The Plan

Damon focused back on his Legion.

This was the last opportunity the commanders would have to cultivate or practice. Later today, the Council was going to meet him at the plains.

He had used the scroll to plan the meetup point, but had said nothing about his Legion.

Damon smiled as he thought of the shock they would have.

The day passed silently as the Centurions absorbed the animals and cultivated in peace. But when the sun was halfway between noon and nightfall, they arrived.

The council flew down from east as they approached the army.

Damon grinned as he saw them land. At first, they looked confused, almost as if they had come to the wrong place. Soon though, after a swift double, they realized the true scope of Damon's army.

Earl was the first to recover. Within moments, he tapped Cassandra on the shoulder.

"Ahem!" He cleared his throat.

Cassandra's face reddened.

Before she could speak, however, Arthur, stepped forward with a bright smile.

"It's great to see your newfound army! They'll be key in my crusade against the monsters." Arthur's eyes glowed with madness.

Cassandra snapped towards Arthur. "Be quiet about your delusions! I've told you time and time again, but let me reiterate it. This is not your crusade! This is humanity's crusade. Do not continue to embarrass us."

Arthur's eyes blazed as he prepared to argue. Luckily, Tartarus, a muscular man with dark brown hair, pulled him back.

Damon observed all of this with interest.

'Looks like there is some kind of rift that I can exploit. If needed.'

Seeing the conflict simmer down, he cleared his throat.

"I'm glad all of you appreciate my work. This meeting, however, involves much more than that. We need to plan the coming battles. But I'd also like to spend some time together. After all, we need to build some mutual trust before we can fight on the same side effectively."

Cassandra took a deep breath before her smile returned to her face.

"Thank you for your patience. Some things do need some... ironing out."

"That's only natural. We all have our differences. I think that is what makes us unique." Damon said as he began walking over to a table he had made.

It was wooden and circular, with a detailed map of the areas surrounding the fortress placed in it's center. Surrounding the table, were ten simple wooden chairs.

"Everyone should sit. This way, we can be much more comfortable as we talk. Wouldn't want any more explosive rants." Damon instructed as he rolled his eyes.

Everyone sat down and they began their discussion.

"Are all of those knights as powerful as the ones you used a month ago?" Cassandra asked.

"They are around the same level. I did some minor adjustments, but they haven't majorly affected the knights." Damon nodded.

Cassandra grinned widely. "That's great! I feared that you would have to sacrifice on the quality in order to make more."

"Luckily, I had ample time to work on them. But, just how many Psykers do you have?"

Cassandra's face darkened. "We only have around a thousand. The younger generations just haven't had the time they need. People are also getting sick of the rebellion. Whether they support it or not."

Damon pretended to be shocked. "My city's rebellion had thousands of Psykers and was still crushed. How have you been able to survive?"

Cassandra's face lightened up. "Most of our Psykers are imbedded into normal society. Unlike other cities, we don't group our soldiers together. So far, it has helped us avoid detection or any major defeats."

Damon nodded. "So, how many soldiers does the Old Guard have?"

This time, Cassandra looked towards Ezekiel.

Ezekiel straightened. "They have around seven thousand Psykers, upwards of one hundred thousand Aspirants, and between one to two million Cultivators. It's hard to say how many Aspirants and Cultivators would be truly willing to fight for the Old Guard. Many of them are civilians who signed up for the rewards or retired explorers, sick of danger."

Damon frowned. "I don't need to be a genius to guess that the rest of your forces don't match up with the Old Guard. How exactly do you expect to be able to win?"

Ezekiel adjusted his glasses. "Our plan is very risky. We will incite violence and rioting by faking a governmental mistake. To be specific, we will blow up part of the factory district at noon. To do this, we will explode a munitions factory and blame this failure on the government."

Damon's eyes shined. "That's a great plan! But how will you convince the public that it was the government's fault?"

Ezekiel laughed softly. "When have the people not blamed the government? All we need to do is leak some documents that detail prior incidents in the factory. The people will begin to riot and we can exploit this to attack the Old Guard's response force. With their troops spread out, we can easily weaken them without taking many losses while simultaneously drawing the civilians onto our side."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "Why would the civilians side with us? We just caused them to be caught in the crossfire."

"But that's the genius of it. This will be the inciting incident of a new revolution! We can just tell the civilians that our men defended themselves after being attacked while 'peacefully' protesting."

Damon was impressed. "To be honest, I didn't expect such brutal tactics from your group. You seemed to be a group of naïve children dreaming for a past glory."

Cassandra interjected. "We do have our dreams and hopes, but we try to only let them guide us, not control us. After many unsuccessful rebellions, we have been forced to resort to these tactics. They are our only chance."

"I find that very wise. It's important to be ruthless in order to attain your goals."

Suddenly, Damon felt a tug on his mind.

His owls had seen something... or someone.