The Manga Mountains.
After fleeing here, the eastern Suroma rebel forces led by Chief Roy temporarily settled in an abandoned mining town.
This had once been a miner's town. There weren't many shops because the company regularly delivered all the supplies the miners needed.
The only establishments here were bars and inns, meant to help the miners unwind and to collect the hard-earned money they'd sweated for.
Right now, Roy and his two companions were walking through the streets, watching the many people sitting dejectedly by the roadside, their moods sinking fast.
If one had to declare a victor in this civil war, then the rebels had undoubtedly suffered a complete and utter defeat.
To this day, they hadn't managed to seize a single city. They were merely being herded along by the armies Bruce sent, and now they were backed into a corner with no way out.
A passerby spotted Roy and came up to beg: "Chief, do you have anything to eat? My stomach is growling."
Roy pulled the only remaining box of crackers from his pocket and handed it over. The man grabbed it and immediately scurried off to wolf it down.
"Roy, we can't go on like this!" Weilin beside him wore a grim expression. "Without food, we Ascendants can hold out for a while, but the ordinary people won't last more than a few days. By then, we won't even need Bruce's army to come. Starvation alone will kill off a good number of us."
"Do you think I don't know that?!" Roy looked exasperated. "But what can we do? There's jack shit in this town. Just a pile of empty liquor bottles."
"I think we might have to put out a commission..." Donnie, trailing behind, spoke up. "Post a food commission on Ascendant Home and have someone who accepts the job deliver supplies."
"Donnie, you're dreaming," Weilin shook her head. "Do you think those mercenaries are idiots? This town could be attacked by the army at any moment. Those shrewd bastards won't wade into murky waters!"
Roy lit a cigarette and said, "If we offer enough, there are bound to be some brave ones who'll dare to come."
Weilin frowned upon hearing this. "Where are we supposed to get that many Ascension Coins to put out a high-paying commission?"
"There are over a thousand Ascendants here. If we all pool together, we can manage it."
"...Roy, give it a rest. Do you think everyone else is some kind of pushover like you? Or do you think that just because you're the Chief, you can give an order and everyone will obey you blindly?"
Donnie sided with Weilin on this matter too. "Roy, Weilin's right. Even though we're all part of the rebel forces, if you ask other Ascendants to fork over their Ascension Coins for a commission, they won't be willing."
Birds of a feather flock together, but when trouble strikes, each flies its own way.
Although the rebel group was formed by people with shared ideals, after suffering such a major setback, quite a few had begun to waver.
If they started collecting Ascension Coins at a time like this, it could cause problems.
Weilin said, "Roy, if you so much as suggest pooling money, I guarantee the other Ascendants will suspect we're planning to pocket their Ascension Coins and skip town."
"...Damn it."
Roy scratched at his messy, tangled long hair, feeling that Weilin was absolutely right.
If he went around collecting Ascension Coins under the guise of posting a commission at a time like this, no one would believe he actually intended to put out a job. Most would simply think he was planning to run.
"Then what do you two suggest we do?" Roy was at his wit's end. "Just wash our hands of it and let the ordinary people starve to death?"
The moment he finished speaking, his pocket vibrated.
He pulled out his phone and saw it was an alert for a private message on Ascendant Home.
He tapped it open, and a hint of joy appeared on his face.
"No way, really?!"
"What is it?"
Weilin and Donnie leaned in to look and were both stunned.
It was a reply to the private message Roy had sent Shadow. The content was brief: "Send me your location."
"Holy crap!" Donnie was utterly shocked. "Shadow God actually replied! He's really going to come help us?!"
Weilin was equally taken aback.
She'd thought Roy's private message would be useless, just a waste of time. She never expected Shadow would actually see it, let alone agree to help.
She quickly urged, "Roy, tell him our location, and have him bring some food along too! If he shows up in person, the other Ascendants will definitely be willing to chip in!"
Though "Shadow's" reputation worldwide was mixed, with both praise and criticism, both his admirers and his detractors acknowledged one thing: he was a man of his word.
If Roy collected money in his own name, other Ascendants would grow suspicious. But if Shadow showed up, the situation would be completely different.
"I know." Roy said at once. "I'm replying to him right now!"
He sent over the location of the town where the rebels had holed up, along with their food requirements, and added that he wouldn't ask Shadow to bring supplies for free, promising Ascension Coins as compensation.
Afterward, the three of them headed into a rundown bar. A large crowd had gathered in the main hall, both Ascendants and ordinary people, all of them minor leaders within the rebel forces.
In the middle of the crowd sat a chair with a young man bound to it. This was the spy Roy and the others had caught.
The bastard had been hiding deep, but Roy had first relied on his gut instinct to determine that there was a mole in the rebel ranks, then had Donnie use his exclusive item to flush the man out.
Roy walked up to him now, grabbing the man by the hair and sneering coldly: "You piece of shit, you never expected that my good brother Donnie has an item that can monitor signal transmissions, did you?"
Donnie had always loved tinkering with radios since he was a kid. After becoming an Ascendant, his exclusive item was a multifunctional radio station, one of whose abilities was to monitor all electronic signals within a certain range.
The spy had been sending information to the Hall of Halls when Donnie intercepted the transmission, which led to his capture.
"I'm warning you all, you'd better let me go," the captured spy threatened. "Otherwise, when His Majesty King Bruce's army arrives, you'll all die without a burial place!"
"What the hell is this bastard saying?!"
"Kill him right now!"
"Tear his head off!"
A captured spy acting so arrogant immediately riled up the crowd, who were eager to vent all their anger at being hunted from place to place by the authorities on this wretch.
"Everyone, hold on!"
Roy shouted for silence, then suddenly slapped the spy hard across the face.
Crack!
The sharp sound echoed, and the spy instantly wore a look of terror, thinking he might actually be killed.
Unexpectedly, Roy said, "As much as I'd love to punch your stupid head in, I still need to keep your sorry life for now."
The crowd was puzzled by his words. Someone demanded, "Chief, what do you mean by that?"
Roy explained, "Listen up, everyone. This bastard still has some use left in him. I just sent out a request for aid, and this spy is one of the bargaining chips for that aid. So we can't kill him just yet."
Aid?
The crowd exchanged glances, wondering who would possibly come to their rescue in this situation, and who even had the ability to help them while Bruce's army was closing in.
Roy looked at the crowd's expressions and smiled smugly. "Everyone, the reinforcement I've called is..."
Before he could finish showing off, the bar's front door was suddenly slammed open.
Several rebel members, drenched in blood, stumbled inside. Under the crowd's horrified gaze, they shouted in utter despair: "The Suppression Legion has arrived!"
The edge of town.
Thousands upon thousands of military robots stood in formation, with four massive war mechs flanking each side, creating a luxurious military array that would make anyone's heart sink with despair just by looking at it.
And at the very front of the formation stood dozens of figures wearing electronic masks and portable metal armor, the standard equipment of modified Ascendants.
Surrounded by these people was a young child who looked only a few years old.
There were no wings on her back, no mechanical flight devices on her person, yet she hovered in the air, feet dangling above the ground, inspiring an inexplicable dread in anyone who saw her.
The modified Ascendants surrounding her all knew very well that this was Gaelid's ability. Or to be more precise, it was the telekinetic manipulation ability Ai Ya had inherited from her father, "Adam" Lester.
According to Bruce, the current Gaelid, possessing three abilities, had already surpassed her predecessor in terms of ability diversity. In the future, once her Mind Power upper limit was raised to a certain level, she would inevitably become the strongest Ascendant.
But even though Gaelid's current Mind Power upper limit still had room to grow, none of the modified Ascendants present doubted that she possessed terrifyingly powerful abilities.
"Lady Gaelid," a modified Ascendant requested, "This is the rebels' stronghold. Please give the order."
Gaelid nodded slightly and spoke softly: "Attack. Eliminate the rebels."