"Ahaha…" Kai laughed as soon as he exited the training capsule while the rest looked at him with a weird face as if they were disgusted with how he was a sore loser.
Nathan let out a long sigh and walked toward him before patting his shoulders. "Listen up, brat. I know that doing something like that is necessary for war, but why can't you just give the win to them? They have trained so hard to defeat you."
"You just don't like I used it because Michelle is the one that kills me, right? Well, the last man standing is still me, so I win." Kai shrugged while looking away.
"Haiz. To think there is someone even more shameless than me. Kid. If you want to form a family, you need to know when to admit defeat and say sorry. That's your responsibility. And this is even more true when you have multiple wives. If you don't know when to stop, there will be huge friction between you and your wives, creating various problems. Take this as a grandfather's advice."
"Ugh…But earlier, it was a war, not a family problem."
"That's not my point. Anyway, just put this inside your mind and make sure you remember it. I don't want to see my daughter or daughter-in-law suddenly come to me crying. You hear me?"
"Ye-yes." Kai nodded.
"Good. I know that you have a vision for your own family, but advice from your father or grandfather will prove to be useful when the time comes, even if it's only useful for one time after ten years or more of marriage."
"I understand." Kai repeatedly nodded.
"Since I have said my piece, let's discuss the strategy of the war with these folks." Nathan pointed his finger toward Michael and the others, including the girls.
Kai looked at them and found Michelle and the others were trying hard to hold their laughter. They must feel happy when he got reprimanded like this, but he just let it go.
"First of all, what was your plan from the beginning?"
"I didn't have one. I made one on the spot when I learned about the layout. Still, I indeed felt the importance of having an operator." He nodded.
"We can talk about an operator later. For now, I want to ask you about the plan you made on the fly."
The rest started listening to him attentively as Kai began his explanation. "First of all, my plan was to search for a place to fight them. After knowing that every single place is the carefully planned terrain, I chose the place that had the most advantage for the current me, which was my own spawn point.
"Unfortunately, it seemed the terrain just gave them the same advantage, so I changed my plan to kill one or two in this place before going to another place, so they needed to adjust their own position again. This would leave a gap in their positions, especially after getting used to the first terrain.
"And so, from what I could see, I needed to kill Tasha first because she would be the one preventing me from getting to another terrain. I formulated a plan to bait Tasha out, and you might already notice it, but I failed a few times."
Tasha thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. She indeed felt being baited a few times, and only the last one she had finally come to help and died.
"After killing Tasha, I tried to kill one more, which was the one supporting, increasing their ability, and healing their wound, Evan. Unfortunately, after various attempts, none of them succeeded." Kai let out a long sigh, feeling frustrated just remembering about it.
"Hehe, if I were like the previous me, only having my healing magic, you wouldn't target me, right?" Evan smirked.
"Yeah. As I said earlier, your new magic that could enhance one's ability was very powerful and dangerous to your opponent. However, if they didn't know you had an ability like that, you wouldn't be targeted. That's why your main mission is to hide that magic."
"Don't worry. After mastering this technique, I have learned that I can enhance the water inside your body instead of creating a water bubble that was visible from the outside. This way, no one should know about the trick yet except the people here."
"That's good." Kai nodded. "Anyway, I never expected that Ayaka would try to cut me like that."
"Should I say as expected of my plan?" Ayaka asked before glancing at Sofia.
"Yes. That's the only way to injure him at that moment, so I couldn't really complain. Besides, Michelle was in the position as well. Unfortunately, my position was better than her, so I should say it was because of me choosing a better position I could help you in almost killing him?" Sofia thought for a moment before shrugging.
"Indeed. The credit is for both of us." Ayaka nodded in agreement.
"And with Michelle, Ayaka, and Evan as my last opponents, I was on my wits' end. In fact, if you waited for another ten to twenty minutes and weakened me with the blood loss, I would be defeated without having a chance to come back. Sadly, you were going for the kill." Kai smirked.
"Indeed. Let me make an example with my own experience." Nathan added. "I have fought many opponents, and there is one type that I always feel the most troublesome…"
"The one that doesn't have an interest in anything other than battles that they can definitely win." Kai and Nathan said at the same time.
They exchanged looks and smirked as if they were thinking the same reason. Nathan decided to explain this. "A person like this is not a person who takes risks. No matter how tempting the bait we laid down is, they will never take it. And the more worked we get, the more casually and relaxed they will evade us.
"No matter what time, a man like this can always see right through you. There was a time I fought against this guy. And as you know, my temper…Me getting angry and chasing him too far, only to be countered, became the norm in all my battles with him. That's why if you met this type of person, you needed to wait patiently and destroy all the pawns first before catching the big fish. Well, obviously, this guy beside me is not a person like this."
Nathan didn't forget to add the last sentence while pointing his finger at Kai. "He took the risk and tried to turn the overall situation into his favor by his brain. Meanwhile, I was the one who chose to battle with tactics according to how my opponents moved unless they got on my nerves.
"You might have seen Paolo. He was the guy who thought nothing and charged at the enemy. After the enemy made their move, he would adjust his strategy by instinct alone. Luckily, the girl, Erica, managed to tame that wild beast.
"The other type is Ethan. If he were ordered to hold a base or an area, he would move to a favorable place and turn it into a fortress. Unless you cracked your head open and made something unusual, you were unlikely to pierce his defense. Of course, you could overwhelm him too, but you would realize that you lost twice as much. There are many types of generals, but these four are the most popular ones."
"I am the second one, by the way." Kai also added, telling the others he was the same type of Nathan. "Of course, I am calmer."
"You brat, are you sulking because I gave you advice earlier?" Nathan rolled his eyes.
The people in the room laughed before Nathan turned serious. "With the earlier progress, if Kai were the fourth type like Ethan, you would have lost without injuring him. Anyway, try to make your own path and know your strength, so you don't lose your way in your own personal tactics. This doesn't only apply to a general who is leading thousands of soldiers, but it can be for a small group of five."
"Yes, thank you." Michelle and the others thanked him, sticking this in their mind, so even without Kai, they could do much more.
"Explain your last strategy," Nathan asked Kai to continue.
Kai nodded. "It was just a full brawl. My strategy remained the same. Kill Evan first. Unfortunately, because Ayaka and Michelle would always go between him and me, I needed to do something that would catch them off guard."
"That was where that Sound Blast trick was coming, huh." Nathan nodded. "By making them think you were planning to escape, you forced them to stop you. It was at that time they were the most vulnerable. Due to the position, you couldn't strike both of them."
"One more thing," Kai added. "Since they had a chance to stop my attack if I was going straight, I chose to stay as low as possible, so they needed to swing their weapon first to stop my attack. This would give me a split second to cut their legs. Without mobility, they would be an easier target that bound to make a mistake because they would panic for a second."
"I see. I panicked that I couldn't fight anymore, so I threw my spear, so Michelle's Shadow Sword didn't lose to your Vibration Sword. But it turned out to be the one you were waiting for."
"Yeah. Using that, I tried to kill Evan, albeit the positioning was a bit off, and I didn't have my balance after that move. Luckily, I still struck him. During the last stretch, I tried to stay calm even though I knew I would be pretty much done for.
"That's why I killed Evan using my sword since Ayaka chose to bring me down with her. Last but not least, when I almost died, Michelle lowered her guard down. She didn't notice she missed my heart. In fact, she must haven't realized I shifted my lower body a bit to readjust my heart position just to stay alive longer." Kai nodded.
When Michelle heard that, she drew a gasp while looking at him with a weird look. She wanted to say something, but words stuck in her throat, knowing it was her fault.
At the same time, Tasha and Sofia nodded at each other, realizing the loss they suffered this time was well-deserved. Evan and Ayaka thought they could do something more for the team if they didn't die there.
Kai utilized Evan's lack of experience and Ayaka's panicked state well. They truly wanted to go back and reflect on this match. Not only would it be useful for their fight in a group battle a few months from now, but they could use this knowledge on the battlefield.
"Alright. Since we are done here, let's have dinner first. I want to talk about the operator too."
They exchanged looks and nodded.