Max had a big decision to make after he heard the old man's plan as the silence in the council room reflected the turmoil in his heart perfectly.
Max was not someone who had no regard for the lives of those who followed under him, if possible he wanted to save every last soldier from dying, but such a reality was not always possible.
He could engage in this fight and risk everything to deal a major blow to the dark faction or he could save the lives of his clan members and retreat.
It was a moral dilemma unlike anything he has ever faced in his life and for the first time ever he felt inconclusive.
" Give me a moment here guys- I need some space to think " Max said in a grim voice as he requested everyone to empty the room.
Only when everyone was gone did Max sit flat on his bum as he looked towards the ceiling of the tent and murmured " Grandpa Drax, what should I do in situations like these? "
" Boy if you have to ponder about this question then you really need to wake up and start facing reality " Drax replied in a tone much harsher than Max had expected.
" How many soldiers from the light faction do you think would have died just today in trying to foil Lucifer's plans? How many do you think will die tomorrow even if you fight or don't fight?
Hell keep the war aside, how many people do you think will die back in Dombivli in just one year from disease or old age having nothing to do with the war?
This is the reality of mortals Max.
Mortals die!
I know it sucks, but 300K or 600K or even the entire Bloodfall clan doesn't really matter in this grand war.
You have the unique opportunity to serve your faction by creating an opening that can actually help make an impact.
The cost doesn't matter- " The old A.I. bashed Max in his mind as he gave him a wake up call regarding the very nature of this war.
The universe was not Omega, this battlefield was not a safe-zone. Deaths here were real and permanent. The faster Max accepted that the easier it would get for him to see things as they were without involving emotions in them.
Millions were dying on both sides fighting this war daily, and Drax was right, even if he did nothing millions were still going to die.
The war sucked and there was nothing anyone could do about it but accept the fact that mortals die. If not from wars then from natural causes but the people that Max was so dearly trying to save now were ultimately going to die anyway.
Once he thought about it this way Max felt much more clear headed on what he needed to do.
The Bloodfall clan was not going to retreat if there was a fighting chance.
The Bloodfall clan was going to give it everything it had if it meant stickling a blow to the dark faction.
*************
( Neatwit's POV )
Once Max decided that he wanted to fight if the elites would support him he quickly called in the clone and gave him the mask as he himself shifted to become Max Rajput and exited the Bloodfall camp to meet with Neatwit at the Elite camp.
He flew from his tent towards the elite camp but was shot at 7 times while he was up there because he flew over the air space controlled by other light faction clans which made Max realise just how big of a problem it was to fly in the air just to go from place to place during times of war.
Luckily he reached his destination without a hitch as he landed in the massive Elite camp sprawling for at least 25x the area that the Bloodfall camp was and Max knew that this was just one of the several camps that the elites had.
The first thing that Max noticed after landing in the elite camp was the morale of the troops.
Unlike the Bloodfall clan troops that were always on the edge during times of war, the elite troops were much more relaxed.
Soldiers could be seen hugging each other and pulling pranks on one another as the atmosphere inside was much better and chill compared to any other war camp that Max had ever seen.
War was like second nature to the elites, they had been through so many of them that now they could not even be bothered to change their behaviour to a tense one during times of war.
In a way it was extremely reassuring for Max to see a scene like this, as being surrounded by so many humans from Earth, hearing jokes with Earthly context made him feel like he was back amongst his own people. Like he was back home.
" Look what the cat dragged in! " A voice shouted as Max turned to see a towering man approaching him with a massive Glaive over his shoulders.
" Hohoy! Master Of Chaos in the flesh " Max said as he smiled a bright smile looking at the man who was like a bigger brother to him back when he was a student at the elite academy on Earth.
" You look weak, don't the vampires nourish you with blood? " Master of chaos said as he sized Max's normal sized figure down
" I'm not weak, you have just become abnormally big for a human. You look like Hercules part 2 " Max replied as he tried to ignore the man's action of bouncing his giant pectoral muscles in front of him.
" Of Course I'm big, I recently reached tier6 I'm a god now so call me God of chaos " the man said as Max made a surprised expression.
Last time the two had met over a decade ago he was still at tier4. It seems like he had grown a lot over the past few years.
" So why are you here? " Master of chaos asked Max to which Max pointed towards Neatwits tent and said " need his help "
" Agh- sorry, bad timing, the thing is, and I'm telling you but nobody is really supposed to know-
the guildmaster is currently not inside the dimensional battlefield. He's trying to undergo the tier7 promotion test after having levelled like a madman over the past few years.
If you have some top level request to make, meet either Elder Kalash or Sir Jhonny " master of chaos said as he slapped Max hard on his shoulder which made a tight *PAT* sound which brought everyone's attention to what the two men were doing.
Soon voices of ' Isn't that Max? ' could be heard throughout the elite camp as the soldiers recognised Rudra's little brother and the notoriously famous fighter who had decided to not fight alongside the human camp.
" Well thank you for THAT " Max said with a sigh as he rolled his eyes and began walking towards sir Johnny's tent.
Hopefully, his master would not deny him the request of assistance, but unlike guildmaster Neatwit, one could never really be sure of what sir Jhonny was thinking, or what he would do.
One could only pray that everything would work out well in the end when he was involved.
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/// A/N - This bonus sponsored by patron Cervantez91, please thank him in the comments for this one ///