Nearly all Heaven's Chosen were a bit arrogant–or at the very least, they had a lot of self-confidence. This was an inevitable result of the Heavenly Dao itself having judged them to be superior to those around them. Coupled with their rarity in the great scheme of things, it was already quite impressive for them to keep a calm, level head.
Don't be fooled by the nearly countless Named Families and their many descendants participating in this competition–overall, they not even made up a hundredth of all Heaven's Chosen. The vast majority originated from the regular populace, or even from worlds who were too insignificant to have been informed about the fact that they were under the rule of the Heavenly Court.
The famous idiom of a frog in a well therefore applied to approximately half of Theodore's peers. Due to their ignorance, they had no idea what his name signified, and would usually look unfavourably upon those who they thought were behaving overbearingly and with too much self-assurance.
Out of all of those who had been displeased by his advertisements, the most rash and conceited had chosen to flock to the Anti-Winter Alliance, often seeking this group out of their own free will. Many of them did indeed have some impressive Talents to rely upon, but others were simply too full of themselves.
Unsurprisingly, they failed to do anything but unknowingly choose their death anniversary. All of their hopes and dreams for the future went up in smoke because of a single choice they had made: To oppose Theodore Winter.
Witnessing this had a profound influence on the members of the Neutral Party. Nearly all of them were originally just a bit less cocky than the fools of the alliance, yet still thought of themselves highly. Their reasons for not joining the two Lords' resistance was merely that they wanted to see the others fight and benefit from the sidelines.
After all, which wise man would prevent one's competitors from tearing each other to shreds? The sole reason as to why they had come together was that there was strength in numbers. If they were singled out by either Theodore's group or the alliance, then they would have found it difficult to stand up for themselves on their lonesome.
This choice of theirs couldn't be called wrong, as it was indeed the best thing which they could have done under normal circumstances. They were all Heaven's Chosen, after all–so if they banded together, then there would be no reason for them to fear other groups of their peers! At least, that was what they had thought.
Even against a regular Named Family descendant, they would have had their difficulties. Kjartan or Renault alone would have been able to wipe the floor with them eventually, and if they had tried to oppose a Pillar's heir, then they would have been completely helpless. Needless to say, coming across Theodore was magnitudes worse.
After the confrontation between him and the Anti-Winter Alliance ended, out of the 51 Heaven's Chosen who the Qinglong World had been the starting point of, only 34 remained here–and quite a few of them were no longer amongst the participants. The Neutral Party had exactly as many members as Theodore's current group–ten. Yet, despite having equal numbers, none of them had even the slightest bit of confidence any longer.
Their faction had originally been created by Jules Cartier, a normally nonchalant man in his early thirties. He had actively sought out his peers right after coming across the advertisements, aware that this point in time was the best opportunity for him to rise to an influential position. Having chosen to participate in the Heavenly Succession, he was under no illusion that he would be the most promising contender, yet he still believed that individual differences shouldn't be too exaggerated–at least not to the extent where numbers were utterly meaningless.
Therefore, assembling a force which would eventually fall under his control should have been a fantastic decision! But now, all that he was left with was a deep feeling of despair twisting his stomach, his face a pale mask of horror. For days, he had been unable to look away from the slaughter, each kill shattering his outlook on the future further.
'There is no way to fight against monsters like that! And you're telling me we're both Heaven's Chosen? Have the heavens gone blind!?'
As he was wallowing in his powerlessness, a voice finally interrupted the silence which had enshrouded their secretive hideout for an entire week.
"... what do we do now? I know nobody wants to say it, but we... we'll definitely die if we try to oppose Theodore Winter."
The speaker was a relatively plain, yet good-looking young woman by the name of Marina. Before she came here, she had been working at her parents' inn in a remote village, having come across quite a few problematic patrons. Due to this, she had developed decent people skills, allowing her to get along with just about anyone. As a result, she had become the second most trusted and important person in their party.
"Then what do you suggest?"
Having snapped out his despair a little, Jules turned to face his comrade, a faint hint of hope in his heart. Maybe, there was still something that they could do! After all, they had never outright set themselves against Theodore, right? Well, at least not directly!
"Realistically, I don't think we can escape–and even if we do, we'll soon be unable to cultivate. Wherever Theodore Winter goes, the Energy dwindles a week or so afterwards. Eventually, this entire world will dry up. And the only way out, Qinglong City, has been occupied by him. So... if we flee, even if we don't die by his hand, we'll die of old age."
With a helpless smirk on her lips, Marina shook her head and laid out the second-biggest issue which they were facing. It hadn't been too difficult for their group to gather this much information about the world they were in. But the knowledge only brought them more misery. As her eyes looked at each of the others one by one, some tore up, whilst a few fell into deep contemplation.
"Let me lay it out clearly: We cannot fight, and we cannot escape. Both are dead ends. The only path forward, towards life... is to submit to him."
These last few words of hers were spoken with utter solemnity. She previously hadn't looked favourably upon serving another either, hoping that she could remain unfettered. Yet, a man who could eradicate an unspeakable number of lives without any observable emotional fluctuation was not one who would allow small fries like them to get away.
"Are you being serious?! But we made a big deal out of being neutral before! Do you really think he'll welcome us with open arms? Chances are that if we do this, we'll just die!"
Both afraid and aggrieved, a youngster barely older than a teenager couldn't help but become furious. What this lady was recommending for them to do would leave their fate completely in the hands of the most monstrous existence that he had ever seen! He absolutely would not agree to do such a thing.
"... calm down! I'm aware that it's risky, but if we actively choose to submit, then he will be less inclined to kill us. We didn't know better before, but don't we do now? We didn't attack him or his people at all, so we should be safe if we proceed with my–"
Despite her best attempts to stabilize him, Marina's social skills failed her this time. Interrupting her mid-speech, the youngster retorted loudly, clenching his fists. Clearly, only the knowledge that she wasn't that easy to deal with had kept him from violently lashing out at her.
"Oh shut up already! Why should any of us risk dying right now just because running away 'might' lead us to a dead end someday?! Who knows what we'll find in the ruins, maybe there's even another way out of here!"
Furrowing his brows, he soon sported a disdainful grin. Glaring straight at Marina, he shook his head in disgust and provocation.
"Be honest, you simply want to use all of us to ingratiate yourself with him. Don't think I don't know how you women feel about that guy deep down in your hearts! I admit, he's handsome and powerful. But just because you lust after him, that doesn't mean that we'll allow you to turn us into your exchange chips!"
Shocked by his accusation, Marina's eyes widened is disbelief. Never once had she even harboured such a thought, yet his claims did indeed cause the gazes of a few others to change. As they stared at her, their eyes no longer held any of the little trust they had built until today. Noticing this, panic welled up in her chest.
"You're wrong! That's not what I'm trying to do! I simply want all of us to survive!!"
Her heartfelt words caused a few of those wavering to return to their senses, yet those already convinced by the youth's assertion only looked down upon her even further.
"Oh really? But I don't believe you!"
Sneering with contempt warping his visage, the troublemaker shook his head, secretly exchanging glances with a few others. Seeing the situation spiral entirely out of control, Jules finally chose to speak up as well.
"Silence! Yevgeni, I understand that you're angry, maybe even a bit afraid. After all, I too am terrified. But I think Marina made good points and I don't believe that she wants to harm us."
Further incensed by his interjection, the youngster's eyes practically began to spew fire. Tearing all semblance of politeness apart, he spoke from the heart.
"What a surprise, the leader speaks up for his second in command. You want to get in her pants so badly that you'd risk our lives, huh? Fuck this, I'm out! You better pray we don't meet again!"
Storming off without a look back, Yevgeni left behind an awkward silence. As Jules was still stunned by what had just occurred, another three members of their group silently slipped away–two men and one woman. They and Yevgeni had formed their own little clique in secret and were completely buying into their shared narrative. It was likely that sooner or later, they would have split from the rest anyway, no matter how the confrontation between Theodore and the alliance actually ended.
"... for the record, he's wrong."
Feeling helpless to the point that he–combined with the overwhelming despair already making it hard for him to breathe–was about to cry, Jules thought it necessary to explain himself.
"No worries, I understand."
With a weak smile, Marina nodded. Having only moments ago been accused of something similar, she knew that Yevgeni was merely lashing out. She wouldn't take him words just now seriously.
"... so, what now? Are you all fine running the risk with me?"
Once more addressing the whole group, Marina regained some of her confidence in her decision. No matter what, she was convinced that this was the correct path to take!
"Yeah, let's do it."
"What other choice do we even have?"
"Don't worry, we won't let you go alone."
All five others–Jules included–one by one voiced their approval. Naturally, they were all scared, but they didn't let that cloud their judgement. Maybe alone, they wouldn't have found the courage, but as a group, making the decision felt a bit easier.
"Thank you, everyone! Then, let's leave and–Wait, where did he go!?"
Just as she was about to lead her comrades outside and towards Theodore, she noticed that the man in question, who they all had observed for a week, was nowhere to be found on the expansive battlefield.
"I've been right here for a while now."
From a corner of the room which nobody had paid attention to, a relaxed voice resounded. With unhurried steps, an all-too-familiar white-haired young man strode forward, his composed gaze causing the group of six to freeze up completely.