Throkia, where golden fields stretch to meet the horizon, the people bear the warmth of their land in
their very essence. Their skin, kissed by relentless rays, glows with a honeyed hue – a testament to their
connection with the sun. Eyes, the colour of amber and molten gold, reflect the eternal flame that burns
within their hearts.
The Throkians are a proud and resilient folk, their strength forged under the relentless sun. They stand
tall, their lithe frames honed by labour in the fields and the training grounds.
But it is their military attire that truly sets them apart. When war drums echo across the plains, the
Throkian warriors don crimson and ivory uniforms – the colours of blood spilled in defense of their
homeland and purity of their cause. The tunics, dyed a deep scarlet, cling to sinewy muscles, while white
leather belts cinch their waists. Their boots, sturdy and practical, leave imprints in the sun-baked Terra as they march to battle.
Upon their shoulders, crimson capes billow like flames, emblazoned with emblem of Throkia – a blazing sun encircled by laurel leaves, and an emblem of the ANTs – a raven with swords for wings. Each warrior wears a silver breastplate, polished to a mirror sheen, reflecting the sun's brilliance.
Throkia was the third nation to join the ANTs, and this beautiful nation was represented by Manda Froyd.
Her dark hair complimented her skin as she walked towards Neith with determination in her eyes.
Besides her was a silver haired girl from Kaldaria, Mikaela H. Winterstone.
They were polar opposites; one had silver hair with pale skin, and the other had dark hair and brown skin, opposites with a single goal.
Neith looked at both participants and announced the rules for this game: the objective was still the
same; identify the other team's leader, but there was a different rule in this round. Only one unit has a
spy and the other doesn't.
Shortly after announcing the rules, Neith thought to herself: Well, this is a similar situation. The Dark
Saints have a spy within the ANTs and we have nothing on them. Show me how you deal with this
situation if you were in my shoes, ladies.
The ladies walked to their respective units to select a leader, with each step planting a seed of doubt
within the other. So far, people have won on luck, and some bluffed. Those tactics will be ineffective in
this round.
Manda absorbed the information, for she was like Kimberly, a fellow wind mage. When it comes to
sharing words inconspicuously, she was among the best of the best. Clearly this round was in her
advantage but unlike Kimberly, she knew that she didn't have to make rush and illogical decisions, so she analysed her teammates first.
Mikaela was no fool. Since the last round, the fact that people can listen to others and speak to each
other without others realising was now apparent to her, and since nothing is covering them, they could
use their bodies to communicate.
The overseer didn't forbid the use of magic, Kimberly's match is the living proof of that fact. So Mikaela summoned her mana and created a shield of ice that caged her and her teammates.
"Well, now that is out of the way. I have two tasks for all of you. Firstly, I haven't identified the imposter
within my team nor Manda's, so I order all of you to act as spies. You will share misinformation to the
other team, Manda can easily bring whispers towards herself so please be careful of what you say, these wind mages are a pain."
Mikaela's ice cage was too powerful and it was sealed air-tight. Her teammates were shaking like tweaks from the cold, not to mention the limited amount of oxygen within it.
Mei was the first to break, "Ma'am, I am cold and I think that I am getting dizzy…"
Mikaela replied, "I am sorry about that. But last thing, point your teammates as the leader when sharing
information with Manda while trying to make contact with the spy within her unit."
She released her ice cage, giving her teammates air to breathe.
Manda had expected Mikaela to plot something. She assumed that within Mikaela's shield, a leader was
chosen and if luck is on her side, the spy would relay the information with her. So she pulled the air
towards her, every word whispered went to her ears:
"The leader is Mikaela"
She doubted those words, thinking that it was a trap. On the other hand, it could be true since no one
really need to go to the overseer to announce the leader like they did in the previous rounds, one needs to make contact with the overseer and announce someone as the leader.
Mikaela realised that her first trap has been laid, so she gave the signal to her teammates to share
misinformation at the same time:
"The leader is Mei."
"The leader is Skyler."
"The leader is Rei."
"The leader is Jade."
The information was clearly made to distract her from the truth, Manda knew this. But luck was on her
side, the last words that were said shifted the scales in her favour.
"The leader hasn't been selected."
She smirked and looked at her own teammates with pure confidence, knowing that the spy was in
Mikaela's unit, her own was safe. But she cannot afford to let her guard down for any reason.
Manda recited the rules of this game in her head:
After selecting the leader, we are supposed to give the name to Neith to avoid cheating by changing it
during the guessing stage. But that doesn't mean that we actually have to go to her to give her the name of the leader in person. You can merely make contact with Neith since she is the overseer, and give her the name of the leader. In other words, I can look at my own teammates and elect one of them as the leader without them even knowing that they are the leader.
Manda looked at her teammates and picked the one with less confidence, the one that didn't stand out
at all in her team. She whispered his name, "Jarah," to Neith and let the wind carry her message.
Mikaela brought her teammates together, "I have made contact with Neith and identified the leader of
our team. Obviously I will not say anything because I have also confirmed that the spy is not on Manda's
team but my own. I have identified the spy within my own team and it is Mei."
Mei gasped, "Me? Why me? Can you prove what you are saying!?"
Mikaela walked towards her and replied, "Aren't you the one that wanted me to lift the shield? You
could've waited until I elected the leader in order to ask that but no, you wanted the wind to be a witness
to that decision. Am I wrong?"
Her voice became demeaning and mockingly, Mei couldn't respond.
"You are a mute now? Pathetic. Overseer, I am ready to make my decision."
Manda couldn't help but to laugh. To her, Mikaela just handed her the victory. "I must say, I thought that
the voice which told me that the leader wasn't elected was that of a spy but it was one of your traps,
Mikaela. Mei's voice was the first one."
Manda laughed her way to the overseer, "I too am ready to make my decision."
Neith lent them both an ear, "Who would like to go first?"
Manda stepped forward and said, "I must say Mikaela, I didn't know who the leader was until you
attacked poor Mei. I was convinced that the leader wasn't elected thanks to the voice that said so, I
assumed that it was a spy but it wasn't. The spy all this time was Mei, and her voice was the one that said you were the leader. HAHAHA! This information came to light just now."
Neith looked at Mikaela giving a chance to speak.
"But if I manage to identify the leader of your team, we both win and move to the next stage where it will
be hand-on-hand combat. The leader of your team is Jarah."
"H-how could you possibly know that?"
"It is simple truly. How do I put this in a way that doesn't hurt your little feelings?"
Mikaela walked towards Mei and hugged her like a snake hugging its prey, her face turned red from the
embarrassment. "Manda, luck was on my side."
"What are you talking about?"
"You were foolish enough to elect the spy as the leader of your team. My team never had a spy,
everything was staged, and I knew that you had the advantage with that meddling wind of yours. Mei
took the role of the spy, and during my fight with her, I was electing her as the leader of my unit."
Manda fell to her knees, her dreams crushed because she overestimated her own strengths.
Neith absorbed every detail from this battle of wits and came to a realization of her own: If Dark Saints
have a spy within the ANTs, at one point, the spy would have to blend in completely, they could be one of the strongest soldiers in the army, or they could be someone pretending to be the weakest. Nothing is as it seems anymore. The strongest is clearly the Supreme Commander and the weakest would have to be…