Rivers of the Night - Chapter 312

Chapter 312: About Face
The arena watched in silence as the battle commenced. Prince Aetherion Nightingale didn’t seem to have a single expression on his face at all, watching on in silence much like everyone else.

But the end result was obvious to them all.

What wasn’t obvious was just how seemingly close Thessa would get.

What her First and Second Years didn’t notice was that Thessa didn’t take 200 puppets with her at all. She chose the substance of the moment, the importance of momentum itself, over the logic of her decision.

Peeling off from the fortress, she headed straight to the enemy army, crashing into it like a meteor and unleashing a slaughter that came from the depths of her soul.

She cut down two or three puppets at a time, weaving her way through toward the humans she could sense with only the intent to take their heads.

She refused to go down without seeing a single one of them. She didn’t know fatigue or struggle. It was as though she was being held up by something beyond just herself.

The remaining Firewing geniuses responded in kind, launching their assaults as well. They weren’t nearly as powerful as Thessa, who had already reached the limits of Silver Mancy, but that didn’t mean the fire in their hearts was burning any duller.

Sura especially displayed that fire hidden in her heart, and maybe because of the valiance shown by their princess…

They too didn’t use any puppets.

It was a statement made by an entire empire, and also one that underlined the conniving nature of two very clear cheaters. The audience wasn’t stupid—how could they not see the odd inconsistencies by now?

The Sangun and Auran hadn’t sent out any scouts, so how did they know where the Firewings were? How were they so sure that they could send out three armies at a time, one of which was to yet another empire they hadn’t laid eyes on yet?

Theron’s actions also seemed quite odd by comparison, but at least there were some that could deduce how Theron might have done it. In this case, though, it was hard to see anything happening here as anything other than someone gaming the system and taking advantage of others.

They found themselves rooting for the Firewings, and public sentiment, despite being as unbiased as possible, seemed to firmly swing in one direction.

But if the Sangun and Aurans had cared so much… they probably would have never gone so far to begin with…

**

Chopra stood before the empty Gold Clan fortress, his red eyes hard to read. The hot air of the desert blew the moist strands of his slightly curled black hair back, pulling on it with a steaming humidity, but he didn’t seem to notice at all.

There probably should have been confusion on his face, but somehow he knew exactly what had happened here already.

He didn’t have to come here personally. He had chosen to because the Gold Clan would likely provide the most variables. Whether they took the path Chopra assumed they would or not, the end result would be the same.

However, this was the one result he hadn’t accounted for.

He had been so focused on what Theron’s strength might be that he had yet to consider what was maybe the most important factor.

In truth, neither he nor any of the rest of them was actually sure about why their Young Master was so interested in Theron to begin with. All of them assumed that it had to do with strength.

The way the techniques of that Clan worked was in line with this conclusion. The stronger the opponent or target ended up becoming, the better.

But theoretically…

Chopra looked at the empty fortress before him more intently.

…Strength was just a force multiplier. Karma was more amorphous than what cultivation alone could reflect. If the target had no cultivation at all, but led one of the greatest empires in existence, their use would be just as good as one of the greatest cultivators in existence.

Could it be that it was never about Theron’s strength to begin with, but instead what his mind could be?

In truth, Chopra hadn’t paid much attention to the academic stream debates. That sort of stuff bored him.

And right now, he was beginning to feel that same sort of boredom creeping up.

If Theron wasn’t some great combat genius, but just some bookworm, where would his fun be coming from?

Originally, Chopra had eagerly taken on this task. Now he was finding himself… disappointed.

He shook his head.

At this point, there was no getting out of things. As bored as he felt now, he would be doubly punished if he couldn’t execute on the Young Master’s orders.

“Fine.”

Chopra shook his head.

“About face. We head northeast.”

**

Theron sat perched in a tower, his legs crossed on the ledge of a 100-foot fall. The breeze was quite calming to him, and from here he could smell the freshness of the river waters they had diverted.

He had sensed the Sangun cross the first time, and he sensed a second crossing across the river when they sent an army toward the Gold Clan… or what had once been the Gold Clan, anyway.

Now, it wasn’t so easy for him to sense anything, because something told him that the next waters they would be crossing would be the moat they had built around the fortress.

Theron’s expression seemed to reflect that of Chopra’s.

Boredom.

Boredom at the predictability of it all.

Boredom that his opponents weren’t nearly as intelligent as they thought themselves to be.

Boredom that they weren’t here yet.

However, as the time ticked away and the sun slowly began to wane on the horizon, that boredom was being steadily replaced by something else.

There was something more important than his own entertainment, something he had been speaking to himself about for the last year.

He was no longer living for himself.

A buried rage began to slowly smolder as he sensed it growing closer.

Theron took to his feet and looked toward the southwest as Chopra’s army approached.

The desire for blood had never been so strong in him.