Chapter 1698: Preparation [3]
The conversation went relatively well. There were some opponents to its stability, mainly the two from the Ignis Clan, but the Aurora and Ether Clan geniuses were surprisingly accepting.
Seryius was right above Valerie in standing. He didn't have the luxury to think himself better than her. Instead, she was a competition that he had to acknowledge.
As for Cera, she was tied with Valerie. Gio, Bianca, Raphael, and Iridia were also tied with August and Melania.
The so-called fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-place positions were ones shared by many people.
After all, there weren't many opportunities to gain points. Everyone only participated twice, which meant those two positions defined where they stood.
In every round, those geniuses had finished on the podium. However, since the rest had done the same, they all ended up in the same place.
They were all fighting a battle to make it into the top three as people who sat on its cusp.
The reason why most of the Holy clan geniuses were targeting August's group specifically was because they were the hurdles preventing them from moving any higher on the leaderboard.
Cera didn't hold a grudge. Like her brother, she was more open-minded.
The Ether Clan actually didn't participate in Qinglong's downfall. They ignored it as they'd ignored almost anything else happening outside of their clan. They weren't the types to have the inclination to lend aid to others easily, but they were quite amiable in general.
One just had to be sure not to trust them too much, since, at the critical moment, it wasn't odd for them to disappear.
Since Cera was also a skilled tactician, she volunteered to help August with strategizing.
His position as the leader was cemented with those words. After all, if Seryius and Cera were willing to see him as an equal, the rest didn't have an excuse to oppose him.
The plans that were made could only be left in their infancy since there wasn't enough information to finalize them.
Still, assigning roles was important.
It was a matter of consoling a conceited genius, but August allowed Raphael and Iridia to be generals. He would make the strategies, but they would be allowed to monopolize the glory.
Valerie and Melania would act closely alongside them, while the rest would be assigned to positions as needed once they'd actually seen their territory.
Gio and Bianca would be most useful for their healing skills in a wartime situation. All of the combatants would need to be pitted against geniuses on the other side.
Those arrangements required detailed effort to produce.
The key points to tackle in the current moment were team building and recruitment.
The first would take some more time, but the second...
The families of the nobles on August's side probably wouldn't have supported them beforehand, but now that members of their mother clans were on the same team, it was different.
They would easily be able to get a few tens of troops from those noble clans, but it was nearly enough.
August's main goal for this meeting was to secure support from the Holy Clans he was now attached to.
He knew how to differentiate people.
And, though he would believe in the good in people who deserved it, he knew who was evil and how to treat them.
Eventually, he would take them down with his own hands.
But for now, he would milk them for everything they could offer.
The act of convincing them was simple.
First and foremost, Seryius and Cera already promised the Ether Clan's help.
According to Cera:
"It is our battle too. If we lose here, then it will be worse for us than what will happen if we work together with everyone. It might not be to the same extent as what the others will get, but we will at least promise as many troops as the noble clans provide."
With that, a tenth of the necessary army was provided.
The Aurora Clan geniuses spoke along the same lines.
"We're willing to help since all of us are in the same boat now, but our clan probably won't be as friendly as the ones on the other side."
It was the general sentiment they all shared.
Even the Ignis Clan geniuses.
But, they were willing to fight it.
Raphael and Iridia would be the ones leading the army, which gave them more of a stake in things than the others.
Raphael was unwilling to cooperate with the people he disliked, but his pride disallowed him from being worse than others.
Rather than promising whatever their clan could provide, he gave his word for something else.
"I'll provide at least half of the army. If you are so great, then you take care of the rest."
He spoke directly to August.
"If you want to act like the leader, then show us that you have worth."
That was the message in the underlying tone of his words.
August's eyes narrowed, but he nodded nonetheless.
Everyone wanted everyone else to prove their worth. That was the way of the world.
Instead of getting offended by the attitude, August let it slide and decided to correct it through his actions alone.
Plus, he got more than he thought he would. Now wasn't the time to push for more.
"Then, we'll reconvene every so often to confirm our plans. Otherwise, I will see you all in two weeks."
The only person who needed to stay behind was Cera. She and August had to get acclimated to each other's thought processes so they could properly scheme against their enemies.
It wasn't an easy task at all, especially when considering that their team only had Seryius.
The two people above him on the leaderboard...
Eris Noct, who hated August with a passion, and Wilhelm Liqua, a man who would target him solely because of his element.
They would have more support from the outside, they would have better troops, and, more than likely, they'd have more power from person to person.
August and Cera had the most important role.
To overcome that strength with tactics.
And, to create a stage where each and every person on their team could shine.
The event wasn't meant to eliminate one team or the other.
It would show everyone who was worthy of staying in the competition and who needed to be taken out.
It didn't matter what team they came from. If they didn't do anything noteworthy, they'd be eliminated.
The contestants didn't know yet that the intention of the tournament administration was to cut their number down to only fifteen.
At least twenty people would get eliminated through the third stage.
The rest would become enemies.
All alliances would be destroyed and only rivalries would remain as they all vied for first place.
Everything was meant to change in the fourth round.
But the question really was...would they even make it there?
From August's perspective, only positives had risen from the heir wars thus far.
He was still naive.
There were terrifying undercurrents streaming through Arulion. There was an entirely different threat approaching from behind that none saw coming.
And when it finally arrived...
It was safe to say that the entirety of Arulion would tremble.