After several hours of covert Exploration, Chiron concluded his initial inspection and came to the most basic understanding of Analan's defense. The top of the wall was broken by the constant barrage of boulders and ballista bolts from Aranai, making manning said walls impossible and, from what Chiron overheard, that eventual conquest plan was such as well, slowly whittle down the walls until the districts are visible and then they will open fire on the citizens.
This was their whole plan. There was no scheme to it, just pure brute force. Aranai's strategy can generally be boiled down to brute force takeover, as they are stronger and have manpower and resources. The attack on Analand is an attempt to rectify their bottom heavy battle power and gain enough paths for their citizens to walk on and gain more top combat power in the form of awakened.
They took extra care of their awakened individuals, not even allowing them to take direct combat positions... Mainly due to the death of a rather important ascended and the complete annihilation of his entire path due to said death.
As the assassin path was no longer known to Aranai, they couldn't send any spies in and any normal human would instantly be caught and their heads thrown back in colourful gifts. If Chiron wanted in, he would have to go through the hard way of climbing over the walls and not being killed by any of the two sides. Once in, he would have no allies, help or means of getting support or out.
His entrance plan was rather simple, completely unwilling to waste any more time on thinking about it, as there were no other options. For anyone but Chiron, there would be no options at all!
Fortunately for him, the wall had several dents and damaged parts, that could be used for leverage to climb up and get in. Such situations were the best justification for Chiron's mass slaughters, as he had several random memories he could use. The sheer amount of memories he has guaranteed he could use something for one or the other task in any situation, even if their combat values were bottom.
He quickly scrolled through his weapons and took out two kitchen knife memories he had gotten from civilians and used them to create wedges he could climb up on. He forcefully shoved the knives into the wall's cracks one by one till he reached the top of it, using his impatience to scale up in seconds.
He looked down before jumping and on the other side he saw 10 guards in the immediate vicinity with bows drawn, ready to shoot him. His eyes opened wide, unable to understand how could they even see him when he was just a tiny humanoid covered in his ascended rank stealth bandages. Before he could even understand how they saw him, they let their arrows fly and shot him.
Not wanting to waste time, Chiron unwrapped his face and let the arrows hit his now 3 foot tall body. His skin hadn't been lost due to the accident, so his skin was as thought as ever, but his artificially mended muscles ached from the impact of the arrows.
The arrows kept hitting his back, but Chiron had a decent enough plan on how to get down without jumping. His original idea was to jump and use a memory of his to help him survive without breaking anything, but the plan changed due to not wanting to show too much of his strength off at the moment.
Because of this Chiron simply undid a layer of his bandages and used it to gradually hop down bit by bit. He soon reached the ground and stood in front of the archers, some of which had pissed themselves out of fear. When a normal archer shoots an arrow dead on the target, they expect the target to be dead.
When they saw Chiron take hundreds of backshots and come out unscathed, not even bothering to acknowledge the situation, they realized they were out of their league.
Chiron also looked angry, but he was a hero in Analand, so he couldn't ruin his reputation by taking his wrath out on random plebs. He simply coughed and said "It's okay, I'm willing to forgive. You guys don't know what's going on or who I am, so I understand. You did a good job shooting me and trying to kill me the moment you saw me. I'd rather an innocent die, than a potential enemy getting through our defenses. I am definitely not going to have you archers punished, so get one of the watchmen, preferably Holmo or Charlie, to come meet me. Tell them Chiron is back home and they will understand."
The archers stared at him, stunned. The ones looking at him were technically part of the military, but they were barely trained and were unfit to be watchmen corps candidates, much less actually competent soldiers. They began murmuring among each other about not understanding a single thing that just happened.
"Who is he?"
"How did he not die from our arrows?!"
"Are we allowed to meet with awakened?"
"Who did he ask for, Homo something?"
"I just want to go home, that's where all my stuff's at!"
"You go get our commander!"
"Why me, you let Anne here do it!"
"I'm a lady, shouldn't YOU step up for ME ! Plus, you're the better runner, I'm an actual archer!"
"She's right."
"Good point."
"I agree."
"You're the best!"
"Rabble rabble rabble."
The bullied soldier finally relented and went to meet their commander, while Chiron sat down and practiced the technique once again. 5 hours later, the man he was waiting for finally appeared and he deactivated his attribute.
"Hello, I heard you're some guy named 'Chiron', who wished to speak with me?"
"..."
Silence envelopes the surroundings, as none dared to say anything. Even Chiron felt unease when he looked forward. He stared at the woman and mentally felt like he was being crushed. *Why does she feel even more powerful than Elbaf?! It's like looking at a superior existence, rather than another ascended.*
A tall woman stared down at Chiron. Her limbs longer than Chiron was tall and a massive bow taller than her was in her left hand.
Her skin was light enough to shine in the darkness of the night. The menacing X bow in her hand was directed squarely at Chiron, ready to instantly react the moment he does anything, while her eyes were the most menacing aspect. She had black manti-likes eyes. Her black pupils looked at him, as if they laid claim to the light he reflected, not willing to let a single particle go unobserved.
Chiron's Heart sank, as he felt the general vibe of this woman and knew immediately these idiots had brought over someone they shouldn't have, probably the general of the watchmen.
He gulped and bowed his head slightly "Greetings general watchwoman, I am ascended Chiron, a recruit of the Assai garrison, that stayed behind to guard the escape of the fortress when it fell." She looked at him with an expressionless face. She was calmer than anyone had any right to be.
There wasn't a hint of surprise or even something resembling curiosity in her eyes, as she said "Bring me Charlie! I care not where he is! Find commander Charlie and drag him in chains if need be! And you, stay where I can see you!"
Chiron nodded his head earnestly and went back to training. He was the hero of Assai and an "ascended" of "Analand", what did he have to be worried for? All he needed to do was wait it out and watch as he was welcomed with open arms! *Just cultivate and don't look at those shifty eyes. Damn shifty eyes woman! Shifting her eyes around constantly!*
Xerxes left eye twitched, as she suddenly looked at Chiron a bit more menacingly, which Chiron understood as a sign to not glare at her and closed his eyes instantly, changing in his mind *Shifty eyes begone! Try and keep trying! Gotta comprehend!*
And so he waited for another 5 hours, as the ascended watched him without blinking even once and waited for Charlie to arrive and arrive he did. He wasn't told anything about what was going on, but the moment he approached and saw a man, with the face of the most "valiant" soldier he had ever met, his face paled and his heart sank.
He stood there, in complete shock, trying to process the fact, that Chiron was alive. He, who single handedly held off the army of Aranai and allowed the entire population of Assai to safely evacuate and make it back to Analand proper was still alive. His mind drew a blank to see how this could even happen. "C-Chiron?! Is that really you? H-how are you alive?! Why are you so small? What happened?!"
The ascended nodded her head and lowered her body to bow, her eyes as insidious as ever. "So you really are Chiron Of Assai! It is an honour to meet you, but I request you put on these cuffs and come with me to be questioned. Before I have to go through the inspection, I would like to say to you one thing, welcome home, hero!"
Chiron smiled at Charlie and then looked back at the ascended and said "Thank you, I am truly back! *for blood!*"