The God of Jesters
Chapter 479 - 7.22.7 Order 55.

Chapter 479: 7.22.7 Order 55.

There is an old saying. "Everything is fair in Love and War." But the truth was, it was fair as long as it was above the bottom line set up by the Churches. The moment you break past it, the whole world can turn into your enemy.

Specifically the Church of Plagues, who might use and control plagues and diseases, but there was no one in this world that hated plagues more than them. They were contradictions themselves and hence made fun of among certain sects of beliefs.

But none dare to show it in front of the Church of Plagues. For they know the horror the Church of Plagues was capable of harnessing.

This was one of the reasons why Cynark, through all they have done in history, never dared to weaponize any diseases to their advantage. It was not worth turning a Neutral Party like The Plague Church into the enemy.

However if one were to use plagues during war, they have to have a way to cast aside any responsibility.

Which is where the Order 55 came into practice.

A multistep plan to slowly unravel the army of Cynark, which starts with some sacrifice.

The first one was the wind.

The Army of Yethel could maintain such an advantage over the battlefield because of their usage of the weather controller artifact jointly built by some free mages along with the mages of Tower of Storms.

In war was used to create mist and other such weather anomalies, which made it easier for the soldiers to hide and even transport goods under the cover of the mist.

If the enemies planned to close in on the frontline, there would be a small rain, turning the land into mud marshes, making it impossible for the enemies to move forward.

There were also regular thunderstorms that destroyed the tents of enemies who just wanted to take a rest.

It was such a good weapon that I can’t believe those mages in the Tower only thought to use it for the goodness of the people and such naive thoughts.

This was a war machine, although expensive and burning through countless resources with each use. It was still a tremendous artifact that could change the battlefield at will.

And when something else was added to this machine, the wind it cast on the battlefield brought a coof with it.

A simple disease that was not odd with the bodies and the rotting corpses of ghouls and soldiers alike.

There were countless doctors and priests already dealing with the issue since the start, so no one would have noticed the oddness.

It spread among both armies and brought the war to a halt for a few days. Both sides seemed to be suffering from the illness.

But no matter how annoying this illness was, it was not lethal. So most just considered it as a simple disease where the ill were soon replaced with healthy soldiers who were thought to have some immunity to this disease.

Soldiers who were not vetted due to how simple the recruitment process in the Military was.

Soldiers gleefully signed a simple contract that bound them to the military, so there was no fear of retaliation from them by the stronger Knights who were immune to the disease due to their strong physique.

This is where the second part of the plan comes into view.

A month later, when the war started to pick up pace again, and the Knights and Soldiers in Cynark had gotten used to the new platoons on their side, an accident happened.

"You..." It was a Master Ranked elite that fought on the battlefield along with his men.

But today, this odd day, instead of an enemy’s attack, he was stabbed by a man who he considered dependable with a dagger laced with poison.

"You." The Knight killed the sneak attacker with a simple swipe of his hand, spreading pieces of blood, bone, and metal. All over the place.

But retaliating against his sneak attacker still didn’t change the reality.

He was dying.

"This end." He looked over his men who were surprised at first, before dragging his body back to the trenches, but no matter how much the Knight tried to suppress the poison with his blood, he still died.

Along with many others who couldn’t react in time and fell to the poisoned blade one after another. Bringing a massive loss to the command line of the Cynark military. Neutering the Cynark Military in one fell swoop and causing mass confusion and distrust among the survivors who looked at the commoner soldiers with fear and disgust.

But the survivors had no time to think too much, as using this attack as an opportunity, the enemies for the first time since the war began, they started to push the Cynark Military back one after another.

This was a devastating blow to the Cynark military. Which not only shocked figures like Grand General Deimos but even Duke Wortham, who smiled after reading the report.

’That body.’ Unlike the rest of the world, he knows more about these little assassins. False bodies that appear mortal, but hold the strength of Adept level Knights, though for obvious reasons, these bodies can burst with such strength in certain circumstances, which these little assassins used to kill their target.

But what were these odd bodies? Their structure? How did they run? And were they truly alive? None of the researchers could find any answers besides the runes that were burned off the skins after the assassination succeeded, as well as a few odd metal organs that were hidden deeply which followed the fate of those runes and melted to fuse into the flesh."

"Oddities, that fella is creating the oddities of this time." The Duke recalled an old legend but shook his head treating it just as a fairy tale.

"That body he walked in, it’s probably this, but way higher leveled... I should have confiscated it." The Duke recalled his meeting with the Jester that happened a few months ago. Which finally made him turn his head around and look at his little grand Nephew, who floated in the cylinder currently.

"Foolish boy, it seemed that you truly never had the chance to fight back." Giving one deep look into the Prince floating in the cylinder, Duke Wortham left the scene.

None of this matters to him anyway. If not for the pleading of a certain father, he would have gotten rid of such a weak link in the family long ago.

*****

"You know I have done what I could," Amir spoke, looking at Sarlen, the First of Ludwig’s Knights.

It’s been three months since that odd experience which took Amir a month to recover from.

His body might be unharmed, but since the incident, he had fallen into the habit of sleeping since then, which scared him somewhat.

That dream was scary, that death was scary and if it was in his will, he wouldn’t want to sleep ever again. But it could be considered a divine comedy, as since that incident, Amir was forced to take a nap every two days, or he would feel groggy as time went on.

And when consulting some mystics, he learns that there is something wrong with his soul. "Such extraneous experiences leave the soul tattered, tired, and weakened. The dream world might be virtual, but your soul is still real. Just take rest, you will recover in time."

He needed to sleep in order to get healed, but the trauma from that dream was too real to forget for him.

But he still carried on and was back on the battlefield, which mostly was not by choice. "Too many losses, we have backed off around two kilometers from the border and the enemy is still progressing steadily, if nothing is done in time, the barracks might fall."

The chain of command was broken, turning most of the forces of Cynark into headless chickens who didn’t even know what to do properly.

As for the new blood that could take their place? Few were capable of it, as it’s not a matter of strength, it’s about leading a group of people.

Individual strength unless talking about Grandmasters and above was really nothing in front of the group strength and proper co-ordination.

This is why, anyone even with a little talent for leading was being forcefully recruited into the army. All was done in order to salvage the situation.

Though the man with the most talent in this aspect was nowhere to be found, nor did Amir get any answer from General Vera or even his Grandfather over what happened to Ludwig.

And that is why, Amir couldn’t help but wonder. ’Did he get caught?’ Looking at the faces of Sarlen and the rest of his men, it was easy to see why they were here at this moment.

"I have tried my best, I have checked all avenues I could, Cousin Ludwig is nowhere to be found."