Thud
Thud
Thud
None of the remaining eleven Grade 1s from the Federation had the time to even rationalize what was happening before they all lifelessly dropped to the ground.
In fact, from start to finish, apart from Adira, Alaric, Darius, and the two Numbers hiding far away, no one else saw Nox on the battlefield.
It was as if he’d cast a spell that made him invisible to most, but in reality, all he’d done was shroud himself in darkness, and that ended with none of the fifteen Grade 1s even catching a glimpse of him, his movements as traceless as the night itself.
“What a waste. We’ve just lost fifteen strong people just to fish out four of Nemesis’ higher-ups. Is this even worth it?” Hayden sighed as he looked over the battlefield, where Alaric and Darius had just finished gathering the spoils and were returning to Quarath aboard the airship.
Lavinia said coldly, “It’s not a waste. They accomplished the mission they were given, and now it’s time for us to report back.”
She glanced at him and continued, “This time, let me talk. You only need to keep quiet, got it?”
Hayden looked at her and nodded with a slight smile. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
After lying to Troy, the last thing he wanted to do was anger Lavinia and risk her exposing him. If that were to happen, his fate would be as bleak as ink, at least until he died.
By that point living would be worse than dying.
“But… was the mission truly a success? And what are you going to report? We only saw four generals. We don’t know what the others are doing,” he asked curiously.
Lavinia turned around and said, “Those four are enough.”
Then, without waiting for him, she sprinted in the direction of Univara.
“Whatever. It’s good that we don’t have to lie this time.” Hayden shrugged and quickly followed.
/////
Jonathan stared at the two Numbers, Number 5 and Number 4, a glint of anticipation hidden in his eyes.
Depending on the result of the recent skirmish, he would either need to act or be able to maintain the status quo that had formed over the past several years.
And if he were honest with himself, maintaining the current situation was the best course of action for him. Nemesis only had one city and, despite it being one of the four largest cities on Earth, it was still just a patch of territory compared to the entirety of the planet. That meant he was still the legitimate ruler.
As long as that continued to be the case, there was nothing to worry about.
“Tell me what happened in Quarath,” he said, trying to be as calm as possible, though a perceptive listener would have caught the sliver of expectation buried deep in his voice.
Lavinia reported respectfully, “While Nemesis’ manager wasn’t there, four generals, Alaric, Darius, Adira, and Nox, were present. As for the remaining three…”
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She took a deep breath. “Hector and Malachi were spotted in Quarath on the same day by our spies, but tracking the last is proving too difficult.”
The last one is their spy, Jonathan thought, as an emotion he hadn’t felt since discovering that Murdok couldn’t act finally resurfaced. Joy.
Every general is in Quarath, and even if the last one isn’t, she’s probably out spying on us, but that’s a given. With that, I can almost confirm Cassie isn’t in Quarath, not because she’s planning something, but most likely due to personal matters. Knowing that means I don’t have to take any action.
Jonathan’s lips tugged into a smile.
The status quo will stay the same, and I can rest at ease.
He calmed himself and said, “If there’s nothing else, you may leave. I’ll have Troy reward you later.”
Lavinia bowed, and Hayden hastily followed suit before the two of them left the meeting room.
Alone, Jonathan no longer had to restrain himself and chuckled.
“Whatever you’re doing, keep it up. At least for now. As long as you don’t come after me, I won’t need to come after you. But… sooner or later, you rebels must be taken care of, or you might start thinking Earth belongs to you.”
Jonathan didn’t know that Nemesis had no intention of taking over Earth, and how could he?
That was a decision Nova had made after returning from his long absence, and before he came back, Nemesis had indeed been doing everything it could to expand its influence. Even so, due to its low numbers, it had yet to take control of anything beyond Quarath.
And even if Jonathan did know, would he believe it?
As the current ruler, if news reached him that Nemesis no longer wanted to expand beyond Quarath after attempting to do so for years, his first thought would be that it was all a ploy by their higher-ups to make him lower his guard.
But, to someone used to rule such as him, that would do nothing other than make him even more vigilant.
Thus, while Nemesis was now trying to lie low and protect its only city, Jonathan lived each day prepared for them to act.
/////
While Jonathan was being informed of what had happened in Quarath, Cassidy, who was taking care of Jack, was also contacted by Alaric about the latest skirmish.
“Did I hear you correctly? You said the Federation sent fifteen Grade 1s to our walls?” Cassidy echoed, a frown forming on her face.
One had to understand that although the number of Grade 1s was bound to increase by the day in the current era, fifteen was still a very large portion of the Federation’s total.
Nemesis had only recently begun weeding out those with lower talent and allowing them to advance, but even so, they hadn’t managed to reach double digits. That was after nearly a thousand candidates had been selected as the first batch.
They needed to have low talent, yes, but it had to be high enough that they still had a shot at succeeding.
Because being only at level 50 didn’t necessarily mean you would advance to Grade 1 without any problems.
It only meant you had the chance to, but not everyone had the same physique or could endure the same amount of pain.
Out of a thousand, several hundred chose not to advance after learning the risks. Of the remaining hundreds, fewer than a dozen became Grade 1.
Sometimes, the risks just weren’t worth the rewards.
“Indeed, there were fifteen Grade 1s, but they were the lowest of the low. I don’t think they were meant to do any damage. They were probably here for another reason, though I’m not sure what,” Alaric said calmly.
Jonathan must know that if he sends so many Grade 1s, we’ll act, and sending so few won’t pose a threat to us. He would only be sending them to their deaths. If he wanted to cause real damage, he’d send more normal soldiers to take care of ours, since we wouldn’t interfere with them. So…
Cassidy thought for a moment, then agreed.
“You’re right. He must’ve sent them for a reason, maybe to observe our progress and gauge our strength. There are too many possibilities.”
Her tone dropped slightly.
“For now, keep your guard up and let’s see what happens in the next skirmish. We’ll take it from there.”
Alaric replied, “Got it. When will you be back?”
Without Cassidy, he was the one in charge, but if he were honest with himself, he wasn’t suited to managing an organization.
He hadn’t even wanted his own organization and had only accepted Jasmine as his commander because she kept pestering him. Even then, she was more like a housekeeper than a commander.
However, that wasn’t because she was weak. The truth was that training under Alaric had indeed made her far stronger than she would’ve been under any other general. Despite that, Alaric didn’t bother issuing her any orders.
“I’ll be back in two days. Sorry for the trouble,” Cassidy said apologetically, knowing full well how much Alaric liked to train but couldn’t right now.
“It’s just two days, it’s no trouble. I’ll report back to you if anything else happens.”
The call ended, and Cassidy put away the communication device.
Then she looked back at the bedroom where Jack was staying and sighed with a complicated expression.
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