Red could feel the pressure of the knights from above. Like a beating heart, waves of their golden Spiritual Energy bore down upon each and every person in town, like a beating heart, passing even through the shielding formation. Each wave that reached him was like a shock to his psyche, a display of the absolute strength this army wielded.

This was the Imperial Army.

What realm were these people at? Greater Ring Realm? Spirit Core Realm? The cultivation of the imperials had their own distinct methods and terms from normal cultivation, but there were still comparisons to draw upon. For instance, he knew Bernard was someone who was at least in the Spiritual Awakening Realm, the fourth realm of cultivation. That man alone was more than enough to raze this entire place to the ground, formation or no formation.

This many strong cultivators, all gathered in one place. The concept seemed almost impossible to Red, but here they were.

This army had the whole town under their purview, and the youth knew that any attempt to escape from them was pointless. It was likely some of them were paying particular attention to him and Hector, which made matters even more difficult.

Red was at a complete loss at this moment.

Hector snapped at him. “Don’t just stand there! Come with me, we need to find the Bar- ugh!”

The elder tried to walk off before stumbling down to one knee again. He clutched his chest in pain, coughing out blood.

Red frowned and looked over at him. “What do you want to do?”

“B-Bring me to the Baron…” Hector said. “There is still… a way out of this.”

The youth was somewhat skeptical about this, but he knew better than to just wait around. He picked up Hector and put him over his shoulder before shooting off towards the Baron’s Castle uphill.

“What are you doing?!”

Red ignored the man’s complaints and kept running. The fatigue in his body made him feel weak, but at this moment, it seemed like Hector wasn’t much stronger than a dying old man, either.

They had ten minutes to accomplish whatever the elder had planned, and Red wasn’t going to take any chances, either.

…

In the sky above the town, the golden knights watched the townsfolk moving about like ants.

There was almost absolute silence amongst them, only broken by the beating of the wings of their flying horses. At the center of it all was the silver knight, with his arms crossed. It was impossible to discern what he was thinking beneath all of his armor, but his subordinates knew what this posture of their commander meant.

That being almost total disinterest.

“Those two are running towards the castle.”

A female voice from a knight by Bernard’s right side spoke.

The silver knight grunted. “I see.”

He spoke in an uninterested voice, unbefitting the dominating figure most had come to associate him with.

The woman’s helmet shifted, looking over at her commander. “They might try to escape.”

“And how would they do that?”

“I don’t know, but they are probably the people the Bishop told us about. We shouldn’t take any chances.”

Bernard shook his head. “I serve the Emperor, not the church. I have my orders to allow our enemies to surrender, and so that’s what I will do.”

The female knight hesitated. “My Lord…”

“I said my part.” he cut her off. “I was told by the court that the Empire wants more subjects, and not more dead bodies, so that’s what we will give them.”

There was a hint of undisguised derision in the man’s voice.

The woman didn’t push the matter and fell silent once more. They could do nothing more than to count down the seconds as they waited for the town to surrender.

…

Red made his way up the hill amidst the panicking townsfolk. People who were previously woken up by the explosion, now found themselves suddenly at the mercy of the enemy they had been trying to flee all this time. They were confused, but most of all, they were scared.

“Where is the Baron? Why is he not here?”

“They’re going to kill us! We need to surrender!”

“The formation will protect us! It has never fallen before!”

The youth heard many such voices in the street, and yet no one knew for certain what to do. The formation was their only protection, but how could they be sure it would stand against the might of the Empire? Fleeing the town wasn’t a better option either, so the only thing they could do was stand around and panic.

The guards were just as confused as the rest of them, doing their best to contain the crowd. It was clear the knights had given them so little time to press them to a decision and, as such, it was unlikely the Baron would be able to mount any kind of plan in a rush.

Yet, what confused Red was the need for an ultimatum in the first place. These people could probably crush the barrier without problems, but instead, they chose to wait outside for the town’s surrender.

This wasn’t something the youth could focus on right now. The panic in streets allowed him and Hector to run by unnoticed, as everyone else was too worried about their own immediate future to concern themselves with this young man running with a flailing elder on his back.

As he neared the top of the hill, though, Red was quick to notice something was wrong.

There were about a dozen corpses strewn about near the entrance to the castle. The gate proper was completely broken open, hit by an incredible force by the looks of it. Some guards were standing around, examining the bodies of their companions in confusion and uncertain about what to do.

It was clear that a battle had happened here.

“What happened?” Red asked a guard that didn’t even seem to notice his approach.

The man looked over at him in shock, though his expression relaxed once he noticed it was Red. “Oh, it’s you. I don’t really know- wait, who is that on your should-?”

“What happened?” Red cut him off before Hector said anything.

“Ah, we don’t know. We were out to reinforce our companions downhill against those zombies, but they died all of a sudden. We just returned and found the place like this.” the man shook his head with a fearful expression. “The Baron, we don’t know if he…”

Red didn’t listen to the rest of his explanation, shooting off towards the castle. He extended his crimson sense towards the castle, surprised about his discovery.

There were no more than ten fluctuations inside the castle, a place that once housed hundreds of people. Red could only shudder at the thought of the scene he was about to witness.

“Is the Baron alive?!” Hector asked atop his shoulder.

“He is.” Red nodded. “He seems wounded, though.”

“Go to him quickly then!”

The youth was, of course, doing his best already.

As he walked through the broken gate, he was met with a grisly sight. Bodies of guards and servants alike were strewn about everywhere, blood painting the stone walls of their castle as a heavy smell of iron rose to his nostrils. Most of them didn’t even get the opportunity to draw their weapons before being struck down, and the killing wounds in their bodies looked very familiar to Red.

‘Puncture wounds.’

The assassin had struck.

Red rushed through the slaughter scene, ignoring everything else as he made his way to where he felt the Baron’s fluctuation. He saw even more bodies further into the castle, as well as a few survivors who seemed to have gotten lucky enough to not be killed. These people, however, seemed too scared to even notice his approach.

Finally, he arrived at the room where the Baron was - the meeting room he had visited a long time ago. The door here was likewise struck off its hinges, and the whole place seemed to have seen the worst of the battle, cracked stones and debris spread all around the room.

There were some bodies here too, including those of guards that Red recognized. At the center of the battlefield, though, stood the corpse of someone that didn’t seem to belong to this place.

A masked man, all clothed in black, an enormous hole in his back that seemed to have been his fatal wound. He was carrying a rapier in his right that he grasped even in death.

The assassin.

The Baron sat cross-legged not too far away, his body a bloody mess. Atop his lap, he held what looked to be a stone totem that glowed with white energy at the moment. The man seemed focused on the item, but he noticed the approach of Red in the room.

He smiled towards the boy, blood pooling at the side of his mouth. “You were wrong. It wasn’t Rickard.”

“Let me down!” Hector struggled on Red’s shoulders, and the youth decided to let him on his feet.

The Baron seemed surprised to see the elder’s figure. “You’re here? I wanted to help you once I heard the explosions from your sect, but…”

“It doesn’t matter.” Hector cut him off. “You wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”

The man gave him a sad smiled. “Your sect, did they-”

“That doesn’t matter. I need you to do something for me.”

The Baron frowned. “What is it?”

“I need you to send him away.” Hector pointed at Red.

The youth was confused by this, but he remained silent.

The Baron, on the other hand, looked completely shocked. “How do you know?”

“A good friend figured this out a long time ago and told me.” Hector shook his head. “But none of that matters right now. I need you to do this for me.”

The man hesitated. “I can’t. If I do it, the energy of the formation will be spent.”

“They’re going to destroy it either way, you fool!”

The Baron remained steady. “Maybe so, but they are in for a huge surprise if they think it’s going to be easy.”

“It doesn’t matter what kind of tricks you have prepared for this, all you’re going to do is delay the inevitable!”

“If I delay long enough, the Crystal Sky Sect will arrive to help us.”

“No, they won’t.” Hector shook his head. “Bernard is here.”

The Baron’s expression paled even further. “How…? Why did he…?”

“I don’t know, but that means even if your formation can delay him long enough, no one from the sects will come over to help you.”

The man seemed to have fallen into despair at hearing this. “Then this town… My people…”

“There’s nothing you can do to save them.” Hector said. “If they survive, they will be indoctrinated into the Celestial Church.”

The Baron fell completely silent at this, trying to process this information.

“I’m sorry, friend, but there’s no time to grieve.” Hector shook his head. “I need you to send Red away.”

“… Why him? Why should I not send any of these other innocent people in his place?”

“Because he’s also innocent.” the elder said. “And because I’m asking this one last favor out of you.”

The Baron shook, looking over between Red and Hector. He shook his head. “It won’t work. It takes time to send someone away and they will notice what I’m doing.”

“I can buy you time.” Hector said with a steely gaze.

The man frowned. “How?”

“It doesn’t matter. I just need you to do this for me, as a friend.”

The Baron went quiet once more until he eventually shook his head with a helpless smile. “You are a very opportunistic man, Hector. To mention something like friendship only when it suits you most…”

“Will you do it?” Hector asked.

“I will, but not for you. But for him.” The man looked at Red. “You are a brilliant young man, and you don’t deserve to die here. I will send you away from this place, but on one condition.”

Red, who was listening to all of this in silence, knew what was about to come. “What condition?”

“Make the Empire pay for what they have done here today.”

The youth didn’t respond immediately. However, under Hector and the Baron’s intense gazes, he knew that there was only one choice here.

“I promise that I will make them pay for this.”