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The two emperors remained still as they observed the mayhem for a few more moments.

“You are going to owe me after this,” said Father.

“Sure, sure,” said Morgunov. “What do you want? Help with that big rocket ship of yours?”

“Touch that, and I’ll kill you. Bool, included.”

“Oh, c’mon!” said Morgunov, laughing. “I could make all sorts of improvements to it! And I won’t prank you this time! I swear!”

“I have a different project in mind for you.”

“Oh?! Color me intrigued! Of course, that won't mean jack if Kallmakk beats your old ass like a paddle ball!”

“Hmph. From the sound of it, that is what he has been doing to you."

"Ehehe! Maybe just a bit! But I'm still here, aren't I? And frankly, I'm looking forward to seeing you get clobbered a few times!"

"The feeling is mutual. Now, let's go."


Chapter Two-Hundred Ninety-Nine: ‘The Hunter’s sight...’
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Diego Redwater didn’t think he’d ever felt this bad for enemy combatants before. This battle had been a foregone conclusion for quite a while now. Over the past few weeks, every single one of the Vantalayan Military Police’s assaults had been rebuffed, and now, things were going ever worse for them. Each new assault was not only failing but also turning into a counterattack by the Ridgemark Private Military Police, usually extending quite deep into the enemy line and ripping them to shreds.

It was a wonder they hadn’t given up already. A wonder, but also sadly understandable.

The problem seemed to be that the VMP kept getting reinforcements from the larger VAF, the Vantalayan Armed Forces, as well as from Abolish. And those reinforcements were always substantial to prolong the fighting but never enough to actually make a difference. Every new platoon of soldiers seemed to make the VMP think that, surely this time, they could turn the tide. That they still had hope of taking over Ridgemark.

That full retreat wasn’t inevitable.

But all Rainlords knew it. With as much power as they had on their side now, victory for the enemy was practically impossible.

To outsiders, perhaps that would’ve sounded cocky. Certainly, the Rainlords had suffered their share of defeats not so long ago, but those had occurred while they were divided--and with almost no allies, to boot.

Here and now, the VMP was facing the almost fully united Rainlord forces, as well as the quite shockingly powerful RPMP. Not to mention, Leo the Bull Leech.

And with Vanderberk now out of the picture, morale on this side of the battlefield was at an all-time high. More than once, Diego had heard loose talk that even if one of the emperors suddenly showed up to support the enemy, victory was still all but assured.

Maybe that was an exaggeration, but... truthfully, Diego felt it might actually be true, too.