In a blink of an eye, three days passed since they visited Lanercost where they saw Herius hang the slaves. The last three days were not very exciting for Gaya except when she beat the hell out of legionary soldiers, spartans, and the noble youngsters in the tavern.
"Your Highness, he's here" while Gaya was talking to Michael through the earbud, she saw Heinberg approach her slowly. The sun had already set on the horizon leaving the darkness to envelop the kingdom. The only light source in the room was the burning candles on the table before Gaya.
The door gradually creaked open to reveal Senator Caius. The Senator's eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the darkness. Soon, he saw Gaya sitting on his chair behind the table. He couldn't find Lucifer when he looked around. The image of him killing his spartan soldiers was etched into his mind. Ever since that day, he has been having trouble sleeping.
"What do you know about Senator Viridius?" She didn't even ask him to sit down, she just directly asked the question. For a few moments, the Senator stared at her in fear, his face was pale while his legs slightly shivered.
Noticing his behavior, Gaya sighed.
"Look, as long as you serve us loyally and help us get what we want, we're not gonna hurt you. Plus, you'll get everything you've dreamt of and more. Now, sit down" she gestured at the Senator to sit down as he took a few seconds of time before sliding the chair towards him and seating himself.
"Back to my question, tell me about Senator Viridius?"
"Senator Viridius is the head of the military. He was a spartan captain until he was elected by the people"
"Hmm, what's his connection with Herius?" Gaya noticed the surprised look in his eyes when she asked him about Herius.
"General Herius?"
"Yes"
"General Herius is Senator Viridius's soon-to-be son-in-law. He came to Gisal to make sure his weddings preparations are going well"
This time Gaya was surprised because when Michael interrogated him, he said he came to Gisal to investigate the slave rebellion and watch the gladiator fight in the arena.
"Funny, Herius said he came to investigate the slave rebellion and have fun watching the gladiators fight"
"The gladiator fight is a part of their wedding ceremony. The slave rebellion, it was more of his hobby. It's his..." his voice trailed off because of the sudden realization he had.
"His what? Hobby, pleasure?" Senator Caius couldn't see the snicker behind her mask. He knew she was right because he too heard rumors about Herius, disturbing rumors. If anyone else, Senator Caius would have kept his mouth shut. However, to her or Lucifer, he would rather tell everything he knew than keep his mouth shut when being asked a question.
"Both. I heard rumors about General Herius buying slaves"
"And the slaves are never to be seen after that" Gaya finished Caius's sentence.
"Is it true that Viridius leading the operation to catch the rebels? "
Caius frowned, recalling the conversation he had with Viridius several weeks ago when they met at a gala.
"When we met, he said he has someone else taking the charge"
"That someone else was Herius and Viridius is running the thing behind the curtains" by looking at Caius's expression, she could tell Caius was telling the truth.
"Anyways, we have a golden opportunity for you Caius"
*************************************
In the middle of the night, Michael appeared inside Caius's room where Gaya was still waiting for him. In addition to Gaya, Maxine was standing behind Gaya's chair like a good bodyguard. Those who were in the order of death were extremely loyal to the Dark Lord despite the fact that the Dark Lord didn't even exist in their timeline. They worshiped the Dark Lord as their god. Those who escaped the guardians still worshipped him in secret and passed their beliefs to their descendants. They did their best to make sure their descendants would find the Dark lord eventually and serve him as they would have. Luckily for Michael, Maxine was just as loyal as her ancestors who served the order.
Therefore when Michael told Maxine that Gaya will be his wife, Maxine's loyalty towards Gaya skyrocketed because if Dark Lord is her god, the woman he marries would become her goddess.
Heinberg went to take care of his part of the plan which is to make sure all the senators show up to enjoy the gladiator fight. Lot was riding on the upcoming gladiator fight where the entire fate of Gisel would change.
"Lord Lucifer" Maxine went to her knees almost immediately when she saw him appear in the room out of the thin air.
"You can stand up and tell me you've done what I asked" Michael waved his hand as the replica of his skull and bones throne in the Abyssal appeared before him. He sat facing Gaya on the Senator's chair,
"It's done, Lord Lucifer"
"Good" As he said, Michael turned his eyes towards the corner of the room where there was nothing, only darkness. However, there was something in the darkness, a living person.
Maxine noticed his look as she walked towards the dark corner to retrieve the package.
"Come on darkling" Michael saw Maxine dragging out a man from the dark corner.
"Time to wake up"
Plap!
Maxine slapped the man to wake him up. Soon, the man's body began to wiggle as he woke up.
"Hmmmmmm" Nonetheless the man could utter a word because there was a cloth wrapped around his mouth preventing him from screaming.
This man was none other than General Herius himself. The building Herius entered was a local guard garrison. It was protected on the ground level as well as kept archers to prevent anyone from entering the building from above. But the archers never expected to meet someone who could fly in the sky and rain arrows on them.
It was as simple as walking through the front door after killing the archers. After entering the building, everything happened so fast as Michael and Gaya killed Herius's guards, interrogated Herius for a while before leaving the garrison with Herius.
"Lord Lucifer, you want me to take it off?" she pointed at the mouth wrapping around Herius's mouth.
"No need for now"
"What did you find?" Gaya suddenly asked,
"A potential recruit," Michael said, resting his head on his fist. Regardless of the upcoming important thing, he looked extremely calm
"Aren't we gonna recruit the whole camp?"
"We are but this one, he's something more. He could be something more" Michael had a smile on his face. After seeing that gladiator he had a feeling that this gladiator could be his god of war.
"Lucifer, we need a reality check before moving forward with our plan. There's a possibility that the gladiators wouldn't want to fight for us. The same goes for your potential recruit"
"Not for him. He's ill, wanting to relive his glory days, and looking for a better leader. If we can't recruit him, we can't recruit anyone" he then looked at Herius as a cold smile emerged on his face,
"Also he's desperate to put an end to Herius's reign "
"And we're gonna gift this pig to him"
"Hmmmmmmmm" Herius wiggled frantically while trying to scream yet nothing but muffled cries escaped his mouth.
"Knock him out" After hearing Gaya's order, Maxine knocked Herius out with a swift punch to the side of his face.
"Lord Lucifer, how long will it take for the gladiators to reach the arena and set up what they planned?"
"According to Herius, they're traveling to Morin and then coming to Gisal in a merchant ship, hiding in crates. They would reach Gisal in four days"
"And Senator Viridius will be waiting for them with hundred Spartan soldiers. They are walking into a perfect trap" said Gaya.
"Maxine, you'll be assigned to Caius's personal maid. Stay by his side and make sure everything goes according to the plan"
"I assume we are going back to the camp" Gaya stood up with Michael. He had already left a teleportation rune so he could teleport back and forth. Considering this was nighttime, many in the camp were asleep which made walking into the campsite less noticeable.
********************************
Midnight came as perfect black, the true companion of every good night. The dark night was supposed to bring calmness to the soul yet to Tiberius, the calmness, the cricket noises, as well as the cold breeze, only kindled the anger flame within him.
"Arghh '' Tiberius tried to vent his anger out on a tree by punching it as hard as he could. Because of his condition, no matter how hard he tried to punch the tree, his weak muscles didn't give him the power he needed.
He then took out the dagger from the waist, trying to slash the tree but he barely scraped the tree. Although he couldn't clearly see the mark on the tree, he was able to see how shallow the cut was by feeling the bark.
"Damn you!"
Pulch!
Tiberius couldn't control his anger anymore as he slashed his left arm with the dagger. The dagger was extremely sharp as it made a deeper cut in his arm than it did to the tree. The blood gushed out of the cut. His anger overcame the pain,
"Having it rough huh" suddenly Tiberius heard a voice coming from the woods. He looked around to see nothing but darkness. He was standing here outside the campsite, this place was supposed to be empty.
"Come out" with a wounded arm, he shouted at the darkness.
"I came bearing a gift for you, Tiberius" Tiberius saw a pair of red glows slowly approaching him from the darkness.