Onshore breezes climbed the mountain slopes until the air became cool enough to condense its vapor to rain. A lone banyan tree stood atop the mountain casting its dark shadows on the muddy ground. The rain reacted with the earth creating the scent of ground. Under the banyan tree stood several figures. One of those figures was Michael. The city of Crilta could be seen in the distance. His eyes were fixed on the smoke reaching the sky from the arena.
"It's done," Michael said, turning back to see the fresh grave of Doctorus. The gladiators gather around the grave with their heads lowered. They paid their last respect to Doctorus in silence.
Michael walked to the grave, kneeling on one knee in front of the grave. Regardless that he knew nothing about the man, he respected him because he deserved it. He started this rebellion against the nobles, he fought for freedom and died a free man. Michael paid his respect by grabbing a handful of soil and pouring it again onto the grave. It was a gesture of respect, also a sign of forgiveness for what he was about to do.
The gladiators including Tiberius stared at him as Michael stood up. They all noticed the smoke except they were not in the mood to rejoice. The loss of Doctorus was too overwhelming for them. They were ready to sacrifice themselves yet they never imagined Doctorus would be murdered by one of them.
"You know why he left you at the camp instead of taking you with us?" one of the gladiators asked. The sound of thunder rumbling, as well as the flashes of lightning, accompanied them along with Tiberius's silence.
"He wanted you to lead the rebellion after him" the gladiator finished his thought. Tiberius just let out a hollow laugh,
"Crazy bastard. Always managed to find things that I cannot agree with" Tiberius took his gaze away from the grave to the dark cloud-filled sky. He closed his eyes, letting rain droplets wash over his face.
"I'm no leader. I never was and never will be. What we need is a leader who could do the impossible" Tiberius gave a long and hard thought about this. Although he only knew Lucifer for a short amount of time, he saw what Lucifer is capable of. For instance, he just killed every senator except one with no casualties on his side where Doctorus's plan included them getting blown to pieces with the senators.
"You know before I met you, I met Doctorus" Tiberius's brows arched up while the four gladiators looked at him bewildered.
"I made the same offer as I did to you. Follow me and I'll help you cleanse this continent. He was a warrior to the core, there was no fear in his eyes"
The gladiators couldn't help smiling,
"He said looking into my eyes, he would rather die a free man than become a slave once again"
"Sounds like him" Tiberius smiled. The fact Lucifer went to Doctorus before coming to him didn't surprise him the least. If he was in Lucifer's shoes, he would have done the same. After all, Doctorus was a far better warrior and a man than him.
"I respected his wish but it's a pity that he put his trust in the wrong man. Now it's time for you four to make the choice for yourselves and the entire rebellion" Before they could give it a thought, Michael activated the runic teleportation to teleport back to his ship. The sudden flash of light made the gladiators close their eyes. When they opened them, they were standing on a ship. There was nothing but the ocean surrounding them. In the distance, they could see the familiar docks where they initially landed with Doctorus.
"What just-"
"Uwak!"
"Uwak!"
Since this was their first teleportation experience, they immediately felt everything inside their stomach making a return trip towards their mouth. They rushed towards the ship's edge to throw up in the ocean. Tiberius tried to fight the vomiting sensation yet after a few seconds, he too ran towards the edge.
Michael or the crew members were nowhere to be found on the upper deck. He wanted the gladiators to discuss in private. A few minutes passed by before they finally moved their heads away from the ocean. Including Tiberius, they drew a few deep breaths.
"How did he-"
"No idea" Tiberius answered before even the gladiator could finish his question.
"But that's another reason we should follow him," Tiberius said looking at the four of them. They seemed reluctant. While they were staring at Tiberius to continue, he retrieved a small pouch and a parchment from the side pocket of his black breeches.
Tiberius tossed the parchment at one gladiator while the pouch at another gladiator. Most of the gladiators were soldiers before becoming a gladiator so they had basic training in reading and writing.
"Whoo" the gladiator who opened the pouch raised his brows as his mouth opened wide.
"Is this for real?" The same startled expression could be seen on the gladiator's face who just read the parchment.
"It is and what's in the pouch is only 10 percent of what he's paying me"
The gladiators were dumbstruck because they could tell that there were at least 100 gold coins in the pouch. Even a Spartan soldier wouldn't receive hundred gold coins per month let alone a gladiator. Also, it wasn't hundred gold coins but thousand gold coins per month according to Tiberius. They certainly couldn't believe him.
"I know it's hard to believe but this is real. Fuck that money for a moment, im not asking you to trust him, im asking you to trust me. He dont fucking need us, if we want to avenge Doctorus and make his dream come true, we need him" Tiberius paused for a moment before continuing,
"Look, you saw what he's capable of. He just killed the senators of Gisal without a single casualty while you dumbasses went on with a suicide plan"
The gladiators had a mix of emotions emerging on their faces. They were shocked to hear that Lucifer killed the senators without a loss while feeling slightly ashamed of their suicide plan.
"Don't make the same mistake Doctorus made. We need him. He's gonna change this place with or without us. I've already made my decision to follow him, it's time you made yours. I'll give you ten minutes to decide" As he said, he turned back to walk towards the captain's cabin where Tiberius hoped to meet Michael.
After taking a few steps, he stopped, "and keep the gold for old times sake"
*********************************
Michael was currently sitting on his throne behind the oak table as Gaya rested on the sofa comfortably. On the table, the map of the Southern continent could be seen. A jade dagger was striking into the map where Gisal is located. The dagger was an indicator that Gisal is in his control. Behind the skull mask, he was smiling. He left a Spyder with the gladiators, through the spyder, he could hear everything they were talking from his throne. Recruiting Tiberius proved to be a good move as what he said to the gladiators made them change their minds. Of course, they wouldn't completely trust him. It was expected of them. He didn't want them to trust him, he wanted them to trust Tiberius.
"Thank you Doctorus' ' He thanked Doctorus in his mind for giving him an army. Everything he told the gladiators about him meeting Doctorus and offering him a deal was nothing but lies. He had neither met nor talked with Doctorus. He just used Doctorus's death to his advantage. His lies put a seed of doubt in the gladiators' minds. They would have certainly wondered whether Doctorus would be alive if he decided to follow Lucifer.
Because of his lies, it was highly likely that the gladiators would choose to follow him wanting to avoid the mistake of Doctorus.
Knock!
Knock!
"Come" the door opened after Michael's word. Tiberius entered the cabin door.
"What have they decided?" Like he heard nothing, Michael asked Tiberius.
"Unless they have shit for the brain, they will agree to follow you"
"Good. Maxine will arrange passage for your people to reach Gisal from the grey mountains safely. At the time they reach Gisal, Caius would have announced that he's abolishing slavery in Gisal. If you want, you can wait till he announces it and bring your people in small groups"
Tiberius was speechless. The rebels had to pay in blood to keep the nobles at bay and run the rebellion yet in a couple of days, Lucifer managed to do what they couldn't do for three years. He knew Lucifer's plan, even so seeing it getting executed without a problem stunned him completely. He only wished Doctorus should have been here to see the rebellion finally moving forward towards the goal.
"Can we really trust Caius? He's noble to the core, what if he changes his mind?"
"We'll kill him" Gaya waved him off casually.
"I made sure he doesn't do such a thing. You focus on getting your people settled on. Caius will give you a piece of land and resources to build a village. After he reforms the senate to my liking, the village will receive further support to become much more. I gave them the freedom they were fighting for, from now on, their fate is in their hand"
With conquering Gisal, he finished everything he intended to in the Southern continent for the time being. He knew the Hydra would become a god-like existence in the future beside Nightmare. In addition to the gladiator army, he had an undead army waiting for him outside the pyramid, his second base of operation. The whole undead island had become his domain. Soon after Caius forms a new senate, he would get a small fortune of gold coins regularly as another revenue for his future wars.
"It's time to go home," Michael said to himself.