Rebellion

"Attack." The man leading the army shouted, his mighty voice sending a jolt of rage through the warriors.

They had been waiting for this day for years and finally, after decades of torture and tears, the kingdom of Xetha had revolted against the royal family.

"Spare no one for they do not deserve our mercy." The man commanded, his brown eyes filled with fire and abhorrence. His silver hair swayed with the wind as he slashed the guard that had rushed forward to stop him, his hands now dyed crimson with blood.

The royal guards kept fighting, trying their best to stop the revolt. But to stop a formidable army was impossible, not when they were severely outnumbered. Soon, the entire place was filled with the stench of blood. However, none of them belonged to the royal family, not yet.

While his warriors moved forward towards the palace, the man narrowed his eyes when he felt a faint suppression pressing down on him. But it was not something he could not handle. For a peak-stage level six cultivator, this faint suppression was just a touch of the feather for the time being. But it could not be said the same for the other warriors.

As time passed, more warriors dropped to their knees as they coughed out blood and the man's frown deepened gradually.

"Commander Yihan, we...we.." One of the warriors whose face was turning pale slowly tried hard. But eventually, he too fainted after coughing up blood right in front of Yihan.

"Iramal." Yihan seethed and looked around. Other than a few warriors who were fighting the suppression with all their might, most of the army was unconscious and if this continued, their revolt would be an utter failure.

Although Yihan was a peak-stage cultivator, they were dealing with a suppression power from a peak-stage level eight cultivator, and Yihan had come across only two people in his whole life who had reached such a stage. His grandfather and...King Iramal, the person who was the reason behind the sufferings of the people of Xetha. With him around, it was impossible for anyone to even take a step closer to the palace where the royal family was hiding, let alone kill the entire family whose hands were stained with the blood of the innocents.

Yihan, now, had to change the strategy. Although he was able to withstand the suppression, it would not be long before he too collapsed and that was the last thing he wanted. Before the tremendous force got to him, he had to stop it, and the only way to do it was...

"I need to merge my powers with the other commanders." He mumbled to himself before he closed his eyes. While he had no qualms with the new strategy, it was the other two commanders he was worried about.

"Commander Yihan, I am afraid our plan is going fail. We will have to...."

Yihan's eyes snapped open and he stared at Commander Kaithan who at some point had moved towards him, killing the royal guards on his way.

The army had handled most of the guards and even the secret guards the king had appointed to protect his family, and the ones left were severely affected by the King's suppressive aura. There was barely anyone left for them to fight.

"Commander Kaithan, we do have a way to win this battle." Yihan started as he stared at the palace that was randomly painted in blood.

"How might that be? I am willing to do anything to end the tyrannical family."

Kaithan's words did not surprise Yihan. He had expected it as soon as he made a new plan. It was the other commander he was concerned about.

"I remember my grandfather telling me once that..." Yihan divulged the truth which no one in the kingdom of Xetha knew about and if not for the urgency of the situation, no one would have known about it either.

"Cultivators in the peak stage can raise their cultivation level temporarily if they were to merge their powers with cultivators of the same caliber and the raise of the level depends on the number of people involved in the merge."

"I do not understand. What are you trying to tell, Commander Yihan?" Kaithan blinked, trying to make sense of what he had just heard.

"If I merge my powers with you, Commander Kaithan, we can together raise our cultivation by one level and..." Yihan stopped all of a sudden, a flicker of worry passing through his face. "If I were to merge my powers with you and Commander Ophir at the same time, we can each raise our cultivation level by two levels, albeit only temporarily."

"But...?"

Kaithan coughed suddenly and Yihan followed suit and the men realized that their time was limited and they had to decide their next step.

"But the merging of powers will take a lot of our internal strength," Yihan warned, not wanting to hide the truth from Kaithan. If they were to go ahead with the plan, he had to be sure that the other two men were willing to go ahead lest they blamed him for any untoward consequences of their perilous action.

"I do not care about it, Commander Yihan. If merging our powers will aid us to deal with Iramal and his despotic family, I am willing to go ahead with it. I am with you on this."

"What about Commander Ophir? Will he agree too?" Yihan stared at the older man in front of him dubiously. "We need his support too. Only then will be able to handle Iramal's suppression."

"I agree."

Yihan and Kaithan heard Ophir's determined voice. While Kaithan nodded at the now-approaching man in appreciation, Yihan looked at him skeptically, wondering how long had he listened to their conversation. This was completely out of Ophir's character and to think that the man had agreed to his suggestion without putting up a fight....it was anything but believable.

But Yihan did not speak a word about it and pulled out his dagger. "We will have to merge our blood to merge our powers."

"And how long can we stay in the raised level?" Ophir interrupted him and Yihan smiled to himself immediately.

'Here it goes.'

"That depends on us, Commander Ophir. We will have to put all our might into it and the moment we give up...."

Yihan looked back and forth between the two commanders to make sure they were grasping his words attentively. "We will return to our original state irrespective of the situation. So, we will have to kill Iramal first before we lose the fight with ourselves."