“Don’t worry. I do not mean that I want to kill you as well. All I am saying is that my ability to kill is being restricted by the Blood God above me. With him gone, I can freely kill anyone I want,” he said.
“How has the Blood God impacted your ability to kill at all? You are his most trusted person and he will give you anything you want,” the Fire King said.
“I didn’t think I needed to explain how the Blood Element works to you. With each person we kill, we hone our elemental power. Why wouldn’t he be stopping me from killing too much? Every time he stops me and kills people for himself. He deprives me of that pleasure and also stifles my growth, giving me just enough to stay strong and useful.”
As he said that, he judged the reactions of the people around him. This was the only way that the plan would work – depict himself as a psychotic person being bounded by the Blood God. It was clearly working.
Even though everyone had a somber expression and was ready to fight him, none of them seemed to think he was lying to them.
“What do you propose to do to him? How do we beat the Blood God?” The Spade Queen asked. She was very on board with the idea.
“Their army will be stationed to attack us in a few days. There will probably be a reconnaissance team to gather some information. That will lead to their army.”
“And we go to attack their army in broad daylight in the middle of the Battle Field?” The Fire Queen asked.
“No. That is just a decoy. The entire army might still be there, but the true force will still be in the main camp. They will leave one day later than the army through the ravine to get here and pincer us.”
“What true force?” She asked.
“The elites. Maybe twenty men in total, but the best of the best. The strongest of them all who can easily wipe out half your army. Especially if they are ambushing you and all of you are busy thinking about the decoy army,” he said.
“So what should we do about this true force? There is no point in trying to wait at the ravine. Someone of that power will be able to detect an ambush from miles away.” The Fire King said. “The only way we would be able to stay hidden is if we also send only the best of us.”
“No. I am telling you to attack their camp, abandoning your current one. Take your entire army and defeat the Blood God. If you defeat him, then you won the war. Meanwhile, the Gloves and the Elementals are closer to each other so they will soon be in battle against each other,” Dmitri said.
“I can’t do that. By now, the Blood God will be aware of my disappearance, and my deduction, my betrayal. I will be staying along with you to ambush the Blood God. That is the guarantee that I will be on your side.”
This seemed to seal the deal. If he was staying with them instead of going back to the side of the Blood God, he was willingly keeping himself in danger of being surrounded by unknown powers. This meant it was less likely that he was lying.
“Then let us talk terms. What do you want for your betrayal?” The Fire King asked.
“The Blood God’s shrine. I will take his place as the Blood God and join you as a fourth power in your alliance. In your battles against the other two factions, I will be invaluable.”
“We agree,” The Bandit King said. “The soldier will take you to your quarters to rest. If you need anything, you can come here.”
Dmitri got up just as a guard entered the tent. He followed the guard outside while the people inside continued their discussion.
“How do we trust him?” The Fire Queen asked. “This is making it far too easy to win against the Famed Blood God. It makes me question the true loyalty of the Death Bringer.”
“The reason he is betraying the Blood God is reasonable. I understand that he turned to our side. If he gains the Blood Shrine, then he will become a 9th Circle Aura Knight without any competition. He is doing this for his own benefit,” the Bandit King said.
“And we will just let him become a 9th Circle Aura Knight? Isn’t that too dangerous for us?” The Spade Queen asked him.
“No. The Fire Kingdom has a 9th Circle Aura Knight, as do the other factions. However, it’s not like we will let him get out of here alive. Who would be willing to let the Blood Shrine fall into his hands that easily? In the short time that the two catapulted into fame, they took down so many kingdoms and amassed enviable fortunes. We will take those for ourselves,” the Fire King said.
They all smiled at the statement.
__________
Back at the camp, Leo was wracking his mind. What he learned from his conversation with Dmitri made him rethink whether he wanted to use the Blood Aura or not.
When he shot the psycho idea, he had no idea that the quality of Blood Aura made the idea stronger. When he saw Dmitri expand on the idea and talk about how it made complete sense since he wanted to go on a killing spree, it made him scared.
Killing people made him stronger? He would be absorbing the remnant aura in the blood of the people at his blade. He would never be okay with killing people to get stronger. Especially people who didn’t deserve it.
On the other side of it was the battlefield. At this stage, there wasn’t anyone who deserved or didn’t deserve death. It was war and killing was natural at this stage. What would be ethical here? In this particular instance, Blood Aura was okay to him.
However, what about outside? The minute he exited the place he was in and had to make the choice, there wouldn’t be a battlefield like this.
In the outside world, there were only a few people he would be willing to kill. And that was the people who knowingly committed sins. This was evident in all the people he killed.
The Blacktooth Gang, the bandits, and the nobles. All of them were people who had shown that they were morally corrupted and didn’t deserve to live. Except for those kinds of people, he refused to kill anyone.
That was what he believed in, and that was what he had promised to the Arcane Emperor. So he would need to decide if the Blood Element was still worth it to him.