Blade Over Magic

Swaying Opinion

It didn’t take long for Landor’s forces to notice the abnormality with the Ravine, and it took even shorter for them to realize the cause.

Still, it seemed like Xander and co severely underestimated just how much of a commotion the deaths of the three beast leaders. Not just Landor, but the Ravine itself.

The sun hadn’t even yet risen when the whole town was put on high alert, and numerous reports came in from those in watchtowers about how all the beasts within the Ravine had entered a frenzy, but rather than charging out towards Landor like usual, the scene inside the ravine had become a scene of carnage. If two demonic beasts weren’t of the same species, then chances are that they were ripping each other apart.

It was so bad that the morning breeze carried the smell of blood over to the town, which was a very eerie visual.

An hour later, they received confirmation that the cause of this anomaly was because the three beast leaders had fallen, and with no one to maintain the balance in the ravine, the chaos was inevitable.

Due to the unprecedented development, a large meeting was called between the higher-ups, the captain, and all the squad leaders.

This included Xander, who brought Aubrey along.

As soon as the two entered the meeting hall. They were immediately met by the sound of intense discussion that bordered on an argument.

Glancing around the fairly large room, the two of them took in the sight of grown adults just barely avoiding a shouting match. It was so bad that they almost didn’t notice the presence of the newcomers, their intense conversation taking most of their attention.

’Strange. Shouldn’t this be a cause for celebration? A long-standing threat to Landor is coming apart at the seams, but they seem more angry than elated.’ Aubrey noted through telepathy.

Xander didn’t immediately respond. He looked around before seeing Sparrow who was pressing her fist to her forehead, looking like she was five seconds away from punching off the head of the guy next to her.

Closer to the front, Xander saw the captain sitting with his arms folded and eyes closed as he listened to the surrounding arguments. But on closer inspection, the veins throbbing on his forehead indicated that he wasn’t very happy with how things were progressing.

The most telling thing, though, were the higher-ups.

Most of them appeared to be older men and women wearing ceremonial military attire and mage robes. None of them were fat, to his slight surprise, but he quickly ignored the stereotype as he observed them.

He wasn’t as perceptive as Aubrey, but he was still good at reading people for varying reasons, and he could tell that the core of this discourse stemmed from them, judging by their flushed faces and taut postures.

’... What are you hearing?’ Xander asked, and Aubrey was silent for a moment before answering.

’They seem to be split into two camps. One side is pushing that Landor executes a large scale purification on the ravine now that the biggest threats—the beast leaders—are dead, and the demonic beasts are thrown into turmoil, which will make extermination far easier.

But the other side disagrees and thinks that we should wait until we understand the true cause of the the deaths of the beast leaders, believing that finding whatever—or whoever—killed them is more important, as letting something like that run rampant is a huge liability and oversight. And with how things are going, the latter side seems to have the advantage.’ Hearing this, Xander nodded slightly, not surprised in the least as everything developed somewhat how he expected it to.

After all, both sides were the logical directions to what had occurred, and Xander didn’t really blame anyone for picking a particular side even though he opted for the former side. After all, they had been the ones to cause this situation in the first place.

’With that said, a vote is most likely going to happen. If the latter option is chosen, not only will the Ravine be left unattended, there’s a chance a new beast leaders will arise. After all, we weren’t able to dispose of the corpses of the last ones. A lucky beast could devour one or more of them and quickly advance. That wouldn’t be good.’ Xander mused to himself, then he told Aubrey.

’I’m going to try and steer the argument in a favorable direction. Meanwhile, look for any abnormal reactions to this. Not just body language, observe more fine details, even their body temperature. Don’t overlook any details.’ He instructed, and she nodded subtly as her eyes glowed just a bit, indicating that she had entered intense observation mode.

With that, Xander stepped forward.

He didn’t shout. In a room filled with roaring veterans, a teenager trying to out-shout them was just going to get him ignored or thrown out. Rather, he walked to the center table where a map of the Ravine was laid out, and by carefully controlling his strength, he knocked on the table three times, each one loud and sharp, cutting through the discussion. All eyes fell on him, and Xander spoke in a clear voice towards the Captain, who was now staring at him intently.

”Captain, if I may ask a question about Landor’s standard containment protocol?” As soon as he spoke, one of the higher-ups in ceremonial attire with a flushed face, and had been arguing for the investigation, frowned deeply.

”This is a war council, son. Not an academy lecture, step back.” He said in a deep voice, but Xander didn’t respond and simply stared at the Captain. The latter seemed to struggle for a moment, then he sighed and spoke.

”Let the boy speak. What is it, Xander?” He said, the veins throbbing on his forehead easing slightly. Taking this as a cue, Xander spoke again, addressing the room this time without flinching under their collective gazes.

”I’m simply trying to understand the logistics of the investigation proposal,” He began, his voice devoid of emotion, like the problem at hand was a math equation rather than a battle in the making. ”The argument is that we should stall an offensive to investigate what killed the beast leaders, correct? Because a rogue creature is an unknown variable.” Hearing this, the red faces higher-up immediately spoke out again.

”Exactly!” He snapped. ”An entity capable of slaying three elite mage-threat demonic beasts overnight could easily turn its sights on Landor! Moving our troops into that ravine with a ghost on the loose is tactical suicide!” Hearing this, Xander just gave a slow nod.

”Then my question is this. What’s the estimated timeline for this investigation? A day? A week?” At that, the higher-up ground his teeth.

”As long as it takes to secure Landor’s safety.” Xander let out a silent sigh at that.

”With all due respect, sir, you are treating a dynamic and evolving ecosystem like a static crime scene. Side A sees opportunity, side B sees danger. Both are correct. But both are treating ’Purify the Ravine’ and ’Investigate the cause’ as mutually exclusive options. Avoma teaches that reconnaissance and offensive action go hand in hand. You do not halt an advance to achieve perfect understanding of a battlefield. You advance to understand it.” This caused a moment of silence as both sides ruminated over his words, and he immediately took that opportunity, glancing at Aubrey whose gaze was downcast but focused

Still, the higher-up pushed.

”What are you implying?” He growled.

”The Ravine is an open biological system,” Xander pointed at the map. ”With the three beast leaders dead, there is now a power vacuum. The three apexes—the leaders—are gone, throwing the low tier beasts into a frenzy. But if I’m not wrong, the mana-dense, corrupted corpses of the beast leaders remain in the depths of the Ravine, correct?” This caused a series of harsh whispers to ripple among the squad leaders. Sparrow sat up, and the Captain’s eyes narrowed. It was as though everyone just collectively realized that was a possibility. They were veterans, after all, and they all knew what happened when a low tier beast got its hands on the corpse of a high tier one.

”The current carnage isn’t just senseless violence. It’s natural selection happening at an absurd speed. Thousands of beasts are slaughtering each other, and those that survive will feast on the corpses of those dead beast leaders, potentially advancing to become something just as bad, or even worse than the beast leaders. If we delay our assault by even 48 hours, we are consciously allowing that possibility to become a reality.” He took a deep breath.

”And regarding the thing that killed the leaders, if something in the Ravine possesses the capabilities to kill three beast leaders simultaneously, then we have two possibilities. A) It was a transient event and had already concluded, in which case, delaying serves no strategic purpose. B) It is an active, ongoing threat of high danger.” When he said this, a lot of the people from the investigation camp nodded with the second option.

”However,” Xander continued. ”Maintaining the ravine as a hostile territory simply makes no strategic sense. You do not maintain a secondary threat simply because there is a primary one. On the contrary, you do the opposite.” That earned even more nods.

”Landor is a town sustaining pressure from three positions. The Ravine, the Catacombs, and the Azure Tree. Each one exerts constant force on our defenses, logistics, and attention. The death of the beast leaders doesn’t just affect the Ravine. It disturbs the entire system. In a complex system under stress, a disturbance creates a temporary state of reduced stability. In such cases, you do not study the disturbance while the system stabilizes again. Instead, you exploit it to cut down the number of failure points. That way, we have a narrow window to cut down three active threats to two. Miss it, and we risk making them four.” There was a few moments of silence, then Sparrow spoke.

”And what do you suggest?” Xander glanced at her, then spoke calmly.

”I suggest we commence immediate extermination operations. With added reconnaissance elements specifically tasked with identifying the cause of the beast leaders’ deaths during the advance. This satisfies both tactical requirements without sacrifice any option. And to be blunt, as Landor is right now, we don’t have the luxury to solve problems sequentially. We either do it in parallel, or we get overwhelmed.” And with that, he stepped back.

’I forget how eloquent you are when you are serious.’ Aubrey couldn’t help but huff through the link.

’Situations like this do that. Anyway, all we can do now is wait and see if that was enough.’ Xander sighed inwardly as he glanced around at the silent room, everyone mulling over his words.

’Anyway, your results?’ At that, Aubrey’s eyes narrowed just a tad.

’I’m zeroing in on a few people who were acting especially suspicious during your speech. If the votes are cast in your favor. I can arrive at a more concrete suspect.’ Xander nodded inwardly and looked forward as the Captain finally spoke.

”I believe we’ve heard enough.” He leaned forward, gaze intense.

”I suggest that we hold a vote.”