After the first group of 3000 cavaliers left for the southern regions, the place where the pre-war ceremony was hosted got noisy and a little chaotic; everyone was doing the last bit of preparation before the expedition. People were shouting, horses were neighing, and the wheels of carts and chariots were squeaking. The important figures at the Military Headquarters, noble families, and royal families all appeared around the troops to send them off. Dominguez and his parties showed up as well.
Fei was invited to come to the ceremony as well, but he didn't show up.
In the cold weather, the moisture that left the bodies via breathing immediately froze and turned into the fog-like white "steam". As more than 60,000 people breathed, these "steam" quickly went up to the sky and created a big dark "cloud".
As the bugle sounded again, the three main battle legions started to march as well.
The scene was magnificent.
Fei was seeing such a scene in person for the first time. The spears and polearms were as tall and dense as a forest, and the soldiers marched on like the waves in the ocean. A serious and murderous atmosphere appeared. Tens of thousands of soldiers were all emitting such a sensation, and such sensation got more powerful as they were combined. Although it was intangible, it was truly spectacular. Even the "cloud" in the sky got a huge hole in it as it got broken by this sensation. It was a shocking phenomenon.
This aggregated murderous sensation even made Fei who was a powerful master warrior feel tiny and insignificant.
The troops rushed by like a blood flood. At this time, Fei finally saw the [Zenit's God of War], Arshavin, who was surrounded by his elite guards. The man was riding on a white horse and wearing a shiny black armor; he looked confident and proud.
Under the classic Zenit royal flag that had a two-headed polar bear on it, the commanding general of more than 60,000 soldiers looked majestic and pressing. His every single action drew the attention of the soldiers, and he looked invincible in his current form.
Fei clearly sensed that the murderous and broad sensations of all the soldiers were somehow enveloping this [Zenit's God of War]. It felt like all of the soldiers' strength were aggregated onto this man.
Under such boost, Arshavin's not-so-tall figure looked huge, and a terrifying and glorious sensation that Fei had never sensed came off of Arshavin.
Suddenly, it seemed like this [Zenit's God of War] also sensed something. He turned his head around and stared at Fei. He also noticed Paris who was standing by Fei.
The atmosphere between Fei and Arshavin was very subtle.
Although they were still quite far away, Fei seemed to have heard the "Humph" that came out of Arshavin's nose.
As if that sound carried the strength of all the soldiers, Fei felt like it was a condemn from the gods that came down from the sky. It made Fei also felt a little indefensible.
This was the moment that Fei realized Arshavin didn't get his nickname for nothing.
Arshavin wasn't a bright character in Fei's eyes. Although the man was a six-star warrior, he was only on par with the Executive Knights; he wasn't a top master warrior in the empire. After Fe defeated the four Executive Knights, he no longer treated this [Zenit's God of War] as a threat.
But at this moment, Fei realized that Arshavin's nickname didn't come from his individual strength; it was from his military commanding abilities, it was from his confidence and strategy of controlling tens of thousands of soldiers.
Arshavin was only [Zenit's God of War] when he had tens of thousands of soldiers under his command. Like a [God of War], he was able to predict the enemy's next move, and he was able to make plans to conquer everything. He was truly invincible.
Fei felt like he was slightly inferior to Arshavin at a moment like this.
Fei asked himself a lot of questions such as: "Can I be as confident and tightly grasped the strength of tens of thousands of soldiers when I'm in command just like this prince?"
The answer was obviously no.
Fei was a little distracted by his own thoughts.
"Hehehe, what? You are also shocked by the Elder Prince?"
The smart Paris saw Fei's expression and knew what he was thinking about. She spoke gently as she tried to comfort Fei.
"Alexander, you don't need to be better than everyone at everything. There isn't a perfect person in this world; even the gods are not perfect. There are a lot of people in the empire that don't like the Elder Prince just like me, but everyone has to admit that Arshavin is one of the most promising and proficient generals Zenit had since its establishment. In terms of only leading the troops and engaging in wars, no one in Zenit is the Elder Prince's match except Emperor Yassin himself. A man like him is born for wars. All of his talents came from the gods. As long as he has soldiers under his command, he would be the star of the show. He would be the [God of War]!"
As Fei heard the heartfelt comments Paris had about Arshavin, Fei gradually realized that he had never truly understood Arshavin. There were many people and many things that Fei didn't have the chance to understand.
However –
"Doesn't matter how many soldiers he is commanding, I will break them with my fists!"
Fei quickly got out of the negative emotions, and his confidence boosted as he clenched his fists.
He understood the essence. There were many paths to success. Perhaps that Arshavin's path was to command armies, but Fei liked another path – he didn't want to rely on others for safety including his henchmen.
Real powerful warriors didn't need soldiers and troops; they only needed themselves.
Only being invincible individually meant invincible forever.
"I have my own path!"
Paris didn't expect Fei to break free from the presence that the Elder Princess created with the help of his soldiers.
For some reason, she suddenly thought of someone else –
Six years ago, that handsome young man who liked having the disabled dog in his arms stood on the defense wall of St. Petersburg and watched [Zenit's God of War] coming back home after another victory. It was the first time that the two of them met, and Dominguez only seemed to be shocked for a split second as well. He then yawned and murmured: "Boring... raising my puppy is better than leading the troops..."
"Oh, I'm curious about one more thing. In about half a month, the battle of the Martial Saints of the two empires is going to take place. Since the two empires are in a war, is the battle going to happen on time?" Fei switched the topic as he looked up at the Martial Saint Mountain that was high-up in the sky.
"On Azeroth Continent, nothing can affect the battle between the Martial Saints once the [Martial Saint Invitation] had been issued. The outburst of the war would only make it more meaningful." Paris fixed her fluttering hair and answered: "The battle between the Martial Saints would greatly affect the state of the war. The battle between them is just as important as the actual war happening in the southern regions."
"Then do you know what is the likeliness of Martial Saint Krasic winning?" Fei asked.
"No one can defeat Mr. Krasic!" Paris responded firmly.
Fei was silent.
He really didn't know this Martial Saint, and he didn't know how powerful this Mr. Krasic was. A Moon-Class Elite? A Sun-Class Lord? It felt like every citizen of Zenit worshiped this Martial Saint. The craze even made Paris who was a really intelligent person to have complete confidence in him.
"Who is this man?" Fei wondered.
After they talked about some non-important stuff, Fei left first.
"Alexander, remember your promise." Paris suddenly said as she stared at Fei's back.
"Huh?"
"Remember? As long as I ask, you have to help Dominguez his highness out, even if it is only one strike." Paris said in a loud voice. Fei felt like he was hallucinating; he felt like Paris was waiting for his response, and she was a little nervous to hear the answer.
"Eh."
...
...
The reinforcement troops of Zenit crossed Moro Mountains like a black dragon, and they disappeared on the horizon as hundreds of thousands of citizens prayed for them.
After Fei left, he didn't hurry back to Chambord. He went undercover and wandered around the camp area. After he observed all the kingdoms that made into the final round of matches for about one hour, he walked to the campsite of the level 6 affiliated kingdom Byzantine.
After Fei showed his identity, the alerted Byzantinian were all surprised.
Fei quickly received a warm welcome, and the young king Constantine even rushed out of his tent before he had the chance of putting on shoes. He and his queen Izabella both came out of the tent and greeted Fei with the highest honor.
Almost all the people at Byzantine treated Fei like the lord and savior.