Far before the final siege commenced, Kjartan and Renault had already made their plans–and multiple layers of them as well. Contingencies upon contingencies were thought up and discarded, until they finally settled on an approach which they could try. To be perfectly honest, they were not very confident in their success, but this was their Hail Mary attempt at a future in this world.
If it had only been Theodore who they would have to repel, that would have been enough of a headache on its own, but there was at least one Heaven's Chosen with a faith-based Talent on his side as well. This was blatantly obvious from the fanatical believers' movements, and the lack of resistance which they faced upon entering Qinglong City.
That was to be expected, of course, as Theodore's advertisement was certain to have an effect and attract some of their peers to his side. In all honesty, Kjartan himself would have loved to join him as well–unfortunately, the other party seemed to intend to turn him into an enemy.
To make matters even worse, their recruitment efforts had 'only' led to thirteen others joining them, and one of them–their most essential communications officer–deserted after a couple of weeks! All in all, it was a right and proper mess. Considering all of this, it was quite impressive that they had made it this far!
Kjartan had thrown all caution to the wind and eagerly infiltrated any and all Imperial Han Family settlements which he could find, often not even leaving the somewhat stronger regular people behind. His Fly Slaves exploded in number, all in the effort to somehow encumber Theodore's Array enough for it to be unable to deal with their more powerful troops.
Renault also did the same as him, sending his controlled beasts to all corners of the world and amassing a sizable army of his own. Unfortunately, due to the relatively 'small' amount of monstrous animals in the Qinglong State, his best efforts left him with merely a tenth of the number of those that Kjartan had been able to come up with.
The Insect Lord's almost insignificant pawn Jerrold had been more or less close in his assumption: Overall, their troops were in the billions. Yet this didn't give them any sense of security whatsoever. Both of the alliance's leaders were reluctant to turn anyone into their Subordinate, mostly due to the fact that while this would make their peers loyal, it also would cause a fair number of them become quite unenthusiastic.
If your disposable soldiers don't give their best and don't believe that they can make it far, then why would they try their hardest? As a result, Jerrold was an exception amongst their alliance, with the rest having been more cordially invited. Naturally, some had still needed a heavy-handed approach to 'become enlightened' and join them without a fuss. But amongst them all Jerrold had been the most unreasonable fool, which was why his freedom had been taken from him.
Of course, Kjartan and Renault were tempted to obtain more Heaven's Chosen Levels, but this early in the 'game', they weren't overly concerned with them yet. Their primary worry was to make it through this ordeal as smoothly as possible.
Amongst the two of them, the Insect Lord was by far the more cautious one. The Beast Lord preferred to engage in head-on confrontations himself whenever he had the chance, whilst Kjartan always aimed to stay in the shadows, letting his Fly Slaves take care of every possible matter. Yet even Renault wasn't too confident in facing Theodore, which was why he chose not to directly participate in the siege.
Nonetheless, contrary to Kjartan, who stayed far away in a hidden corner of the world, solely taking part via his Parasitic Flies' hosts, Renault made the decision to observe the battlefield from afar. He would be hidden and the distance between the area of conflict and himself would be so far apart that nobody could possibly notice him.
'What a fool! He's underestimating our foe far too much. Tch, those damn muscleheads...! But at the end of the day, it won't really make a difference. Either we achieve a draw and keep our life-saving items, or we lose and have to use them. In that sense, whether or not the 'Beast Lord' will be detected by Theodore Winter won't truly matter.'
Scoffing internally at his companion's actions, Kjartan couldn't help but shake his head. Today was the day of the final battle, and all possible preparations had been made. He was both terrified and eager to see their fate from here on out.
"Everything ready on your end?"
Close to the battlefield, an Initial Ascension Stage Fly Slave addressed a gryphon-looking monstrosity which was at least dozens of meters tall.
"Obviously. And on yours? When can we finally begin?"
The eagerness permeating this response caused Kjartan to frown, yet he didn't let it show on the Fly Slave's face. Instead, he let it give a short nod and answered Renault's questions.
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Let's attack in ten seconds."
After the beast which Renault was speaking through nodded its head, the two of them focused on controlling all of their pawns. As the seconds trickled by, Kjartan's heartbeat quickened and his concentration reached an unprecedented level–then it was finally time!
'Charge.'
This one mental command was enough to send billions of his Fly Slaves into action. They had all been carefully arranged to be evenly distributed, with as many of them as possible entering the Array's range simultaneously.
As his and Renault's troops surged forward, the flood of bodies soon got halted in its tracks, the Illusion and Imprisonment Arrays cutting off their connection to them temporarily. Yet, it wasn't as bad as they had feared–a few handsful of their pawns could still move, proving that the limit of the massive Array should have been reached!
'Second wave–go!'
Not daring to waste even a single precious moment, the far smaller number of more powerful minions got sent forth, including all of those Anti-Winter Alliance members, which they had painfully gathered up until today. But they had no time to have regrets–it was now or never!
Both being at the edge of their seats, the two Lords felt their blood run cold as their carefully dispatched soldiers lost connection with them all of a sudden. And it wasn't just them. Almost all of their Initial Ascension Stage troops also fell under the influence of the Illusion Array!
'Shit! He's put together a far more powerful Array than we assumed. Retreat!'
With cold sweat drenching his back, Kjartan quickly commanded all of his remaining Fly Slaves to flee as far away as possible, in an effort to see if he could draw out Theodore from within the Array–and then attack him with them. However, before he could do so, he suddenly lost contact with them as well.
'What's going on? Even if he instantaneously increased the Array's size, it should never have been capable of growing big enough to cover an entire province! What about the Beast Lord? If I recall correctly, he was quite close to my last Fly Slaves...'
Attempting to reach out to Renault via the beast he had left behind in a secret spot many provinces away for communication purposes, all that responded to him was silence. The animal was like a wooden statue, entirely unresponsive.
'... yeah, we're screwed. I should have just fled at the first opportunity, then I wouldn't have wasted this period of time.'
Deflating like a popped balloon, Kjartan fell on his chair and heaved a helpless, lonely sigh. He didn't bother to send a message to the one who had beaten him, nor did he make much of a fuss. Without a word, he focused on a ring on his finger, then his figure disappeared from the Qinglong World, getting transported far away, to another corner of the first round's event venue.
The gap between a Named Family member and the heir to a Supreme Pillar was vast enough for a mere Array that the latter had set up to make him feel powerless–he never even dared to harbour thoughts of revenge.
As his partner in crime was making his getaway, Renault noticed that he had been cut off from the cards which he had left behind further away as well, causing his mood to grow heavy.
"What is this? I don't feel any illusion at all. Everything is normal. Yet... why did the connection get cut off?"
Murmuring to himself, he suddenly jolted backwards, distancing himself from the spot where he had been at previously. Staring wide-eyed at the red-haired woman who had appeared there, his face paled. Naturally, he could feel that she was at the Dawning Numen Stage, shattering any and all hopes at a successful resistance as soon as they popped up in his mind.
It was then that he noticed that two more gorgeous ladies–one akin to a saintess, and another one from the Spirit race–were eyeing him. They had perfectly cut off all avenues of his retreat, yet didn't make any attempt to attack him. Rather, they simply contained him.
"What a pity, only one of you is here. I had hoped to have the honour of meeting the 'Insect Lord' as well. Instead, it's merely you, little Renault."
After a silent and painfully awkward five minutes, Theodore teleported next to Vigdis, then calmly addressed the orange-yellow haired young man in front of him. Even before the Heavenly Succession had kicked off, the Dompteur Family had already made it clear that they would be serving one of the long-time rivals of the Winter Family, so Renault was a familiar face to him.
"... to run into you in the first round... my luck is horrible. But don't think you'll win the next time we meet! The Young Master will teach you a lesson on my behalf, just you wait!"
Despite the anger and wrath he was outwardly portraying, Renault's heart was cold. He knew that the reason for the clash between the two Supreme Pillars' heirs would not be him, he would merely be an inconsequential footnote. But he couldn't simply escape without leaving behind some vague threat, right? That would be too pathetic!
"... you have a lot of confidence in that brat from the Summer Family, it seems. I'll be awaiting him patiently in the future. To be honest, I can't really see a clash with him ending any differently from ours here. I mean... even his parents think he's quite pathetic, right?"
Chuckling to himself, Theodore recalled the figure of a youngster a couple of years his junior–a guy who somehow had managed to waste all of the resources which had been poured into him by his family. As the Summer Family was their oldest enemy by far, their intel on them was also the most complete–their heir, despite no expenses having been spared in raising him, barely surpassed the standard.
"Do you truly think that–... actually, never mind. It's pointless to argue with you. Simply wait, and you'll see."
Clearly infuriated, Renault almost wanted to speak up for his Young Master, then he hastily shut his mouth and played the entire matter off as casually and resignedly as he could. Activating an earring he had been wearing, he disappeared far away, not bothering to shoot Theodore another glance. Just like that, his life-saving item was used up.
"... what a waste. I was merely toying with him and he almost let some intel slip. Even those few words alone would have been enough to convince me to take some precautions. If I hadn't known that the public image of that guy was a facade from the very beginning, then this would have been an important find."
His demeanour changing entirely within a fraction of a second, Theodore mocked Renault in disbelief. Other than his impressive Talent, that guy was complete trash. With a mind like his, the Summer Family had really shot themselves in the foot by accepting him as their pawn.
'But in all seriousness–whether or not that brat is hiding his excellence or is merely a front for a more formidable descendant doesn't matter. The Summers have always been a considerable threat.'
Furrowing his brows, he remained silent for a while. As cliché as it was, the Winter and Summer Families had always been like ice and fire–at each other's throats whenever they had the chance. The blood feud between them went back to before the Heavenly Court's inception and had continued on ever since. While he doubted that they would be even remotely close to the strongest enemies he would face during this competition, they were at least the sole ones he truly knew he would inevitably come to blows with.
'... oh well, I shouldn't waste time on them for now. Back to work it is!'