Rudra heard about the news of the war just like everyone else in the city did and then some more information about it because he lived very close to the quarters of the palace guards.
While he did not have the full picture, he understood that the battle was to be fought in an alternate dimension so that the loss of unnecessary lives could be minimised and the access to that dimension was going to be linked to all functional teleportation gates.
While on the surface it seemed like the Queen was managing this event, but Rudra knew better than to believe such nonsense.
This was an entertainment show, one that would bring some sort of sadistic incomparable joy to the celestials.
The alternate dimension and the rest of the kind hearted garbage was set up not because they actually cared about the lives of the commoners. It was because they wanted non-stop ad free uninterrupted action.
It could also be because if the karma value of the universe tipped too much after the death of billions in the war, then it would affect the balance of power in the wide universe reducing the output of divine essence.
The fact that there would be only one plane where the fighting would take place would ensure nonstop action and make for interesting scenarios that would otherwise not come to play if it were a planet to planet fight.
The stage was created and now everyone was to dance as per the will of the higher ups.
Well not everyone, because amongst everyone who would be dancing as per their will, there would be him lying in wait for an opportunity to cause disruption.
He had already integrated himself with his brother's faction who were sure to participate in the war, now he only needed to wait for his chance to take Lucifer down and tear down the entire script of the war in the process.
The bigger picture aside, Rudra was very impressed with how Max was running the show in the Bloodfall clan.
The administration was much more efficient than what the elites had under him and Max also seemed to be a lot more involved in politics and policy than he ever took interest in.
Max knew how to delegate responsibility and also knew when to step-up to the authoritarian role.
He had truly grown a lot, not just as a warrior but also as an individual in his absence.
Later today, there was going to be a war council where Rudra had been invited as a counsel.
It was there that he hoped to see the full war picture and assess how much Max had grown as a strategist.
Although his heart was still longing for more contact with his family, his mind knew that if he wanted to enjoy a healthy stay with them, he first needed to fulfil his duty as a warrior.
***********
( A few hours later at the War council )
Rudra sat almost inconspicuously in a corner of the room with a gentle smile on his face as he observed everyone.
Max now had a shadow bodyguard tailing him and while he was invisible to the naked eye, Rudra could still see him coiled up within Max's shadow, his weapon in hand as he seemed ready to spring upto Max's protection in a moment's notice.
What Rudra did not know was that ever since Angakok had taken Zippo out by surprise his demeanour had changed a lot.
He now sat coiled and ready to strike as despite perceiving no visible threat he seemed to be prepared to fight at all times.
He had gone back to the black dragon clan in Max's absence where he trained to become stronger, but once Mira confirmed that he was back, Zippo returned to his duty once more.
Aside from Max and his shadow guard, there was another man Rudra saw for the first time today and that was DarkSorrow the demon hunter.
He was a human, but from his fashion sense it seemed like he was not from earth.
With wide shoulders and a disciplined way of standing Rudra could guess that he was trained in some elite military unit.
DarkSorrow was a man of few words who spoke less and listened more as the group discussed defensive strategy.
The most active people who engaged in discussion seemed to be the gang that was close to Max.
The vampire woman spoke a lot, her out of the box approach to solving a problem was not a bad way of thinking, but the words coming out of her mouth did not make much sense to Rudra from a strategic perspective.
The dwarf was unbelievably spineless, with every suggestion that he made being something cowardly.
The elf was over optimistic, making suggestions that would leave no room for retreat and had too much faith in the men of the Bloodfall clan to not break formation even under duress.
And the old vampire did not make any suggestions at all. Scratching his head as he looked at the battle map in confusion.
In the whole room, the only individual whose words sounded wise to Rudra was his brother.
He was a mixture of everyone in the room but only in the best way.
He approached problems in a 3D way just like the vampire girl, he was optimistic about the strength of his men like the elf but at the same time planned for retreats like the dwarf.
He listened to everyone's suggestions but in the end took the decisions himself.
There was scope for him to improve since Rudra could make 4 better moves for every move that his brother decided to take, but he also acknowledged that the decisions that Max made were also not bad from a tactical standpoint.
The mistakes Max was making currently mostly stemmed from his lack of experience in fighting actual large scale wars, something that Rudra had spent his entire life doing.
For the entire first hour of the meeting, Rudra was silent as he soaked in the information and the behaviour of the people in the room.
Only when he understood everything about the orbs and the discs and how the war was going to play out, as well as heard the defence strategy that Max had chosen to go with, did he decide to engage in conversation.
" My lord if you may, Can I share my opinion? " Rudra asked humbly as a soft smile broke on Max's face at this question.
" You have been silent all this time old man, it's about time you give me your veteran inputs…. Go on what do you want to add? " Max asked as he encouraged Rudra to speak, seemingly valuing his opinion on the matter.