Chapter 825 A Brief Respite
When Achim rendezvous with Captain Hohen's group a few hours ago, they ended up falling into a trap. A skirmish broke out between the two, with Hohen's side on the losing side.
At least, that had been the case at the start.
When Hohen finally made use of his skills that made him good at interrogation— which usually ended up in torture— he successfully manipulated Achim's knight into choosing Kesiah's side. He mainly talked of Kesiah's ideals as to why she wanted to usurp the King— providing equality to all.
It should be noted that the Armakean Knights did not have rights of their own. The moment they born, their fate as a knight had been sealed. Once they learned how to walk, or hold a sword, they were taught how to fight and be loyal to the Armakean's Royal Family— particularly, the King. Any actions or decisions they made would always prioritize the safety of the King or the Royal Family member they were tasked to obey or protect.
If not for the heir selection, the leash on these knights would not have loosen.
The authority the candidates possessed during the heir selection could overwrite that of the King's. However, there was a hidden decree that the King employed with the authority he bestowed among the candidates and that was the ability to freely command the knights even though they were not under their pact. He made it so that their pact would not be restricted with commanding the knights he gave them but to take other candidate's authority over his or her knights as long as they chose to follow that candidate.
The King did this to test the candidates ability to make the knights follow them with unwavering resolve.
In Armakean, only the King and another non-Armakean, who performed the change in the pact, were aware of this. That another one possessed an item that allowed him to place certain changes in an active pact unnoticed.
Kesiah accidentally found this after her visit in Howling Pass. She might have failed to contact the Abbot, but with this discovery she devised a plan to take over the other candidates' knights. Doing so would allow her to gather enough force to rally up the rest of the Royal Family members and slowly build up enough military strength to usurp the King.
Kesiah never planned to rule herself. Instead, she wanted her father to rule because she believed him to be the most righteous person she ever knew. Alas, most of their family member thought of him as an idealist, thus, they never heed his words.
Among the candidates, the King granted Achim with a company of knights while the rest only had a platoon. Some were even given only a squad to lead. This just showed how much favor the King gave Achim.
Kesiah was granted a platoon, but even then, it only consisted of three squads of fourteen knights each while Achim possessed more than a hundred knights. The difference was too big, but it was one of the main reason she was keen on targeting him first apart from being her brother.
In any case, Hohen won over almost all of Achim's knights on her behalf. He was surprised, to be honest. He did not expect Achim to win over the loyalty of a handful knights and stayed with him until the end.
Ultimately, Achim chose to escape with the few knights under his command. Hohen initially wanted to pursue but since he was running on a schedule, he decided to return to the border.
Hohen's decision not to pursue them gave Achim a chance to plan out their next course of action. Their priority was to contact their master. But doing so would not be easy without revealing their connection.
Fortunately, Gael appeared and they managed to share information and come up with a better plan.
They found from Gael that there were two knights that went to scout the location they were supposed to infiltrate. When he told them their abilities, Achim surmised that Kesiah had truly shown her fangs. It appeared she was well informed of the current situation in Somuli than what was available to them.
As for the knight Gael was after, it was unfortunate that he lost track of him. But losing him was not really a problem since Achim knew he was one of Kesiah's knights.
After their discussion they decided to attack the Armakea border. The reason they agreed to this move was mainly the fact that there was an ongoing battle between the Armakea and the Eidum. They knew their master returned to assist the latter, thus, they guessed Hohen and the other knights would come to Kesiah's aid. That would mean the Armakea border would be scantily guarded.
Taking advantage of this, they made quick work of the remaining knights and officers at the Armakea border. Unfortunately, they were not quick enough because a knight managed to send an SOS to a nearby fort.
Still, the nearby fort was at least a day and a half away from the borders. They would have enough time to prepare so long as they the battle between the Armakeans and the Eidums ended soon.
Gael's restraining ability would not normally worked against the knights given the level gap. But for some reason, his Shadow bind had gotten more effective. Absorbing that Sekir knight seemed to have bolster his magic level. Since they knew their master wanted the knights as subordinates, they could only knock them out cold and have Gael restrain them.
When Achim, Gael, and the rest of the Servants joined the battle, they expected a grueling fight ahead. Surprisingly, the battle ended before any of them could even use their Divine Armament. It was as if, the very presence of their master boosted their combat abilities, allowing them to subdue the rest of the knights with ease.
As a matter of fact, their guess was not far off. Kyran's presence indeed allowed to use their utmost potential in combat. This was actually a halo effect of being a Servant. Similar to the Sigil's effect.
But Kyran was unaware of it yet. Or to be precise, he knew there was some sort of buff he could provide with his Servants but he had yet to understand it fully.
At the meeting room, within the Armakea Border, Kyran and the rest entered. Inside, Achim, Haji, and Gael were already waiting.
When all of them were seated, Kyran started by telling Nahir and Gidan most of what his Servants told him. There were a few things he did not elaborate though. They were as follows: how he won Achim to his side, who Gael was, and how the Armakeans knew about the outsiders and current situation of the plane in general.
Kyran withheld the latter because Gidan was there. Since the latter was not there when Kyran explained the situation he opted not to share it yet. They could have a separate discussion on that once the Abbot, and Azikh were present.
Right now, their priority was to prepare for the arrival of the reinforcements.
And for Kyran, his immediate task was to check the Armakea's inventory. He did not forget the main reason he decided to move up his plan.
He still had to concoct a blood-replenishing pill for Cyneah.
Kyran left the preparation under Achim and Nahir's leads. Gidan, on the other hand, returned to the Eidums side to round them up and explain the current situation. He also had to keep the Abbot and Azikh up-to-date.
As for the unconscious Armakean Knights and officers, Kyran had Gael keep watch. After he finished concocting the blood-replenishing pill, he would deal with them in Achim and Kesiah's presence, once he could summon the latter at least.
For the record, one of the real reasons behind the massive explosion that came after the volleys of arrows, was so Kyran could catch Kesiah unaware and absorbed her. The cloud of smoke would also allow True Void to change his appearance to Kesiah's armor and make the rest believed she was under a spell of some sort.
Finally, the mystery behind the seemingly irregular number of explosions following the rain of arrows, was because True Void gluttonously ate them. His action was the main reason Kyran was prompted to stage that explosion. If not, the initial cloud of smoke would not be enough to hide what he did. Because when True Void absorbed the incoming arrows, a couple of vortex appeared above his head like two flat umbrellas.
Kyran looked like a strange emissary of doom with two vortexes hovering above his head. He did not want to alarm Gaham and the others, and forced them to escape.
Kyran perused through the Armakea inventory list. After going over the medicinal herbs, however, he found some of them unfamiliar even with his knowledge from the Tower of Tribulations. He then asked Jita to take him to the greenery, wanting to check the plants personally.
Different from the greenery at the Eidums HQ, which was located at a small room in the infirmary, the Armakea greenery was located at an open field near the training grounds.
Kyran was not that surprised that the Armakea HQ had a different set up compared to the Eidums. The latter had most of their rooms within the chasm walls, while the former dug out a portion of the chasm and built buildings separately.
Because of this, the Armakeans could enjoy the sun often compared to the Eidums who were stuck inside the buildings within the chasm walls.
Jita kept Kyran company while he checked the greenery. However, after walking for a few minutes, the pain he had been enduring all this time finally got the best of him. He fell on his knee and coughed out blood, alarming Jita.
"Master! Please, take a rest. You have yet to fully absorb the Armakean Princess. If you keep moving, you'd give her a chance to fight back and you may end up in a much direful condition."
Kyran wiped the blood off the side of his lips and stood up. But he underestimated the fatigue his body accumulated and almost stumbled. Good thing Jita was close enough and managed to reach out and support him before he did.
"I may have overestimated my endurance," Kyran muttered with a bitter smile.
He hated to admit it but the things he did tonight indeed pushed him to his limits.
Cyneah did restore his magic core to tip-tip shape, thus, absorbing a few knights and making them his servants should not have pose any problem. What he did not anticipate though was when he made use of the additional 1% of Draconic magic, his body barely managed to contain its power. Thus, when he revert to circulating Void magic energy, summoned True Void, absorbed Kesiah, fought the rest of the knights, and unknowinglybestowed Achim and the rest of the Servants with additional buff with his presence, the fatigued built up with him failing to notice it.
Kyran knew insisting on concocting the blood-replenishing pill with his current condition would be counterproductive. There was also a possibility he'd fail in concoction. Thus, he decided to rest.
Besides, even if he insisted on working and did succeed in concocting a high-quality blood-replenishing pill, there was a high chance he'd exhaust himself and fall into a coma. That was the last thing he wanted to happen given their situation.
"How much time do we have until the nearby fort arrives with reinforcements?"
"It is a day and a half's journey, Master. But if we consider the time they will need to prepare we can expect them tomorrow evening at the latest."
Kyran nodded, "I'll rest for a few hours. But if there is an emergency that needs my immediate attention, let me know at once."
"Yes, Master."
"In the meantime, I need you to find a few herbs for me. I don't know what they are called here, or what they looked like, but these are the effects I am looking for."
Kyran gave the list to Jita. After she accepted the list, she led him to a private chamber meant for the King's use, and left him to rest there.
Meanwhile, Nahir, with Achim and Gael's assistance finished discussing their stratagem. Gidan also finished talking to the Abbot and Azikh and explained the situation.
As for Cyneah, the Abbot did not want to worry them with her condition and only told them she was resting.
After making sure her condition had stabilize, the Abbot, Azikh, and Gidan traveled to the other side of the chasm and met up with Nahir and the others.
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