The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 324: Chapter 319 — Disappointed

In the distance, Arcturus stood with a wide smile on his face, his eyes gleaming with barely contained excitement. Behind him, rows upon rows of cadets, both eastern and captured western, had gathered in loose, disorganized lines. None of them wore even a shred of armor, especially the eastern cadets.

Even the western Prime, Rhaena Kharadun, stood among them with a dark expression. The bruises from her battle with Arcturus the previous night were still visible across her face, leaving little doubt as to how their confrontation had ended.

She’d lost.

And now, just like the rest of the western cadets, she had no choice but to answer to the new Prime, Arcturus.

Yet even she wore no armor, nor did she carry a weapon.

From Arcturus’ expression and the state of the cadets behind him, Zephyrion could already tell this wasn’t going to be some siege, nor would it turn into a battle between armies or a drawn-out war of attrition. Arcturus had clearly brought all of them here for a single reason: to act as spectators for the coming battle.

Which meant this would be a one-on-one fight between the last two Primes.

”Time’s up, Lightning Prince.”

Arcturus’ smile remained casual and light, as though the entire exercise was nothing more than some amusing game to him. Still, his voice carried effortlessly across the plain, reaching all the way to the southern fortress.

Almost immediately, Zephyrion heard the alarmed shouts of southern cadets erupt behind him as they noticed the enemy forces. Lumi had already joined him on the wall, having sought him out sometime during the night.

Soon, though, Kaiden, Nedra, Draven, Kaelith, Tobias, Fiona, Lucien, Horus, and several others arrived as well.

Around them, the southern cadets had already broken into practiced motion, rushing to man the rune ballistas and taking positions along the walls. Others gathered in the courtyard below, hurriedly donning armor and readying their weapons for battle.

Their expressions were tense, with more than a few unable to completely hide the fear in their eyes. After witnessing Arcturus take down an entire fortress by himself, it was difficult to blame them.

”Those fuckers!” Nedra stepped forward, glaring at the army in the distance. ”Just let them charge. I fucking dare them. I’ll blast every last one back where they came from!”

”As much as it physically pains me to agree with her...” Kaelith stepped forward as well, his expression hardening. ”For once, the lunatic has the right idea. Let’s give them hell.”

”I hear eastern men all have little dicks. Half-men, the lot of them.” Draven, who had somehow found another excuse to go shirtless, flexed his muscles with a large grin. ”Don’t worry, boys. I’ll show ’em what a full-grown man looks like!”

Several gave him weird looks.

The other cadet heads, too, wore cold and determined expressions. Unlike the normal cadets around them, there was no fear or trembling in their eyes, only resolve. Every single one of them was ready to fight.

”Prime...” Kaelion gave Zephyrion a serious look. ”Just give the word. We’re ready.”

”No.”

”...What?”

Kaelion and the other cadet heads stared at him in confusion, but none of them spoke. There was something strange about Zephyrion at that moment. The air around him felt unusually still, almost distant, as though he were standing right there with them, yet his mind was somewhere else entirely.

Zephyrion’s gaze had never once left Arcturus and the army behind him. The truth was, he’d spent almost the entire night thinking about his current life and what he intended to do going forward. Yet throughout all of it, Arcturus hadn’t crossed his mind even once.

’I’ve already wasted enough time on this exercise.’

To Zephyrion, the Prince simply wasn’t important. Well, except his calamity metal. Still, he had already decided how he was going to deal with him.

”I’ll deal with Arcturus myself. None of you interfere.”

The cadet heads’ expressions immediately changed.

Handle him... alone?

Those who had long since learned to trust Zephyrion, Lumi, Tobias, Fiona, Kaiden, and even Kaelion, remained silent.

Draven stared at Zephyrion with a hint of hesitation, but he knew him well enough by now not to question his decision.

Kaelith was far more reluctant, his mouth already opening to speak when Maegorian’s voice suddenly sounded in his head.

’Don’t. Whatever you do, never underestimate that boy. There’s something wrong with him, and I mean that in the worst possible way. Just watch. Maybe then you’ll finally understand what I’ve been trying to tell you.’

Hearing the gravity in Maegorian’s voice, Kaelith hesitated for a moment before swallowing whatever he’d intended to say.

That only left Nedra.

Considering her history with Zephyrion, almost everyone instinctively turned toward her, fully expecting her to be the first to object. Surprisingly, however, Nedra merely gritted her teeth and remained silent.

She’d gone down this road of doubting Zephyrion far too many times already, and somehow, it always ended with her eating her own words.

’Nope. Not this fucking time.’

Regardless, Zephyrion had already turned away from all of them. His feet slowly left the wall as his body began floating into the air, and without another word, he flew out over the fortress.

It didn’t take long for the cadets who had overheard his declaration to spread the news, and soon, word of Zephyrion’s decision swept through the entire southern army.

”The Prime is fighting him... alone?”

”B-but Lord Arcturus took the entire western fortress by himself!”

”That’s exactly my point! Is this really a good idea?”

”We’re about to find out.”

The clearing fell into a deafening silence, every cadet watching intently. Several who had gathered in the courtyard below quickly made their way up to the wall, their expressions grim as they watched their Prime descend onto the open plain some distance away.

Arcturus chuckled and, after a moment, began walking towards Zephyrion alone. Both Primes moved at an unhurried pace, and despite the distance between them still stretching over a thousand meters, the tension settling across the plain was almost palpable.

”You know...” Arcturus began casually. ”I grew up hearing all kinds of stories about the famous Lightning Prince in the palace. The genius who awakened at five, the greatest talent of his generation, blah, blah, blah.

”I was five too, so obviously I heard that and thought, holy shit, this guy sounds amazing. I wanted to meet you someday, maybe exchange a few blows, become friends afterward... you know, normal bonding stuff.” His smile faded slightly as he looked Zephyrion over. ”But then you turned out to be a bum.”

Arcturus sighed and shook his head, looking genuinely disappointed.

”Fourth place during the entrance run? Fourth? Man, you broke my heart. All that excitement I had about finally fighting someone interesting just disappeared. Then you took first place and I thought, alright, maybe I judged him too quickly. Maybe the Lightning Prince is still in there somewhere.”

Arcturus glanced at him almost accusingly. ”But then you went and spent fucking days dealing with Malach. Days, Zephyrion. You really are a bum, aren’t you?”

”....”

”And Malach of all people! Do you know how embarrassing that is?” Arcturus continued, sounding genuinely offended on Zephyrion’s behalf.

”I met that guy once at some banquet. His ego was so far up his ass I spent half the night wondering how he managed to walk straight. And that little entourage following him everywhere? Please. I could smell the weakness on him from across the hall.”

Arcturus shook his head again.

”So imagine my disappointment. The guy I’ve wanted to fight since I was five spends days dealing with someone I wanted to punch five minutes after meeting him. That hurts, man. Very disappointing, don’t you think?”

Eventually, Arcturus stopped, regarding the silent Zephyrion with eyes that had grown slightly more serious.

”So I’m genuinely curious. What the hell happened to you? Was it because you disappeared? Did something happen back then that made you weaker?” His brows rose slightly. ”More importantly, can you fix it? Because if you can, tell me what you need. I’ll help.”

There wasn’t the slightest hint of mockery in Arcturus’ voice.

He was completely serious.

If Zephyrion told him right now that something had happened to him and he needed help recovering his former strength, Arcturus would genuinely help him. After waiting this long to meet the Lightning Prince he’d heard so much about as a child, there was no way he was going to settle for fighting some weakened version of him.

”You know...” Zephyrion finally spoke after a moment. ”There’s one thing I’ve noticed that never seems to change.”

”...Hm? What’s that?”

”The ones who talk the most...” Zephyrion met his gaze evenly. ”Usually turn out to be weak, pathetic little boys pretending to be men.”

Arcturus blinked, his eyes widening slightly, clearly not having expected the jab. However, the surprise lasted only a moment before the atmosphere across the entire plain suddenly grew heavier.

”Haha... alright. That was good.” Arcturus laughed, but whatever warmth had been in his eyes vanished completely.

There were many things Arcturus Aur Eryndor could laugh off.

Being called weak wasn’t one of them.

”Then I guess I’ve talked enough.” Arcturus’ smile remained, even as the air around both Primes began to change. ”Let’s fight.”

More than nine hundred meters still separated them, with nothing but a vast stretch of grassland swaying gently beneath the morning breeze.

Yet, before any of the watching cadets could even register what happened, both Primes vanished.

From the southern cadets lining the fortress walls to the eastern and western cadets gathered across the plain, not a single person saw them move.

No one saw how they crossed the distance.

By the time their minds caught up, Zephyrion and Arcturus had already collided in the middle.

A violent explosion swallowed everything.