The Conquerors Path

"Take this," I said, throwing a bracelet towards Raze, who caught it. Giving me a questioning look, he asked, "A detector?" to which I nodded my head.

"If you remove it, I will know," I added, throwing another bracelet towards Nell, who also caught it.

"Not dealing with me?" Raze asked with narrowed eyes, his feline mark lighting up with an ominous glow.

"Something tells me you're done for now," I said, turning around as I started to walk away, knowing well that Raze's role, for now, was done, and soon everything would be in place.

"You might regret this," Raze spoke as I started to walk away, his voice containing a hint of amusement.

"Perhaps, but I'll leave that regret to the future me," I replied as I walked out of the tent. Coming outside, I could see that everyone from the beastmen's tribe had surrendered, including the ones from the tribes outside of Raze, after all, he couldn't command every other species of the beastmen. However, in the end, all of them were working together.

"Looks like he already commanded them to surrender. He was sure of victory," I thought to myself.

Just standing here inside the city, I could feel all the extreme tension rising in this place—the fear, the anxiety, the anger—everything was piling up, just waiting for it to blast apart and ruin everything. My eyes turned towards my faction, settling on Clara, who seemed to have suddenly appeared.

'Did you get it?' I asked using a telepathy connection to ask Clara.

'I have,' she responded back. Hearing that, I just nodded my head as I stood in front of my faction, all of them having nervous looks on their faces except for my main members, friends who had absolute faith in me and were willing to enter any hell with me.

"Status report," I said.

"It would seem that the entire beasts within the area have been enraged and are marching towards our location. They will be here in an hour tops," Alex said, his expression serious. Hearing this, I asked, "How's the situation in the camp?"

"Bad will be an understatement. Distrust, panic, and hate are brewing. Someone's been pouring oil over the fires here," Alex replied. Seeing this, I turned to look at my members. In my recruitment, I didn't focus just on my own species, making the range of my faction vary differently. Of course, some of them were spies from the other faction, but my trusted comrades had already dealt with all that.

"Worried about your brother?" I asked, seeing that Emma seemed tense. She shook her head at my question as she responded, "I know that he's safe. I know that you will always keep us safe. It's just I don't especially want my new family to have a war." Her voice was a bit low as she spoke, making me smile. She might be all innocent and childish, which would make her look like someone who doesn't know the world, but nothing can be more distant from the truth. She knows true suffering and pain, hence she just wishes that no one else goes through it. Her happy expression is so that others may have a happy day with her.

A gentle smile came to my face as I moved forward and patted her head, my eyes focusing on hers as I spoke, "If you do not wish to participate in this, then it's fine. You can at times be selfish." Hearing my words, Emma smiled a little as she spoke, "Um, I will keep that in mind." Seeing this, I ruffled her hair a bit which earned me a pout from her. Chuck, chuckling I turned to my friends and all of my faction.

Since you have decided to follow me, then follow me till the end, for I give you my word nothing will happen to you all, isn't that right?" I said.

"That's right!" Jacob said, fist-bumping his hand.

"I love a good war," Rina said with a bloodthirsty smile.

"Yup," Mika replied with the same smile.

"I will battle wherever you want me to," Sana said with a light smile.

"I wonder if all those beasts can see in the dark?" Clara asked with a subtle smile.

"I will protect everyone," Rika said with a serious expression.

"Isn't war fun?" Alex spoke with a chuckle.

"I have enough potions!" Zora said, showing off her several collections of potions. As a noncombatant, that is all she will be able to do here. As my comrades spoke, the atmosphere around my people grew much better. From Alex's report, there are about 120 people in my faction here.

"So, are you ready to fight?" I asked.

"YES!" they all screamed in unison, making me smile.

"You have some trusted people," a familiar voice spoke, causing me to turn around. Sabrina was there with her faction behind her, and Emily's eyes were focused on me.

"Is the prince contained?" Sabrina asked.

"He won't be causing any problems," I replied, and Sabrina nodded her head.

"We need to unite our factions and fight together," Sabrina said, her eyes narrowing.

"But you can't, because of your identity. A prince or princess of power cannot be under another faction, as it would affect morale and standings," I explained, and Sabrina nodded in agreement.

"Everything's going wrong," she said, making me smile.

"I guess I'll have to deal with it," I said, and began walking towards the top of the gate, where the rest of the faction had gathered. Within seconds, I reached the top and stood alongside Sabrina, where the leaders were gathered with serious expressions.

"This isn't good," Angelina said, as we all saw the army of monsters marching towards us from all sides.

"How could this have happened? How did a gathering take place without us knowing?" Carmel asked gravely.

"Our enemy was well-prepared," I said, taking the attention. "It doesn't matter how or why. We have to deal with the situation, with our forces dwindling and a possible enemy waiting for us on the inside."

My words made the situation worse, and everyone exchanged severe looks.

"What do you propose?" Isabella surprisingly took the lead and asked me.

"If Sabrina trusts you this much, then you must have something to back it up," she added, surprising everyone.

"It's simple. I will take the lead," I said, looking at everyone gathered there. "Olivia, Carmel, Marlene, Sabrina, Isabella, Angelina, Ron, and Bale. I will lead us through this."