Communication Deception

After marching for nearly an hour straight and arriving at the last secluded location before reaching Lieutenant Reana's camps, the group paused and rested. Whilst doing so, Deon took out 2 letters and attached them to the bird that General Senlin brought along on Deon's request. Aside from Deon's 2 letters, there was a third letter, this one from General Senlin himself.

"Two letters?" The general inquired, but Deon smiled and shook his head lightly.

"A third party that can't be revealed for certain reasons…my apologies for the secrecy, general."

"No, I understand. After all, anyone who is able to elicit a response from the recipient can't be ordinary." General Senlin sighed. He looked at Deon deeply, then shook his head and sighed again.

"General, who did you send those letters to?" Lieutenant Reana couldn't restrain her curiosity as she watched the bird fly South, travelling down the mountain. A few others who were nearby also perked up and listened. After all, each and every bird they had sent out today was for the express purpose of deceiving their enemies!

"The recipient is the false king…" The general stared into the distance with a complex expression.

"What, why are you sending letters to my uncle?!" Remi cried out as soon as she heard this.

It had been less than one day since she had returned to the 37th unit, she was still feeling shaken by everything she had experienced in this short period of time.

"To give him a way out." Deon replied plainly.

"A way out…? I don't understand, what do you mean?" Remi looked confused, as did many others. Only Lieutenant Reana and Captain Dan seemed to realised what he meant. They both looked at Deon deeply and wore equally complex expressions. Seeing Remi's uncertainty, they didn't have the heart to explain it to her.

Deon wasn't so soft. He decided to explain this matter now, not for Remi's benefit, but to reassure his men that their futures were secure.

"Remi, what do you think will happen after we win this battle?" He turned to her and asked.

"Huh? We'll have won of course, my uncle will…he will…"

"He will try to slaughter us all. He will act personally to ensure that we all die pitifully to prevent any of this from getting out to the public. He will try to silence us, then he will try his absolute best to remedy his relationship with the Fan Kingdom."

Remi stared forwards at Deon as horror plastered her face. A few others also paled and they became extremely quiet.

"So then…"

"Before General Senlin set out towards us, he used his information network to spread rumours that the false king had brilliantly planned out this battle in order to defeat an elite platoon of the Fan Kingdom."

Deon paused, then continued after seeing a few bewildered expressions looking back at him.

"The letters we just sent to the false king explain that so long as withdraws his rebel troops, then we will attribute the success in this battle to him, and we will not out him as the traitor who sold out the kingdom. Of course, this still relies on us winning first."

This was true, Deon's letter had indeed contained this message amongst other things. As for Shi, who also sent a letter along with Deon's and General Senlin's, her message was slightly different.

Shi fabricated an excuse for why she could not capture Deon, and why she had now joined Deon's side. She claimed that Deon was secretly a 2-Star shaman and that she was unable to defeat him when he was surrounded by his men. She also said that supporting Deon's battle against the Fan Kingdom was the superior course of action given the circumstances.

Naturally, the new king would be suspicious, but Shi didn't care, she was only covering for herself in a way that would allow her to retain her full payment.

"What, why would you do such a thing?! He doesn't deserve that! And Deon, you're just giving my uncle more prestige, even more people will believe that he really is a good man and the rightful king!" Remi cried out in shock.

She couldn't comprehend why he had done this, but the others around weren't so emotional and quickly understood the logic in Deon's plan. However, they still found it hard to accept.

Deon glanced at her briefly and sighed.

"Remi, just how do you expect to remove your uncle from the throne? He's supported by at least one admiral, whilst the other 2 admirals have remained silent for now. He has the support of many 2-Star elites, whilst nobody else dares to contend against his current power and popularity. He's already been accepted by the kingdom, Remi."

"But he, he lied!" She cried out, now on the verge of crying. "My uncle, he actually spun the story to make it sound like my father turned his back on the kingdom! He claimed that father is being selfish in trying to become a 3-Star shaman whilst leaving the mountain war unattended!

"I'm well aware, but what else can we do?" Deon sighed, showing a helpless expression. "The only way that your uncle will be dethroned is if your father succeeds in becoming a 3-Star shaman. Your uncle is banking on his failure, so we can only count on his success. Until then, we have no choice other than to bear with it."

Deon explained it so rationally that everyone couldn't help but nod in agreement. When he put it like that, it really did seem to be the only long term solution. A few people even felt their hearts calm down, seeing that their commander was thinking about their futures.

Naturally, this was what Deon wanted to see. Really, he couldn't care less about explaining himself to Remi, he was simply trying to increase morale before the coming battle.

"But still, he's a traitor, we should-"

"Remi, first and foremost, I'm a soldier, a commander. My duty is to this kingdom and more precisely, to this war effort…not to your family. Your uncle is trying to lose us this war, which is a treasonous action and truly unforgivable, but saving this situation is more important than obtaining vengeance."

Remi finally calmed down after hearing Deon's blunt words. She flinched slightly at first, since he really did make her sound selfish by putting it that way, but she knew that what he said was the truth.

"I understand commander…I apologise for my outburst. I hate it, but this really is the only way for us all to survive…"

After resting up and giving his men hope for the future, igniting their fighting spirits as they realised that everything depended on the outcome of this night, the 37th unit set out in their final march onwards.

Their destination was the 43rd unit.

Aside from the 37th unit which was led by Deon, Lieutenant Reana was in charge of the 43rd through 51st units, each of which was spread out along the Southern border of Jing Mountain. These units were slightly lower down the mountain compared to Deon's camp, each placed in a spacious region capable of homing hundreds of men.

These locations were not as difficult to reach as Deon's camp, otherwise this entire operation would be impossible.

Everyone understood the stakes this time. If they lost all 9 of these camps at the same time, it would be a massive and potentially unrecoverable blow for the Kingdom of Restari.

However, if Deon could successfully slaughter the Fan Kingdom troops in this battle, the false king's relationship with the Fan Kingdom would be destroyed.

The Fan King would never believe that a young commander had actually outplayed the new Restari King. They would assume that the new king had gone back on their agreement, destroying the deal between them after he had already benefitted from his side of the deal.

Originally, the Fan King trusted that this mid stage 2-Star king wouldn't dare to go back on their arrangement. After all, the new Restari King was entirely aware that the Fan King had ascended to become a 3-Star shaman! Naturally, the Fan King would be enraged upon discovering that he had been scammed!

Honestly, given that their opponent was led by a 3-Star powerhouse, winning this war really would be too difficult for the Kingdom of Restari…

But why would Deon care about the final outcome? He just wanted to drag this war on for longer, so that he could continue to kill whilst also receiving the kingdom's financial support!

As they approached their first target, the 43rd unit's camp, everyone became silent and solemn, preparing themselves for what was to come.

Before fighting the Fan Kingdom, they first needed to subdue the rebel spies within Lieutenant Reana's other 9 camps.

It was crucial that their victory was overwhelming and rapid, without a single person escaping or a single messenger bird being released into the outside world.

As for how Deon planned to do such a thing, it was actually quite simple.

Firstly, those birds he had the rebel spies send out back in the 37th unit camp, all reached their respective commanders within Lieutenant Reana's units, misleading them with the same message. This message stated that the entire 37th unit was heading towards General Li.

These commanders were not in charge of attacking Deon, their mission was to deliberately lose the impending battle against the Fan Kingdom. They would not leave their posts to seek out Deon, making this lie quite easy and effective. By misleading them in this way, Deon managed reduce all of their guards towards him.

The 43rd unit simply didn't see it coming when 50 shamans all activated the golden suppression spirit simultaneously, completely suppressing everyone within the camp.

The 50 shamans all stood outside of the 43rd unit camp walls. They managed to sneak into their positions under the cover off the night sky, whilst Deon, Lieutenant Reana, Lieutenant Shi and General Senlin quickly subdued any patrolling soldiers who caught sight of the 37th unit.

A golden membrane covered the 43rd unit, sending all those within into total disarray. Suddenly finding that they were unable to activate their spirits left the soldiers feeling shocked and afraid, whilst the golden membrane above their heads alerted them to the fact that they were under enemy attack!

The 43rd unit was completely surrounded. With the preparations complete, the 37th unit launched their attack from outside the range of the golden suppression formation!