Gaius’ demonstration to Marshal Marie had been successful in convincing her and Aziz that they shouldn’t be hanging around when the boy took to the fields of battle. As a result, he had been worry-free about the next battle…or would have been, if not for the fact that Paragon Ying Xin herself had paid a visit to him in midnight to hand down new orders.

“Clear the left wing of any watchful eyes, and then return before the Lifespring’s assault at dawn to participate in battle,” Gaius muttered. To date, however, he’d crushed thousands of small fry in battle, and around a hundred or so Knights from the Lifespring’s forces, but they had always returned in full force afterwards.

No, what clearing any watchful eyes here meant was to normalise his nightly assault on the handful of enemies here. Paragon Ying Xin, in her briefing, wanted him to keep killing the foes here every day, at a set timing, to turn his attacks into something no more bothersome than a drizzle.

The great gods, by virtue of their sheer longevity, fell into routines easily. This was a theory that had steadily gained ground — the Lifespring’s attacks on Feng-Lang were becoming incredibly predictable. Whether it was Conrah’s ploy or something, however, Gaius had no idea, but his presence here was to lay down some preparations for Operation Spring Fury.

Thus far, the battlefield had been confined to the stretch of sea between Eo-Seu and Feng-Lang. The sides had been rather peaceful — sure, there were a few skirmishes here and there, but for the most part, attacks from both the left and the right were unattested to.

Gaius was here to change that around. There were others like him, most of them Knights, who also had been given a route to clear. This would go on every day up and including Spring Fury’s launch.

He narrowed his eyes as he spotted the first squad. The moonlight gleamed brightly, reflecting off the patrol’s bright blue armour. They were very obvious targets, something Gaius could easily off with a few shots. If not for the fact he was explicitly told to avoid using the Moonshot for these attacks, Gaius would have started shooting by now.

As it was, however, he had little choice but to close in. His body, already melding in with the dark night, vanished from sight entirely as Gaius called upon a myriad of abilities. His invisible form reappeared a few metres behind the patrol, which was moving mechanically from point to point.

His Dragoon ability came to life, creating a blade of qi that stormed towards the patrol’s exposed rear. Wind shrieked, its approach alerting the squad of Knights of an attack, but their dulled instincts had just made them turn around to look at the threat. Armour and flesh came apart as the Dragoon carved carnage through the squad, leaving nothing intact behind.

“That was...easier than I expected,” Gaius muttered. His purpose here was to make a nightly harassment something expected, predictable — so he wasn’t expected to give off a stellar performance. Kill everyone you see, and run afterwards — those were his orders. Nothing more, nothing else.

Shaking his head, Gaius blinked over to a small guard post, which was actually a small, floating tower of solid water. A small number of the Lifespring’s troops were sitting around the area, unaware that a small force of what essentially was assassins were flitting around the area.

Gaius noted the absence of awareness, logging it into his mind for his report back. The Plenum had been wondering if the Lifespring was taking personal command and micromanaging the battlefield. To some extent, the ability to pinpoint Gaius’ location and teleport troops over to attack him revealed that the one overseeing the Lifespring’s forces was paying attention to the battlefield.

But whether it was the Lifespring himself was another question. And more importantly, how alert was the overseer? Would he or she pay attention to a small number of troops dying, or a random guard post going dark? Gaius and the others were told to report back with their own opinion.

The boy took out the Terminus and looked at the odd guardpost. The soldiers manning it weren’t all that much, and since the soldiers on it weren’t flying, most of them were Squires. It wouldn’t take much effort to kill them, but the boy didn’t want to be too efficient at it. The overall goal of the nightly attacks was to establish the attackers as a bunch of capricious people, oddballs who just wanted more kills.

I think I have the right tool for the job. Gaius’ time in the South had netted him a few Engines. Some were more useful, others niche…and there was downright odd.

Background Music. He’d gotten this Ability through assimilating a very odd Engine, and like its name described, it enabled the user to make others in a certain radius around him hear music in their heads. It was a mental…attack, for lack of a better word, which meant that the boy himself couldn’t hear what music the others had in their heads.

Gaius triggered the Ability with a single thought, and as once, the soldiers stationed on the guard post looked around in confusion. Tens of gazes fell onto Gaius as he dispelled his invisibility, and like a maniac, the boy caressed the Terminus in his right hand lovingly.

“It’s time to earn more kills,” the boy said out loud. The Terminus glinted, and the boy landed onto the structure of solid water with a mighty impact. Metal rung as the soldiers on the tower drew their weapons, and the fight began a moment later.

The tower shook as Gaius closed in on the nearest target, who moved to intercept the Terminus. If he’d succeeded, it was possible that the boy would be forced to stop for a second or so, enough for the others to swamp him…except that Gaius was pretty much a Knight, and that he was using the Terminus.

Metal and flesh fell apart as the boy cut through the hapless defender with ease. Transforming into a whirl, Gaius sprung at the next closest soldier. The Dragoon erupted from his body once again, and he relinquished his manual control over the blade, letting its automatic target selection take over. Blood blossomed as the mass of qi slammed into target after target, a horrifying sight if Gaius hadn’t been engaged in battle himself.

As the one-sided battle continued on, Gaius couldn’t help but feel a measure of pity. These soldiers were rushing at him, despite the obvious difference in power. It was evident that they were behaving based on something like an algorithm; they were basically machines given flesh.

Even if they were sentient, Gaius was sure that their consciousness had been overtaken by whatever settings their bodies had been programmed with. It was…disturbing to watch, and even more disturbing to be in the middle of the silent frenzy.

Repressing his feelings of sorrow, Gaius raised his blade.