Chapter 641 The Final Stage 3
Silence fell over the cave as these words were uttered by a lowly Unnamed.
Yet, they all felt that he was right. They had looked like mistakes, and although they did notice that something might be wrong, they were too busy worrying about saving their own lives to stop and wonder whether they should be concerned about something else.
All they cared about was that they were alive and in the battle, and they had a higher chance of being selected and achieving all of their dreams.
Money, fame, power- all of them would be theirs, and they would be able to soar into the skies in one go.
With that goal in mind, the rest only wanted their leader to set his grievance aside so that they could continue.
Only 2 days were left, and among them, only 25 Fighters remained.
13 belonged to those who followed Ace and Jasper. They were a mix of bootlickers and those with aspirations who simply admired those stronger than them.
12 of them were Unnamed, and their motivation was one and the same: to shed that title.
The Glorious had all been wiped out except for their leader, who wasn't really saddened because of that, as he hadn't cared much for them anyway. After all, the Glorious were mostly just a bunch of those with background who didn't have too much talent.
And of course, the leader of the Unnamed was still there, along with Tall, bringing their total number up to 29.
They were a haggard group that just wanted it all to end. And right now, Ace was in the way of that, so even though they were wary of his power, they looked at him with eyes which made it clear what they felt.
Yes, something is afoot.
Yes, we were convinced to betray and let others die or teleport away.
But that doesn't mean you should make a fuss. Just continue leading us till the end.
And that…was also the 'hope' they had received when they had been approached by Tall and the leader of the Unnamed to betray others in the first place.
They had been told that when two factions remained, everything would stop, as two factions were at least needed to fend off the monstrosities and live.
They believed that they were at the finish line, and there was no strength greater than that which was displayed by someone when they thought they were so close to victory.
Ace saw all these varying emotions in the eyes that were looking at him.
Slowly, he began to understand what he had been ignoring all along.
Meanwhile, Daneel was closely watching Ace.
The past few days had been…fun, to say the least.
Just as expected, it wasn't too hard to convince the Fighters to betray others so that they would have a higher chance of winning.
At the end of the day, honor had no value, and this was something that would painfully be clear to anyone who was watching.
As for the Fighters who survived, he had expected that they would be like this- where they just wanted Ace to sit the f*ck down and continue leading them to safety, while helping to protect them.
Of course, he didn't do those things, but it was true that he was one of the fastest, so he had been instrumental in distracting quite a few monstrosities.
If they knew that he was only doing that so that he could use them all if needed, they might have changed their opinions of him, but the truth was that he was no different than them.
So, when given the assurance that only two factions would survive, and after seeing that there were only two left, none of these Fighters were willing to come forward and expose what had happened.
Even if they had tried…Daneel had a backup plan for that.
Thankfully, he hadn't had to resort to it.
However, Ace figuring it out and doing something out of his expectations was something that Daneel did not want.
Any plan was not perfect. Variables always existed, and the true skill of a strategist lay in accounting for those variables, and being capable of quickly changing the plan if needed.
At this moment, Daneel realized that he needed to do just that.
According to his original estimates, Ace was a dumb, privileged piece of sh*t who wouldn't be smart enough to do anything even if he found out that something was wrong.
Well, there had been no way to completely make the three massacres appear natural, so it had been a given that the ruse would be revealed sooner or later.
Yet, now…Daneel wasn't so sure, mainly because he had seen the skill of the man during these past few days when he had made the right calls to save as many as possible repeatedly.
There was a small risk that he might do something that could derail Daneel's plan.
And Daneel was having none of that.
So…in that moment, he decided that he would bring forward the conclusion.
During all this time, Daneel had refrained from using Faxul's and Kellor's consciousnesses any more as it might make the Heroes more suspicious. The previous incidents could be passed off using some reason or the other, but if the same repeated here, they would see the pattern of a form of Mind Control, which would be disastrous for Daneel.
However…that didn't mean that he didn't have another knight on the chessboard.
Ace knew that he couldn't do anything at that moment. He needed to confer with his brother, but first, they had to leave this cave as no place was safe for such a long time.
Already, the roars that were ever-present all around the battlefield sounded like they were getting closer, so Ace first called for them all to disperse into the formation and move east.
Daneel smiled as he saw this.
He might have had to panic if Ace had insisted on doing something then and there.
Yet, the moment the man had decided to deal with it after a little bit, he had lost.
Of course, he didn't know it.
Hiding the smile that was present at the corner of his mouth, Daneel covertly left behind a mark on a tree that they passed in a location that would only be found if someone knew where to look.
And that someone…approached the tree and noticed the mark not even a minute after the departure of the group.
…
"Who could it be, Ace? They're incompetent Fighters! It's natural that they f*cked up! Hell, I would be surprised if they didn't f*ck up!"
While bounding through the forest while constantly looking around to make sure that there weren't any threats that might have been missed by the scouting team, Ace and Jasper were having an intense discussion.
Pressing his lips into a thin line with frustration, Ace replied, "I don't know! But they're all acting shifty. I didn't see it before because I didn't think that they could be capable of it. And even if they were, I didn't care, as all I wanted was that as many as possible would survive so that we could use them to defend ourselves during the final battle. But now, I'm not so sure. If one of them is capable of somehow manipulating everyone so much, maybe they are a threat to be cautious of. It looked to me as if all of them are guilty. All of them did things to result in others dying. But now, they don't want me to bring it up, almost as if they are sure that the same won't happen with them. What if…that person promised them all that when 2 remained, no more scheming and betraying would be necessary?"
Jasper had always been relatively simple-minded when compared to his brother.
So, unable to wrap his head around the complex machinations being referred to by his brother, he said, "You're surely overthinking it, Ace. Even if you're not, so what? What can you do now? They're all dead already."
However, his response looked like it fell on deaf ears, as Ace looked like he had entered a trance during which he seemed to have realized something.
"If I were in his shoes…what would I do next? I would have to give the promise that two would survive, or there would be too much of a risk of my plan being exposed. After all, plans with ambiguous endings would make people skittish and fear that they would be targeted later on, too. But after two are left…what if I want to continue? What if I want to make even more factions die? Then the best method would be to…"
Just as his thoughts were about to allow him to reach a horrific conclusion, a scout ran in his direction with a message.
"Leader, a monstrosity has been spotted in front of us! We have to change our path right now! It's as if it came out of nowhere!"
Hearing this, Ace panicked for a bit, but he calmed himself, as he felt confident that he had been able to figure it out before the final day.
If he were the mastermind, and if he were following that plan, he would make the last step take place on the last day.
So, calming down his rapidly beating heart, he called over the communicators who were running nearby and asked them to send the message that they should head back in the direction they had come from.
Monstrosities had already been spotted on the other two sides, so, currently, the rear was the best option.
Everything looked fine for a few minutes, but another scout soon ran toward Ace frantically.
Seeing him, Ace's face immediately turned dark.
"Leader, another monstrosity has appeared in front of us again! And the one behind us is still chasing! What should we do?!"
"…"
The scout got a confused expression on his face as he saw the leader erupt with rage.
"CALL A HALT! WE MAKE A STAND TO STALL THEM, AND THEN WE SHALL DISPERSE!"
Nodding, the scout ran away, as the formerly dignified top Fighter in the sect looked like he would die from an aneurysm at any moment.
Indeed, Ace was infuriated.
He had figured out the plan, but alas, he had been too late.
When only two factions were left…the best option was to obliterate all of them in one go.
Even if they went east or west, he was sure that they would only find more monstrosities.
So…the only thing to do was fight.
If this 'mastermind' thought that he could handle him so easily, then he would be very, very surprised.
As soon as all the Fighters gathered, Ace spoke to them in a cold tone.
"Split into two and begin stalling on both sides. As soon as it becomes clear that an escape is possible, disperse and run away. But beware, there might be more waiting. And if any of you wishes to speak to me, I'll be waiting right here. The other two leaders will go to the other two sides."
The last command was a bit strange, but everyone obliged and split apart instantly, knowing that time was crucial.
The leader of the unnamed could also sense that something was off, but he left as he didn't want to be in an unprotected place.
If they stalled in those two directions, wasn't the center unsafe?
All alone, Ace waited for the mastermind to come out.
And soon…a silhouette appeared from the shadow of a tree near him, startling him in the process.
Yet, he had been expecting it.
'Tall' walked toward him calmly, but there was something…weird about him.
However, that calm walk was interrupted by a familiar roar from the left, where a monstrosity could be seen closing in.
He prepared to say that he had discovered everything, and that he would 'take care' of him as soon as the battle was done, and that he would have no more chances to manipulate anyone, anymore.
Only…what happened next baffled him so much that he began to question everything he knew about the world.
"One second."
Saying so, 'Tall' actually…ran in the direction of the Champion-level monster.
What the f*ck was he doing? Was he loose in his head? No Warrior could…
BOOOOOOMMMM!!!!
A single punch.
A single punch to the head was all that was needed, and it even resulted in a shockwave that flattened all the trees around them.
When the dust settled, the monstrosity that had terrorized many over the past month could be seen…trapped inside the earth, with only its massive shoulders outside the ground.
And as for 'Tall', he was right in front of the grotesque thing which kept struggling in order to get out and kill the puny thing in front of it, but it couldn't.
Putting his hands on his hips, 'Tall' said, "How rude of you. Can't you see that we were going to have an epic back-and-forth which would have ended in that guy being gobsmacked? Now, look what you've done! The atmosphere is ruined! Ruined, I say!"