Under the empty stands of the Seventh Legion, a fierce duel was underway.
Rin's movements and reactions were still impeccable; her agile yet precise subtle dodges allowed her to evade all of her opponent's fierce attacks. Amidst the flurry of fists and legs, her figure seemed to stand still, and her opponent's attacks always grazed past her as if deliberately missing. A punch, accompanied by a sharp gust of wind, again brushed past Rin's ear, rustling her twin-tails of dark hair, yet failing to touch her in the slightest.
Her opponent was still Zhi Feng. For some unknown reason, the atmosphere of their current battle was distinctly different from their past sparring sessions.
Rin raised her right hand to block a horizontal kick aimed at her head. The moment she blocked it, Rin's jade-like hand, possessing a thousand jin of grip strength, simultaneously parried the kick at the wrist and seized Zhi Feng's attacking calf. Then, with a decisive pull, she flung her behind her.
Thud!
Rin did not merely throw Zhi Feng; instead, she swung her in a circle overhead and slammed her heavily onto the ground. The sturdy stone bricks of the ground shattered into pieces, indicating the immense force Rin had used. Aside from not using an Imperial Arms, she showed no mercy.
"Not bad, Zhi Feng. You're finally genuinely trying to hit me during our practice. You'd do even better if you fought with the intent to kill me."
"Cough, cough..."
Zhi Feng, having taken a heavy blow, couldn't get up immediately. Her lungs, compressed by the impact, involuntarily coughed twice. She then struggled to roll over, looking up at the sky above the open-air dueling arena, breathing heavily in the cold air. Her eyes held not the fighting spirit expected at this moment, but rather a hint of confusion.
"Big Sister, I still find it hard to accept... Is my resolve and determination to follow you still not enough? Killing a baby, I really... I..."
Lying prostrate, Zhi Feng gazed blankly at the gloomy, cloudless winter sky, her voice choked as she spoke. Tears gradually welled up in her eyes, streaming down her cheeks.
"I understand Big Sister's intention. This is for the safety of everyone in the Legion... Yet, I actually had the thought of fighting Big Sister..."
Zhi Feng raised her hands, looking at them, seemingly clean and unblemished, yet her tear ducts seemed to burst, and she couldn't stop crying.
It had been ten days since Rin returned from the Northern Region. The third assessment had concluded. This time, no one died, no one was injured, and there wasn't even any fighting, because this assessment was incredibly simple:
Kill a Northern Region Outsider baby.
That was all. Any adult, even a mischievous child, could do it, so of course, no one died.
What Rin brought back from the Northern Region were infants of the Northern Nomads, from newborn to no more than two years old. It was arguably the purest and most innocent stage of life. Even as Northern Region Outsider bloodline, they were the most innocent new lives. However, the order Rin gave to her soldiers when she brought them back and handed them over was—
Kill!
The final assessment Rin gave her soldiers was: Kill the most innocent person.
Rin did not tell the soldiers that they were Northern Region Outsider children, nor did she use such language to alleviate their guilt. Instead, she explicitly told them that what they held was a person, an innocent life born not long ago. Killing him (or her) had no justice whatsoever, but the order was to kill!
No one was exempt from this assessment: new recruits, veterans, officers, including the General who was the Legion Commander. Rin herself participated, and that included Zhi Feng.
Killing the infants of the Northern Nomads as if they were children of the Empire—the psychological pressure on those hot-blooded youths who aspired to defend their homeland and achieve great deeds was immense. Rin's action was to test the resolve of her soldiers, the resolve to kill anyone! At the same time, it was to wear away the superfluous kindness in the hearts of all as soldiers.
What is a soldier? A soldier's blade is a weapon, a group of people assembled into a military force whose duty is to kill. Since it is to kill, there is no need to talk about kindness and justice. If on the battlefield one's sword is restrained by morality and kindness, then it is oneself and one's comrades who will die.
Rin did not overly pressure the soldiers; she still offered everyone a way out: put down the baby in their hands and leave the Seventh Legion. Having already experienced trials of life and death and brutal training, they could become qualified core strengths in any other Imperial Legion, and their treatment there would be no worse than in the Seventh Legion. Only those who, facing a retreat route behind them, were still willing to stay and follow her to the end, could Rin truly trust and lead.
Rin held Zhi Feng's hands, which were staring blankly, and knelt beside her, smiling as she looked at her.
"No matter what thoughts or impulses you had, it is also a fact that you were willing to dirty your hands for me."
At noon, after Rin gave the order, as the commander, she was the first to cut the swaddled infant in her arms in half. She gave everyone an afternoon. In the evening, those who chose to stay gathered again at the parade ground, and then she turned and left. Before Rin had walked five steps, Zhi Feng suddenly slammed the child she had been clutching tightly to her chest onto the ground. Blood stained the parade ground, and she followed closely behind Rin, leaving.
"Big Sister, you say, will we one day face retribution for what we've done?"
"Perhaps. After all, only those prepared to be killed are qualified to wield a blade. Killers are killed by others; this is a matter of course. Being killed is simply because one is too weak, with no reason to complain, nothing more."
"Then, what are we fighting for in the future? For the Empire, or for the people?"
"Neither. We fight only for ourselves. The corpses of our enemies are stepping stones for us to reach the pinnacle of our lives. There's no need for glory or grand righteousness. The most superficial and vulgar reasons: wealth and honor, that's all. To live better for ourselves, we fight only for ourselves. Bury everything that stands in our way."
Rin reached out and helped Zhi Feng up. Zhi Feng looked at Rin with a bitter smile and said:
"Big Sister, what you're saying is treasonous."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"Of course, I'll see it through to the end."
But as the sun dipped in the west, at dusk, Rin's figure reappeared on the Seventh Legion's parade ground. The soldiers, neatly lined up on the blood-red parade ground stained by the setting sun, seemed as if they had never left since gathering at noon. If anything had changed, it was only the uncleared bloodstains on the ground.
Rin smiled, a truly happy smile directed at the soldiers. It was the first time she had shown such a smile to these soldiers. Rin dismounted from the Wind God Winged Dragon, picked up the first badge from a tray beside her, neatly filled with Legion emblems, and personally pinned it on the chest of the first soldier in the first row, then the second, the third... One after another, Rin personally fastened the official Legion emblem onto the chest of every person who chose to stay. It was a very simple emblem, an inverted black inverted cross.
The inverted cross represents the abandonment of faith in God, the rejection of divine grace. With its long end pointing upwards, it is like a sharp sword pointed at God, following each person's inner desires, and is also hailed as the mark of the devil. Rin used this as her Legion's emblem to display the essence of this army: to fight only for themselves!
Rin returned to the highest point, fastening the last emblem to her own chest, spreading her arms as if to embrace all of them, and declared loudly:
"I officially welcome you, my soldiers! Welcome to this blood-stained Asura's path!"
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