The battle ended as quickly as it started. Yet despite its short span, twenty of the rebel attackers were captured and eight others died as a result.
As the overwhelming difference in strength was made apparent, the other side no longer continued to retaliate.
Soon after the place was crowded by local civilians, but knowing that some of these rebels were hiding among the crowd, Emery had to stay alert.
It took about 10 minutes for the Nexus security team to arrive with their vehicles and take all the captive rebels into custody.
With a high probability of the ex-marshal being involved in the attack, Shane was also asked to join in for questioning and he had been cooperative ever since.
The group headed towards the closest Nexus post about 50 miles from the settlement. Unfortunately, after hours of interrogation, none of the twenty captive rebels had yet to give any useful information.
Emery and the others silently watched as the rebels refused to answer. After a while, seeing the interrogation was to no avail, Julian started questioning the marshal.
“Mister Shane, do you know any of these attackers?” Julian inquired as they studied each one of the captive rebels from behind the glass room.
The ex-marshal observed the rebels inside for a few moments before shaking his head, “No, I don’t.”
A Nexus officer who was in charge of the interrogation looked toward the ex-marshal with clear disapproval.
“Mister Shane, they are all saint-level fighters. You were a Nexus lieutenant for 50 years and a marshal among the locals for almost the same time, how could you not know them?!”
At most, there should only be a few thousand saint-level fighters among the thirty million locals living on the planet. With such a small group in comparison, the ex-marshal should have known most of them.
The bearded old man responded, “That is also the problem isnt it? Who they really are?”
The fact that even the ex-marshal, who had been there for so long, didn’t know about these saint warriors was a problem itself. Either those people weren’t really Nexus locals, or someone was helping unknown thugs raise their power.
“Actually…” The minister fell into thought and said. “With the Replicator at hand, it is possible that they created a serum capable of raising their strength to the saint level.”
“Minister, is it really possible for the item to create such things?” Emery couldn’t help but doubtfully ask.
Being an apothecary apprentice, Emery knew it was possible to create a [Spirit Serum] powerful enough to boost any human to rank 8 and turn them into a saint-rank warrior after. Even so, the idea of there being a machine that could create such a serum…
He found it unbelievable.
The science minister once again appear proud as he said,
“It heavily depends on the amount of energy consumed. The jewel technology of Nexus is not just the Replicator, but also the Nexus solar panel technology that can absorb solar energy effectively. It is also the foundation that created our high tech weapon and armor.”
Minister Otto took out a glowing golden pebble. “This is our solar stone. It functions as a battery and it’s what powers all of our technology”
The minister then subconsciously glanced at the other side of the glass room, where the rebels were still being interrogated. He then added this was one of the reasons those rebels attacked their patrols and facilities: to steal these solar stones.
“All right, keep interrogating them. If they still refuse to speak after everything, we can wait until Klea arrives,” Julian interrupted and approached the ex-marshal, pulling the discussion back on track.
“Mister Shane, this is undoubtedly a pre-coordinated attack. From what I can tell, you either are involved with the rebels or have been watched by those people for a while. Either way, this means you know something about them that we don’t. Won’t you tell us?”
The two’s eyes locked for a moment before the old man relented with a deep sigh.
“Yes… I know where to find my brother, their leader. I will tell you… but only if you bring me along when you capture him.”
Finally, these were the words everyone had been hoping for, however Julian stayed cautious.
“Why? Tell me, and I will consider it.”
The ex marshall heaved a sigh once again, “My brother can be a very difficult person. Still, I need to know if he has really crossed the line. I want you to give me a chance to talk to him first.”
“What if he doesn’t want to listen?”
“Then I will take care of him myself.”
With time being of the essence, Julian agreed to the ex-marshal’s terms.
…
The group listened as Shane explained. The old man had known about the rebels’ activity for a while and he knew the place where they gathered.
“First I thought they gathered forces to help defend the people from the new threats… The orcs, I didn’t realize he would attack the Nexus facility instead.”
With the new pieces of information provided by the ex-marshal, a plan was quickly drawn.
The rebel base Shane mentioned had at least 500 men inside with about dozens of them being saint-realm fighters. There were also a few rank 9 magicians and also the ex-marshal’s brother, a crescent moon magus.
After hearing the estimated number of rebels in the base, Thrax quickly interjected when he heard the minister talk about calling reinforcements.
“We don’t need backup. That many should be challenging enough for us.”
“No backup?!” Minister Otto reflexively exclaimed with disbelief. “Did you not hear how many rebels are in there? Moreover, how are you going to deal with the magus without any backup?!”
The minister’s eyes widened in shock. While he had seen how Emery, Thrax and Julian dealt with the rebels, this was on a completely different level of threat.
When he saw Julian subtly nodding to his words, the minister let out a sigh of relief.
“We need some back up Thrax, This is an official mission and we need to do it properly. We also don’t want any of them to escape,” Julian added.
However, Julian didn’t think it would be a good idea to bring too many reinforcements. It would be bad if the other side caught wind of their arrival and the rebel leader escaped.
In the end, he decided to simply bring the soldiers who were in the Nexus post.
“Alright let’s get ready!
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