Chapter 1286: Blitzkrieg Operation Castor and Regulus weren’t expecting that they would no longer be able to send their armies to the cities near Velgrande by using the Teleportation Gates in their domain. The ultimate goal of their rebellion was to kill King Astrion as fast as possible by doing a blitzkrieg attack. But now that the Teleportation Gates weren’t working, they had no choice but to rely on manual means to transport themselves and their army across the sea to the main continent of Ravion. Flying Ships were their most ideal option, but this would cut the size of their armies by more than half. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Thirteen had thrown a wrench at their plans, forcing them to revise their strategy all together. But that wasn’t the end of their suffering. With Cranky’s help, Thirteen and his Demons were able to secretly infiltrate the domains of the two Celestials. The first thing they did was to find the warehouses where the food supply of the armies were being stored. In war, logistics was absolutely vital because it determined whether an army could march, fight, or even survive. Food, medicine, ammunition, and other miscellaneous items, which was considered the backbone of the Artemian Army, were the target of Thirteen’s special operation. Tiona and her Demons scouted and managed to infiltrate several places where they believed these supplies were being held. After confirming their targets, they didn’t make a move right away. This operation needed to be done simultaneously, so that both Castor and Regulus would not be able to develop plans to prevent their supplies from being stolen or destroyed by unknown forces. In order to ensure that they would have a higher chance of success, Thirteen brought in his Monster Army that had grown in numbers inside the Domain of the Apocalypse. All of them were armed with storage rings that could fit a lot of things, which they would use to ransack the supplies of their enemies and bring as much as they could back for their own use. As for things that would not fit their storage rings, Thirteen only had one order. Burn them all so that nothing would remain. "Operation, Start!" As soon as Thirteen gave the signal, Tiona, her Demons, and his Monster Army moved at the same time, attacking the warehouses in two continents simultaneously. Since they had already planned in advance, the operation was successful and they stole or destroyed nearly seventy percent of their enemy’s food and ammunition reserves. "Damn it!" Castor smashed his fist on his table, destroying it completely. "What did you just say?!" "T-The majority of the warehouses where we have stored our food and supplies are destroyed and burned down, My Lord," one of Castor’s subordinates reported, knowing full well that saying it might kill him. The Celestial glared at his subordinate with bloodshot eyes before leaving his palace to see the places that had been burned down at the strike of midnight. But just as he was about to reach the burned remains of the first warehouse, the Aether Link that he was carrying rang. After seeing that the caller was his colleague, Castor reluctantly accepted the call. "Regulus, now is not the time to talk..." Castor was about to tell his ally what had happened when the latter’s angry voice reached his ears. "Our warehouses have been attacked!" Regulus shouted from the other side of the line. "More than half of the supplies we gathered for the rebellion are all gone!" Castor gasped. "Yours as well?!" "What? Did someone also burn down your warehouses?!" Regulus asked, more shocked than angry. "Yes. I am just about to inspect what happened here in my domain." "Could this possibly be Astrion’s work?" The two Celestials finally realized that this wasn’t just any random attempt to hinder them from reaching their goal. This was a coordinated attack that was meant to cripple their war preparations. "I’ll get back to you after I assess the damage here," Castor stated. "You also do your best to find any leads to get to the bottom of this incident." "Okay," Regulus said before ending the call. Nearly half a day later, a conference was held between the two Celestials and their subordinates. Regulus and his subordinates visited Castor so that they could discuss their next course of action. "This is bad," Regulus began. "With this, our preparations are delayed by at least two weeks. Fortunately, we don’t have to mobilize the entirety of our army in this operation. We will only bring our elites with us to the capital, so we can still salvage the situation." Castor nodded. "But this time, we will have no choice but to personally store our supplies in storage bags and storage rings, which we need to safeguard by ourselves." Regulus agreed because he believed that no one would dare to try to steal the supplies that they were personally carrying. Several measures were implemented, including the declaration of Martial Law, which made the people feel fearful. Using this opportunity to give themselves a righteous cause to rebel, Castor made an announcement that King Astrion had ordered his people to destroy the livelihood of his domain. Using that as pretext, Castor, and Regulus both declared war against the King of Artem, confirming Thirteen’s earlier declaration. Of course, King Astrion personally made an announcement to the masses and dismissed the Celestials’ declaration as a baseless excuse to justify their plans for rebellion. He even added that they had "self sabotaged" their own people so that they would have a reason to declare war upon the Royal Family of Artem. "These vile creatures who stooped as low as destroying the hard-earned work of our farmers, these monsters who want to make the common folk suffer are the true enemies of Artem. "How can they push their people into hunger and desperation by burning down their own warehouses to justify their selfish desire for power?! Men and women of Artem, fear not because their evil deeds will not remain unpunished! "These bastards who don’t care for the lives of their domain must face capital punishment!" Castor almost puked blood then and there as he cursed King Astrion’s shamelessness. Why would he sabotage himself when he needed those supplies to cut off the bastard king’s head?! The three parties took over the Aether Channels and smeared each other with propaganda. None of them were backing down and Zion was more than happy to fan the conflict from behind the scenes. Rana, whom Thirteen had talked to a few days ago, sat in her office and listened to her Aether Link. All day, Castor, Regulus, and King Astrion were berating each other. They slung around the word "traitor" repeatedly without batting an eye. The arguments over the Aether channel became so heated that Thirteen had no choice but to eat some popcorn while listening to the drama. However, since Rana knew who was actually responsible, she felt very conflicted. This was why when Zion visited, she told him that she would not change her mind. She would remain neutral until this rebellion came to pass. "If you change your mind, you know where to call me." Those were the words that the teenage boy told her before leaving her office. He would no longer seek Rana a second time because he was too busy preparing for the inevitable war between the King and the Celestials. The days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months. Three months later, the countless Airships of the two Celestials finally took flight. Their destination was the Ravion Continent, where they would wage war against the King, who had made not only their lives, but the lives of their people as well, very difficult. Truth be told, had Thirteen really wanted to, he could have asked Cranky to launch guerilla tactics against the two Celestials while they were making their voyage across the sea. But he didn’t do that. First, he needed Castor and Regulus to reach the mainland before Cranky came to play. He must first make the Artemians see the terror of the war so that they would fully support King Astrion and him. They were a race that was used to attacking other worlds, but they hadn’t experienced being attacked themselves. He needed to make them understand that feeling of helplessness, which would also give the Jinns the justification to fight against these rebels. Since Thirteen promised that they would gain lands in Artem, some Archons and High-Archons needed to die first so that the leaders of the Jinns could take their place. Also, by fighting alongside the King, the Artemians would not think of them as invaders but allies offering help during their darkest moment. This was a setup that Thirteen had initiated. Those extra months bought by their blitzkrieg operation had finally borne fruit. "Are you sure that you won’t convince Rana a second time?" Erasmu asked. "She won’t change her mind even if I go," Thirteen replied. "Rana will have to make a choice when Castor, and Regulus come knocking on the doors of Lyra City. By then, she will realize that staying neutral is not always the best option, especially during times like this." In order to evade the worst case scenario, Thirteen had asked Rana to take her children, her husband, and the important people in her life to a safe house so they wouldn’t be captured by Castor or Regulus. He understood that if any of her family members were used as hostages against her, Rana would have no choice but to make the hard choice of joining the two Celestials, who would do anything to reach their goal. ————— A/N: Went to the clinic to do my blood tests and ultrasound. Fortunately, the results were all normal, at least for now. Ely will take this day to rest and come back strong tomorrow. Thank you everyone for your understanding.