Chapter 61: The Pulsing Emblem
In the camp of the City of Light.
Malrik and the rest rushed out of the tent the moment they heard the alarm from the fortress, and every one of them was stunned by the sight that greeted them.
Chaos.
A rampant state of chaos across the entire camp.
Everyone was running. The patrol soldiers were no longer moving in disciplined groups as before—you could no longer tell them apart from any ordinary soldier sprinting past.
The cart-haulers and supply carriers were abandoning their loads in the middle of the road and running toward the fortress.
Squad leaders were trying to calm their panicking members and convince them to hold their positions, while the elite squads remained far more composed, standing in their encampments and watching the chaos around them with wide eyes—exactly like the Death Squad now.
"What overwhelming chaos," Elias said, watching the people scatter around him like a swarm of locusts.
"The fortress... it’s without a commander now," Malrik said, gazing at the imposing black wall in the distance with dismayed eyes.
"What?! This is a catastrophe! This side of the border is without a Sealbearer now!!" Darius said, clutching his head with both hands.
Lysandra approached him, and then—
Slap!
She struck him across the face, sending Darius staggering back a few steps, wide-eyed as he stared at Lysandra in disbelief.
"Pull yourself together, Darius," Lysandra said with her usual cold look.
Darius’s eyes widened further at her words before he closed them, exhaled hard, and opened them again.
"Thanks for the reminder, Lysandra," Darius said, having come back to his senses.
"Anytime," Lysandra nodded.
’Not to that degree,’ Darius thought, still feeling a lingering burn on his face where Lysandra’s leather glove had landed.
’Absurdly strong.’
It had been a simple slap, but Darius had felt dizzy for a moment when he took it—a clear testament to the strength Lysandra possessed.
"What do we do now, Captain?" Kael asked, turning to Malrik.
"I don’t... know. If even the fort commander has retreated, then what can we possibly do?" Malrik said, his pupils trembling in their sockets as he watched the chaos around him escalate.
"Let’s head to the fortress," Lysandra said suddenly, turning and walking toward her tent.
"What? We’re leaving our posts without a direct order?" Malrik could not fathom how Lysandra’s mind worked, but the relief that crossed his face was undeniable.
"If our commander is nothing but a cowardly fledgling who abandoned his post without direct orders or instructions, then I see no reason whatsoever to stay here. And if it weren’t for Sir Karius’s continued absence, I would have retreated all the way to the City of the Black Rose, not just to the fortress," Lysandra said, before entering her tent to gather her essential belongings.
Everyone was stunned by Lysandra’s sudden bluntness in speaking about the fort commander, but after what had just happened, this was the mildest possible reaction.
"I think Lysandra’s right, everyone," Evelyne said, looking at them all.
"There’s no longer any point in staying here. I believe we need to pull back for now until things are fully under control again—otherwise, this would be suicide," Evelyne finished, heading back to her own tent to gather her important things before departing.
"B-but guys, what about Ravian?" Claria said at last, having been silent all this time.
Both Lysandra and Evelyne froze mid-motion. And Claria was not finished.
"We don’t know where he is, but if we abandon our posts and withdraw, wouldn’t we be leaving him right now in the middle of enemy territory with no clear place to return to?" Claria asked them, tears glistening in her eyes.
Perhaps Ravian would have completely changed his plans had he seen his squad’s current stance on his disappearance—but unfortunately, there was no one to tell him what was happening.
"I’m not going back," Kael was the first to say, walking out of the encampment.
"Where are you going?" Malrik called after him.
"I don’t want to stay here," Kael said curtly.
But fortunately for them, the state of panic did not last long.
For suddenly, a white meteor blazed across the sky.
No, it was not a meteor.
It was someone’s aura—a gleaming white aura lighting up the night sky.
"That’s..." Darius’s mouth fell wide open as he stared at the white meteor that had shot out from the fortress and flown directly over the camp.
"The Company Commander... Sir Karius," Malrik said, smiling.
Every soldier on the grounds stopped in their tracks when they saw the camp’s commander finally appear, rekindling the spark of hope in the soldiers’ eyes once more.
"Calm yourselves, my soldiers," Karius said in a voice that deafened the ears and carried for kilometers across the camp, amplified by his aura.
"The fort commander has not left," Karius continued, and the news struck the camp like a thunderbolt.
"What?"
"The fort commander didn’t leave?"
"Then what was that alarm, guys?"
"Did the magic alarm malfunction?"
Thousands of whispers spread all at once at Karius’s announcement—because that alarm was precisely what they had trained for, and they knew its meaning: the fort commander’s magic teleportation circle had been activated, meaning this front had been abandoned entirely.
Ravian had, quite simply, come within a hair’s breadth of causing a resounding catastrophe for the entire empire—one whose consequences would have reached the whole human race, for it had been an age since humanity last lost any part of its lands.
"Silence," Karius declared loudly, quieting every whisper spreading through the camp.
"Once again—the fort commander has not left," Karius said.
"The space mages were performing maintenance on the magic circle, and this unintentionally triggered the Final Evacuation Alarm. However..." Karius said, pausing for a few moments to let the words settle into the soldiers’ hearts.
"The commander will come out shortly after verifying all the repairs, to reassure you all. That is everything for now."
Karius ended his address, and then his gaze descended upon a particular spot in the camp.
Frank met his eyes, caught Karius’s signal, and nodded quickly before shooting off at his top speed toward the deep forest, acting on the sign he had received from Karius.
...
In the corridor leading to the magic teleportation circle.
Thorvin walked calmly down the passage, examining every inch of it with his eyes and his blue aura, until he reached the damp stretch and began to see the water ahead of him.
He did not stop. He pressed forward, stepping into the water just as Ravian had done.
But Thorvin was carrying a small emblem in his hand.
A blue emblem, drawn with the figure of a long black dragon resembling an eastern water dragon. Three stars were embroidered upon the badge, suggesting that it belonged to the empire. But the strange thing about that badge was that it pulsed ceaselessly with blue light, like a heart.
’Let’s see how that bastard got through here,’ Thorvin thought as the water began reaching his knees.
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