Death... and me

2948  Last Hours

On Roan's platform, he faintly smiled before commenting through their connection. 'I think Qia will be very interested in this piece of news.'

Rean felt a chill run through his back before turning his eyes to where Roan was playing the Battlefield Board. 'Fuck you! I'm a loyal man!'

Roan completely ignored Rean's words and returned his attention to the game. His beast-taming units suddenly separated from the assault team on the left flank. Surprisingly, he met with a hidden group from his opponent exactly where he sent that beast taming unit. Due to the terrain, his beast-taming unit completely destroyed the enemy's group, taking the chance to advance from there before he ended his turn.

"He must be cheating!" Roan's opponent from the Lincae Sect exclaimed out loud. "There is no way he could possibly have known where I sent my hidden units! He must have access to the entire board! That's the only explanation!"

"Quiet!" Another cultivator from the Lincae Sect shouted from outside the platform. "That is the same as saying the queen and the Royal Family are being dishonest! Do you have a death wish?"

The guy inside the platform closed his mouth and didn't speak anymore. Another 30 or so turns passed, and Roan finished his opponent once again. Although it seemed to be easy, Roan was also having the chance to learn a thing or two. It wasn't like 100% of his predictions and moves on the battlefield board worked. Every commander had their own traits. Because of that, one or another move didn't turn as expected. It's just that in the overall situation of the entire battlefield board, Roan won over 90% of the clashes at the very least.

It goes without saying, but the battlefield board didn't allow Roan to see the opponent's units until they appeared in their line of sight. The same went for the opponents. If both sides could see all their opponent's moves, what would be the point of this game? One of the main traits of the battlefield was the prediction of the enemy's moves, and that's where Roan absolutely trashed his opponents.

For those watching outside, the board didn't show anything until both sides' units encountered on the battlefield. Otherwise, anyone could do something to try to help their friends.

After finishing his last opponent, Roan closed his eyes and waited for the next one. However... over a minute passed, and not a single member of the Lincae Sect entered his platform, puzzling him. He opened his eyes again, looking at the hesitating Lincae Sect disciples outside. Immediately, he understood. 'It makes sense. Holding to the tag means having a wish fulfilled. Those who stayed outside until now were hoping to find a weakness in my strategies, but because I keep changing, they don't know what to do. They probably think that they will definitely lose if they enter the platform now, and that means losing their only chance to take my place. After all, those who lose in the platforms are instantly disqualified from the contest.'

Roan was right. Because his games usually took between a minute and three minutes, he had eliminated hundreds of Lincae Sect's disciples. That also means that those who lost can't help defend the platform anymore. Losing more of their disciples also meant they might not have enough strength to protect this platform for themselves.

However, it was also problematic. The way things are now, they are basically protecting Roan instead of the tag Roan is holding. Roan's image completely crushed their confidence.

Seeing that, Roan laid down on his back and put his hand on the back of his head, looking relaxed. Since they didn't come, he might as well spend his time thinking about other things. 'Hum... the queen said she would realize one wish, but it obviously has a limit. In any case, I might be able to ask her to find the Salite Root instead of just looking into the Royal Family Herbs Database.'

The angry expression on the cultivators of the Lincae Sect increased even more. The way Roan was acting was as if he was mocking them. No, they were certain Roan was making fun of their situation...

Rean looked at that through their connection and couldn't help but ask. 'Is there really a need to mock them like that?'

Roan's expression didn't even change. 'Mock? Mock what? For me, it is like they don't even exist, so how can I mock them? Don't be ridiculous.'

*Zush!*

Finally, another one entered, not being able to hold back anymore. "Get up, fucker! Let me see if you are truly that good!"

Roan rolled to the side, his eyes half open while yawning. He then laid his head on his hand while lying sideways and spread his units on the battlefield board once again. Rean's mouth twitched as he clashed swords in his platform. 'Who are you trying to fool here?'

Roan glanced in Rean's platform direction before he turned his eyes back to the battlefield board. 'Alright, perhaps I'm mocking them a little.'

---

Time waited for no one. The contest went deep into the night, and several changes happened. The most obvious one was the platform where Roan was playing the battlefield board. The Lincae Sect disciples finally gave up challenging Roan and moved to another platform. Naturally, the other platforms also had cultivators from the other powers protecting them, so a battle ensued.

Seeing that Roan's platform was opened, many unaffiliated experts, as well as experts from smaller powers, rushed over. Roan's platform became a free-for-all, and everyone tried to enter as soon as Roan defeated someone.

Well, if the Lincae Sect thought of itself as the breeding ground of commanders and couldn't defeat Roan, what about some random cultivators from other powers and races? Games that lasted less than a minute began to happen one after another. That's what happened.

There was another platform that got into the same situation. It was the platform of the girl who chose the history of their Universe. She was basically an encyclopedia, so the big powers gave up trying to challenge her in that field.

Rean's one was different, though. The sword cultivators only cared about the sword. The sword was their wish, and the sword's wish was their own. Being able to watch Rean fight against their members and show such different styles was exactly the wish they could hope for. Naturally, they kept protecting it so no other power would take it away from them until the very end. Rean was even happier, having had the chance to fight even more sword cultivators who could use the Fourth Stage of Sword Intent. Roan also watched it through their connection, and a vague idea of what the Fifth Stage could be began to form in the twins' minds.

Finally, midnight arrived, and an alarm echoed in the platforms. The contest was over!

And as always, any Golden Tickets and Stones are welcome. ;)