Chapter 123 - The War Plan is ready

---

As Vlad and Brogg stared at this sleeping giant, the atmosphere suddenly turned a bit weird. The ground began shaking a lot that Brogg got unbalanced and was close to hitting the ground head first, but Vlad grabbed him by the back of his clothes, keeping him up.

"Let's go. This guy for sure is unpredictable even in sleep." Commented Vlad while looking at the giant sleeping in an emotionless state.

"Yes, sir." responded Brogg to Vlad while staring at the giant as he turned his sleeping position.

Moving out of the cave, when Vlad took Brogg out of the calamity zone, his white hair shifted into his jet-black along with his eyes that turned back to normal. Instantly as Vlad got back to his normal state, the pressure felt by Brogg increased to how he originally felt it when he first came here.

"Lord, you are cruel. Why did you stop that protective ability?" asked Brogg while he felt it hard to walk.

"Do you think I have unlimited energy resources or something, you dumbass? My consumption to keep a balance of my will and his will is already enough to kill an entire army of normal people if I ever wanted that."

"Still, my lord, can't you just take me out of the cave?" asked once again Brogg as he struggled to move forward.

"No. Stop whining. Take this as training for your body. I will tell you this, everything you went through in this adventure of yours will be beneficial in the long run. Compared to Prim, Bolt, Peter or Flex and the other brothers, you took a big leap forward testing your dormant willpower." explained Vlad with an annoyed tone, while moving forward and sometimes looking at Brogg as he struggled to move.

Brogg gritted his teeth and struggled to move forward while looking at Vlad's straight body, who would even look at him with an evil grin when he would drop down on the ground.

'Damn you, do you want to kill me by chance? Wasn't it enough the training you gave us 1-2 years ago? I will have Prim and Bolt come here and laugh at their misfortune. Hmph, I'm not the only one to suffer this pressure running down on my body.'

Thinking that the soldier kept his act together and followed after Vlad. It was a tiresome journey out, but he felt his body light when he arrived at the first part of the cave, which made him feel confused.

'My body, it feels quite light. Is it because of the giant's will?'

Stopping for a while to sense the changes in his body, he then heard Vlad's voice close to him, saying with a detached feeling.

"Hoh, it seems there are changes in your body after managing to survive the giant's willpower. Impressive. Maybe I should subject the most promising ones to my willpower once in a while to accelerate your growth. In this way, I can also train my control."

"If it's like what I felt from the giant, please do so. I want those bastards to know what I went by when they start laughing at me." replied Brogg while moving his limbs a bit, which released some popping sounds.

Vlad nodded his head while beginning to move out of the frozen cave and walk toward the gathering place for his soldiers.

Along the way, when they got away from the core of the forest, some beasts sensed Brogg slightly wounded and weakened and began approaching him from the sides, but then stopped like dead fish when they saw Vlad's sinister gaze that sent a dark shockwave that made them tremble in fear.

"My Lord, what did you just do to scare off those annoying beasts?"

"That's a combination of my willpower and my other power." replied Vlad in a calm tone while moving undisturbed in the forest along with Brogg, who followed his back.

.

.

In just 10 minutes, Vlad could see that the number of people gathering increased even more, and the soldiers who noticed him reacted a bit detached, still not knowing who he was without his mask. However, the officers wearing the black uniforms were quick to react and began ordering the soldiers in raws of people.

"Lord, you are fine. I thought I had to send one of my best boys to get you out from the forest." said one guy with long tied blonde hair who had his ears fully pierced, his face had a small scar on his lips, but his way of talking was closer to a pirate, straightforward and arrogant.

Looking at this blonde guy, Vlad scoffed at him and kept moving forward while Brogg followed behind him. When the blonde guy noticed Brogg, he looked at another guy who was of average stature, about 1,80 meters and with clear features close by, who had a modified rifle that looked more like a 19th sniper rifle.

"Hey Prim, look at this dumb idiot. He tried to act tough, and from what he looks, he was close to getting killed."

"Shut up, Bolt, I will make sure you will taste the same thing I went by while checking on that thing." added Brogg while finally stopping close to where the guy with the sniper rifle was.

He extended his hand and Prim, chuckled and give him a specific handshake.

"Brother, I heard from you guys that you went to check on the core of the forest. What have you found out?"

"I will tell you at another occasion when we drink something after all this mess the nobles created is over. But get prepared because it will shock you entirely." said Brogg while he later moved to where his men were.

Prim also turned to move toward his men, who all had rifles on them, some targeting scopes like Prim, but the vast majority was without one.

The same could be said for Bolt, the blonde guy who made fun of Brogg, who came back walking a bit slow and forced. Bolt, just like Brogg, was one of Vlad's Black Army colonels, along with Prim.

Vlad, when he saw all of them settling down, along with the rest of the soldiers, he moved in the center point of all this gathering, and with a cold, serious tone, he said to them.

"I will be brief with you soldiers. Some of you might recognize me by my voice, others by my mask, but know this. I am your commander, the only one you should listen to the most before your higher officers is me, Blood, or how my real name is Vermilion Zagreus Vlad.

I don't want you to be subjected to any emotional change. My status matters less in the Black Army. You will not be needed to treat me as some royal or any dumb nobility status the society might put on me, but only your commander. HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR SOLDIERS!" raised Vlad his voice as he stared at the soldiers who, on a part, were a bit surprised and taken by surprise.

With Vlad's cold, serious domineering voice, which reminded them of the years they spent training at Vlad's instruction under the Blood persona, they stood straight and saluted him.

"YES, SIR! WE OBEY YOUR ORDERS!"

After the soldiers said that, they lowered down their tone and looked at Vlad for his future instructions, and they began hearing a short description of the enemy they will meet.

"You know very well the situation inside the kingdom, with regards to the noble's attempt at overthrowing the rule of the royal family, so you don't need me to repeat myself. As for the Dark Union, your officers will fill you with more details, so we are not wasting our precious time right now. Is it clear, Brogg, Prim, Bolt?"

The highest officers of the Black Army looked straight at Vlad, and with a more relaxed manner, they confirmed his orders.

"Good, now. I will start assigning your assignments for this upcoming war. Officers follow after me. The rest lay low."

"YES, SIR!" replied the soldiers and officers who soon began following after Vlad, who moved to a clear zone of the forest.

Looking at those 250 officers who were gathered out in a circle around himself, with Brogg, Prim, and Bolt being at the foremost part, close to Vlad.

"Listen, guys, if you follow the orders to the letter, you will have it easier in this upcoming fight. Now focus on boys because I would rather not want to repeat myself too much."

The officers listening to Vlad at the center of this spread out circle nodded their heads and kept quiet, giving Vlad the signal they understood.

"For the first part of my plan, Prim, you are important. You, along with Sofiya, will lead the marksman. She will take them with her while moving to the side of the noble control from Sol while you will go toward Dawn district to give support fire to the people who would fight the Dark Union."

Some officers who belonged to Prim's battalion wanted to reject Vlad's proposition, but he sensed a cold stare coming from Prim that told him to shut his mouth.

"I understand, Your Highness. Her Grace Sofiya marksmanship is beyond mine. I have no objection to your plan. But one question, lord. Should I only use suppressing fire or also start searching and destroying targets?"

"It's up to you, Prim. As long as you don't find yourself outnumbered by the enemy. Destroy them using your superior firepower, but don't get overconfident because those assassins have strong people. Split your boys to be grouped in teams of 10, so they could easily protect each other."

"Everything is clear, Your Highness." said Prim with serious eyes while stroking his sniper rifle a bit, with a cold expression.

"Good. Now the assault team. Brogg, you will go toward Dawn along with Nius's squad of 200 soldiers. You will also get the support of lady Felicia and most likely the support of the other guild leaders of the city."

"Lord, sorry for my insolence, but who is this Nius person?"

It was at that moment that Brogg felt a hand touch his shoulder in an easygoing manner and also hearing an old voice in his ears.

"That would be me, lad. Nice to meet you. I am Nius Galeot, kids."

The officers looked surprised to find that an old man with shoulder-length white hair and with some casual clothes was there in the front of the circle.

'How did this old man manage to get inside the circle?' thought a big chunk of the officers while looking at this old man.

Meanwhile, Prim and Brogg, and other people from Sagletius, respectively the old Forsaken District, looked at the old man and said.

"Sir, are you by chance the old marshal who was said to have betrayed the royal family?" asked Brogg, not knowing how to approach this old man.

"Hmph, don't believe all sorts of stories, kid. It is indeed me, the former marshal of Kaysang." calmly added Nius, while at the start spitting a bit when hearing that he ever betrayed the Vermilions.

Vlad intervened and said to Nius in a casual tone. "Come to the center, old man, and don't disturb me. I'm laying down the plan for the upcoming war in a few days. Tsk, so annoying I have to wait for those noble soldiers to fill my ranks."

Vlad repeated himself again, explaining to Brogg and his officers his task.

He would be the main force that would push this fight against the Dark Union's assassins along with Nius's New Royal Guard, who would be tasked with assisting his regiment. Aside from this, he would also have the assistance of the marksman from Prim.

The two brothers looked at one another and nodded their heads.

"Kid, you will only fight the small rats. While my boys will draw out from their rathole the big ones, I included. Since I have some unfinished business with the leaders of the Dark Union here."

"Understood, old man. We can only hope for the better when everything starts." said Brogg to Nius, who felt that he should remind him, who was the one in charge of the operations inside Dawn district.

Then Vlad, after the people started calming a bit, he looked at the blond colonel, one of the important pirate prospects from Dethell Blokted crew, with a bounty of 25.000.000 𝔅.

The pirate who got used pretty quickly to the army's life and used with the discipline still used his pirate behavior and lowered his head a bit, asked.

"What is my job, my lord?"

"Ohh, do you want to find out? Your job is pretty important, as detrimental as the others. You will lead the fight toward the Royal district and Noble district together with Sofiya and her part of soldiers."

"Heh, I fight against those stupid nobles? Interesting proposition, my lord. I am up for the job. Do I also lead those peasants from the rich fucks under your side?" asked Bolt without even trying to talk civilized with Vlad.

"Indeed, but Rohan, Arden, will be at the head of their army. They got my orders, so they would follow your suggestions, as long as you are not doing something crazy."

"Haha, don't worry, my lord. I will not ask those peasants to jump on a well if they are not trained. Expect victory, my lord. Right, what about that old seadog? Is he there to give us support on the bridge?"

"I have no clue what's in Patrick's mind. I told him the plan, I gave him freedom when it comes to the plan. If he sees openings in Lacilet's side, he will surely make his presence felt.

Also, there will be me and other proteges of mine who will assist you. If you see some crimson masked young man, know that they are my apprentices, so don't fight against them."

"Wouldn't that be dumb, my lord? We might get killed in the process if we offend your apprentices." said Bolt while laughing out loud.

He kept laughing alone for a while until he turned to the other officers and said to them in an awkward smile.

"Sorry boys, I've lived a while on the sea as a pirate. Old habits die hard."

Vlad shook his head and only said to the gathered officers.

"If there are no questions or unclarity in my instructions, go and prepare your men. I will give you the signal to act until then encamp here and use your dry food, so you don't attract some beasts from the forest."

"Everything is clear, sir." replied the officers and saw Vlad off, walking along with Nius toward another part of the forest with fast speed.

.

As Vlad moved toward his encampment that was a decent distance away from the soldier's camp, he asked Nius a simple question.

"How is your side of plans moving?"

"Those three should be back in one day with the soldiers from Kalerna city. You? Did you check on that giant down on the forest?" asked Nius while looking at Vlad's calm face, which turned a bit serious.

"So you also knew about it? Well no wonder, you also have the willpower to move close to that giant. Indeed, I checked on the giant since one of my soldiers went to check on that thing because of the movements he did. Surprisingly, that boy managed to move and even enter at the inner range of his willpower without getting killed or crushed."

"That boy, Brogg?"

"That's the promising boy I've been talking to you. He has decent swordplay and even managed to fight a bit with me 3 years ago. He should be the first candidates, in my opinion, to awaken their haki from the entirety of officers I have selected in those 6000 soldiers."

"Hoh, interesting. This is excellent news, but you shouldn't force them too much. The haki awakening is a natural process that can't be fought, only assisted. Look at my 3 officers, Vem, Gif, Ramoth, they barely managed to awaken their haki this year, and sadly they only have 1 of the abilities awakened. The sad truth, they trained for about 22 years in their body. Imagine boy, not being able to awaken after training so many years. The despair and depression would for sure eat you."

"Right, this is also something I speculated when I trained for my awakening, depending on your inner energy and attributes, like the stronger ability to fighting in close combat to using long-ranged abilities. You can awaken either Observation or Armament, and trying to awaken the rest would be a hard process.

However, those are my speculations because I managed to awaken all of them. So the general rule doesn't really apply properly."

"You are not wrong on your detailed observation. In those moments, you really don't look your age at all, haha."

"Don't bother, I've read some books from old masters that were so eye-opening. Just perfect for my studies on the human body."

"I guess it helps you train your devil fruit?" asked Nius while passing a tree and getting closer to Vlad.

"To a great extent." replied Vlad shortly, to Nius' question.

"Little Vlad, you have always made me curious about you since we first met 7 years ago. But I can't explain to myself how you managed to wake your haki."

"Hah, that process was so hellish. I thought I had my brain explode so many times that I can't even explain it to you. I had to pass some challenges from my inner core, like nightmarish puzzles, being subject to cruel visions, and listening to tormented people. But if I think about it, it started with that cursed day."