"He?"
Langde froze.
But in the next second, he almost instantly recalled those eyes, as fierce and savage as a beast's, visible beneath the visor of the knight's helmet... Even now, the memory of those eyes filled him with dread and sent a chill through him.
"That fellow's strength was roughly on par with a One-Star Warrior, but strangely enough, he couldn't use the slightest bit of Dou Qi. He seemed to possess incredible divine strength from birth..." Langde spoke slowly, still shaken by the memory. "Besides that, he gave me the impression of a savage beast that was still growing, wild and bloodthirsty, as if he were a beast born for battle."
"A beast?"
The silver-masked man set down the jade cup in his hand, and his gaze finally fell on Langde. He chuckled. "A vivid description. That's a very interesting comparison... Langde, tell me, wouldn't it be even more interesting if I caught this 'beast' and sent him to the imperial arena?"
"Send him to the arena? A wise decision, Master..." Langde offered a little flattery. "If a madman like that were sent to the imperial arena, he would definitely become an outstanding beast fighter. Countless buyers would surely compete to buy him!"
The imperial arenas of the Azeroth Continent were places where the upper nobility of the great empires flocked.
Bloody spectacles took place in the arenas almost every day. Slaves born with divine strength or specially trained for their talent for killing were forced to fight all manner of bizarre, vicious beasts to the death, all for the nobles' amusement.
Such bloody battles had a long history on the Azeroth Continent. They had originally been rituals to worship the God of War, but later became a way for nobles to seek thrills. As more and more nobles became fanatically involved, the arenas gave rise to an incredibly vast industry, with countless imperial powers taking part. They even spurred the growth of gambling on the Azeroth Continent. Many people became wealthy enough to rival nations as a result, though many others lost their homes and families.
It was worth mentioning, however, that there were also very strict requirements for selecting beast fighters. Only slaves or commoners without warrior titles were allowed to participate. Warriors who had mastered Dou Qi and mages were absolutely forbidden from appearing in the arenas, because Azeroth's Warriors' Alliance and Mages' Guild considered putting Dou Qi warriors and mages in the arenas an insult to the honor of the entire warrior and mage classes.
Of course, it had not always been this way.
The nobles of some super-empires had once disregarded this rule, and large numbers of warriors and mages had been forced to bleed and fight in the arenas. This behavior angered the Azeroth Continent's peak experts. More than five hundred years ago, at the call of Sun-Rank Venerable Beckenbauer and Great Sun Mage Pele, countless top experts on the Azeroth Continent joined forces to issue the "Warriors' Declaration of Honor." After they decisively wiped out 241 empires and more than 10,000 arenas that violated the declaration, no nation or individual dared risk offending the peak experts by putting warriors or mages in the arenas again.
Against this backdrop, an outstanding beast fighter had become exceptionally rare. In the silver-masked man's eyes, a "brute" like Sun Fei, who had the strength of a One-Star Warrior but possessed no Dou Qi, was clearly a rare treasure. If handled properly, he could definitely bring him enormous profits. It was not even impossible that he could use him to make contact with the noble powers of a higher-tier empire.
"[One], after daybreak, take [Sixteen], [Seventeen], and [Eighteen] to the walls of Chambord City and persuade them to surrender. Tell their idiot king that as long as they open the gates and surrender, the royal family and officials will be spared, and the commoners in the city will also be spared, merely made slaves... Otherwise, on the day the city falls, wash it in blood and slaughter its people for three days!"
The silver-masked man's expression was cold, and his voice was chilling.
Before he finished speaking, a bone-chilling white mist rose from his hand, instantly freezing the jade cup and wine into a sparkling ice sculpture.
"Yes, I understand!"
The black knight standing first in the row on the right, code-named [One], stepped forward and bowed.
"Good. Remember to convey my orders to their fool of a king in front of everyone in Chambord City." The silver-masked man tossed the cup aside, an intriguing smile playing at the corner of his mouth, and gave him that particular instruction.
"As you command!"
[One] accepted the order with a bow, along with [Sixteen], [Seventeen], and [Eighteen], then turned and left the tent.
"[Two], [Three], [Four], [Five], [Six], have the soldiers under your command make secret preparations. As soon as Chambord City opens its gates and surrenders, lead your troops in and kill everyone. Leave no one alive except the woman called Angela and that 'beast.'"
The silver-masked man continued issuing orders.
His second order was completely opposed to the earlier order to persuade the city to surrender.
Five black knights on either side stepped forward and bowed to accept their orders, the shock in their eyes hard to conceal. The silver-masked man had only just ordered [One] to take men to persuade the city to surrender, promising the people of Chambord City a chance to live, yet in the blink of an eye he had made such a ruthless decision. He was clearly deceiving them.
"Time is short. According to our plan, Chambord City must be taken as quickly as possible. I'm worried that if the siege drags on, the Zenit Empire will discover it, so this is the only thing we can do..." Seemingly sensing his subordinates' doubts, the silver-masked man, who was usually arbitrary and overbearing, gave them a rare, patient explanation. Then he turned to Langde, the Three-Star Swordsman. "Langde, fulfill the promise you just made to me in tomorrow's battle. Cut off the head of Chambord City's Three-Star Swordsman yourself and present it before my horse!"
"As you wish, my master!" Langde was confident he could carry out the order.
"As for everyone else, stay with me and stand by as the rear guard... All right, go and prepare. We move at sunrise tomorrow!"
At the silver-masked man's command, the black knights and Langde bowed and prepared to leave the tent to make their preparations...
But just then-
"Wait!"
The mysterious cloaked man, who had remained silent all this time, unexpectedly spoke up to stop them.
The mage hid his face beneath a deep cloak. He nodded faintly toward the silver-masked man in greeting. His voice was hoarse, like a dull knife grinding slowly against stone, piercing and unpleasant. "Your Highness, I suddenly sensed just now that there seems to be a powerful mage in Chambord City. Your plan may be disrupted."
"A mage?" The silver-masked man's expression immediately changed. The presence of a master mage could often change the course of a battle in an unguarded instant. He ventured, "Teacher, can you sense how powerful this mage is?"
"That mage is very well hidden, as if deliberately avoiding something. I only just noticed... Hmm, roughly three-star!"
"Three-star?" The silver-masked man's expression relaxed slightly. "If it's a Three-Star Mage, the threat isn't all that great. Still, I hope you can make a move at the appropriate time, Teacher, and help your student eliminate this threat!"
"Mm." The mysterious cloaked man nodded. "I can make a move, but even a Three-Star Mage can already cause great destruction. Have your army keep its distance when the time comes, so they aren't caught in it."
Hearing the mysterious cloaked man agree to his request, the silver-masked man relaxed and smiled slightly. "Please don't worry about that, Teacher. As long as the main walls of Chambord City aren't damaged, nothing else matters. Please do as you see fit."
The mysterious cloaked man nodded, cold mist swirling around him, and said no more.
The cold wind blew, chilling him to the bone.
Sun Fei shivered and opened his eyes in a daze, then his heart jumped.
Damn it, I'm on night watch... Ahem, I actually fell asleep? The enemy didn't sneak up while I was out?
As he was thinking, a faint fragrance suddenly reached his nose.
Sun Fei froze and turned his head. To his surprise, he discovered that Angela, beautiful as a chrysanthemum, had at some unknown point sat down beside him and fallen quietly asleep against a cold stone wall.
The young woman seemed to feel the cold in her sleep.
She was curled up tightly, her arms around her knees. Glistening dew had dampened the fine, ink-black ends of her hair. Her long eyelashes were soft and delicate, and the corners of her pretty mouth curved slightly upward, as if she were having a lovely dream. Beneath the starlight that filled the sky, her fair, exquisite face was as breathtaking as a flower fairy.
Sun Fei shifted slightly.
Only then did he notice that someone had draped a thick velvet blanket over him at some point.
Clearly, Angela had brought it when she came to see him in the middle of the night and put it over him while he slept.
Feeling the warmth coming from the blanket, Sun Fei felt a warmth in his heart unlike anything he had ever felt before. He did not know why, but looking at the kind, beautiful young woman before him was like seeing his own innocent, beautiful first love again: faint, pure, and warm... Everything was so lovely, so enchanting, and so bittersweet.
He stood up gently and draped the blanket over Angela.
The silly girl had come up to the gate tower to bring him a blanket, yet she herself was dressed so lightly.
In that moment, Sun Fei could not help feeling an ache in his heart for her.
But seeing Angela sleeping soundly, Sun Fei could not bear to disturb her.
He stood beside her and quietly gazed at her exquisite face for a while, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly despite himself. He tucked the blanket around her, then turned and quietly slipped away.
Outside the tower, which had only four stone walls, everything was quiet. Sun Fei looked around and saw soldiers still patrolling back and forth in the distance. The enemy camp across the river was quiet as well. Relieved, he turned to look back, only to be startled again-
The little blonde girl Jima was also on the city wall.
The little girl was pressed tightly against the tower's stone wall, guarding its collapsed entrance like a sentry. Perhaps she had simply been too sleepy, for she had dozed off standing there, her head tilted to one side. The morning breeze, damp with moisture from the river below the city, blew her golden hair into disarray and sent her clothes fluttering up and down.
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