The situation at Vera’s team was a little different.
After they were blasted back to the working area, and the Regis Special Force assigned to intercept them appeared, most of those who were still able to move attacked fiercely.
The man leading the Regis Special Force suddenly unleashed a gravity field which rendered all the army officers unable to move. Then the men in black leather armor moved and knocked them out cold.
What happened after was very much the same with the other side.
The leader took out a golden disc. It lit up, and after a few seconds, the silhouette of the other leader of the special force appeared.
“How’s everything there, Raya?”
“We’re done. Just had to clear the memories of some officers here,” Raya replied.
With a sigh, the leader shook his head and said, “You… Did you forget to knock them out before taking care of their items?”
Raya laughed uneasily, “Ahaha… well some who were still conscious fell hard and probably suffered head concussion. If we knock them out we might kill them. Lord Cade doesn’t want that.”
“Is that really the case? Pete,”
“Yes, lead Myst.” The man who had the reconstruction ability from Raya’s end replied when he heard his name.
“You guys are trying to show off again aren’t you?” Myst scolded.
Pete also chuckled, “It was nice to see their surprised faces.”
Raya chuckled and grinned at Myst even when he was already glaring at him.
“Relax, Myst. They only saw Pete in action so its not really hard to remove that scene from their memory,” he reasoned.
“Is it really? I bet you also showed them you can access their communication devices,” Myst said with a deadpan tone.
“Ah.. I think I did. Wait, let me remove that part as well.”
Raya disappeared from the disc’s view, and Myst could not help but sigh.
Though the existence of the Regis Special Force was not a secret, the Royal Army’s information about them was superficial. If the army found out that they did not provide all the information about their specialized abilities, the army would have more reasons to attack their clan.
After less than a minute, Raya returned and said, “There. Done removing that part too.”
“Okay. Five members here will take the army’s communication devices out and make it appear as if their men were still out doing their task. Then the rest of us will return to point A, along with these guys,” Myst said and pointed at the unconscious army officers.
“Alright. Five from our side already left with the communication devices. We’re just preparing the array and will transport these guys to point A,” Raya confirmed.
“That’s good. See you guys back there.”
Raya nodded before disconnecting.
Myst returned the disc to his pocket before looking at the army’s transportation array. He was tempted to destroy this array. However, when Lord Cade told them of their mission, destroying the array was not part of it.
‘I wonder what Lord Cade was up to,’ he wondered.
But he was not really worried because he believed that the next Regis Patriarch would never plan something that would harm the clan.
====================
Inside the light red field.
Cade finally released Jax after almost an hour.
“Argh!” Jax fell on his knees with a thud.
When he hit the ground, his knees also gave way, and he fell forward. He tried to support his weight using his arms, but even his arms were shaking.
“W-What did y-you do to me?” He demanded while trying to get up and catch his breath.
Cade sat on the ground and faced Jax before replying, “Don’t worry. You’d feel weak but you won’t die from it.”
Jax lifted his head with difficulty and glared at Cade. However, even his glare was too weak even to pose any threat.
“You’re superior has some big plans. To want to capture my son alive,” Cade suddenly said.
Jax’s eyes widened after hearing this and cried, “H-How did you-?”
Cade tap his temple then smiled, “I saw it in your head.”
“Saw… You-! Impossible! Your magic is not-!”
“What I did just now has nothing to do with.. I guess you could say, human magic? So nothing is really impossible.”
“What…?”
Cade only smiled. However, because of the headgear, Jax did not see his expression.
Jax suddenly urged his magic. Now that Cade had his guard down, it was the right time to try and escape.
‘First remove the minotaur and the cyclops from their illusion and-!’
“W-What! My magic!” Jax suddenly exclaimed after sensing that he could not use his magic.
Cade took a deep breath and shook his head.
“Major, this is the third time I felt offended. If I really wanted to kill you, I would’ve done so earlier.”
“Liar! You threw your spear back there with the intent to kill me.”
“That? No, of course not. I aimed it at you to distract you. After all, I can’t let you see me doing this.”
Cade pointed to the ground.
Jax followed where Cade was pointing with a slight frown and finally realized why he could not use his magic.
On the ground, there was a thin layer of obsidian rocks. It took Jax only a few seconds to realize that these rocks were arranged in a three-meter radius array with Cade at the center.
This was the difference between summoned arrays and written arrays. Once a mage summoned arrays, it could be detected easily because of their faint glow. Written arrays, however, could be hidden.
“In that instant you created this array?” Jax asked in disbelief.
The cause of his disbelief was not on how fast Cade created the array but on his immediate decision in creating one.
“You don’t have to be surprised,” Cade replied.
Even when he was fighting with the monsters, he never stopped observing what Jax and the other captains were doing. The moment Jax summoned several arrays, Cade was already aware and started to think of countermeasures.
“You weren’t exactly hiding when you summoned your arrays,” he reasoned.
“And did you predict that I will approach you and prepared this restraining array to restrict my magic usage?”
Cade became thoughtful as if contemplating his answer. After a few seconds, he finally replied, “I suppose, it can be considered as one of its effect.”
Jax’s eyes narrowed from Cade’s answer. Did he mean this array had other effects?
An array of this scale normally had only one effect. One example was the transportation array. Its effect was to transport people to another transportation array it was connected to. Only those large scale arrays like the Regis defensive array could have multiple effects. Obviously, a small array could only hold simple calculations, while a large array had more complex calculations.
Many felt it was such a loss when Cade got into an accident that hindered his magic progress. However, thinking back on his earlier performance and now this array, the accident did not seem to hinder his progression at all.
If some of the empire’s people did not witness the accident, Jax would even think that The Regis Clan fabricated Cade’s accident to hide his real strength.
“We’re getting side-tracked,” Cade interrupted Jax thoughts. “Let’s go back to the topic of your superior.”
Jax was silent.
Right now, his survival depended on what Cade was up to.
If Jax wanted to find a way to escape, he first had to let Cade feel that he was 100% in control. He just hoped Luka and Vera were not doing anything reckless outside. He had to inform them of the plan to retreat as soon as he got out.
Thinking of this, Jax stealthily checked for his communication device.
“By the way, I already tampered with your communication device so don’t bother.” Cade casually said.
Jax froze, but he retained a straight face. In his heart, however, he was already cursing Cade.
Just how far was Cade’s knowledge in the array formation that he could easily tamper with the army’s device?
The top of Cade’s headgear shifted and rolled down to reveal his face.
“Are you really going to blindly follow your superior’s order?” he asked without even waiting for Jax to recover from his initial shock.
“I am a soldier.”
“But he doesn’t even have your loyalty,” Cade said.
“And what do you know?” Jax retorted glaringly.
Cade smiled. He tapped his right temple and said, “A lot. I’ve checked it.”
Jax’s eyes narrowed, and he said instead, “Are you planning to overthrow the Royal Family?”
Cade’s eyes widened, “Please. Why would we do that? Do you know how much work it involves to rebuild an empire after destroying its previous monarch? Protecting the Regis Clan already takes too much of our time, why would we even covet the whole empire?”
Jax frowned. As a Major, interrogating people was one of his strong points. Right now, he did not sense any falsehood in Cade’s words.
“Then why?”
“You are a father yourself. I just want to create a place where my son can live normally,” Cade answered.
Jax fell silent. Even though the Regis Clan were known for their amiable countenance, they were ruthless and feared by many in a death battle.
With Cade’s strength, he could easily kill Jax, but he did not. Cade’s attitude clearly showed that he did not want to start an all-out war with the army.
‘Even when we had killed some of their members,’ Jax thought.
Although both sides suffered fatalities, Jax knew that normal Regis clan members were killed by his men that night.
When Jax was deep in thought, Cade was observing him in silence.
After searching Jax’s memory, Cade already confirmed some of his theories regarding the current situation. He also understood that while Jax respects his superior, he was not afraid to defy him if the order would go against his principle. To Jax, his loyalty lies in his men. Proof of that was when Jax summoned the minotaur to interrupt what he was saying about the Royal Family.
Because of this, Cade decided to try and talk to Jax again.
“I want to propose a cooperation,” Cade finally said after a few minutes of silence.
Immediately, Jax’s brow furrowed. “Cooperation?”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to make you rebel against your superior. How about you hear me out first? I’ll give you a chance to think it over,” Cade replied with a slight smile.