The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

Ravian was already at the camp’s border by now—right at the edge of the deep forest, with the sprawling camp spread out before him in the distance.

His eyes moved over the camp and the soldiers, over the confusion written across their faces after they had watched Karius shoot into the sky like that.

He waited until he spotted a group of soldiers hauling a supply cart toward the camp, but in that moment, they had set the cart down and were staring up at the meteor-like trail Karius had left across the sky.

’Now,’ Ravian thought, before darting out from between the trees and slipping beneath the cart.

”Hmm?” One of the soldiers—a Ninth Rank soldier who led the group—felt a gust of air and turned to investigate.

But he found nothing.

The soldier shook his head and turned back to the rest of his men.

”Let’s go, we’ve wasted enough time already,” the Ninth Rank soldier called out to the group, and the Unawakened soldiers took up the cart once more, the Awakened ones walking alongside them as they headed straight for the checkpoint to enter the camp.

They soon arrived, and the guards stopped them.

”Search the cart,” one of the checkpoint guards told his assistants, who promptly went to inspect it.

They pulled back the cover and searched the inside of the cart, finding nothing but supplies—metal swords, leather armor, some bows and arrows, and a bit of wheat dough.

”Nothing, Captain,” one of the inspectors called out from behind the cart to the checkpoint commander.

It was a routine procedure that happened a few times a day, and it was not the first time they had seen this particular group of soldiers, so there was nothing complicated about it.

They were quickly waved through.

Had it crossed any soldier’s mind, even for a moment, to look under the cart and check it, he would have... he would have simply been knocked unconscious by a blow from Ravian.

And now the cart was heading toward the fort—the one that housed the supply storehouse, sitting under the heavy guard of the City Guard soldiers.

’It really is wonderful to have a body like this,’ Ravian thought, hanging upside down beneath the cart with his back to the ground, clinging to its underside like a lizard.

And suddenly—

Boom!

An explosion sounded from somewhere in the camp.

”What the hell?!”

’What in damnation was that?!’

The group of soldiers cried out as the cart shook, and Ravian yelled inwardly, nearly slipping from his spot at the shock of it.

”Was that an aura clash, Captain?!” one of the soldiers said, looking toward the commotion and the soldiers rushing about in the distance.

”It would seem so,” the group leader said, watching the air tremble in the distance from the aura clash. ”What’s gotten into this camp since this morning? Everyone’s acting like madmen.”

”Shouldn’t we go and check it out, Captain?” one of the group members asked.

’Damn you, you bastard! Why don’t you just do your job?!’ Ravian nearly broke cover and blew his entire infiltration just to smack that one soldier in particular.

”And why should we go? What about this cargo we’re carrying? Do we leave it out in the open like this to be stolen, or drag it along with us to be destroyed in the battle raging over there?” the leader said, his eyebrows twitching as he stared at the soldier who had just spoken.

”Who in the Creator’s name recruited you into this camp?”

He put a hand to his head, a headache already coming on thanks to that idiot under his command.

And to his even greater shock, the soldier did not stay quiet.

”My cousin was the one who recruited me, Captain!” the Unawakened soldier shouted, snapping into a military salute.

Silence fell over the place for a moment—so complete that it drowned out the noise in the distance.

Everyone stared at that soldier with dead, vacant eyes.

Even Ravian beneath the cart pulled one hand away from the underside, placed it over his mouth, and nearly laughed without meaning to.

”Soldier,” the captain called, his expression sinking into hopelessness.

”Yes, Captain?” the soldier replied, wearing a puzzled look at the sudden silence.

”Today, I’ve truly come to realize what an exceptional commander I am. Do you know why?” the captain asked him.

”Why, Captain?” the soldier asked, curious, and glad the matter had passed without trouble.

”Because I’ve kept this squad without a single casualty so far—even with you among us. That’s a genuine achievement to my credit,” the captain said in complete seriousness.

”Huh? What does that mean, Captain? I don’t get it,” the soldier said with a frown, scratching the back of his head.

”Exactly. Now come on, let’s continue to our destination,” the captain said, with an expression that was half laughing, half crying.

And beneath the cart, Ravian’s eyes were nearly tearing up from holding back his laughter all this while, but he managed to pull himself together and swallow it down.

A few seconds later, he had calmed down.

Phew—

Ravian let out a breath, his mind returning now to that explosion.

’I wonder what happened in the camp. The sound seems to have come from the northern side—that area has members of the Death Squad in it too,’ he thought, recalling the direction the noise had come from.

’I hope they’re all right.’

...

In the Death Squad’s camp.

Frank stood facing Caesar, their auras colliding against one another—Frank’s green aura on one side, Caesar’s red aura on the other.

The two auras clashed like molten iron scattering through the air; every impact made the air shudder and sent the lower-ranked Soul Power Awakeners backing away so as not to be caught in it.

This state was called an aura clash, and it could only be performed at the Eighth Rank and above, where a person of that rank could finally manifest their power in physical form outside their body at will.

Just as Malrik had done with Ravian earlier, back in the tent.

The same thing was repeating itself now.

But anyone looking closely would notice something else.

Frank stood confident and at ease, his green aura rising in majestic waves, his face utterly calm.

Caesar, on the other hand, was nothing like him—not in the slightest. He was drenched in sweat, his aura shrinking drastically until it was barely half the size of Frank’s, and one of his legs had even begun to buckle under the sheer pressure.

”Caesar, it seems you’ve truly forgotten yourself,” Frank said calmly, drawing closer, and just as Caesar was about to drop to his knees under the crushing weight of Frank’s aura, Frank suddenly pulled it back, allowing Caesar to quickly regain his balance.

”What...” Darius could not understand why Frank had withdrawn his aura right when he was on the verge of completely dominating Caesar.

Malrik caught the puzzled look on his face out of the corner of his eye.

”Look around you, Darius,” Malrik said, still watching Frank in the distance as he stood before Caesar, staring him down.

”Hmm?” Darius heard him and instinctively followed the instruction, glancing around—and he noticed one thing: people, a great many of them who had not been there before, drawn in the moment they heard the commotion.

”It’s in no one’s interest for one of the faction leaders to be humiliated like this in front of such a huge crowd, and Faction Leader Frank knows that perfectly well,” Malrik said, watching Frank turn and start back toward them, leaving Caesar standing alone in the middle of it all.

”Not to mention Sir Karius wouldn’t be pleased with any of what just happened. This way, Frank comes across as the one reining in the problem rather than the one confronting it.”

He finished his explanation, and Lysandra nodded in agreement.

Then Frank reached them.

”Come, let’s head to the meeting tent. I want to talk with you,” Frank said, striding ahead of them toward the large tent beside Malrik’s.