Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Rain moved stealthily, his body practically crawling along the ground as he made his way towards the right side of the city in order to check the caravan. The night sky, although not entirely free of clouds, provided enough cover for his covert movements. Caution was necessary, since the city's walls were heavily guarded, with torch-bearing sentinels scanning the surroundings vigilantly.

Any misstep could expose him.

However, Rain managed to get closer to the caravan undetected. His heart raced with the thrill of the clandestine operation, and he finally reached a vantage point from which he could see the carriages clearly. It was rare for him to do that kind of thing… or maybe he did not. His memories were filled with him bustling open and facing many opponents head on.

"What the hell…" Rain furrowed his eyebrows in surprise when he saw the carriages carrying large boxes, at least they seemed like boxes.

It was hard to say thanks to the fact that they were covered in large blankets. That was suspicious and then Rain used his magic eyes… Much to his surprise, Rain couldn't see what was beyond the blankets, but he could see the auras of many magic people and they seemed to be in cages…

"You guys don't waste time, huh…" Rain thought.

Rain quickly understood that the tents on the other side looked dark and empty because they were… the war against the magic people already started. At that point in time, Rain wondered why the king and Joanis already started when they knew that he was in the other direction… wasn't he a challenge enough for them despite causing so much trouble?

Rain wanted to check Teria and see if the king and Joanis were there, killing both of them was no longer an option, it was a necessity, but then what? Rain couldn't imagine himself leading an army and then trying to clean the mess that those two retards created… maybe Branden could do that, maybe he couldn't do that even with Esmeralda's help, it was hard to say.

In any case, Rain decided to keep moving and check the battlefield before anything. With the need to conserve his mana, Rain opted for a more conventional approach and began to sprint toward East. While he couldn't match the incredible speed of his Impulse, his natural swiftness still allowed him to cover considerable distances in no time.

He knew that discretion was key, so he carefully run through the terrain, avoiding any sources of light that might betray his presence to the vigilant guards patrolling the area.

Rain had envisioned a swift reconnaissance mission on the border, expecting to find a battlefield teeming with activity. However, to his profound surprise, there was no such scene awaiting him. As he moved closer to the border, a sense of unease began to gnaw at him.

Then, it hit him like a bolt of lightning – the distinct aura of the imprisoned magic. This revelation sent a chill down his spine. The presence of the water snipers' magic people in captivity signaled a dire turn of events. It suggested that the human army had pushed far into the magic people's territory, a development that boded ill for the ongoing conflict.

"This is bad… really bad," Rain thought and then began to run again.

While he was running, he couldn't help but think that there was no solution to the situation. Killing Joanis and the king will leave the country open for attacks from all sides. Not killing them will only snowball the whole situation…

For now, they only had the hatred of the magic people, sea folk and the beast people, but if the dragons join the fight, things will get out of control and Joanis was prepared for that.

Rain had no intention of helping the magic people, they made him lose two homes. His grandparents on his father's side thanks to them, even though he wasn't that close to them. At the same time, his father almost died numerous times thanks to them and lost his leg once. Not to mention, he was brainwashed by one of them.

Still, not doing anything will make sure that the magic people will have plenty of reasons to exterminate all humans when they have the chance… not like they didn't try once already. There was no solution to the situation at all… all paths were flawed paths.

It seemed that the best option was to let both sides kill each other and strike the winning one to make them lose strength. That would make them have a hard time recovering from the wars and that would also make them delay any attempts for future wars. However, there were the dragons…

The dragons essentially thought of the magic people as a group that they could train their children with, it was probably some sort of rite of passage and that was why they didn't try to destroy the whole magic country when they lost some of their own by their hands.

While thinking about all that, several hours passed and Rain could see the sun rising… At the same time, he found the remains of the water snipers village. Everything had been burned down or destroyed… since they didn't expect the attack, they didn't have the chance to fight back, even if they had, their magic probably wouldn't work.

Soon enough, Rain confirmed that the place was empty and the battle took place around noon of the next day… their advance was quite fast and they didn't want to waste time with anything… their war of conquest was supposed to be quick and deadly.

"Fighting with them isn't an option, but I guess I can tell them what they are going to face in order to be prepared," Rain thought. "This will make them resist for a while longer."

Rain truly didn't like helping the people that once had been his enemies, but he couldn't let Joanis and the king's plans go that smoothly… he hated them more, after all.