The Cycle of Fate

Chapter 173: Gauntlet

"Not Ruen's army..." Anthony Reid muttered to himself, his eyes distant.

That fateful night when they were ambushed had replayed in his dreams countless times. Over the years, under the weight of his own psychological suggestions, the image of the brutal, savage Ruen soldiers had become increasingly vivid, eventually turning into an unshakable nightmare. And now, someone was telling him it wasn't the Ruen soldiers?

Judging by Franca's subtle expressions, body language, and emotional state, Anthony was certain she wasn't lying.

He felt like a fool—years of pain and suffering, only to realize he hadn't even identified the right enemy.

As a "Psychiatrist," Anthony instinctively sensed that he was on the verge of a breakdown. His emotions were unstable, shaken by the harsh reality.

He quickly applied a "Soothing" technique on himself.

While Anthony struggled to regain his composure, Franca elaborated further.

"Either that battle is classified at a high level, beyond what my Ruen contact can access for now, or the attackers weren't Ruen soldiers at all."

Franca leaned toward the latter explanation. For Ruen, that skirmish, in which only a platoon was lost, was far from significant enough to be highly classified. Anthony's unit didn't have any key figures of notable importance, so it didn't warrant secrecy.

"Who could it have been?" Jenna had already asked this question after reading the telegraph, but both she and Franca struggled to come up with a plausible answer.

She even speculated that it might have been orchestrated by a "Provoker" looking to advance their potion by instigating infighting within the Intisian army, with one faction disguised as Ruen soldiers attacking Anthony and his comrades under cover of night.

But the likelihood of such a plot seemed too low. Even the most skilled "Provoker" would struggle to pull off such a scheme, unless Anthony's platoon had uncovered incriminating evidence against someone or had deep-seated grudges from the battlefield.

"Yes, who could it have been..." Anthony, having calmed down with his self-applied "Soothing," echoed the question in a deep voice.

If the Ruen army had attacked him and his comrades, he could understand and even justify the hatred—it was war between nations, after all. But if the attackers were from an entirely different faction, what was their motive?

Franca thought for a moment and asked, "Did your platoon ever abandon allied forces or take spoils of war that weren't yours?"

Anthony shook his head firmly. "No."

"Absolutely not," Lumian added with conviction. "Since Yves Artois was involved, this clearly wasn't about internal conflicts within the army."

"Did any of you disobey Yves Artois's orders or cause him to suffer any loss?" Jenna suggested.

Again, Anthony shook his head. "If we had, I wouldn't have been in the dark for so many years."

The room fell into silence. Lumian recalled something Lady Magician had mentioned in her previous letter and mused aloud:

"Could it have been part of a sacrificial ritual? A blood offering to some evil god?"

Lady Magician had hinted that the hidden cult of "Sinners," worshippers of evil gods, likely emerged toward the end of that war. The war itself had provided opportunities for evil deities to infiltrate the world. Could Anthony Reid and his comrades have been caught up in one of these opportunities?

"A blood sacrifice..." Franca and Jenna simultaneously recalled that Yves Artois had received support from multiple evil deities.

Could Yves have orchestrated the massacre of Anthony's platoon in league with evil god followers?