As Xavier left the room, Ren said to the general "He seems like a nice kid."
"Ya, I've actually grown quite fond of him. I hope we will meet him more often."
There was a brief pause before the general spoke again "I think, just a hypothesis though, that that kid may be the one."
"You mean the Celestial King."
"Don't say it aloud, keep it vague but yes. I scanned his status and noticed there was a null value mana yet he was still able to muster such an attack. Even after training and being taught, no one could be able to muster such an powerful attack as that but he managed to perform it even without a fully matured soul core. It could only be a god's doing."
While they were still talking, a knock came on his door.
"Come in."
It was his messenger, Jack.
"Sir, the troops are waiting for you. They have just come back from their expedition and are waiting for you in the staging hall."
The force had an emergency mission they had to attend to a day after the merge so they had been away for some time now.
Now they were back, the general could finally address them.
"Ok, thank you Jack. We would be right there."
The messenger quickly went after delivering the message.
"Look, this is serious. If he is truly the Celestial King, we must not let anyone. I mean anyone at all. This stays between me and you until I give you a contrasting order, am I understood?"
"Yes sir. Your wish is my command."
"Good. Now let's go address the troops. They did so well on their last expedition, they really do deserve some appreciation."
They both left the office soon after and headed for the staging hall.
As they both walked down the hallway approaching the door to the staging hall where the Syllox Force was, their loud noise could be heard from a distance.
Ren walked ahead of the general to calm the soldiers with his taciturnity.
Most of the soldiers didn't quite like the commissioner. His pale look and dark aura always put him off from the company of others laying growth for his shady demeanor.
All he had to do was walk up to them and give them a death stare and all reserved their words.
Seconds later the general walked in and stepped up the stage as he did a few days back.
He walked slowly towards the centre of the stage where his voice could be heard by all.
He then cleared his voice before shouting aloud "Syllox Force –"
"– Impacting the worlds," the soldiers echoed.
"I would have addressed you earlier but due to your impromptu expedition, it was delayed up till today, so I apologize for the delay. I would like to begin with expressing my heart felt gratitude to all of you. You all did a marvelous work the other day. Congrats. Clap for yourselves."
As the soldiers clapped, the General turned and signalled Comm. Ren.
The commissioner waved his hands and a little bag appeared on the General's hand.
All present could guess what it contained. From the size down to the clattering sounds it gave off, it needed no introduction.
"I made a promise the other day that who ever will perform the most excellent on the battle field will receive a cash prize from me and I keep to my words. But before that, I would like to address a –, " the general paused to locate a suitable word for his expression.
"– Defilement of a direct order given."
Mummurs of who he maybe referring to galloped through the crowd.
A soldier beside Alex said, "Do you know what he's talking about?"
"No, I have no idea what the old man is saying."
"And I would like to give the person the liberty of ascending to the stage before I draw him out myself. I'll give till the count of five."
The general was seldom this strict.
"He must really be mad," a soldier said to himself.
"1, 2 –"
While he was counting, Alex decide to slip out of the crowd unnoticed though a bit enraged about the General's reaction to such a minor situation.
"– 3, 4, 5. Alex."
As he said his name, Alex was raised from his position to the stage on a rock and thrown onto the floor.
"Alex Necron. Tell me why you would defile a direct order given to you and in the midst of a crisis?"
''Sir. With all due respect your plan just wasn't gonna work." he raised his tone a bit higher in pitiful defense.
The crowd gasped at such a bold return at a general.
"There was no way the unawakened were going to defeat the demons on their own." He lowered his tone once more saying knowing that he had crossed the line saying "General, I am sorry. I was only doing what I thought was best at the moment. In no way did I attempt to defile your orders. I will take any punishment you throw at me. Just name it."
He got on his knee while saying the last phrase of his defense.
Alex was in for it now. He dared to raise his voice against a general, an awakened one at that. I wonder if the thought of being crushed by a rock ever crossed his mind before delivering his statement – no, it obviously didn't.
The General replied "How about this one then." He got the bag of coins and rained the coins on his head. "That's my boy, thinking like a potential general."
All was astonished at what had just happened.
"Did the general just award the prize to Alex?", a voice from the crowd asked.
"Yes I did. You see, being a general doesn't mean you will be perfect at everything. Sometimes a little initiative can be taken from those under you."
He crouched towards Alex and picked him up from his knelling posture aright and continued speaking "Like this young chap here. Some of you owe your lives to him because he did what was right even though he knew it would attract punishment yet he persevered."
"So let's all here it for Alex, our new Commander."
"What!", Alex exclaimed.
"You've earned it boy. Well done. I'm truly impressed."