The Broken System - Chapter 26 Enemy At The Door

“A military spy?”Chanakya had never heard about such a thing.

“Yes, the one that will infiltrate the enemy camp, get the detail of it, assassinate important people, sabotage their plan, poison their well, take hostages and do those kinds of stuff.”

‘Doing those kinds of thing is unethical.’ A smile surface on his face with the thought, ‘When did he thought about ethics, to begin with?’ He said wearing the same expression, “Well it is a time like this when I think you are not a good leader to follow.”

Kinoya laughed it off, “I told you that, didn’t I? I am that kind of person who would do the bad things without hesitation, as long as it doesn’t go against my way.”

“War is a field where you kill people for one reason or another. How can there be an ethical way of doing it? The only way is to survive the longest.” The words were still ringing in the ears of Chanakya. He didn’t agree with it last time but he couldn’t find any point to argue about. No matter how harsh it sounded it was true.

“They are coming.” Kinoya’s words broke Chanakya’s thought, he opened his eyes but couldn’t see anyone. Before he could ask four lights appeared at the four corners of the city centre and started to move through the stone, scorching everything in its path. It started with a large circle then they divided into 8 fires and created squares. It continued to divide and create a more complex pattern.

Unlike Chanakya, the array didn’t seem alien to Kinoya. He had seen it before and much aware of its results. But he didn’t know a way to stop it. The light didn’t stop moving but people started to appear with constant flashes. They moved out of the city centre in different directions.

*Boom*

A commotion broke out at the city gate. First, it was just shouts and cries but soon the clashes of weapon could be heard too. The pattern continued to move and people continued to appear but none stayed at the centre. Almost 50 people vanished in the dark before the magical array was able to complete its form.

It completed with a flash. But when it returned to normal the whole place was full of soldiers. As soon as they moved out and there was another flash, then another. It flashed for 6 times then before the floor of the centre cracked with a loud bang.

“They are more prepared than I thought.” Kinoya shook his head.

“I don’t think they will be able to take the city down with just 12-15 thousand.”

“They are never going to do that, they have another plan for sure.”

“Are you saying there are army hiding in the vicinity?”

“No, that is not it, they must have come for a reason. You can send a hundred people in a suicide mission, even a thousand is okay but you can’t or won’t send so many people to their death.”

“Didn’t you say the strategist of Torria’s army is amateur?”

“That is also the reason why he won’t do anything that won’t bore any fruit. He can only use simple strategies OH” Kinoya cry caught Chanakya off guard. But he didn’t care, “He never wants to beat us. He just wanted to kill us all. They didn’t want to open the door, they want to close it so we can’t go out. They will poison the well, burn our food, destroy our supply but even with 15 thousand people, they could not stop us from going out.”

“What if they create a blocked around the city?”

“No, the news is true, there is no army close to the city.”

“They can use transportation circle.”

“It takes 10,000 gold to create one even that can transport 3,000 soldiers. Do you really think that they are going to go such an extent? And top of that they took all the citizen away, that is the important point. Almost 150,000 soldiers fit in the city so easily, and the border town is the best place to business, still, the city was left with just 30,000. And except the garrison only woman were here.” The moment he realised it, he thought he would faint.

“What is the problem captain?”

“They are going to blow up the whole city, tonight.”

“What? How?” Chanakya’s computational speed couldn’t keep up with Kinoya’s comprehension level. All he could do was to ask Kinoya to explain it to him.

“I don’t know how. But it’s just baiting and trapping technique again. They gave us a little fight, just enough so that those idiots didn’t suspect anything. Gave us the women to satisfy us. Create a diversion to make us believe that the attack was actually their plan while they blow up the city.”

“Captain, but how?”

“I don’t know much about how to blow out the city. Maybe an explosion, bomb the city, gas the city, whatever is more effective. What about a high-grade spell?” Kinoya understood how concentric his vision was about the world.

“I don’t know what is ‘bomb the city’ but the high-grade spell can work. But that will need a wizard.”

“That is easy as pie.”

“Only if the pie falls from the sky.” Chanakya shook his head as he explained, “There are only 11 wizards on the continent. Out of them only 3 of them are human. Though Torria has one, but if they can’t afford those magic circle they won’t be able to afford the wizard.”

“How that can even be possible? Isn’t it supposed to be a magic continent?”

Chanakya didn’t beat around the bushes, he knew very well that it was not easy to get the magic related information. “When you learn magic you will become a grade 1 apprentice, it will go up to grade 5. Most of the magic casters are at this level. Above it is mage, archmage, wizard and people say there is a legendary level called ‘Saint’. But there is no known saint on the continent.”

Kinoya wanted to think about how cool it will be if he was able to become a legendary saint, but he had a more pressing problem in front of him. “But how to blow up the city?”

“There is one way.”

“What the hell with all this suspense?” Kinoya was agitated.

“I didn’t see it before, so I forgot about it. Do you remember how I told you that a Chararch always build first in every city of Torria? Well, there is a reason behind it. The Chararch is actually a magic sensing device that protected the city up to the second wall from any kind of magic attack.” Chanakya got the chance to outwit Kinoya and he was cherishing it.

But Kinoya took his limelight, “And it needs a magical core to operate. If one can reverse the flow of the magic the whole thing will blow up, taking the city with it.”

“So you know about it?” Chanakya was a little surprised.

“No, I just guess it. So this is an important point. The best soldiers are here. And we are sitting in the middle of the enemy camp.”

“Are you scared captain?”

“No, I am happy that he also made the same mistake that I made.”

“And what will that be?”

“He underestimated me as I underestimated him.” Kinoya smiled. “Give me the bow. And tell me which side General Akai will be?” He tore his robe, cut his finger and started to write using blood.

*********

“Will it work? We have paid too much for the mission.” After the failure of the first war, general Kirmac was called back to the capital. General Manu became the commander-in-chief of the army of Torria.

“Anything is possible in a war, all they have to do is reach the chamber under the Chararch. One minute will be more than enough to blow it up” The long white hair was contradictory to his age, even Kinoya would have a hard time to identify this person whom he had sent to relay the message.

“Do we really need to send Captain Fret there?” General Manu couldn’t sit still thinking about the consequence if the mission failed. “He is the best soldier we have, on the top of that he is the direct disciple of an Archmage. The last thing we want right now is to anger an Archmage.”

‘How can a general worry that much before mobilizing his own soldier. Is it really the level of the army of Torria.’ A frown appeared on Nus’s face, “Arch-Mage is the last thing we need to worry about right now.”

‘If there is really something we should worry about that will be the devil.’ Thoughts about that night still make Nus sweat in fear. The white hair was also the gift of that night. “Neither magic caster nor any magic knight had joined war from the empire. We need to use it as our advantage as soon as possible.” With a deep breath he continued, ” On top of that, we don’t know what that thing is, but from his words, he might be the one who planned the night raid. If he lives we don’t know what type of ordeal this army have to go through? And believe me, when I say it, this army will not be able to survive it.” It wasn’t just the colour of his hair that he lost that day, the naivety, indecisiveness that he carried as old official also lost. That was replaced by the thirst of the winning. ‘To win by any means necessary’.

One futile effort wasn’t enough to change the view of the mentality that sipped into the bone of each and every soldier. General Manu was no exception, but

“Take him with you, his words may save your life one day.” Those were the words of his teacher, General Kirmac and he wanted to believe in those too. But the each and every words this Official Nus was making less and less sense than the last.

‘If that thing is really the devil then there is no way one could kill it.’ General Manu was hesitant, “Do you think he could defeat a devil?”

“I don’t know whether he could kill the devil or not but I know magic is the best weapon against a devil.”

“Wouldn’t it be enough if we just blow the city?”

His face twitched, the skin wrinkled as he spoke again, “Listen general, the primary aim for the mission is to kill that blind devil and then blow up the city. If the devil died and the army survive that won’t be a problem, but not the other way around.” Nus stopped and took a deep breath and continued, “That guy took down almost 100,000 soldiers, with a platoon of man, a legion of cavalry and archers, that is without any recorded injury. Think what he can do with the full army.”

“Isn’t that blind devil is just a child?”

“That’s why he needs to die now. If he survives then with his mind and strength he will become 2nd Moon general, if not worse.” With each question of the general Nus voice and determination were becoming stronger.

“I think you are overestimating that child.”

“We are underestimating him.” Nus sighed. Talking to the general was becoming tiresome for him. He lacked the motivation to talk on this topic, “What about the preparation that I told you to do?”

“Do we really need it? If they really die tonight then” General Manu frowned, ‘Just another illogical order.’

“No matter how effective the attack will be, there are bound to be some survivor.”

The general wasn’t satisfied with the reaction but answered nonetheless, “The garrison of Yeongjang, Pisa, Roirus had been transferred to Wang, Paeng and Jingeon. We already send letters to the nearest cities, they will soon send their army to here at ‘Na’.”

“Tell them if any of the city didn’t send army within two weeks the capital will consider the city as a traitor.”

“But” The general was surprised by such a reaction from Nus.

“Just say it, it will be enough.” His patience had reached its limit a long time ago. Without any more words, he left the tent.