"Shit. Shit. What is going on?!" Kieran, who was in the midst of the approaching bandits, gritted his teeth in confusion and cursed.
This was an opportunity for them to deal a huge blow to the enemy's morale and yet, they had ended up damaging theirs.
From the information Kieran got from his spies and scouts, the strength of the enemy forces was supposed to be at the mid-rank of the first-stage of the Guardian realm. Although this was quite impressive, it was nothing special so Kieran was convinced that with his superior numerical force that ratioed the enemy 5:1, he would win. However, nothing of the sort was happening. On the contrary, the targets burst out with a much greater force than the previously identified one, despite still maintaining the same mana levels.
This was even more so for one of the enemy commanders who was able to take on both Viper and Long with ease, injuring the duo in the process without taking any.
When Kieran had ordered Viper to take on Aaron, he had secretly informed Long to tag along as the value of this first clash was immense and would determine how they proceed from thereon. Kieran wanted to make sure that even if the twenty man unit took on heavy casualties, Aaron would end up dead, and having Long attack in the dark was supposed to ensure that.
Unlike Viper and the others, Long didn't possess a typical mainstream element. Instead, he was a mist element user, and one with a derivative at that. His derivative was 'see-through mist', a very unique derivative of the mist element that could hide his presence from visual detection. Although it didn't sound like anything special, it was one of the desired elements for organizations to train special guards, spies,bounty hunters and assassins.
In fact, Long wasn't originally a member of the Purple Snake gang, but was a member of the red organization backing them, and was sent to guard and assist Kieran. It was because of this, as well as the fact that Kieran had witnessed him fight, that he was confident that the combination of Viper in the open and Long in the dark would be able to eliminate Aaron, who had been confirmed to be just a mid rank third-stage Guardian. Even a peak rank third-stage Guardian would suffer under the duo's attacks.
Now though,thing had ended up opposite of what Kieran had predicted.
Kieran could see that Aaron's mana level was the same as a mid rank third-stage Guardian, but his body's movement, reactions and strength was above that. It looked more like a peak rank or even a fourth-stage Guardian's.
'What's really happening? Who are they?'
. . .
"Information is power." Asher suddenly started speaking to his teammates.
"This should be a phrase you've probably heard a lot. However, some of you find it difficult to wield and utilize this 'power' appropriately."
Watching as the twenty bandits were being annihilated by the four mages, with Aaron suppressing both Viper and Long, Asher continued.
"The typical understanding of the quote in regards to battle is that with the complete knowledge of your opponent's capabilities and strength, you automatically wield an upper hand in the battle. Although true, this is just a plain usage of the quote. Dare I call it a a poor understanding of the line. The way I see it, information is power, both in its true and false natures." Asher smiled.
"I don't understand, young master." Luther said.
"If two generals face each other in war with an army, a major deciding factor of the battle is usually the degree of information one wields against the other and their usage of it. However, apart from trying to gain detailed information on the other, there's another strategy that could be put into place to gain victory; misinformation. If you can fool your enemy and feed them false information, the preparations of the opponent would be for naught and you would be able to crush them with ease. As you can clearly see here." Asher replied.
With Asher's explanation, Luther and the other mages finally understood why he had ordered them to fight using only the physical and mana capabilities of their currently suppressed self in the early days of the mission. They had initially presumed that it was training routine, but unbeknowst to them, Asher wanted his men to fool the enemy into thinking that what they showed was their true power.
The second and first-stage Guardian mages in the team, irrespective of their rank, were suppressed to mid rank of the first stage of the Guardian realm, however, they retained their physical power and advancements from the previous stage. But Asher's command had forced them to suppress even that and face the enemy as if they were truly first-stage Guardian mages. Although this made their fights a bit tougher, they were trained in the way of the military so, even five bandits at the same level couldn't defeat them.
This created a misconception in the minds of the spies from the Purple Snake gang; a misconception that their enemies were just mid rank first-stage Guardian mages with four second-stage Guardian mages and two third-stage Guardian mages of the same ranks from the Arnhaunt family. But in truth, it wasn't exactly so. As a result, the enemy had made preparations to face a force of the above listed strengths when their targets were actually much stronger than that.
"Like I said, information is power, both in its true and false natures. Or better yet, 'information is power, but misinformation is key'." Asher said.
" 'Information is power, but misinformation is key'." Luther silently muttered.
Meanwhile, Kieran's troop was still proceeding towards them and was already quite close. However, they would first have to go past the battlefield where Aaron and his group faced off Viper, Long and the twenty bandits. Nonetheless, Asher wasn't worried. Defeating Viper and Long wasn't an issue for Aaron and would aid in Asher's plan. Even if Kieran's men attacked them, it wouldn't be a problem for Aaron's group to escape.
"Savia, it looks like you and Neto would be free." Asher said.
Neto was one of the third-stage Guardian team captains, the one who was meant to take on Long.
Originally, just like Asher had said, Neto and Savia were meant to handle the opponents in front. Although their mana levels were at the second-stage of the Guardian realm, their physical improvements were still at the third-stage. Also, they had undergone special training unlike the bandits, so while it seemed like they were handicapped against those opponents, in truth, they were on equal footing.
Asher had hoped that the intense battle they would have faced would help them improve their skills dramatically, but Aaron had now 'stolen' their targets.
"No matter. Savia, you take on Tarik while Neto would just join the others in decimating the bandits. However, Savia, don't underestimate your opponent. There's a reason why my initial arrangement was for Aaron to face him." Asher warned.
"Luther, you stick with Kieran. He should be the one with the glasses. Heads up though, that guy isn't a peak third-stage Guardian mage but a fourth-stage Guardian mage."
Luther, Savia, and the others were shocked by this abrupt announcement.
The difference between a third-stage Guardian mage and a fourth-stage Guardian mage couldn't be more obvious. The difference in both stages and phases, as well as the fact that the fourth-stage was the beginning of nobility[1]. For there to be someone like that in the bandits' rank meant that the Purple Snake gang wasn't an ordinary group and they had underestimated quite well. Even a typical quasi-red organization shouldn't have such a strong leader.
"There can only be one explanation for this, the red organization backing them." Asher narrowed his eyes.
"Make sure you keep Kieran alive."
"Understood, young master." Luther nodded.
"Everyone else, prepare to move out."
. . .
On the other side, Kieran had given orders for another team of twenty bandits to attack Aaron's side. The main task of this group was to save as much men as possible and hold Aaron's team back while the main force goes for those at the fortress.
'I misjudged the opponent's strength and tactics. Dammit. The only way to turn things around is to capture that young brat. No matter what, I doubt his strength exceeds that of a third-stage Guardian mage. I just need to be careful of any special artefact that he may have and all will be fine in the end.' Kieran thought.
Since his side now looked to be losing, Kieran decided to change his strategy and approach. Rather than opting for a blitzkrieg[2] move like he had planned before, Kieran decided to capture the 'flag' and force the enemy to surrender.
For this idea of his, Kieran was confident that he could pull it off, because just like the enemy had fed him false information about their true capabilities, he had also done the same to them.
'Apart from that guy beside him, there is no one else who can stop me. I can simply have Tarik keep him busy.' Kieran rapidly came up with a countermeasure for Luther.
'You little brat, I'm coming for you.'