Chapter 258: Fighting Rooster

A new day had begun.

Moon walked out of his room and found Alma standing at his door.

"What’re you doing here?" he asked, brows rising.

"Protecting you," she said curtly.

"Protecting me, my ass, you brat." He put his hands in his pockets. "Protect yourself first."

Moon walked ahead of her with Mishu’s face protruding from his bag, looking at her with clear scorn for only a moment before he probably lost interest in her entirely and looked elsewhere.

Alma sped up and caught up to Moon.

"You don’t understand; there are many plotting your assassination there in the dark." She tried to explain.

"Enzo doesn’t know about these clowns, I suppose." Moon guessed, calling Enzo by his name for once in a while.

"How do you know?" Alma asked, exclaiming.

Moon shrugged; he couldn’t simply explain it in words. He just understood somehow.

Not finding an answer, Alma wasn’t done. "Korr is spreading panic among the ascenders, warning them of certain death if they happened to meet you on the battlefield by themselves."

Moon nodded nonchalantly. "Makes sense; having them band together is a good idea."

"Havoc sent an older ascender to be a substitute for Dara," she added. "Lorian is actively plotting your assassination."

Moon thought for a moment, trying to remember who these names belonged to.

"They can’t touch me; none of them can," he said with certainty.

"They have different means for that," Alma warned. "You already saw—""

"Yeah, cool shit they have, stuff that gives them fifth floor power, damn cheating bitches," Moon cursed. "I actually have cool shyt too, so don’t worry too much."

He once again assured her, or himself. Moon was trying his best to keep his head chill for whatever time they had left.

Alma’s warnings were but needless distractions to him right now.

He had the Universal Armor he had gotten from killing Dara, the Instant Orb as well. He also had the coolest-looking set of armor around.

Not to mention his new feline attributes, the damage reduction effects from the Starlit Matrix, and also his very own Echo tolerance.

More importantly, he had Fate Alert.

The system function he had gotten in exchange for not having any ascension rewards or inventory.

It was tricky, sometimes useless even, but in this trial, Moon believed it was the greatest assurance he could have.

Unless there was a huge stat discrepancy between himself and whoever was attacking him, like that time with Uon, or worse, Mishu.

The attack was too fast; even the attacker didn’t plan it; it just happened. Only that situation was impossible for Moon to defend against.

Something so lethal and sudden was impossible for second floor ascenders, no matter what tools they used, or so Moon believed to be the case after overthinking Fate Alert for a very long time, as he did everything else.

"These brats prolly think they have a chance to win one-on-one... or more vs one against me." Moon went on. "They think without Echo I’m weak, and they trained hard and have what it takes to win."

Moon made a circular motion with his index finger. "They should keep thinking that way for whatever they’re left."

Alma listened to many things thanks to her field of expertise, but most of it wasn’t of much importance to Moon.

Enzo’s own decisions and plans were kept in the dark.

Alma had spent some time informing Moon of what she knew, what she was suspecting and what she wasn’t allowed to know.

Moon listened, thanks to the advice Dorbish had given him back in the facility.

In his mind, he was picturing himself as a better leader than those whom he had killed or seen, or worse, worked for.

He also knew that results were the deciding factor.

Moon spent whatever free time he had left with studying the information he had on his own faction. He wanted every single one of them to use whatever they were best at while they could.

Raiju’s speed advantages.

Delilah’s arcane experience.

Basil’s theft talents.

Though, he also found things that were not obvious thanks to the thorough report Talia prepared.

Fisher, the race of cockatrices entirely. These guys shared a certain attribute that made them no different from actual fighting roosters in a ring.

Moon had once seen it on Basil’s ring. A ring where people place their money on fighting roosters, and these very roosters were just brutal, too brutal even for Moon.

Once blood was drawn, they started to lose themselves to the kill. They tore apart one another, oblivious to their own wounds, without holding back.

They might even take a few bites of each other’s flesh while at it.

It reminded Moon of that trait he had... But it was also different.

Berserk was special to humans; they lost their self-awareness and control entirely in exchange for stats.

It was more a regression in their functionality as people than being better at fighting.

For cockatrices, the trait was called Frenzy.

Innate, all of them existed with it even without a system to name it.

Frenzy didn’t take away their control, but it took away their sense of pain. They entered a state of pure fighting where nothing else matters, not until their surroundings are finally safe again.

That very trait made Fisher a very special core player for the upcoming war.

"Let’s go get breakfast," he signalled for Alma, who was still standing still, processing his decisions.

In the huge hall downstairs, Moon sat at the head for the first time in a while.

Alma sat next to him where Raiju used to eat, though he wasn’t there today to join them.

Receiving some greetings, Moon began to eat, and soon he was done.

He waited for a while till everyone was done eating.

"Hey Fisher, is it okay for you to eat chicken?" Moon suddenly asked Fisher, who was like 20 seats away.

"Pok, tasty!" Fisher turned his gaze to Moon, looking hungry all over again after eating. "Give chicken, Fisher cooks."

"Sure, soon I’ll bring you some," Moon assured.

He had promised Basil he would ask Fisher, and as he expected, Fisher didn’t believe that he and an average chicken were the same species.

Same as Raiju and swamp wolves, or even...

Humans, undead and necromancers.

Basil ran at Moon; he whispered in his ear. "Boss, this is even worse than expected; that guy is a cannibal; he wouldn’t hesitate to eat his own brother."

Moon gave him a flat smile, patting his shoulder before standing.

"There’s an announcement I have to make," Moon said loudly for everyone to hear.

Everyone went silent, and their gazes rested on Moon.

He smiled. "Be prepared; the first battle takes place in 2 to 4 days," he said calmly. "Ascenders will be taking the front line in the clash."

Murmurs rose; everyone had been on the edge for a while now. Not knowing when they would be attacked, or whether it would be a sudden raid or a frontal attack.

Some were relieved their side was aware of the movements of the enemy, while others were shaking in fear.

They inwardly wished this war would never take place.

It was impossible, but it was also human nature.

Moon didn’t give them time to start side conversations; he had agreed to give the announcement to ascenders while Gustav was addressing the troops.

Moon also didn’t plan on giving a speech.

It was more of a reminder.

"I will do my best to keep every single one of you alive, so do your best to keep yourselves alive as well."