Way of the Knights

Chapter 936: Interrupted

The broadcast of General Grimm of course caught the attention of the crowd.

Despite their horrible situation, they still watched it with rapt attention and gave the general the benefit of a doubt.

At this point, the news about the war is already known by most people, so when the General pointed that out, nobody was really surprised. After all, their situation wouldn’t decline this much if there weren’t anything happening behind the scenes.

When they heard that that their God Emperor is fighting someone extremely strong, that surprised them.

Truth to be told, they’re used to their race being the dominant one. Being the oppressor and the winner is something that they’re used to. That’s the whole reason behind their prosperity to begin with.

But to think that there was someone out there who can match their God Emperor and keep him occupied enough to be unable to contact them, was something that is really shocking to them.

When the General said that they’ve underestimated humans, this words resonated within them. They’re grown arrogant indeed and because of that, they are suffering greatly.

With the General’s words however, their fighting spirit was roused. He said that humans were fragile. Unlike them, they aren’t immortal. This meant that they have a chance to fight back and recover from this.

There is a chance that they could still win…unfortunately, it seems that Humanity doesn’t have any plans on staying put while they regain their morale.

The interruption of the broadcast shocked everyone. A human appeared right in front of General Grimm. It was a middle aged man wearing a crimson scarf and a leather armor. There’s a pair of swords strapped on his waist and his arms were crossed as he stared at the General with a dull face.

“How have you been since we last met, General Grimm? Is it just me or look older than the last time I saw you?”

“You!!” Grimm’s soul shook to its core.

He should’ve realized it the moment he heard that voice. That same haunting voice that promised certain death to him.

“Yes, me. Surprised?” Mark sneered as he leaned at a nearby pillar. “It hasn’t been long since we last met. Hardly a year, maybe? Ah, whatever. But you do older than before.”

“…”

“It must’ve been difficult to hold down the fort on your own huh?” Mark continued, “Especially when you’re surrounded by idiots. Ah, you poor soul.”

“How did you get in here!? Guards!?”

The General sounded strong and dominant. He doesn’t appear to be intimidated by the human in front of him.

…truly could’ve fooled everyone though, unfortunately he can’t fool Mark.

Mark can smell fear from him. He knew that the General is completely terrified out of his mind. The trauma he left to him during their last meeting is still fresh. It only due to his experience that he can bluff his way out of this but that doesn’t have any effect on Mark.

“Don’t bother calling, General.” Mark stretched his neck slightly, “You’re loyal soldiers already died under the Crimson Affliction. They’re not coming to save you. Even if they’re alive at this point, they don’t have the ability to save you.”

“What is it that you plan to achieve by coming here?” The poor General asked as his back slowly sweated coldly.

“Oh, nothing much.” Mark shrugged, “See, I was strolling around your streets and I happened to see the broadcast. I figured that I should see it in person for a better experience. Don’t worry, I don’t have much to do anyway so it’s fine.”

“…”

“Ahh, who am I kidding. This isn’t my style at all…” Mark snorted as he tapped his finger on his arms. “In truth, I’m here to correct you. I saw you spouting bullshit from a mile away and I just couldn’t take it so I came here. There. Satisfied?”

“Correct me?” The General had the audacity to scoff. “Why? Did I hit a sore spot? As far as I know everything that I said is true.”

“Really?” Mark sneered, “On what basis then? Pray tell, dear General? How come you’re so sure that you’re intel about us is true? How many humans have you captured ever since this war began? Mind telling me?”

The General’s mouth firmly pressed into a thin line. Seeing that, Mark scoffed.

“If you’re not willing to say, then why don’t I tell everyone for you sake. It should be fine right? After all, I’m human.” Mark leaned forward and raised a finger.

“One, General.” He said, “You’ve only captured one human so far, and that happened even before this war began. In fact, the only reason why your race got to know the existence of ours was because you lured that pure human into thinking that you were the good guys.”

“You stripped him off of his flesh, replaced it with yours and used him to scour as much information about us as you could.”

“The moment you smelled the scent of fresh prey, you lot lost your sanity, including that God Emperor of yours, and you began plotting against us. You wanted to conquer us to stroke your nonsensical egos and satiate your overwhelming greed.”

“Isn’t this the case? Dear, General Grimm?”

The people who were watching the broadcast reeled in shock. They looked at the General with disbelief in their faces, yet seeing how the General kept his mouth shut and just looked at the human with a dead stare, that pretty much confirmed it.

The hope that just re-ignited within them mere moments ago is already being tested.

“…we felt it you see.” Mark stated, “We knew you guys were coming. We knew how much trouble you and your people will bring to us. That’s why we prepared.”

“We never had intentions of fighting you. Frankly enough, we already knew that your race existed long before you lot even knew about us. But did we come knocking on your door, asking you to lay down your lives for us? No, right? We stayed put and minded our own business.”

“The distance between your home and mine was originally far enough for our interest to never intersect. We merely just wanted to exist and we were satisfied that way. But you…you and that tyrant God Emperor yours didn’t want it that way.”

“In hindsight, we should’ve already known. You lot are conquerors after all. But unfortunately, even though we tried our best to stay as far away from your radar as possible, you still managed to catch a whiff of our existence. And as expected, you lot wasted no time and immediately followed your instincts.”

“Really…how crass. You’re no different from beasts who smelled blood.” Mark sneered.

“…”

“Though, I’d admit…what you said about us was mostly real.” Mark shrugged, “It is true that we’re Immortals. Only a select few of us can regenerate flesh as swiftly as you all could do, even then we’d still fall short.”

“We can reincarnate, believe it or not. In fact, ours is much better than how it works for you lot but still, since we’re humans we will never be as physically strong as you lot.”

“A direct clash between our races isn’t unfair to begin with. Which is why we opted a different strategy to even out the playing field.” 

“You would understand right? I mean, this is war after all, and you’re a General.” Mark scoffed, “It’s surely not our fault that you all weren’t prepared for any of this. After all, weren’t you guys the one who came to us? You guys wanted this war to happen right? Now, why are you crying when you noticed that you’re losing? That doesn’t make sense.” 

“You wouldn’t happen to think that we would just sit around and wait for our doom to arrive even if we knew about it, wouldn’t you General?”

Mark’s words pierced the hearts of many. All of his statements are all true. It is indeed stupid to think that their enemies would just lay flat and accept defeat even though they knew it was coming all along. 

Not everyone shared the same sentiments about this whole war though. Most of the Abyssals who are suffering right now are openly claiming that they didn’t want any of this. But to the eyes of others, this is just them washing their hands, just in case there’s a chance of survival. A way out, more or less. 

“Oh, and uh, one more thing…” Mark adjusted his posture, “Your God Emperor isn’t battling our Boss.”

“Our Boss just trapped him in the tower. That’s all there is too it. Don’t glorify that, it’s embarrassing you know. Plus, our Big Boss even told him the method of breaking out of there but your God Emperor is too stupid and arrogant to comply, that’s why he’s still up there. Honestly, he’s pathetic and hopeless. Why did you guys even choose him to be your leader?” 

Mark stretched his body for a bit and said: 

“Oh well, I’ve talked long enough. My final point is this…”

“We could’ve blown up the Forbidden Ultima Core right from the get go and ended this war before it even began. But we didn’t. You guys wanted a fight right? Then we’ll do it according to our rules.” 

“Yep, that’s about it. Now, General. You’ve lived long enough. Time to die.”