The elders exchanged confused looks.
Abe then looked at the projection and fell silent.
Before the battle erupted from Cade’s side, they could only see the tent. They were not able to see what was happening inside. Even if they could, they would not hear what they were saying.
But Abe noticed that there were a few minutes before the battle started. If it was him doing a covert operation and he was found out, he would first talk. Of course, it would also depend on the other person. If he were sure the other person was unreasonable, he would proceed with their backup plan and retreat to safety instead of talking.
Jax’s had the advantage in number, but Cade was a level above all of them. On top of that, he was an Abjurer.
Abe wondered if Cade requesting to handle the operation had more meaning to it.
“Lord Cade specifically went to where the leader of the operation would be. Did he plan to talk to the leader before doing anything?” Abe wondered out loud.
Aron nodded, “That’s right. However, Jax might have said something that did not sit well with Cade. That’s why it led to a battle instead. If there is another chance, I hope Cade will try again.”
“Talk about what exactly? At this point, I don’t see any point in talking to them.” Eleanor commented with a slight frown.
Hearing Eleanor’s doubt, the rest of the elders were also confused. Wasn’t it too late to talk to them? After all, they had been at odds for almost a week now. Besides, the army obviously had plans to kill them if they would fight back. Those summoned monsters were proof.
Although Cade made the monsters look like harmless cute creatures, if those monsters were unleashed inside the Regis Inner Wall, they could easily massacre many of their clan members before they could kill one.
Aron smiled. He looked at Eleanor and answered, “The talk is just an excuse to gather intel.”
“Gather intel?”
Aron nodded and looked back at the projection, “Yes.”
“Forgive me, Patriarch. I still don’t understand,” Eleanor said in confusion.
“‘The Royal Family will only recognize and promote those they can use.'” Aron repeated with a slight smile. “Then why is Jax still in the army?”
The elders exchanged glances once again.
“It means someone is keeping him there.” Aron continued without waiting for the elders to answer. “Now, who has the power to keep someone, who the Royal Family would deem useless, in the army?”
“The Grand Marshal,” Eleanor replied.
“Correct. Now, why would the Grand Marshal want to keep Jax and defy the Royal Family? Most likely, though he can’t utilize magic in overt operations, it might be different in covert operations.”
Every elder suddenly realized something, and their eyes narrowed.
“We all know how obsessed the Royal Family is when it comes to those mages reported or confirmed practicing or using forbidden magic. They would make a deal out of it. However, they are dealing with our ‘situation’ differently. Initially, we all agreed that the Royal Family was trying to keep this incident under wraps because they did not want to spread unrest to the whole empire. After all, we’re talking about the most feared forbidden magic. Not to mention, our clan is involved. They even limit the army’s movement by making use of the mercenaries to search for my grandson. However, Jax’s unexpected action made me realize something. It seems we have it all wrong right from the start,” Aron explained.
“So this is the real reason why their manpower is limited?” Arabella said with an incredulous expression as she slowly understood everything.
The others also could not help shaking their head after realizing what Aron was trying to say.
“We’re only dealing with the army. No. At most, maybe only a part of the army.” Zennif added with a thoughtful look.
Aron nodded in agreement. “Yes. We can already confirm that the highest authority we’re dealing with is the Grand Marshal because of Jax’s involvement. However, why is he not using more high-rank officers in dealing with us?”
Abe suddenly shook his head in disdain, “Obviously, the Royal Army has their own power struggle. After failing to take the young master, the Grand Marshal did not want this to be known by the other deputies.”
“Correct,” Aron agreed.
Greer sighed, “No wonder that man, Jax, was brave to give us a warning. He is not afraid of being found out because there is no ‘Royal Family’ involved to enact severe punishment. The Grand Marshal also cannot punish him openly because if he did, then the rest of the army and even the Royal Family might find out what he was up to.”
“And that is what Cade wanted to find out by talking to them. I also find the Grand Marshal’s reasons to keep this operation a secret… strange. Especially with the conditions, they set when they requested a bounty to the Mercenary Hall.”
“Take the young master alive,” Greer said with narrowed eyes.
The others fell silent.
They now had a general idea that the Grand Marshal might be plotting something that involved taking Kyran alive. He was not using the whole army, which meant he did not want the other deputies to know his plans. This in itself was good for the Regis. They just had to plan their next course of action properly and not alarm the rest of the army and the Royal Family.
Previously, they were on the defensive because they did not have the ability to fight the whole army. However, if it was only a part of the army, then that was a different story. It would be easier for them to plan a counterattack as long as they knew which part of the army they were dealing with.
Now, they only had to wait for Cade to confirm everything.
====================
Inside the light red field.
Jax wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeves as he looked at Cade’s spear that fell on the ground.
It had been a close one. If his arrays did not connect and activate on time, this spear would’ve hit and destroyed him.
He took a deep breath and then looked at the monsters who had stopped moving.
Both the cyclops and the minotaur had a fierce look on their faces, but their eyes had lost their focus. As if they were looking at something, and yet they were not really looking at anything.
‘Leave them for now,’ Jax thought.
Finally, he turned and looked at Cade.
Cade was in the same position when he threw the spear, just before Jax’s magic activated. With Cade’s armor hiding his face, though, Jax could not see his expression.
‘Him not moving is enough proof. My magic was able to penetrate his senses,’ Jax thought with a slight smile.
Jax’s magic was a mirage. Once he managed to trap his target inside his ‘veil’, their five senses would fall into an illusion.
Normally, the illusion was a continuation of the things they initially thought were happening. Thus, his target would not be able to notice that he was already inside an illusion.
However, Jax was not aware of what his target was seeing. He could only deduce. In Cade’s case, he probably thought he succeeded in hitting Jax with his spear and was now busy dealing with the cyclops and the minotaur.
Similarly, the monsters were also seeing an illusion of their own.
‘Still, trapping all five senses of these three took a lot of my energy. And this veil is constantly consuming my reserves,’ he thought as he took out two bottles of dark blue liquid from his space storage ring.
These two bottles were high-grade energy replenishing potions. Normally, half of a high-grade replenishing potion would be enough to replenish his energy. Now, half of it could barely keep him from fainting due to energy depletion.
After downing the two bottles, Jax threw the empty bottles to the sides and took out his dagger. Finally, he started to walk toward Cade’s position.
Of course, he would not just stand idle while Cade was in his own illusion.
Now that Cade was not moving, this would be the perfect time for Jax to deal him fatal damage.
He looked at the flames on the cyclops gauntlets and lifted his hand. Light red arrays formed on his palm as he aimed it toward the cyclops.
The flames on the cyclops gauntlets shifted and flew toward Jax’s direction. When the flames arrived in front of his palm, he controlled it and integrated it into his dagger.
It was not that Jax was incapable of summoning fire magic. But his fire element affinity was too low that he could not use it to attack. Besides, he noticed that the flames from the cyclops’ gauntlets dealt more damage to Cade’s shield than the minotaur.
If Jax wanted to break the defenses on Cade’s armor, then Jax would need a strong flame that could penetrate it.
“Well, Lord Cade, time to end this-.”
“Exactly, you took your time.”
“W-Wha!”
The suspended arm of Cade suddenly moved and grabbed Jax’s face before he could even react.
“Arcum!” Cade shouted.
Golden runes shot out from Cade’s arms and circled Jax’s body, binding him.
“Aahh!” Jax screamed in pain as the runes penetrated his magic defenses and went through his clothes. These runes sunk into his skin and engraved themselves all over his body.
A golden rune appeared on his forehead, and soon his eyes lost their focus.