The frontier's atmosphere became tense even after the jubilant victory against the army of the Void Creatures. The festive atmosphere did not last long, even though they won the battle with no casualties. Most of the soldiers did not know what happened up there, but they knew one thing: the hero of the frontier killed their comrade before their eyes.
A hero and also a murderer of their comrade which gave them a complicated feeling toward Tang Shaoyang. One day they sang praise for their hero, and now they were giving a sharp and unpleasant stare to the man.
Even after what happened, they were baffled that Tang Shaoyang remained on the frontier. There was even a rumor spread out that Tang Shaoyang did not receive any punishment even after killing three hundred of them.
Regardless of who was wrong and right, the majority of the soldiers believed that Tang Shaoyang should be punished. People get angrier when they find out that the Admin Helper who died was resurrected, coming back alive. That made most of the soldiers look at the administrator unkindly.
"I don't think we should stay here any longer," Castor said as The Reds gathered in their living room.
Commander Edson relocated The Reds and Kalisto into a bigger building, closer to Commander Edson's quarter. Edson took the matter into his own hands instead of trusting his people, and he deported three generals who were found to have made an agreement with the foreign force to catch Tang Shaoyang.
More than five thousand soldiers were also sent back to the kingdom as Chief Kenver concluded his auditing. The Chief of Imperial Investigator stayed for two more days before leaving the frontier with the deported soldiers and generals. Another reason why the soldiers looked at Tang Shaoyang and his team negatively was that once more their comrades had to suffer because of one group.
"If their stares could kill people, I would have died multiple times already." Castor continued with his experiences with the soldiers in the last five days. "I don't think the risk is worth the reward." He added, which was immediately refuted by Khaya.
"No. The reward is worth the risk. All the Admin Helpers will officially become Administrator, and the Junior Administrator will receive their instant promotion to Senior Administrator. On top of that, we don't have to stay for four years, just one year!"
This was the chance for the Daenelis Clan to get all their Admin Helpers into an official administrator, and even better to have several Senior Administrators. She did not know if they would receive the same offer ever again in the future. Regardless of Tang Shaoyang's intention to stay, she supported her captain wholeheartedly.
"I don't think we are at risk, at least not from the soldiers. I don't think Commander Edson will let the same incident happen again. We should worry about the army of the void creature. They don't launch an attack despite the big commotion, and this makes me worry. I am afraid they are preparing something bigger if they don't use the incident to launch a surprise attack on us."
Anne also wanted to stay with the mission. That would help her Admin Helpers, and it would build a good rapport for her promotion as well.
"I can't leave yet because these void creatures are crucial for more, more like their dead bodies are crucial for me." Tang Shaoyang explained, that even though he did not go into detail, everyone in the room knew what he meant.
"If you want to leave, you can. I think I can allocate our original reward for you, Castor, and whoever wants to leave. I will not force you to stay, you can leave, and I will not kick you out of the team. But I can't leave, this is important for me, for my faction. This is my selfish decision, so you don't have to follow me."
"We will stay!" Khaya answered.
She represented everyone from her clan in the team. The promotion was not just her goal, she also wanted to see how strong her captain was. There was a reason behind that, not for her but for her clan. She might not be able to make a decision for her clan, but her words carried weight in her family. That was for later, of course, she must survive this mission first to realize her vision.
The others started to voice out their willingness to stay. They had seen how far Tang Shaoyang would go for them. That assured them to stay with their captain.
"We have deviated from our main talk for this meeting." Ira interrupted them before the conversation went further. "Aren't we going to talk about how we are going to approach the next fight?"
"I have received a piece of information from Lady Atilla that the Hurakan Kingdom forces Commander Edson to accept all the reinforcements from the alliances and factions who volunteered. Lady Atilla will still lead the force of her choice, and the remaining reinforcements will be led by General Rodwick and General Gren."
"Commander Edson places us with the Kalisto Team on the right wing, and we are free from the chain of command. The remaining reinforcement is in the left wing, and the Hurakan Legion would take the middle wall."
Ira and the others looked at their captain. With no goal or number to achieve, there was no need for them to risk themselves to come down from the wall. No one would compete for the dead bodies as well, so it was better for them to stay at the wall. Especially with the potential enemy that came in disguise as reinforcement, the risk increased with the arrival of the reinforcement.
"Since we don't have to compete anyone with the bodies, I think we better stay in the wall. I know our performance was outstanding in the last fight with the help of the spirit, but I would rather play it safe. Especially with the soldiers who did not look at us kindly, and the alliance army that might try something." Ira said her piece and looked at Tang Shaoyang. Regardless of their advice, the final decision was in Tang Shaoyang's hands, and they would follow him.
Tang Shaoyang listened, but his sight was someone else. His three shadow spirits were spying on the void gate as soon as the first battle was over. They were not present when Tang Shaoyang fought the three hundred soldiers and Mein from the Imperial Investigator. The three shadow spirits gave him three different angles on the army.
The Void Cult stopped sending the army of soldiers, and the army of the Void creatures overflowed the first wall. The first wall which was post zero was destroyed by the army, and the army of the void creatures reached the second wall.
He focused on the Void Gates where he saw nine figures slowly descend from the Void Gate. He did not recognize any of them, but his spirit recognized one figure. The figure had similar armor to Nikolas and Mathias as well as Gianni.
[IT'S THOMAS!] Mathias' enraged voice cracked in Tang Shaoyang's head as he shared the sight as well. Despite being enraged, he had a composed mind. [IMMEDIATELY TELL EDSON! THE SECOND EMPEROR IS COMING! THOMAS LYSVAND IS COMING!]
Tang Shaoyang recalled one of the shadow spirits. Artras' sudden appearance surprised everyone in the room, but the shadow immediately left the building to look for Commander Edson.
"We are in an emergency! The Void Cult will launch the second attack, and I think we will be expecting one emperor and eight kings in the upcoming fight!" He told them what happened. "We will continue the talk later. Do you want to continue the Spirit Fusion, or do you want to fight on your own?" Doing Spirit Fusion was more important than the talk right now.
It was an easy choice for everyone as they agreed with the fusion. They preferred to fuse with the same spirit as before. By the time they finished Spirit Fusion, Commander Edson barged into the room, panicked. No one did not know who Thomas Lysvand was, and the scar he brought to the kingdom could not be forgotten even until now.
"Is it true Thomas Lysvand and eight kings are coming down from the void gate!?" His breathing was ragged, and his pupils were shaking. The fear was mixed with anger and fury. He looked straight at Tang Shaoyang, waiting for an answer.
"Yes." Tang Shaoyang nodded.