Four Split Personalities

"I have read the textbooks of your generation."

Richard chuckled, crossed his legs, and settled into a more comfortable position on the sofa, smiling, "To be honest, even though those materials indeed allow everyone to know how united the Great United Army was at the time and make us so-called heroes more dimensional, perhaps due to limited space, those books downplay our enemies a bit too much."

Miranda looked at Richard somewhat dumbfounded, "Downplay?"

"Yes, downplay."

Richard nodded slightly and said lightly, "I don’t know much about other demons, of course, certainly more than you do, but at least in the records concerning Ramollok, the textbook content is indeed somewhat too simplistic. Although those authors weren’t being subtle, no matter how bloody the numbers are, ultimately, they’re just numbers..."

Miranda lowered her head, speaking softly, "But even if they’re just numbers, I can still feel the harm those people caused to this world."

"But that’s not intuitive, child."

Richard looked benevolently at the girl in front of him who hadn’t experienced that era, speaking softly, "That’s why you can question as you did earlier, ’was Ramollok really that powerful?’ Let me say this, young lady, the reason why Batty and I were able to sit in the command seat back then and personally earn names like [Iron Lion] and [Cunning Fox] was due to only two reasons."

Miranda’s eyes widened as she frantically scribbled on the parchment with a quill pen, emotionally questioning, "What are the reasons?"

"The first reason is that Ramollok never directly targeted us. Most of the time, we dealt directly with the Absolution Legion’s senior staff. Although they were troublesome, they were much easier to handle than their chief."

Richard pinched his brow, took a sip of wine, and sighed long, "So even if they did follow Ramollok’s orders, we wouldn’t struggle too much, and occasionally we could even gain an advantage. But when Ramollok directly commanded them..."

Miranda did not question further, but rather held her breath, staring closely at Richard’s face, a face that, despite being thin and old, still held majesty and could surely have charmed her if younger by decades.

"Mainly it was dealing with our Chief of Staff and Military God."

Richard turned to look out the window, his bright eyes seemingly piercing through time and space back to that era of war that swept across the continent, "And even if those [Wings] whipped up storms capable of destruction, it was hard to gain an advantage in front of those [God Demon]."

Miranda laughed, nodding vigorously, "You’re right; anyway, I really can’t imagine what the situation would be like if we didn’t have the [Military God] and the [Witch]."

"There’s only one result; we’d have been finished long ago."

Richard shrugged, smiling, "Not just Hei Fan and Teresa, take a look at the [Great United Army Roster] displayed on every library’s first row shelf; missing any one of them, we might not have reached this day."

Miranda nodded forcefully, then urged, "What about the second reason? Isn’t there another reason that allowed you and Grandpa Batty to achieve those glorious achievements?"

"The second reason..."

Richard tugged at his mouth, murmuring with complex emotions, "It’s that we couldn’t afford to die."

Miranda clearly hadn’t anticipated this answer, and was stunned for quite a while before hesitantly asking, "What do you mean by ’couldn’t afford to die’?"

"Its literal meaning."

Richard downed the cocktail in front of him, his face flushed, "In that situation, dying was actually a relief, especially for us commanders burdened with countless comrades’ lives. Compared to wandering through those purgatory-like battlefields and struggling in Ramollok’s web, living was far lighter than dying."

Miranda opened her mouth, seemingly about to say something, but was interrupted by Richard raising a hand.

"Let’s continue talking about that match, my first confrontation with Ramollok."

Richard rubbed his flushed nose gently, speaking warmly, "The young [Iron Lion] with Ramollok’s sixty-six instruction cards, hahaha, it still feels like yesterday."

Miranda kindly didn’t force Richard to recall that battle which certainly wouldn’t be pleasant, instead steering the conversation back to the time before the disaster descended, when everyone was still green, laughing, "Grandpa Batty mentioned that the team finals of the [Comprehensive Knight Contest] felt like yesterday."

"That old fellow really doesn’t intend to keep any face!"

Richard was immediately agitated, angrily saying, "He was calculated to death by Hei Fan! I was played to death by Ramollok! Are those comparable!? Plus, he snagged a championship for free in the end! He dares to say that!"

Miranda playfully stuck out her tongue, "Hehe..."

"Ah, let’s not talk about that cunning fox anymore."

Richard heaved a heavy sigh, calming his mood, recalling, "Anyway, at the time, Ramollok directly blocked my position, absorbing my side’s attacks while sparing no effort to intercept my scouts, completely turning me blind."

Miranda leaned forward curiously, asking, "So did you just let him do that?"

"Of course not, but even I couldn’t dismantle the defensive perimeter I set up in a short time. Understand, without any control from Ramollok for nine minutes, I had already turned the entire position into a solid plate, ha... but in his eyes, that so-called solid plate was simply a grave I’d encircled for myself."

Richard chuckled self-deprecatingly, speaking admiringly, "In that match, which none of us understood, Ramollok, coldly observing, had thoroughly grasped the ’Deduction System’ process, so when my side’s system-generated allies appeared, he completed the misdirection with just fifteen instruction cards, successfully causing my allies to misjudge."

Not understanding the match details, Miranda immediately asked, "What misjudgment?"

"Mistakenly believed Ramollok’s forces were three times what they actually were."

Richard smacked his lips in frustration, "So even at my forces’ front line, despite having the absolute strength within support range, my allies just stood off against Ramollok, even... making the judgment that my position was completely vanquished."

Miranda’s mouth immediately formed an O shape, and after a while, stuttered, "Isn’t this cheating!?"

"It’s certainly not cheating, little girl, you are fooled by the then-state-of-the-art [Battle Six type] that easily?"

Richard snorted coldly, gritting his teeth, "But that meant nothing in front of Ramollok. Forget machines; if he wanted to, fooling me, a living person, would only take a minute."

Miranda exclaimed in disbelief, "So Ramollok didn’t fool you at the time?"

"He didn’t need to fool me."

Richard shook his head, sighed, "He only needed to make my allies believe I was completely vanquished, and indeed, whether personally or my allies, from the moment Ramollok stepped away, we were led by him."

"Uh... then what?"

"Then the intelligence system completely collapsed, leaving me clueless about the outside world so I had no choice but to reconstruct the position, just to avoid being trapped."

"Did you succeed?"

"Yes, even though it took a whole ten minutes to reset, I managed to restore the position’s mobility, earning the qualification to break through the blockade and face Ramollok head-on."

"Was this also part of his plan?!"

"Yes, so once my main force broke out of the position, it was crushed by at least three army group blue side battle groups."

"..."

Chapter 1274: Ending

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