbers but no where near enough to make an impact on their overwhelming numbers. So now he needed to figure out a way to play this smart and use tactics to overcome their loss or just give up.

When he made it back to the fortress the number of people there had grown considerably, his people were getting into position to follow through on their original plan. He had been gone for a little more than a day while he scouted and he found that all the people who played an important role in this event were sitting in a room within the fortress, making final preparations for their own attacks.

As he entered the room all heads turned to him. Spirits were high and they looked excited to finally be getting closer to actually fighting rather than just walking around.

“What have you found out? Are we going to be able to claim the two fortress or not?” Viv asked him as soon as he walked in. He knew her well enough to know that past the façade she was wearing she was stressed.

He hadn’t updated anyone on what he had found, not wanting to risk everything going to hell before he even arrived back. Seeing everyone looking to him with hope made what he was about to say just that much harder.

“We wont win, not with the plan we have.” The moment he broke the news he got mixed reactions. Some people yelled at him while others looked so dejected that all hope had left them in a moment. “I have another plan, but its risky and I doubt you are going to like it.”

He had been thinking a lot about what he would be able to do to win the event, even if it meant making sacrifices to get there. Still he was hesitant to voice it as there was a good chance that it meant that a lot of people who had put faith in him may decide to break off from his side and rebel against him.

“Are you certain that we will lose if we stick to our plan?” Viv was looking more and more defeated as she sat there and everyone could tell. She had a lot riding on this, more so than others.

“There is too many of them and they have moved into position quickly. If we go all in on this plan they will win. But they have also committed to their own plan, going all in knowing they can overwhelm us with numbers alone. That could be how we win.”

“How?” He saw some hope return to the people in the room, and again he was going to crush it.

“We make them think they are winning. We follow through on the plan, mostly. We throw ourselves at them to slow them down but we utilise a controlled retreat. That will give us time.”

“You want us to sacrifice ourselves, knowing we wont win any of the fights, just to buy us time? Time to do what Shaun?” Viv, like everyone else here did not like the idea of sending people out to die in the event fully knowing they would die with no chance of victory.

“They have left themselves open. I take a team that can move quickly right through the centre of their zone. We go from here and move through their already destroyed central fortress right to one of their inner fortress, across the bridge and we take their compound. It will need to be the strongest and fastest team we can put together and quickly. Best case scenario is that we move through with minimal delay. It may even force some of their own power players to come running to catch us giving you even more chance of hitting back hard during the retreat.” He stopped for a moment to let that all sink in. “They have moved most of their people here, to the outer fortress. They expect us to try and attack them, why wouldn’t they when I have already launched an attack. So let them think we are fighting to our last while retreating. All the while we will be making a straight line right to their compound. If we claim I first, we win.”

He let them all think It over for a while, no one spoke while they did as they were all trying to process what he planned and try and come up with a better solution, there was none though.

“You are right, its risky. Its also smart though. I approve.” Li was the first one to verbalise her agreement.

“We can’t send all of our strongest people though, it would be too obvious. If we do it we send the strike team who have been leading the charge after you. That would give you 2,000 people to back you up. Can you manage with that?” Viv was coming around to his idea. A lot of the people in the room didn’t like it but no one straight up opposed it.

“We can do it. We wont be claiming anything as we go and we will avoid fights unless you need us to cause a distraction to try and pull some of their people back to us. You need to put all the points into defending the compound though. If we lose sight of any of the Charlo tell everyone what we are doing, they will come running back to their compound. We have more points than they do so if we boost our defences of the compound as high as we can than it will at least delay them if they go for our own compound.”

That was the worst case scenario, that Jason and his family head straight for his compound. If that happened he would need to unleash everything he had to beat them to it and he couldn’t do that without exposing more of his affinity which wasn’t worth the risk of winning the event.

“So we agree? That this is the best way forward? Unless anyone has a better plan to get us to win the event I don’t see any other option.” He pushed for a decision to be made here and now. Time was of the essence and he wanted to move out immediately.

“Do it. I don’t care what you have to do but get to their compound as quickly as you can and claim it. You have as much riding on this as I do Shaun. Don’t let them win.” Viv had agreed and with her everyone fell in line.

“Eric, Yarila, get your people ready now. We leave in 10 minutes.” He had already left the stash of bombs at the fortress and he had nothing left to give them. The event was not going the way any of them planned and now they had to throw caution to the wind just for a chance of winning.