-"They finally moved."-Soaring Feather spoke, looking to the side.-"Who will confront them?"
Below our platform, spectators noisily discussed the situation in the Trial. Their emotions after witnessing the fall of the outer wall had yet to settle.
~"Ling, please go assist Elves. Dusk, Nian, Ch'en, if you secure enough proof, I don't care about the state those guys are left in."
-"Sure."-Four of them left the viewing platform.
~"Sigh."
-"You should have eliminated the roots when you had the occasion."
~"If I knew that they would attempt something like they are trying now, I would shatter their worlds as fast as possible. I was naive in thinking Mara would deter them from acting out again."
-"Who would have thought that Good Fortune Saint Emperor would ally with Abyss Devils."-Shen Meng tried to back up my previous decision.
~"Well, this time, I won't give them any chance to survive."
-"Feel free to exterminate them. I contacted all neutral forces in the worlds under Good Fortune Saint Palace. All those who didn't see eye to eye with their actions had already left and joined my camps."
~"Perfect."
-"So what is your plan?"
~"I can't say much. Just know that I reached an agreement with the Heavenly Dao of this world."
-"Huh? Wouldn't that make you Dao Saint of this world?"
~"Technically. But because I'm the True Spirit, and Heavenly Dao is just the Spirit of this world, a hierarchy between Saint and Dao is not established. I'm just a temporary spokesperson of the Heavenly Dao."
-"Even so, I pity the fool who stands against you. Saint can't be killed by being of the world they watch over."
~"I doubt that you pity that man, Feather."
-"Hmm... That sounds nice, but I would rather you call me Piaoyu. My title is just a direct translation of my name, after all."
~"Sure."
-"Since when did you two get along so well? Now I start to feel like a third wheel."-Meng spoke with a smile.
-"You can say that I finally noticed the charm of your husband."
~"I helped her to perfect her Bloodline, from half Saint-Monster Race to pure Seven Color Divine Luan that subsumed the Saint Bloodline."
-"I see. This is indeed something akin to a life-saving grace."
~"It wasn't that hard for me, just using my Power of Ordination. No need to feel pressured."
-"Don't worry, I don't. That doesn't mean that I will take back what I said."
-"Your Majesty."-Ch'en returned to the viewing platform.-"We have captured the people acting in shadows."
~"Good. Do you have enough evidence to prove the alliance between Saints and Abyss Devils?"
-"Everything was secured."
~"Then you can start making a fuss."
-"Yes!"
Soon after, murmurs started to appear among the spectators as they noticed the movements of Elves around. Those started to grow louder and louder until someone shouted while pointing up, where a portal suddenly appeared.
From it, Abyss Devils started to appear, but the moment one passed the portal's threshold, they would be killed by an arrow shot by Elves surrounding the portal. When stronger Devils appeared, those would be dealt by Demon Hunters whose skill set matched their opponents well.
A similar situation was taking place in multiple places nearby, as despite capturing the Saints sneaking around, we allowed them to finish setting the portals, granting me Casus Belli that I needed to deal with everything without taking a hit to either my, Meng's or Piaoyu's reputation.
Spectators finally started to understand what was happening, and panic began to spread among them. Not wanting my witnesses to miss what was important, I shook the [Oath of Silence], making a chime that calmed down the unfolding chaos below.
As it echoed around, the noise started to die down, and soon, only that soft chime could be heard. In that silence, everyone watched as Elves fought off the demons and closed the portals without any difficulty. When the attack came to a close, Hao Yu presented the evidence of Saints summoning the Abyss Devils, and after Piaoyu backed his world with her own proof against the Good Fortune Saint Emperor, the spectators believed our narrative.
The Trial continued uninterrupted, but now many spectators talked about the betrayal of Good Fortune Saint Emperor, joining the Abyss Demons who were joint enemies of 33 Heavens. Many voices called for a crusade against the betrayers.
-"So what is the next step of your plan?"-Piaoyu asked.
~"Nothing. Let it stir up and grow."
-"Don't you want to clean that guy once and for all?"
~"I do, but I won't fall their provocation. Time is on my side, and now that hostility against Abyss Devils has appeared once again, the cycle of hatred will soon start to roll."
-"All those forces present here will fight in your stead."
~"Indeed, I only need to strike at the end to clean everything up, ensuring the job is finished correctly."
-"I like that plan, but I hope you'll help us secure some benefits."
~"After everything is said and done, both of you will be satisfied with the outcome."
-"Then I won't bother. If you need Saints to move, just give them an order."
-"Sect will also be at your disposal."
Ignoring everything that was going outside, my avatar in the Trial was discussing the current state of the defense when an urgent report was delivered.
-"Commander-in-Chief!"
~"Speak."
-"The third battalion of the eastern brigade has been destroyed. All units of the eastern front are currently besieged and request immediate reinforcement."
~"Acheron, go there and take the second army."
As always, Achond nodded and left to complete my orders.
~"Rest of you shall also mobilize. Enter the state of emergency."
-"Sir, how could the whole battalion be eliminated without any information arriving here before it was too late?"
~"Most likely, we have a traitor in our midst."
-"What!"-Commanders present were shocked by my words.
~"Investigate all responsible for communication and planning in the third battalion. Now, you are dismissed."
Everyone present quickly gathered their things and left, leaving Tyrande, Baiheng, and me alone.
~"No matter how carefully I approached this Trial, I still underestimated them."
-"What is going on, Senior?"
~"I can't be sure, but I believe that Yelan, Katou, and Kuki Shinobu mixed into contestants. In those years that passed, they must have created a web of contacts and even some special infrastructure that can be used against us."
-"How come you didn't notice that?"
~"They have artifacts that can shield their Souls. Hephaestus, inspired by my [Wyrd], fully committed to creating a method of shielding Souls from curses. While Divination is not a curse, I need to trace Karma to make a reading."
-"But can they stop you?"
~"If they couldn't, then that artifact would be worthless as it was created to prevent what happened to Akivili. Though, if I were to use [Wyrd] and my Path of Ordination, I would be able to see through that."
-"Then what will we do now?"
~"Leave uncovering who is the spy to the contestants. We will focus on patching up any gaps in defense they managed to create."
-"I see. I'll make some orders to try to find leaks in the command ranks."-Tyrande quickly formulated her plan of acting.-"But I'm afraid that it will be much harder to eliminate any civilians that turned against us."
~"Otto and Riveria can deal with civilian matters. We need to focus on the military and deal with everything both quickly and precisely. I think that your plan is good, Tyrande, so you are free to act as you wish. Baiheng, you'll follow me."
I stood up and walked out of the room. Moments later, Baiheng caught up with me.
-"So what will we do?"
~"Just walk around."
-"Huh?"
~"While catching Yelan, Katou, or Kuki will be hard, finding tail among those who are not trained for covert operations will be easier."
-"And we two are the perfect lure."
~"Indeed."
Leaving the military district, we entered one of the towns in the middle area. Two of us were well known to the people, so we instantly became the center of attention. Many people would greet us on our way. Shopkeepers would offer their wares to us. Even some contestants attempted to win us over by entertaining us.
We mostly ignored them, focusing on looking for suspicious people in the crowd. Not even an hour into our walk, we marked three people trying to act sneaky, so we made a scene of returning.
After no more people were looking for us, we hid ourselves and followed one of those marked people. The first lead was a middle-aged man with average strength.
He quickly moved to the central town and entered one of the many empty houses left by someone who died fighting. He waited here for over an hour before another person entered.
-"Holy Son!"
-"Yes, yes. What did that guy do there?"
-"He arrived with..."
I quickly understood that this was a false lead, as the person who entered was one of the highest-ranked contestants in the command structure.
~"Sigh. I miss everyone in Hold. Should have brought more people to assist with all the jobs and administration."
-"Right, I also don't like that guy. His advances are slowly getting unbearable."
~"He just wants to find a way to overthrow me. Really, only after working with people who were as likely to throw mud at each other as they would report the truth did I understand the blessing of being surrounded by great people."
-"Want me to deal with them?"
~"No. Rules are rules. I won't eliminate someone simply because of a dislike. Though, if he ever tries to do something unbecoming to you, feel free to kill him."
-"Sure."
Leaving those two alone, we moved to the second marked person, who was a young girl, appearing to be in her teens. She had already moved to an underground compound built in the commercial sector of the central area.
Entering inside, I was instantly stunned while Baihen fell to the ground, clutching her stomach.
-"Haha."
~"Ugh, another false lead."
-"No, no. It's really important to investigate this organization some more. Pfff."
~"Why would they do this? I should be just an NPC in their eyes."
The whole underground was turned into some kind of church, having an altar in the center lit with many candles. On every wall, photos of me were displayed, while on the shelves, objects that I used were placed in formations that isolated them from the outside.
Even without the altar, having the literal museum of me was unnerving, but the underground cult was beyond my tolerance for unnerving. What's worse, the girl we followed here was not the only person present, as in total, around twenty women were present here.
-"Where do I sign up?"
~"Don't, please. I still can't get used to Hold's religion, this cult..."
-"Common. It's just some beauties. What could be wrong with it?"
-"Believers!"-The woman in the middle started to speak, praising me every two words.
The longer we listened, the more alarming things were being spoken. Not even five minutes in, even Baiheng couldn't laugh anymore.
~"..."
-"What was it? Yandere?"
~"I'll ask Riveria to crack down against underground organizations."
-"Be careful not to get attacked on the street."
~"I will."
Leaving the most terrifying place I've been in a long while, we moved to the last lead, and after half a day of waiting, we finally got some results. The last lead was a young-looking man, who, after moving for a few hours as if trying to make sure no one was following him, entered a popular bar in the 'not good' part of town.
He then proceeded to use some code to be invited backstage, where he told everything we had done to the owner of this place. After receiving payment, he left while the owner then took the communicator and relayed the same information to a person on the other side.
Quickly tracing the signal, we pinpointed the receiver outside the middle wall, close to the outer one, confirming our suspicion. Notifying Otto to get onto the issue with his own forces, we left this place.
It took a long time for the internal chaos brought by the spies to return to normal, and even then, distrust between people rose noticeably. Ironically, one who was hit most because of this was Otto, as not only was his ego hurt as someone out-schemed him, but he was even considered a traitor by many after his actions were leaked to the public.
Seeing him suffer at the hands of the three spy girls was rather entertaining, and I could imagine Herrscher girls were also having a blast seeing him squirm under the suspicion of people he was so used to manipulating.
Aside from that, the situation behind the walls was not great. Morale was low. Resources also became more limited after some sabotage. We were only in the middle of the fifth year, yet few imagined keeping the middle wall for another few months, let alone a year and a half.
We speed up preparation for retreat behind the last wall, wanting to complete them in the next three months, foreshadowing the looming defeat.
As we predicted, the monsters were able to breach the wall a month into the sixth year, forcing us to retreat behind the last wall. The battles continued to intensify, losses mounted, and time passed.
By the beginning of the eighth year, all remaining contestants were aware that we wouldn't last a full ten years. With less than 10% of the total population remaining, the writing was on the wall.
This resulted in many contestants forgoing any strategic thinking in place of earning some more points at the end of the Trial, worsening our already bad situation on the front.
We continued to struggle for another eight months until, finally, the last wall was breached. Gathering what was left from the defenders, we barricaded the central villa, thus prolonging the Trial for a little longer.
Sadly, this couldn't last, and on the twenty-first day of the ninth month of the eighth year, the last contestant was killed, thus bringing the Trial to completion.
When everyone awakened in reality, the scores of each contestant started to appear. Not surprisingly, Long Ji was able to take the first spot, having strength and experience few could compare to.
This ended part of the Martial Meeting I was responsible for, leaving only matters of Saints and Abyss Devils as something I needed to pay attention to. Hao Yu took the stage, congratulating the contestants and announcing the next part of the Meeting. After he was finished, Meng, Piaoyu, and I rose from our seats. After leaving a few words, we left the platform, returning to the Sect.