Bab 80: Chapter 80
Minea is one of the regions in Nohas famous for having the most beautiful scenery.
Located at and around a large mountain, Minea and its outskirts are most known for its fertile soil where countless flowers are constantly bloom, the scent of flowers filling the area throughout the year.
It is also known for its picturesque blue skies and sunset views.
Tonight, though, the smell of flowers will be replaced by the smell of freshly-spilled blood.
"Unit 2 to the left, Unit 3 to the right. We go straight ahead."
A group of shadowy individuals, appearing on the road on the outskirts of Minea, then split into three groups, and began ascending the mountain.
Despite the speed in which they were ascending, they were making no sound, as they were apparently professionally trained on how to move stealthily.
Several minutes later, a large stone wall with the characters for "Middle Kingdom" carved in the middle loomed over the groups.
Middle Kingdom – a division composed almost entirely of Chinese awakeners, and known to be the one with the largest membership – is a part of the Ten Stars.
"Move out," a shadowed individual ordered, and they all began to rush towards the stone wall.
Right then and there, the sound of guards' voices detecting intruders broke the night air, as the shadowy individuals' cover was blown.
"Who's there? Identify yourselves!"
The guards at the walls and door shouted at the approaching individuals, but there was no answer.
The guards rang the bell, alerting their colleagues of a hostile group attacking, but the fight was over, and the bell had been barely rung.
"Extinguish the torch," a shadowy man ordered, and several others obeyed, putting out the light to hide their arrival.
Elsewhere, other shadowy individuals silently leaped over the wall, leaving ropes behind for their colleagues to climb on and follow them.
Clearing a five-meter wall in a single bound indicated that they were no ordinary awakeners, and to cover their colleagues' ascent, the ones who leaped began to find random targets to spread the most confusion.
The shadowy awakeners began their move towards the center of the Middle Kingdom division, only to stop short when a bald man stood in their way.
"Where the hell did all of you come from?" he asked the shadowy awakeners, who found themselves facing him and twenty other soldiers.
They gave no answers and just attacked, leaping towards the bald man and struck with their swords.
"Now, that's not very nice for visitors!" the bald man said with a chuckle, the iron staff he was holding easily parrying and pushing back the attack meant for him.
He stepped forward into the light, revealing his bulky frame, and smiled.
"If that is how you answer my question, then so be it."
He flashed forward with a speed that belied his gigantic frame, the staff in his hands covered with a white force, and struck.
"Cut down the enemies of the Middle Kingdom!" he yelled, and as soon as he did, the battle quickly reached a fever pitch, as the shadowy awakeners were quickly found.
***
The Middle Kingdom is composed of a multitude of awakeners: an estimated ten thousand, maybe more.
The only criteria they have of joining is to be a Chinese awakener – force is irrelevant.
This brought together a large amount of people of various strengths and skills, which led to them overwhelming other divisions due to the sheer volume of numbers they can bring to a fight.
Moreover, the Middle Kingdom always insists on being known as the only Chinese division within Nohas, calling other divisions composed of Chinese awakeners as pretenders.
"Guess you didn't know what would happen if you attacked us!" the bald man said as his staff smashed through another one of those shadowy awakeners. Thanks to their high morale, the midnight invasion was easily repulsed, as their men wouldn't let their guard down easily.
The counterattack was short, brutal and efficient, and the shadowy awakeners were quickly being pushed to a corner – those who survived the first counterattack, that is.
"Be sure to keep some of them alive!" another man cried out. "We shall find out who started this"
"By your command!"
The bald man led his troops in the counterattack: his skill with the staff had advanced to the point where he would create an explosion with whatever his staff would touch.
It was overwhelming power, but kept in check with his need to keep some of the attackers alive for interrogation.
A few minutes later, it was finally over.
"Ten captured alive. The groups in the east and west wall report that all infiltrators have been neutralized successfully."
The night invasion cost the lives of all but ten of the shadowy awakeners in their attempt to infiltrate the Middle Kingdom.
"Keep them from harming themselves -- Don't take your eyes off them, even for a second."
"By your will, sir."
As soon as his subordinate left, the bald man approached the corpses to find clues as to who they were, and more importantly, what would make them want to invade Minea?
It was a midnight attack on the Middle Kingdom, which meant a lot of things: nobody wanted the Middle Kingdom as an enemy, as they could just literally overwhelm you with numbers.
'They want the order within Nohas changed? Attacking the Middle Kingdom? What sort of rebellion against the current order is this?
More importantly, what is the reason for this crap?'
While they couldn't ignore the things happening around Nohas, they were also required to find out who did this – and make them pay.
The damage of this invasion is irrelevant; honor requires them to find restitution.
'Those who try to assault the Middle Kingdom is due for death, whoever they are,' the bald man thought, thinking about having to show what happens when you try to provoke the Middle Kingdom. 'Peace has made this world weak. We need to show them our strength, the consequence of taunting us with this invasion.'
He found a clue among the corpses: a pattern within one of their clothes.
'It couldn't be this easy to find, but the Grand Duelists? This is their symbol.'
***
News of the Middle Kingdom being attacked quickly swept through Nohas: the headquarters of a Ten Stars division, being invaded?
It's a piece of news that piqued everyone's interests, and a matter that quickly overshadowed the deaths of the Grand Duelists' raiding team.
This attack on the Middle Kingdom was nothing short of a direct challenge to the reputation of the Ten Stars… but that's not the end of the story.
The Grand Duelists was the division responsible for attacking the Middle Kingdom – this was quickly established, and once it did, the awakeners in Nohas remained silent and focused their attention towards those two divisions, as they didn't want to be a part of that conflict.
"What? We attacked Middle Kingdom?" Li asked, as soon as word of that event reached Carter.
"Yes, and the Middle Kingdom is demanding an explanation," Klay replied.
The Middle Kingdom isn't foolish enough to be tricked by a symbol on a dead awakener's outfit. While yes, the Grand Duelists' symbol was found there, they weren't convinced that the Grand Duelists were behind the invasion.
Could it be a trap?
That was why they asked the Grand Duelists to seek out the truth.
The problem is, though, that there is no apparent way for the Grand Duelists to prove their innocence.
"How do we find the truth?"
"Why should we do it if we know that we didn't do it?"
And most of all, the Grand Duelists have no intention of finding the truth.
"If we don't provide evidence, they're saying that they won't sit still and do nothing."
"What if they do? Tell them to take care of themselves. The Middle Kingdom are strong, but I hope they're not foolish enough to fall for the most obvious false flag in existence," Li said derisively, because the Middle Kingdom should take his word for it, without context or evidence required, when he says it's not his awakeners involved in the attack.
If he says none of his men were responsible, then that's that.
Besides, why would the Grand Duelists do a maneuver like this when they have enough to worry about on their own?
"Also, the Middle Kingdom isn't our current problem, Klay. Which criminal would dare to do this while pretending to be the Grand Duelists?"
Li was filled with a great anger towards those pretenders, and focused on that instead of the misunderstanding.
"Well, the Middle Kingdom says it's captured 10 awakeners during the attack, and are having some tender loving care right now."
"By the book?"
"Yep, by the book. Straight out of Empress Wu Zetian's own manual."
Li's face had a momentary smirk at what that meant.
"Is LJ saying anything about this, though?" he asked, displeased with the situation, as all affairs within the Grand Duelists should be taken care of in-house.
It doesn't speak well of their division to be dragged around in this manner.
"Yes, they said they arrived at their destination and started the investigation, but they haven't found any clues yet."
"Damn it… nothing has been going right as of late."
"So how do we deal with the Middle Kingdom?" Klay asked.
"What do you mean?" Li answered. "We disavow those idiots. Obviously, they're not part of the Grand Duelists. If the Middle Kingdom doesn't want to believe us, then tell them it's well within their rights not to. I don't tell them what to believe in."
"Yes, I see," Klay concurred, just letting Li make his decision like that.
It might not have been the best or most diplomatic decision to make, but Li was aware of what his decision might lead to.
'He's made this kind of decision even though he knows that a better one is there,' Klay thought. 'Choosing to save face instead of making sure we are above reproach… we have to prepare for war at this point, now.'
***
The ruins of Evergreen Castle were lifeless, and the energy filling the place was cold, indicating that it had been a long time since people departed this place.
"I think we've been away longer than I first thought."
"They may have abandoned this place not too long after we left."
"Agreed."
"Were you able to see any signs of a battle here?"
"None," Liam said, and Jake let out a sigh of relief. So far, the ruins didn't show any battle damage. "No battles, no prisoners taken. What's the hell is going on here?"
Where did Song and the awakeners of Evergreen go?
Did they surrender or escape?
Jake and Liam had the same questions in mind.
"I don't know," Jake replied. "Maybe we should start by searching for clues."
Liam nodded, and they made their way to Song's place.
As soon as they opened the door, a cloud of accumulated dust welcomed them.
"Hmm," Jake said as soon as they entered and immediately found something out, "looks like Song wasn't prepared to leave at all."
Liam saw the mess in Song's room and agreed.
"He left in a hurry; he didn't bring anything – more like he couldn't."
The scene told a story about how Song left this place urgently.
"If that's the case, then what the hell happened to Song?"
"I have no idea, maybe we can search for a message?"
Jake nodded, and the two of them searched all over the room just in case Song might have left a message for them.
A few minutes later, Liam decided to call it quits – they could not find anything.
"What kind of emergency situation would happen where he can't leave a single message after we told him of our return?"
"Let's search in other places, then," Jake said, and they left Song's place to search every corner of the ruined Evergreen Castle.
Several minutes later, Jake and Liam found themselves in front of an unfamiliar door.
"This is a room we've never been to, have we?" Jake asked as they arrived.
"Yes, and isn't this the room where Evergreen's master was?" Liam asked as well.
During their stay, Jake and Liam never got to meet Evergreen's master, because he was ill.
"I think you're right," Jake said. "Let's go in."
Jake carefully opened the door and checked inside… and had to step back in shock at what he saw.
"What's this…?" he asked, and as he threw the door open, Liam used his skill to make a light.
The room was filled with old bloodstains.
The floor, walls, and ceiling were splattered with blood that had long since dried up.
Opening the door also unleashed the sickly smell of rot and decay, as Jake and Liam spotted a corpse on the floor.
"I think this guy is from Evergreen," Liam said as he first made his way to the corpse. "He's dressed like one."
"How did he end up dying here?" Jake asked, and the situation was getting to become mysterious.
Why is an Evergreen awakener lying dead in the room of their master?
Was there an attack, or an assassination attempt?
It would make sense if it was, and the awakener died trying to stop it from happening.
There was a twist, though.
"Wait a minute…" Liam said. "I think it's Song who killed this man!"
He gestured towards the wounds left on the man's shriveled-up corpse, and those wounds looked very familiar.
Jake sat down in front of the man and examined the wounds in detail, and it took him only a few moments before he was sure.
"You're right…" he said. "Song killed this guy. What the hell happened to him…"
"And more importantly, what the hell happened here?"
***
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone