novelClash, Part III
| ← Ch.084 | Ch.086 → |
I was standing quite a distance from Shin, but I could see her tremble.
The first time I saw Rameha was at the restaurant in Cairo. He was the first to speak to me, before Shin and Ebonene. He always there with the Myth Guild's officers and the leader of the powerful Assault Team 1.
"You treacherous bastard!" Edwifu swore. His face was red with anger."You...you...how could you! Your grandfather swore his family's service to Shin and her family! How could you do this to her, after all that she has done for you?!"
Rameha turned around."She and her family have done nothing for me. My family has always been in the service of the Um Clan. My grandfather joined her family to spy. Frankly, it was hellish serving under her detestable family. So you tell me, how could I not?"
"You knave!" Ebonene roared. It was the loudest I'd heard him speak since the few times I met him."Stop flapping that filthy mouth of yours, before I sew it shut!"
"You were my biggest obstacle, to be honest. If it weren't for you, we could have had our kingdom before the Otadolon stage, " Rameha replied, without so much as batting an eye.
The Blood Prince burst out laughing."It's quite amusing to see you lose all hope!"
Shin was still trembling. I couldn't see her face from back here, but I could imagine what sort of expression she had. Ebonene quickly went to her side.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm...I'm fine." She was obviously not fine at all."Rameha! Was...was this the reason you joined?"
"You're too na?ve, Shin. Your forefathers were far more fearsome and competent than you. My father, his father, and his father's father could never have hoped to bare their fangs against your family. But the chance came when you took over as head when the world changed. You made this all possible!" Rameha then turned to face his team."Surrender yourselves to the Blood Federation! To Um-nefer!"
The opposing sides of the guild battle were already determined. Team-killing and switching teams were not allowed. There was only way out of the battle; surrender. However, the opposing side's guild master had to accept the surrender for it to work.
"We surrender ourselves to the Blood Federation!" the 1500 soldiers cried out in unison.
The Blood Prince cackled."I gladly accept your surrender!"
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[1, 501 members of the Myth Guild have surrendered.
Um-nefer, guild master of the Blood Federation has accepted the surrender.
All those who have surrendered will be transported outside of the Battlefield in 10 seconds.
10, 9, 8...]
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"You traitor!"
"Burn in hell!"
"Curse you!"
Devas of the Myth Guild began swearing at the traitors, but the insults fell on deaf ears.
When the countdown reached 3, Rameha turned to Shin."I pray the spirit of Egypt stays with you. If you can..." He disappeared before he could finish.
At that moment, a man stepped forward from the Myth Guild's ranks.
"I have something to ask of you?"
"Aren't you the vice-master of Fate?"
"I am."
The Blood Prince laughed."Where's your guild master, that the vice-master has to come to me instead?"
"The guild master has decided not to participate."
"Of course not! Tell your guild master that I'll find out who they are and kill them multiple times."
"Unfortunately, I don't know who my guild master. I just know that the master is a deity."
"Whatever! What do you want to ask?"
"Would you accept my and Fate's surrender?"
"What?" The Blood Prince was taken aback by the question.
"My guild master told me that something like this would happen and told me to surrender if it did, that you'd probably accept it."
The Blood Prince cackled."The name, Fate, is wasted on you!"
"I care more about the lives of my men than a name. I'd rather not let them incur a death penalty than to stay in a losing battle."
"Vice-master!" A few of Fate's members cried out."What are you saying? Our target is right in front of us!"
"Quiet, all of you! Our goal is to protect devas and mortals from deities, but how can we help if we become too weak to protect ourselves? We must choose our battles wisely to save our strength. I can't risk all 500 of you!"
"That's cowardly."
"He's right. We're here to stop the Blood Prince. We can't just turn back just because it doesn't look like it's in our favor anymore!"
"We still outnumber them! We may still have a chance."
"No, we don't. All that are left are the ones that just fought. Do you actually think 3, 000 exhausted soldiers have a chance against fresh soldiers and seven deities?"
"..."
"Everything went wrong since the beginning. We didn't catch on to the Blood Prince's plan and ended up stuck in his flytrap. Don't say anymore. This comes from the guild master, not just me." He then turned back to the Blood Prince."It's up to you now. What do you say?"
The Blood Prince cackled again."Good, good! I just need to win the battle by any means necessary. I'll let Fate go."
"Thank you." The vice-master of Fate gave a small nod and turned to Shin.
"I'm..." Fate's vice-master hesitated. The Myth Guild had already been screwed over by Rameha and wasn't sure if it was right to apologize. But he knew he had to."I'm terribly sorry about this."
"Is this all that Fate amounts to?! You're an embarrassment to...!" Edwifu bellowed in rage, but was cut off by Shin.
"Stop. That's enough." She had stopped trembling now. I wasn't sure if she calmed down, or if she gave up.
"I understand completely. Of course you must save your strength to protect more devas and mortals. You have 500 lives relying on you. It's wise to run."
"I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay. I pray that Fate can become strong enough to protect devas and mortals from deities like the Blood Prince. Good luck."
"..." Totally embarrassed, Fate's vice-master didn't say any more. It was true that Fate was fighting for the sake of protecting devas and mortals from deities. The Myth Guild was doing this to protect their legacy from the Blood Prince, which just so happened to include the protection of devas and mortals.
The Myth Guild monopolized its dungeon and put its own members first, but did share its perks with other devas for a small price. It wasn't the best, but it also wasn't the worst. Whatever the case, it didn't deserve this.
He turned to his men."Soldiers of Fate, listen up! We're surrendering this battle!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that, sir." A few Fate members spoke out.
"Neither can I, sir."
"Those that refuse will be expelled from Fate!"
"That's fine with me, Marco."
"If that's the case, then I'll leave Fate on my own!"
"Fate was formed to protect devas and mortals from deities. If we're going to run because we're afraid of what will happen to us, how can we call ourselves Fate? Can you promise us that we won't run a second time?"
"How can we accomplish anything if we just stand at the sidelines without taking action? Who will trust us now?"
Fate's vice-master grew red in anger."Fine! Stay if you wish, but know that it means you are no longer part of Fate."
"Understood."
"Fine by us."
Not a lot of them decided to stay. But, I saw a familiar face among them. It was Sunghoon. He saw me and waved. I waved back.
"I say this one more time. Fate will surrender this battle."
"We surrender."
"I accept your surrender!" the Blood Prince proclaimed, laughing.
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[480 members of the Myth Guild have surrendered.
Um-nefer, guild master of the Blood Federation, has accepted their surrender.
All those who have surrendered will be transported outside of the Battlefield in 10 seconds.
10, 9, 8...]
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Marco, Fate's vice-master, and the rest of Fate had to temporarily join the Myth Guild in order to participate in the guild battle. The ones that decided to leave hung their heads in shame. Ten seconds later, they disappeared.
I looked around to see who was left. The Blood Prince still had the seven deities and the fifteen hundred remaining soldiers. The Myth Guild still had three thousand left from the first fight, fifty officers and twenty of Fate's former soldiers.
We had twice the number, but were still lacking. Most of our soldiers were exhausted from the first fight, and their skills were still probably on cooldown. They had to have used a lot of potions, and there was a good chance their MP wasn't fully restored. Furthermore, the Blood Prince's remaining army looked to be elite devas.
-So this was how they lost in the past...-
I could finally see how they lost but I never knew it was this disastrous. I shook my head.
"Master! How did you get yourself into the battle?" Sunghoon made his way over to me after his comrades left.
"It just happened that way... but why are you still here? You're going to get expelled from Fate."
"If you're staying, then I'm staying!" Sunghoon replied, as if it were obvious.
"Hah..." It was slightly amusing and shocking.
"Here... take this." I took out a Recovery Gem from my inventory and handed it to Sunghoon.
"Huh? I have some, too."
"I have ten of them. Do you have more than that?"
"No, I only have two."
"Then take them."
"But...still..."
It felt weird giving someone something. It was like acknowledging our relationship. I didn't fully trust Sunghoon yet, but he was now more or less in this situation because of me.
"Don't be reckless just because I'm giving this to you. Try not to die."
"What?"
"We need to defeat the Blood Prince, right?"
"Huh? Isn't this battle already over? The Myth Guild has nothing left."
"I'm still here, " I said to Sunghoon, and walked over to Shin.
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"Please, forgive me! I have failed as the head of Intelligence... and didn't know that we had traitors in our midst, " Naika said to Shin tearfully. She was practically bawling.
"It's my fault. I wasn't a good enough leader to all of you."
"This isn't right! Those traitors...!" Hot tears streamed down Edwifu's face.
"I should have done more. I should have noticed as the guild master. I and my father should have done more for him and his family."
"It's not your fault, Shin."
"He was planning this from the start!"
Shin's officers and her remaining soldiers gathered around her, telling her it was not her fault, to hang in there. It was pretty damn moving.
"What a sight to behold!" The Blood Prince scoffed at them."Hah! I love it. It's so nice seeing all of you lose hope. But don't worry; I'll take good care of Egypt! Have a nice life wandering like gypsies! Bwahahaha!"
No one could think of anything to say back and stood there watching, faces red in anger.
"Aren't you getting too ahead of yourself? The real fight had yet to begin, " I said, spinning my spear in my hands."I wonder if there's anywhere in Egypt that has kimchi. It's been so long that I might reward myself after the battle."
"You...why are you here?" The Blood Prince pointed his finger at me in shock, but I ignored him.
"We apologize for letting this happen. We didn't wish to drag you into this terrible mess, " Shin and Ebonene bowed as I came closer.
"I don't need your apology. I'll get straight to the point. Will it be enough for you if I beat the Blood Prince on my own?"
"Excuse me?"
"On your own?"
As it was, the twenty healers and supporters were part of Assault Team 1. Not a single one of them stayed behind.
"What are you talking about? I know you're strong and all, but there's no way you can beat him on your own..."
The Blood Prince, Shin and Ebonene looked at me as if I was crazy.
"I have to pay you back for the item, don't I?" I had the bracelet set to invisible. I didn't need the Blood Prince to know my ace in the hole.
"If that's the case, just keep it. We've lost all hope in succeeding."
"I don't want to just..." I cut myself off."I'll gratefully take it, but I don't like getting paid for no work." I wanted to hit myself for thinking about returning the bracelet. If they were that inclined to give it to me, then I'd gladly take it.
The Blood Prince burst out laughing."Don't you think you're in way over your head? Don't think you're strong just because you managed to survive a month ago!"
"Survive? I remember it differently. All I remember is some childish man calling himself the Blood Princess or something while trembling in fear in the middle of his little red pool."
The Blood Prince audibly ground his teeth in anger."You damn insect, do you think you're funny?"
"I thought devas and deities were all pretty similar. We all ascended, right? If I'm an insect, what does that make you? A maggot? A cockroach?"
"I see you're not afraid to die!"
"Of course not. I'm here to win!"
The Blood Prince formed a blood sword in his hand. I took hold of my spear in a fighting stance and charged. The second battle began; a battle to change history!
| ← Ch. 084 | Ch. 086 → |