The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 308: Chapter 303 — Blank

Malach’s entire body was trembling. He had tricked him. Right in front of his fucking eyes, Zephyrion had completely tricked him.

”That fucking bastard... He planned the whole fucking thing.”

The northern cadets around him had gone rigid with horror. Kaelion, Draven, and five hundred others had appeared between the fortress and the battered northern cadets. Worse still, they were barely fifty meters away. A brief charge, and they could storm the fortress before the barrier could be reactivated.

Even through his rage, Malach’s mind had already begun calculating. But instead of doing what he expected, the southerners did the opposite.

”Attack!” Kaelion screamed, and the southern cadets around him roared in unison before charging straight towards the battered northern cadets.

”What...? What the fuck are they doing?”

Malach’s eyes widened in confusion. They were right there. Why weren’t they storming the fortress?

”Prepare to siege!” came a more distant shout.

Malach’s gaze snapped towards Kaelith, Lucien, and the others farther behind. They had broken away from the chase and were now charging towards the fortress instead.

”No... You fucking—”

Malach felt his throat go dry as the entire situation suddenly became clear.

If Kaelion and his cadets had attacked the fortress directly, Gordon and the others could still break away from behind them and retreat inside before Kaelith’s army caught up. Once they were through, Malach could simply reactivate the barrier and shut the southerners out.

But Kaelion hadn’t attacked the fortress.

He had attacked Gordon.

He was holding the battered northern cadets in place while Kaelith and the others stormed the fortress instead.

Now Gordon and the others couldn’t retreat, and Malach couldn’t reactivate the barrier without trapping them outside.

Malach’s jaw clenched so hard it hurt, a violent rage boiling through him.

’Again... again! That fucking bastard!’

Again and again, Zephyrion was outmaneuvering him.

His fists tightened, his voice dropping into a murderous growl.

”I’m going to fucking kill him...”

...

”Alright, that’s it. I’m calling it. He’s an alien. I don’t care what anyone says anymore.” Nedra stared at Zephyrion, once again utterly baffled.

”...I mean, I’ve always thought my lord was a little strange, but an alien? That might be stretching it...” Tobias gave a wry smile.

”Stretching it? How the fuck is that stretching it? Look at him! We all thought he’d lost his shit because Lumi almost got hurt and he went out there to challenge Malach. But no. Apparently, while the rest of us were busy wondering if he’d finally gone insane, he was planting fucking teleportation runes.

”Who even thinks of that in a situation like that!? Actually, forget thinking of it. How the hell did he even do it!? We were all watching him! A teleportation rune isn’t some little doodle you scribble on the ground. It’s already ridiculous that he even knows one, so how the fuck did he engrave it that quickly!?”

Nedra shook her head slowly, staring at Zephyrion like she was seeing him for the first time.

”An alien. He’s a fucking alien. I refuse to accept any other explanation.”

”Maybe... he’s just that smart?” Tobias suggested.

”No. Absolutely not. No one should be that fucking smart. It’s unnatural.” Nedra narrowed her eyes at Zephyrion, looking genuinely suspicious now.

”Prime... actually, no. Your Alienness. Tell me the truth. You came here from some distant planet, didn’t you? What’s the mission? Study us? Figure out exactly how stupid the rest of us are?”

”I mean...” Tobias cleared his throat awkwardly. ”...stupid feels a little harsh. We’re not stupid.”

”Oh, really? Then explain what the hell he’s been doing.”

”...”

Nedra pointed at him triumphantly. ”Exactly. We’re fucking stupid.”

She turned back towards Zephyrion.

”Now answer the question, Prime—I mean, Your Alienness.”

Finally, Zephyrion sighed.

”I’m not an alien, Nedra.”

”Then you’re definitely not human. At least, not the same kind as us. Because what the fuck else am I supposed to call all this?”

Tobias and Fiona turned towards him as well, their curiosity clearly piqued. Even Horus, along with the other cadets gathered on the wall, had begun listening closely.

’There’s no point hiding it anymore. We’re already at the final stage of the plan anyway.’

Taking a breath, Zephyrion glanced at them.

”What you’re finding so surprising is just several plans stacked on top of each other. I sent Kaiden after the Bastion Core knowing there was a chance he could get caught. If he did, the attack on the northern fortress would likely fail, which would give me a reason to intervene personally.

”If I left the fortress at any other time, everyone would watch me closely. But if I was rushing out because my army needed me, no one would think twice about what I was doing. So I used that opportunity to plant the teleportation rune.”

”Bu—”

”Camouflage.” Zephyrion answered, already anticipating Tobias’ question. ”I used it the moment I arrived. While I was engraving the teleportation rune, everyone else saw me writing the word ’noon’. Considering what was happening at the time, no one had any reason to question it.”

”And how—”

”The runes Malach used to teleport the northern cadets into our fortress.”

Again, he had already anticipated Horus’ question: how had he known the teleportation runes in the first place?

After all, only the Sarakhels, along with a handful of people with enough power and knowledge, had mastered runes to such an extent. An eighteen-year-old southern cadet was certainly not supposed to be capable of it.

However, to Zephyrion, it had been pretty simple.

The teleportation runes had been engraved directly onto the resource crate. When Malach activated them, all Zephyrion had needed to do was watch, and he’d memorized the entire sequence.

With his insane comprehension and learning curve, understanding the runes and incorporating them into his own skills hadn’t been particularly difficult.

By the time he finished explaining, the others were staring at him like he was some sort of monster.

Nedra’s face went completely blank.

”Yep. He’s definitely an alien.”