Elder Ram lay on the ground, clutching at the stump of his arm.
That laser pistol flew several meters off, and was pinned underfoot by a soldier in a helmet.
"You… what are you doing!" Elder Ram looked at this soldier in astonishment.
"Were you people not calling for me a moment ago?" a familiar voice came.
The helmet came off, revealing white beast-ears and a resolute gaze.
"General Charlotte!"
"Sister Charlotte!"
"General!"
The company looked at this soldier who had removed her helmet with delight and astonishment.
It was, plain to see, Charlotte herself!
"You… were you not in the Starlight Empire… how is it you appear here?" Elder Ram looked at the Charlotte before him, aghast.
"And if I did not appear here, your plan would have gone through smoothly? Is that it?" Charlotte said with a cold smile.
And at this moment those soldiers who had been aiming their laser rifles at the councilors opposed to peace turned their muzzles as one upon Elder Ram's faction.
"You… you have all betrayed me? I trusted you so, and even gave my daughter to you in marriage! How dare you!" Elder Ram looked at these soldiers — and above all at their squad captain, who was his own son-in-law.
"Your son-in-law has indeed not betrayed you. It is only that his heart was not firm enough." The Black Fox chieftainess showed a bewitching smile.
"The Black Fox clan's art of enchantment!" Elder Ram noticed that his son-in-law's pupils were unfocused — plainly the look of a mind not quite its own.
And he thought of the rumors of the Black Fox clan.
The orthodox bloodline among the fox-spirit clans is innately possessed of very strong mental powers — able even, over a short span, to interfere with a person's mental will and so control that person's conduct.
In this, the succubus race in fact had much the same gift; the two were rather alike.
"You… you knew our plan long since?" Elder Ram found it hard to believe.
"Did you imagine that because I left this place I would not know all that happened here? Those things you did — making private contact with the Dragon-folk tribe, plotting to sell out the Revolutionary Army — of all of it I am perfectly aware." Charlotte watched Elder Ram coldly.
"Then… then why did you not stop me before? Why wait until now?" Elder Ram asked.
Before Charlotte could answer the question—
a figure walked into the conference room under the escort of a squad of handsome women-soldiers.
"That is because we wished to let the shells fly a while longer. To let those hyenas hidden in the dark come running out of their own accord," the man said.
Seeing the man who had appeared, the councilors present were somewhat taken aback.
But on seeing the dragon-patterned insignia upon this man's uniform, they guessed his identity.
From the Owl Dragon Legion — the only man in it.
"That ram-stink is strong indeed." Zhao Chen had barely come near before he covered his nose and drew back several paces, keeping some distance from Elder Ram.
"I pay my respects to His Excellency the Owl Dragon lord." Chieftain Ted, seeing Zhao Chen, at once saluted with the utmost deference.
He had visited the Owl Dragon Star System and understood well wherein its strength lay.
So toward Charlotte's trust in and closeness to this lord he held not the least grudge.
If anything, he hoped his own daughter might build a deeper bond with this lord.
Over so many years in the Revolutionary Army, Chieftain Ted had himself come clearly to see that to overthrow the Warhammer's old order by the Revolutionary Army's own strength alone was wholly impossible.
And his daughter's return, and the Owl Dragon lord's support that came with it, were precisely what they lacked.
"Hu Ya, chieftainess of the Black Fox, pays her respects to His Excellency the Owl Dragon lord." The Black Fox chieftainess saluted Zhao Chen at once as well, her lovely eyes taking the measure of this Owl Dragon lord of rumor before her.
The other councilors made their salutes and greetings too.
More of them carried looks of curiosity; they had only ever heard rumors of the Owl Dragon Legion and this man, and this was their first sight of the Owl Dragon lord with their own eyes.
But among them Hu Xin'er fixed an unfriendly gaze upon Zhao Chen; and when that gaze fell upon Charlotte it turned to admiration, to fondness, to infatuation.
And looking to Zhao Chen once more, it turned hostile again — for all the world like a little fox with its fur on end at the sight of a wicked man touching what is forbidden to him.
"You… you people…" Elder Ram's body swayed; and when at last he had steadied himself—
that face of shifting light and shadow turned the more crazed. "Ha ha ha ha — and what if you have seen through my plan? We have failed, but you too are about to meet destruction. Do you suppose the whole peace faction is here? A month ago I quietly had members of the peace faction infiltrate every stronghold hub and strategic point; those places are all under our control now. And besides — you said it yourselves: the Dragon-folk tribe have already sent their troops. Do you imagine that by yourselves alone you can hold off the Dragon-folk tribe's mighty legion fleets? Wishful dreaming! I have not won — but do not think you shall win either."
Zhao Chen glanced behind him, and the attentive leopard-girl of his guard at once fetched him a chair.
Zhao Chen sat down and said, calm as drifting cloud and light wind, "It seems you truly will not give up. In fact I could kill you here and now. But I have a small quirk: I like a man to die thoroughly and utterly — to know what a foolish error he has committed. If you say the Revolutionary Army plus the Dragon-Tiger Legion is no match for the Dragon-folk tribe's fleets, I do not deny it. But…"
Zhao Chen showed a thread of a teasing expression. "But what if my Owl Dragon Legion is added to them?"
The Owl Dragon Legion?
At that name, the expressions of the councilors present all underwent a subtle change.
"Some men shed no tears until the coffin is before them." Zhao Chen raised a hand and snapped his fingers.
The leopard-girl of his guard at once raised her right hand and started her handheld terminal, and several video images appeared before them all.
Within one of those images were, plain to see, the wrecks of a host of warships.
Among several planets, a scene for all the world like a hell on earth.
The sharp-eyed noticed that upon these warship wrecks there seemed to be a certain fleet blazon.
A golden eagle…
"These are the Golden Eagle tribe's fleets!" someone made it out, and cried aloud.
And thereafter the image drew slowly back, and what had lain outside the frame now appeared before them all.
Warship after warship, whole and unharmed, appeared before them — and upon the hulls of those warships, every one, was the Owl Dragon Legion's blazon!
"Old Ram, how many warships did you say the Golden Eagle tribe were sending to support you?" Zhao Chen smiled at Elder Ram with narrowed eyes.
Elder Ram looked at this scene, unable to believe it. "This… this is impossible… how can this be… This… this video must be a forgery of yours."
And at this hour everyone was curious: just how many warships had the Golden Eagle tribe sent on this operation?