082. The Formation of the Tenchi Akaban Battalion: A Life on the Line

  Caramel Snail was dragged into the martial hall to begin his training, and soon, the sound of his screams echoed from inside.

  “It seems he's enjoying himself. Other pro pyers will likely head my way too—but no rush, let them wait.”

  Li Aozi checked the time, decided it was abht, and casually made his way towards the outskirts of Nuliang City.

  He had another important reason for ing to this rundown industrial city.

  Using the map on his terminal, Li Aozi located the position of Huxin Towivated his stealth flight and wound his way through the forest oskirts until he arrived at the small town. With his strong charisma, he smiled his ast the town's security and made his way to a familiar establishment—Raging Highway Bar.

  Outside the bar, heavy motorcycles were parked in rows, many of them draped with white fgs bearing the bold brushstrokes: A Life on the Liwo men dressed in full biker gear stood watear the bikes, each with a katana hanging from their waists. When they saw a Red Arrow citizen approag, fusion spread across their faces.

  “Hey, Imperial,” one of the men said coldly, “do you even know where you are?”

  The other man pced a hand on his sword hilt, issuing a warning, “This is the base of the Tenchi Akaban Battalion, a military group. This isn’t a pce for your kind.”

  “It’s exactly because I’m from Red Arrow that you should wele.”

  Li Aozi didn’t o add any force to his voice. With the arrogance exuded by his Days of Yore outfit, his presence agitated the two men deeply. Yet, thanks to his 【Aura of Kindness】, they didn’t sense any hostility.

  They exged gnces, only able to clude that this well-dressed Red Arrow aristocrat had urgent business.

  Realizing this, they fell silent and waited to see what this proper-looking imperial citizen had to say.

  “The Tenchi Akaban Battalion is an aggressive anization with a reputation for advog the overthrow of the s and the samurai css, aiming to strip power from the royals and abolish the Four Nations system.”

  Li Aozi tinued calmly:

  “However, due to your repeated acts of terrorism, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of i civilians, you’ve been beled a terrorist anization many times over.”

  “What Tianhuan does is none of your Red Arrow Empire’s business,” the man gripping his katana sneered.

  “I’m merely stating the facts,” Li Aozi casually replied. “But for some of your as, the Empire is actually quite grateful—especially your strikes, protests, and anti-war demonstrations during the Huameida Archipego i, which effectively halted the Hojo Group’s security forces from nding.”

  His tone grew heavier:

  “Respect to the anti-war students. They made great sacrifices to stand against Prime Minister Park’s reckless war.”

  The Huameida Archipego was a disputed region. In the old days, it had once beloo the Red Arrow Empire—no, to be precise, it was when Red Arrow had yet to be formed, still existing as a fragmented alliance of chieftains.

  Yes… The empire that now domihe seas and ands global power had once been a loose federation of chieftain states called Blumor.

  The Blumor Alliance eaceful, self-sustaining try, isoted from the world, like a paradise.

  The old Blumor enjoyed rich fishing and farming resources, with vast nd and seas. However, because of its high-titude louch of its territory sisted of tundra and permafrost, which meant it never developed into a powerful industrial nation. Even during the same period when Yamilio was hailed as the light of humanity, the Blumor Alliance remained a id-back, gentle agricultural and maritime civilization.

  But when the Camity struck, global sunlight was blocked, and every nation became equally deprived. Tianhuan, Frost-Pted Kingdom (during the Twin Queens period), and dozens of mid-sized natioheir sights on Blumor's territory.

  Previously, the abundant resources of Yanxia had made nd grabs unnecessary, but that ged with the Camity. The whole world turned into a wastend of snow and ice, and Blumor’s os froze, turning its sea nes into open nd els. This exposed undersea resouratural gas, manganese nodules, oil, gold, silver, helium—and these critical resources suddenly became accessible.

  People often say adversity reveals true iions, and that’s exactly what happened.

  Led by Frost-Pted, Tianhuan, and Zhenxu, the old empires suddenly developed a deep and sincere love for Blumor's nds.

  Blumor was a simple chieftain alliance, g internal unity or unication. It had ehe advanced era of universal sufficy too early, so it had no sense of nationalism. The individual states of the alliance had no will to resist when faced with fn invaders.

  With no national identity or cohesion, Blumor was swiftly carved up, leaving only one remnant state of less than 2 million square kilometers, barely surviving uhe weight of the three superpowers.

  At the time, no one cared about this small state. One day, a Tianhuan pilot, drunk, actally dropped a nuclear bomb on one of its gciers, destroying its vital water source.

  Despite the desperate pleas of its diplomats at the GTB summit, no one listehat same afternoon, Tianhuan’s air force, disoriented by a storm, dropped bombs on a humanitarian refugee camp, killing thousands of starving women and children.

  Frost-Pted seized their mountains aile nds, driving the surviving citizens to the inhospitable tundra.

  Abyss Heavy Industries, eyeing a patch of tundra, casually released a few bio-experimental creatures, sparking a biowar that saw tens of thousands of Blumor citizens torn apart by wild beasts.

  Tianhuan’s samurai strolled in and cimed their s forests—nds ri wildlife—and the all-important Huameida Archipego, leaving the small state defenseless.

  Even Zhenxu, usually the paragon of justice, couldn’t resist kig them while they were down, using immigration policies to siphon off the popution.

  At the time, it seemed clear—the nation’s demise was iable. With ile nd, no natural barriers, and no people, how could they survive?

  In hindsight, though, people deeply regretted ign the cries of this tiny nation.

  They would pay the price—listening to the meical armies of the empire roar over their frozen corpses, crushing their icy rivers, shaking the earth with their deafening march.

  That small, dying nation was called Red Arrow.

  “If you won’t hear my cries, I’ll make you listen to my ons. Whatever mistakes we made be fiven—because the world owes us.”

  —First Emperor of Red Arrow, Caesar Imperad I.

  FAL