The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 374: Chapter 369 — Little Boy

After the mission meeting, the apprentices with conflicting missions had been led here, to a vast underground space beneath the bastion, its walls and ceiling reinforced with metal and engraved with countless runes.

It was a ring built to withstand a fight between Heralds, and considering this particular feature definitely hadn’t come with the bastion, the commander must have built the entire thing himself for this exact purpose.

’Damn, he really is insane,’ Demorian had said.

Now, after several battles, Zephyrion stood in the middle of the ring, with Possum across from him wearing a faint smile, while the chatter of hundreds of spectators echoed through the underground space.

”Who’s your money on?”

”Seriously? One’s in his mid-twenties and a peak mark three. The other just became a mark two, what, four hours ago? Who do you think?”

”Haha, fair enough. But nothing about this situation is normal. How many nineteen-year-old mark twos have you met?”

”None, obviously. But forget that, I want to know why they’re even fighting. You heard what happened between Apprentice Zephyrion and Vaelor at the academy, right? Possum’s his cousin. Think he’s trying to settle some family grudge?”

”Nah, I heard it’s even pettier than that. Possum’s been the commander’s favorite apprentice for five years, then the Lightning Prince shows up and, one month later, the commander won’t shut up about him. He’s probably been itching for an excuse to put the kid in his place.”

”Haha, even better. Damn, I love this bastion. Still, if the Lightning Prince loses here, that reputation of his is taking a hit. Probably should’ve swallowed his pride and refused.”

”You’re really that sure he’ll lose?”

”You’re not?”

”I was...” There was a brief pause. ”But look at his face. Why the hell does he look like he’s waiting for lunch?”

Slowly, the chatter began to die, until the hundreds of veteran soldiers and apprentices had all tapered into silence, their attention settling fully on the two figures in the ring. Most wore deep frowns as they studied Zephyrion, seemingly trying to understand why he looked so damn calm.

He wasn’t smiling, nor did he wear the grim, focused expression of someone preparing himself for a difficult fight. He simply stood there, relaxed and unbothered, as though the person across from him wasn’t an entire mark above him.

It was strange enough to make some of them uneasy, especially when the general consensus was that he was going to lose. After all, this was a newly ascended mark two facing a peak mark three with years more experience.

The result should have been obvious.

But meanwhile, Zephyrion saw this as a great opportunity to accomplish multiple things at once. First was obviously putting a stop to Possum’s increasingly annoying behavior, and second, he could finally test his current strength against someone at a higher mark.

”It’s an honor to finally cross fists with the great Lightning Prince.” Possum brought a fist to his chest and bowed. ”I hope you’ll give me a good fight.”

”Likewise.”

As Possum straightened, he gave a wry smile. ”I hope you don’t hold this against me. You see, Mocktown means quite a lot to me. When I saw the mission, I simply couldn’t bring myself to give it up.”

Zephyrion remained silent, merely staring at him.

”Ah, it seems I really did step on your toes.” Possum sighed and shook his head. ”In that case, I suppose I should apolo—”

”You’re pathetic.”

Possum blinked. ”What?”

What Possum was doing was blatant manipulation, and judging from how naturally it came to him, something he clearly did often. What Zephyrion found insulting was that the bastard actually thought it would work on him.

”I’ve spent enough time in this bastion to know exactly what you are. You’re an oversensitive, deeply insecure boy who enjoys sucking up to the commander and looking down on everyone beneath you, but you’re at least smart enough to know this little bastion is the only place where you actually matter. That’s why you’ve stayed here for five years, isn’t it? You tell everyone it’s because you care about the region, but really, you just enjoy being the biggest apprentice in a very small room.”

”...You don’t know a damn thing about me.”

The smile had vanished from Possum’s face, replaced by a fierce light in his eyes as his fists slowly clenched at his sides. His gaze instinctively flickered towards the spectators, clearly worried they had heard, but Zephyrion had long since cut off the sound around them, even distorting the movements of his mouth so no one could read his lips.

This was purely for Possum’s ears. The public humiliation would come later.

”I don’t?” Zephyrion raised a brow. ”Then why are you still pretending to be humble when we both know you’ve been looking for an excuse to beat me up and put me in my place? Just admit it. I won’t judge you.” His lips curved faintly. ”Well, I will, but at least you’ll stop embarrassing yourself.”

A sharp hum pierced the air as metal flowed down Possum’s arms, rapidly morphing into a pair of gauntlets with several spike-like protrusions jutting from them. The false smile was completely gone now, his eyes burning with anger as he growled.

”I was going to take it easy on you. Now I’m going to make you swallow every fucking word.”

Zephyrion merely shook his head.

”There you go again. Still lying. Actually, forget boy. I gave you too much credit. You’re an insecure little baby.”

”Commander!” Possum snapped his head towards the highest seat. ”Start the damn fight!”

Gonaster, who’d been busy laughing with a few of the generals, turned towards him with a raised brow.

”Hm? Already? I was giving you boys some time to exchange pleasantries. You look like you were having such a lovely conversation.”

Possum lowered himself into a fighting stance, his murderous gaze never leaving Zephyrion.

”Yes!”

”Hmm.” Gonaster turned towards Zephyrion instead. ”And what about you, my little genius? Finished making friends?”

”I’m ready.”

”Hm, wonderful.”

The noise within the underground space gradually died, hundreds of eyes settling on the two figures in the ring. Then, a moment later, the commander grinned.

”Let the fight begin!”