Tear A Path

"The war was done" a whisp of a voice came out of Mot-tsune's wide open mouth.

"You're welcome for that." Zhao Wei replied as if it was the obvious thing in the world, which was probably what elicited this reply.

"THE WAR WAS ALREDY DONE BEFORE YOU DID THIS... THIS... WHAT EVEN THE!?... ARTYUBFHIBFGDTHT!!!!" Moto-tsunes words trailed off into a tirade of gibberish as he looked at the aftermath.

Sure the war was stopped, but how were they supposed to handle the aftermath now?

These were supposed to end in one of two ways. Either they came to truce, or someone wins.

Either route took a long time and required the shedding of much more blood or the presence of extreme extraneous circ.u.mstances to bring the whole ruckus to a stop.

The provisions Central had provided them was a testament to the fickleness of these circ.u.mstances, probably able to keep the men from their side going for several months if the situation called for it.

He thought this man definitely had a few screws loose and rattling around in that head of his, thinking he could stop the war.

This was but the first bout, both sides had just gone full force. No one was tired enough to say "Let's stop!" After all, coming out on top was definitely better than both sides compromising.

'If he thought such things, then why was he here?' One might think. 'Why did he go through that whole suicide mission in the first place?'

Well that was simple enough to explain, though he asked that question more times in his head than he'd like to think.

He had nothing to lose.

Once the authority was wrenched away from his hands by his own subordinates there was but two fates awaiting him

One was most certainly death. While strong, he definitely wasn't able to face all his men on his own. The freedom of the wilderness was an even worse choice obviously. Nothing awaited him there aside from coming out as excretion from one of the beast's hind-quarters.

Surviving wasn't much better, either he ended up as a slave here...

Or he'd escaped back to Central.

Also not a great option. Coming back would be the end of the road for him, as it would be for anyone who failed so miserably and wasted the already dwindling resources that Central provided them.

Any of his higher ups who previously vouched for him for this operation, would sooner have him silenced and pretend like the operation was still on going than admit they made a bad judgement call. That would undermine the authority they built so far and put their own capabilities into question.

If he survived that, his career was definitely over, any resources he had access to would be stripped from him, and no one would call him to any future operations which meant that he had absolutely no path to advance.

And what happens to a pawn who can't grow?

They become sacrifices.

At some point, they'd call him for an "important" mission. Probably to the toughest area they can find, with the highest rate of death.

The most ethical way to clear up his position so that someone who can still gain influence in the military can take it

So either way, he was going to die no matter what he chose. Following Zhao Wei seemed like a much lesser evil at that time.

But whereas all his other options had the possibility of death, riding with Zhao Wei... was probably like running straight towards death in the hopes that it will dodge you instead.

In the end, since both sides had stopped their debut battle, Moto-tsune almost thought that there was actually a way to salvage the situation.

A moment of clarity could go a long way to ending the bloodshed, if they were able to use this opportunity then maybe he could find some way to end their campaign here with a cooperation between both sides.

Now that they had a full on clash, the leaders in Tithor would have to reconsider their options and weigh the benefits of continuing such a battle for the days to come.

Unlike Central's men, they had no supplies coming from anywhere, and with every man needed to do battle and their enemy right next door, which of them would be able to farm the land for anything.

Their own people situated here would also have to contemplate whether they wanted to continue hostilities as Central's support wasn't indefinite. The firepower and trained soldiers supplied today wouldn't just keep flowing here.

Even if their main goal was to help all the humans from the old world, it was still a numbers game for Central.

As they spoke Central had dispatched troops and support to several similar human establishments. That being said, they required a ridiculous amount of funds and resources to keep the whole thing running, the last thing they wanted was to provide for a long term skirmish in any one place.

It was the equivalent of a bucket with a hole in the bottom.

Not to mention provisions and supplies, every bullet and man was another drop they wasted in an effort with no obvious end in sight. And Tithor's men didn't seem like they'd go down easy. In that one clash, they'd tested several weapons and vehicles that were developed for the new world. None of which acted as a proper deterence.

Alot of which were also destroyed during the conflict.

Alot of which took quite alot from Central's wallet.

Hence, by this point, both had really solid grounds for negotiations.

Treat it right and he might still just come out of this on top.

For a few seconds there, he even believed that Zhao Wei was still his biggest boon here. If he was able to convince him to come to Central, there would be no end to the factions who would attempt to affiliate themselves with him just to hire this man.

Even though he didn't think he was stronger than the very top humans in Central, Moto-tsune didn't think he was very far from it. At the very least, he considered him to be within the top 10,000 people, and even with that number, there'd be countless recruitment offers immediately available.

Of course, he also needed Zhao Wei to get to Central. There was still the issue of his "elite" men.

While he could avoid getting backstabbed immediately by staying in Tithor under the guise of a peace envoy. There was no chance they'd let him reach headquarters without a fight.

In the first place they knew their actions could very well land them in some pretty hot waters, though they probably didn't really consider the risks in face of the potential rewards.

They certainly weren't banking on Moto-tsune leaving and surviving to reach this point when their plans were just beginning to unfold.

As long as he had Zhao Wei around, that'd be one worry off his c.h.e.s.t.

But just when his perspective of Zhao Wei was changing, the man does something like...

This.

He wasn't even sure if he should've gotten angry over this, heck he didn't even know exactly how he would classify this situation.