The following day, the head of the Blood Fief's leader was seen hanging in front of the gate of his
mansion. It was done intentionally so that everyone could see the horrifying scene.
"The leader is dead! He has been killed!"
Soon enough, the news of the death of the Blood Fief's leader quickly spread throughout the main city
like wildfire. The citizens were scared for their lives. Right now, the Blood Fief did not have a leader, so
no one was going to take command.
At the same time, Rocky took the opportunity to lead the independent army and launch an attack on the
main city. Since the remaining warriors and soldiers were suffering from low morale, they were easily
brought down.
Soon enough, the city walls broke down and chaos spread out even further.
Not long after, several elders and Spiritual Emperors from the leader's mansion rushed over to confront
the independent army with all their might.
However, as soon as Rocky displayed his strength at the Shura Realm, he was able to easily suppress
the elders and the Spiritual Emperors of the Blood Fief.
After that, Rocky went on a killing spree, slaughtering the elders and the Spiritual Emperors as if he
was a killing machine.
Due to Rocky's heroics and superior strength, the capital of the Blood Fief was completely captured
after a day.
Except for the spirit warriors from the leader's mansion, the independent army let go of the ordinary
people, driving them out of the city.
Immediately after, the independent army established a defensive arrangement throughout the city. Now
that their primary goal was completed, they were to wait until the negotiation with the Shura Race was
realized.
Soon enough, the news that the entire Blood Fief fell reached the royal family, as well as the other fiefs.
Obviously, this caused quite a stir. No one expected that it would lose easily to some unknown force.
Two days later, the grim news also reached Zain, who was currently at the front line.
"The Blood Fief has been occupied by a human army? In exchange for the fief, they want me to
withdraw my army from the territory of the human race?" When Zain heard this information, he could
not help but be furious and dumbfounded at the same time.
"Your Royal Highness, is this the work of the spiritual race? Maybe they are trying to take advantage of
the situation!" one of Zain's trusted subordinates speculated.
"No, I don't think so. This is likely done by the human army. Only they have the motive to make such
demands. But how the hell did they get past the border of the Shura Race under our watch?" Zain
uttered in disdain. His eyes narrowed as he pondered on these thoughts.
"What are we going to do now? Do we pull back?" the subordinate asked.
"Pull back? Of course not! Ask the royal family to send soldiers to reclaim the Blood Fief! I don't have
time to waste playing their games!" Zain answered sternly. He knew that their current position in the
territory of the human race was of great importance. The defenses of the human army were about to
collapse, so it would be a total waste if he suddenly decided to retreat. In just a few days, he would be
able to break through to the Ethereal Region, which would mean that his victory was already within
reach.
At the same time, just as Rocky expected, all of the other fiefs were just waiting and watching how the
situation would play out. None of them wanted to get involved in the chaos since it would not do them
any good. At this point, only the royal family was angry enough to send a huge army consisting of fifty
thousand soldiers just to take the Blood Fief back.
However, even with the efforts of the royal family, they did not expect that the army led by Rocky was
formidable enough to defeat them in just three days.
Due to this another huge loss, the royal family was already getting worried and frustrated. If the eight
fiefs did not make a move on their own to fight this human army, the Shura Race would eventually face
such a disgrace.
At last, the royal family could only turn to Zain. They asked him to withdraw his forces from the territory
of the human race in order to prioritize the matter with the Blood Fief.
Unexpectedly, even after Zain received the order, he did not obey at all. At the back of his mind, he was
a prince, a direct descendant of the current king. Hence, even if the royal family got extremely mad
because of his disobedience, he would not be punished.
As they learned that Zain refused to withdraw his army, it caused a lot of dissatisfaction within the royal
family.
After all, the nine major fiefs were the foundation of the royal family's rein. Even if just one of them was
lost, it would be a huge deal.
Therefore, at this point, the king was left with no choice but to personally order Zain to go back.
After receiving a direct order from the king, Zain was so upset because he could not possibly disobey
this time. Thus, even though he was very reluctant, he left half of his forces on the human defense
lines. Then, he led the remaining forces back to the Shura Race in order to take the Blood Fief back
from Rocky's independent army.
However, after getting a tip that Zain had already led half of his troops back to the Shura Race, Rocky,
using his identity as Odin, immediately informed Gilbert and asked him to execute the plan that they
had formed before. With that, Rocky secretly moved the core of his army away from the city and
ordered them to withdraw towards the border of the Shura Race.
Meanwhile, Gilbert, who had already prepared everything beforehand, asked two elders from the Ghost
Fief to lead an army of thirty thousand soldiers towards the Blood Fief.
Thus, with a perfectly executed act, Rocky's army and Gilbert's army put on a splendid show, making
everyone believe that the Ghost Fief took the initiative to reclaim the Blood Fief. Hence, even before
Zain could make it back to the Shura Race, the Ghost Fief had successfully taken control of the Blood
Fief from Rocky's hands.
Of course, many were astounded after knowing that the Ghost Fief made a move out of nowhere.
At the same time, Zain was even more furious. After all, he wasted so much time just so he could lead
half of his army back to the Shura Race. But it was all in vain because the Blood Fief was already taken
over by the Ghost Fief.
It took Zain and his army days before arriving at the border. Thus, they were all very tired, and they
obviously needed time to recuperate before going on.
When Zain was finally back, he immediately investigated why the Ghost Fief had suddenly made a
move to drive off the human army from the Blood Fief. Being a cunning man himself, he felt that
something was definitely off, and it must be related to the fact that the Ghost Fief was a supporter of
Princess Layla. He thought that since the Ghost Fief had taken control of Blood Fief's capital, it was
already equivalent to conquering the entire Blood Fief. Beneath it all, this convenient situation would
greatly help Layla's campaign for the throne.
Meanwhile, Rocky had already led the independent army back to the gap that they had broken before.
He did not directly retreat towards the border since half of Zain's troops were still stationed there. Since
Zain had returned to the royal family in the meantime, Rocky thought that he could chip away a part of
the prince's troops in his absence.
While Rocky was carefully coming up with another plan to sabotage Zain's plan, the royal family was in
a heated discussion regarding the fact that the Blood Fief was easily captured by the human army.
Moreover, when the army of the Ghost Fief finally occupied and took control of the Blood Fief, it
attracted dissatisfaction from the other fiefs. After all, although they had no solid evidence, they could
not help but speculate that the Ghost Fief had something to do with the fall of the Blood Fief.
Right now, the commander in chief of the Blood Fief's army, who was also the son of the late leader of
the fief, strongly protested and demanded the Ghost Fief to hand the reins of the Blood Fief back to
them.
For this very reason, the king had no choice but to gather all of the eight leaders, as well as the
representatives of the major forces of the royal family and the important ministers to discuss all of the
matters at hand.
Hence, at this moment, in the imperial capital, the most powerful and prominent figures in the entire
Shura Race were all gathered.
Of course, Zain, Layla, and Enoch, the three frontrunners to be the next leader of the royal family were
also present.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I assume you already know why I summoned all of you here today. As you
know, the Blood Fief was recently captured by the human army. Furthermore, their leader was
beheaded and was shown as a public display. This is the first time in the history of the Shura Race that
such a horrendous thing occurred! Now, I want to know what exactly happened!" The silver-haired king
had a serious expression and was even oozing with a fiendish aura. Although he was over a hundred
and sixty years old right now, his power was still tremendous.
"I think that there were very suspicious things happening right under our noses. Your Majesty, I beg that
this matter be investigated thoroughly!" Zain immediately expressed his opinion, hinting that the Ghost
Fief had something to do with the bizarre turn of events.
"Yes, I agree that a thorough investigation is necessary. However, let us not forget the fact that the only
reason why the human army could get past the defense line of the Shura race and easily conquer the
Blood Fief is that Zain summoned a large number of soldiers to the front line. He even recruited from
the soldiers of all the fiefs just so he could accomplish this supposed brilliant plan. However, as we all
saw, not only was he unable to conquer the territory of the human race, his actions also led to the fall of
the Blood Fief!" At this time, Enoch stepped forward and gave his own thoughts. Obviously, based on
what he said, he wanted to pin all the blame on Zain.
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