"Kindness?"
Sun Fei immediately sensed the disturbance, paused slightly, and then a slight smile appeared on his lips as he flicked his index finger.
Snap!
A soft, crisp sound rang out, and a wisp of dust rose into the air.
The sharp sound was barely audible amidst the cheers and shouts of tens of thousands of people lining both sides of the street; no one noticed what had just happened in that brief moment.
However, in front of that inconspicuous little courtyard in the distant inn district, the Spartak Empire warriors all paled. The young man in the lead had large beads of sweat on his forehead, and his face was contorted with pain. A bloody hole the size of a thumb had appeared on his shoulder, from which blood gushed like a fountain. Behind him, on the stone wall, there was also a deep hole the size of a thumb, as if it had been carved out with Big Hand, its depth unfathomable.
"Ah... Senior brother, how are you?" The faces of the Spartak Empire warriors all changed.
Amidst the clamor of tens of thousands, only they knew what had just transpired.
Barton originally intended to embarrass the so-called top expert of the Zenit Empire's vassal state, to let those fanatical worshippers understand what kind of person their idol really was, and to give the Zenit Imperial Family a warning.
So, the strongest of them Barton, silently flicked a small pebble with his finger to launch a sneak attack.
Who knew that the top expert from the Zenit Empire's vassal state on the magic carriage was far stronger than they had imagined? Not only did he discover the sneak attack amidst the clamor of tens of thousands of people, but he also used some incredible means to bounce the stones back.
The rebounding pebble was comparable to a siege crossbow bolt fired by a magic crossbow. Before the group could react, the strongest member, Senior Brother Barton, had his left shoulder pierced. Then, the pebble continued its momentum and pierced through the stone wall behind them, leaving a deep hole still emitting smoke and dust.
Terrifying strength.
Barton's strength was already at the Six-Star Class Peak, yet he was completely powerless to Resist and was injured silently. Moreover, it seemed that this was only because the other party did not want to kill; otherwise, they would probably all be cold corpses by now.
"Quickly, quickly, go back!" Several Spartak warriors hurriedly helped their senior brother Barton back into the courtyard.
They were not cowards. They were disciples of Iaquinta, the Spartacus Martial Saint, and were the most outstanding young talents in the country. They were full of passion, admired martial prowess, and had long been prepared to die for the empire on the battlefield. However, facing such an invincible opponent would be a pointless death, and they should not act rashly.
That Zenit was absolutely terrifying!
Before entering the courtyard Barton was in pain and sweating profusely, glanced back and happened to see the Zenit man in golden armor sitting in a magic carriage looking in their direction. The young man had a faint, mocking smile on his face, which made Barton forget his pain and feel a chill down his spine.
For Sun Fei, what had just happened was merely a minor incident during the parade.
An attack by a six- Star-Rank Warrior is nothing to Sun Fei now; he can defeat him instantly without even using the power of a Nine-Star Class Barbarian.
If it weren't for the fear of angering the enemy Martial Saint standing behind these warriors, which could make the seemingly calm but actually turbulent situation in the capital even more uncontrollable, Sun Fei could have easily killed those ill-intentioned Spartak warriors with a wave of his hand.
However, it is said that Spartak, the Martial Saint, is an extremely protective and madman. Sun Fei does not want to get involved in the contest between the two Martial Saint right now. After all, His Majesty the King is not so arrogant as to think that he can easily fight against Martial Saint.
Another half hour later, the magic carriage returned to the center of the training ground in the twenty-mile affiliated state-run district, below the general's platform.
By this time, even more people had already gathered here, and the area outside the training ground was packed with people, all eagerly anticipating the upcoming awards ceremony.
The ceremony finally began.
The ceremony was elaborate and lengthy. Under the supervision of the Second Prince Dominguez, although the priests of the Holy Church of the Zenit Diocese were not present, the various rituals for worshipping the God of War of War and other gods worshipped by the Empire were still carried out in an orderly manner under the supervision of the royal court magicians. The royal families of 244 vassal states were invited to participate in the ceremony.
The entire ceremony lasted for an hour before it was considered over.
Next, we finally entered the most anticipated part: the rewards for the winners of the Martial Combat Competition. Because this year's Martial Combat Competition was altered due to the war between the two great empires, some of the rewards were more generous than in previous years, making everyone excited and eagerly awaiting the event.
This process is also quite lengthy.
But without a doubt, Chambord City was the only dark horse in this Martial Combat Competition and the true winner.
King of Chambord Alexander easily claimed the title of the top fighter among the vassal states, and the Chambord City team swept through the competition like a whirlwind to win first place in the final team battle. This meant that, according to the reward principles announced by the Empire before the competition, Chambord City had directly advanced from a small sixth-class vassal state to a first-class vassal state, and King of Chambord had gone from a minor nobleman to a hereditary second-class nobleman of the Empire.
After Chambord City became a first-class vassal state, its territory and population naturally increased significantly.
The six vassal states near Chambord City, including Kingdom of Laisi, Black Rock City, Red Water Kingdom, and Heavenly Wind Kingdom, performed poorly in this Martial Combat Competition. The royal families of the six King were stripped of their noble titles, and their territories and people were incorporated into Chambord City. The imperial royal family also bestowed a large number of Dou Qi manuals, magic notes, wealth, and weapons as rewards.
In truth, Black Rock City and Red Water Kingdom brought this upon themselves. If they hadn't ambushed Sun Fei and his group on the way and ended up losing all their own experts, they wouldn't have performed so poorly in the Martial Combat Competition.
In addition, among the original ten first-class vassal states, one first-class vassal state was demoted to a second-class vassal state due to its poor performance, four second-class vassal states were demoted to third-class vassal states, seven third-class vassal states were demoted to fourth-class vassal states, eleven fourth-class vassal states were demoted to fifth-class vassal states, and twenty-five sixth-class vassal states were directly stripped of their territories and titles, becoming ordinary family forces.
Of course, every demotion has its counterpart; every promotion comes with a corresponding demotion.
The positions of those degraded vassal states were replaced by newly emerging vassal states that performed outstandingly in this Martial Combat Competition. Chambord City is a prime example, while other vassal states such as the Bolo Empire, the Kingdom of Gudong, and the Bulan Kingdom were upgraded.
The vacant sixth-rank vassal state positions were then inherited by some minor nobles in the capital and warrior families who had accumulated military merits and become new nobles. They became the new vassal King, and once they had a certain degree of independent territory and the right to govern, they entered the stage of the empire's upper echelons.
Of course, this adjustment is based on the performance of various countries in the Martial Combat Competition, and is not the final result.
Because the King will be selecting elite warriors to participate in the war against the Spartak Empire in the southern theater, this war is the real stage. According to the decree previously issued by Emperor Yassin, vassal states that accumulate enough merit in this war will be given another opportunity for reward and promotion.
While vassal states received rewards and punishments, the top fighters who emerged from the Imperial Masters Ranking Tournament also received personal rewards.
The top players ranked 50th to 20th in the ranking competition received the title of sixth-rank noble of the empire, and also obtained an official rank equivalent to that of an imperial legion squad commander. They could freely choose to serve in any of the ten legions that the empire was currently recruiting and forming, or they could choose to serve in the legion of the first vassal state in the history of the empire that was being formed.
Those ranked nineteenth to eleventh received the title of fifth-rank noble of the Empire, and at the same time obtained an official rank equivalent to that of a squadron commander in the Imperial Legion.
Those ranked tenth to fourth received the title of fourth-class noble of the Empire, and at the same time, the official rank of commander of an Imperial Legion battalion.
Because [ One Sword ] disdained competing for third or fourth place and withdrew from the third-place match, Elena ultimately became the third-place finisher in the ranking competition. She and the Little Prince of Luck Shevchenko won the rank of deputy legion commander of the soon-to-be-formed vassal state legion [ Wolf Fang Legion ]. The legion commander was naturally King of Chambord Sun Fei.
The empire's military organization was relatively simple. A legion was divided into five full-strength battalions, each battalion had four companies, each company had five platoons, and each platoon had a full-strength force of one hundred men.
After a period of intense debate and competition among the Military Department leaders, the first vassal state legion in the history of the empire was named the [ Wolf Fang Legion ]. It was fully staffed, and Sun Fei became its commander. All supplies were provided by the Imperial Military Department.
As the legion commander, Sun Fei has the right to select elites from any vassal state to complete the formation of the [ Wolf Fang Legion ]. Among the top fifty experts in the ranking competition, Sun Fei can give priority to selecting experts to serve as officers in various tiers of the legion.
It can be said that the process of forming the [ Wolf Fang Legion ] was almost entirely decided by Sun Fei alone.
Upon hearing the Second Prince announce the full list of rewards on the platform, almost everyone was incredulous, including Sun Fei himself.
Although the Empire had announced the decision to form a new legion before the competition, no one expected the conditions to be so generous. The new legion was practically tailor-made for King of Chambord. According to these regulations, once the [ Wolf Fang Legion ] was established, King of Chambord could practically rule the entire legion.
What exactly are the empire's high command thinking?
This decision left many people bewildered and unable to comprehend it. Their gazes towards Sun Fei had become numb. The growth rate of this newest rising star of the empire was astonishing. After the formation of the legion, King of Chambord could be considered a regional lord with immense power. With a full-strength legion and the strongest experts from the vassal states, even the old-established families of the empire would likely find it difficult to contend with him in the future!
Aren't the imperial family afraid that in the future, no one will be able to check and balance the King of Chambord?
Or was Emperor Yassin, gravely ill and senile, unaware that such a decision might very well create an incurable cancer for the empire in the not-too-distant future?
Second update.