"A couple of minutes ago, the western continent's Einder stronghold had just been activated."
This was the report that had come all the way to the capital. The emperor who had heard of this immediately sent one of his elite troops to head there as soon as possible.
"If I'm right the commander of this mission should be the son of Duke Mark, he should at least be a competent young man, right?"
The emperor sent a questioning gaze towards Brian. Nervously, Brian nodded his head and answered.
"Yes, your majesty, he should be enough to deal with the current situation."
"Regardless, I've got to praise the Duke of the South, his superb management of his territory, there are little to no qualms in the whole Southern Continent. If I recall Duke Gatsby Arcos's daughter should be reaching the age of adulthood soon, right? I think the third prince would do." The emperor began to grin a little.
His right-hand man, on the other hand, was a bit startled. The emperor was clearly not only a genius at war, but he was also a genius at political and internal affairs. He had once again witnessed the greatness of the one he is serving.
The Arcos family had recently become the most prominent noble family of the south because of the leadership of the current house head, Gatsby Arcos. He had not only managed to raise their household from near bankruptcy, but he had also made his family reach heights unimaginable from the previous generation. Getting a man like that on the side of the emperor would be worth it.
It was also not that simple. Gatsby was hiding some of his power by assuming controlling over various nobles which created his own faction. From this, we can assume that he had controlled at least a quarter of the whole Southern Continent.
"Please forgive your humble servant for making a suggestion but, If I can recall, the Arcos family should be thriving recently. I think it would do them good if they were to also send some soldiers on the eastern front." Brian then bowed his head but nervously, but unsurprisingly the emperor had the same intention.
"Putting that aside, What about the current situation in the Central Continent?" The emperor once again asked Brian.
"Millord we have already found a lead about the one who was spreading the flames of revolt. Apparently, a mercantile conglomerate had been starting these. We had already pinpointed the possible suspect and it should be the Golden Bullet Company."
Brian had a very hard time gathering all this information as it had been the works of a giant group that was not only good at hiding their tracks but were also rich enough to continue doing so for a couple of years. The name company was a huge arms dealer and had been supplying the empire the top of the line military-grade weapons.
Looking surprised the emperor decisively ordered Brian to cease all dealings with the Golden Bullet and seize their possessions using the crime of treason as an excuse. This piece of information was very crucial and had managed to arouse the interest of the Emperor himself.
Seeing the emperor that furious Brian immediately gathered the soldiers to seize fifteen facilities that were owned by the Golden Bullet. There were three Research Laboratories, ten Weapons factories, and two large-scale warehouses that have been raided within the hour.
Surprisingly, the owner of Golden Bullet Company was nowhere to be seen. "Tch, to actually get away, even after that fast mobilization." Brian clicked his tongue, it seemed like the empire was not the only one with great ears.
On the Western Continent, however, Stan was now being suppressed by the sheer number of the empire's troops. He then started creating numerous shadow clones to distract the enemies.
Unbeknownst to them, a young man who had golden blonde hair had just woken up from his nap time. "Hey, uncle are we here now?" The young man continued to blink his blue eyes as he looked outside only to see that one of their lines was on the brink of being broken through.
"Hehehe you think you're too good, but you won't escape me!" The young man then ran towards the shadow of one of his subordinates as he punched the floor.
Bright red blood then spurted out from the ground. The blonde-haired young man then grasped Stan's head and pulled him before slamming him again back at the concrete floor without shadows.
"Your petty tricks won't work with me! HAHAHAHAHA! This is so fun!" He then looked at the other man who was pulled alongside Stan as he called out to one of his subordinates to capture him.
"Hey? Are you dead? Don't tell me that that's all you're capable of?" He then kicked Stan's abdomen as he tried to forcibly make his enemy fight him again. But as he did so his foot was stuck as it was then dragged towards the floor.
"Did you seriously think that that's all I have? Stan then prepared to kill the blonde man as he emerged from Cray's shadow.
As he lunged towards the young man he then felt immense bloodlust. This sudden outburst stunned him for half a second but that was enough time for the blonde man to get away from Stan.
This young mans' bloodlust could probably stand toe to toe with Uncle Ye's. This enemy is too formidable for me to face right now. I need to get Cray and leave as soon as possible. This was what Stan had felt after that small time of facing each other.
When he had made up his mind to escape Stan then made a shadow clone attack the blonde man while his body had secretly melted with the shadows. But just as he got back to Cray his shadow clone was already destroyed. It wasn't even enough to buy him enough time.
"Already running, are you? Why don't we play some more!" The blonde man then unsheathed his rapier on his right and took out his dagger on his left.
"A dual wielder?" Admiration could be felt from Stan's tone. He then focused on his enemy's movement.
"Son of Mark Goffer, I Robert Goffer declare a duel!" Robert declared loudly in front of Stan. His shout was to warn his subordinates that he would be the one to handle him and that they should not interfere with them.
"I, Stan Anquetill, Descendant of Shadow Clan accept the due- LIKE HELL I WOULD!" Stan then threw one of the smoke bombs that he had managed to gather from the stronghold.
He then madly dashed towards Cray as he took his hand and ran as fast as he could because the crash earlier had destroyed the engine of his Cycle.
When the smoke had finally cleared up, Robert then laughed hard. "I didn't think my plan would actually work on that fool."
He then looked at one of his subordinates. A subordinate then opened the door of a huge box-like vehicle. There lied the unconscious Cray.
"Now it's all up to Natasha to kill that prick. Stan Anquetill, too bad I still wanted to fight you."