'Wait. He is right. Bhasera is a powerful coward who would never put himself at risk. This applies even more so to Tanaka. The Yorks are subordinate to the Dwights but not completely like the Oxlades. Bhasera would no doubt have a trump card that would make Onismo weary against making a coup, even if Bhasera's children are absent. So what is that old man scheming.'

Seeing Sula fall into thought made Bastian sigh in relief. Phantasma let out a rare chuckle and decided to help the young lady along.

"Lord Bastian I have the latest battle report. Including our casualties."

Bastian clapped his cheeks to focus and said, "Lay it on me."

"My sisters have reported that Lord Kenshin has saved Kitrid's army and has taken care of two more waves by himself at the East wall. The Yorks suffered a lot of casualties due to creatures Lord Kesnhin...missed. Only about a 3rd of Kitrid's army remains but most of the high quality seeds are alive."

Bastian nodded and motioned for Phantasma to continue, "Guy has already destroyed the Oxlade compound and is almost don't with the Dwight compound. He is about to regroup with all his troops and attack the Yorks. So far no casualties."

Sula was happy when she heard that there were no casualties there but Bastian was unhappy

'This is too easy.'

"According to Sister Tino, the Yorks have suffered disastrous casualties at the North and West Walls after dealing 3 waves of creatures as well."

Sula was stunned by this news, "How is this possible? They have the best warriors and preparations. They even have anti siege weapons and Ballistae. How could this?"

Phantasma looked at Bastian and the latter nodded. His face still grim from the news of Guy's expedition...

"Lord Bastian had given my sisters another important mission besides gathering information."

"What kind of mission?" Asked Sula..

"Lord Bastian asked us to approach all the high ranking warriors that could be bribed and bribe them. Those that could be blackmailed had their loved ones poisoned with something only we can cure. All they had to do was allow more casualties the next day among their troops. Those that could neither be blackmailed or bribed were given a slow acting poison last night.

It is a psychedelic poison that makes one lose their sanity slowly over time. It takes about 12 hours to kick in after inhalation." Phantasma did not bother to hide the hint of admiration in her tone.

"You guys could have sneaked in and killed them in their sleep? Why go through such a roundabout way?"

Phantasma and Bastian looked at Sula like she was an idiot. Bastian coughed to ease up the awkwardness and said, "I think she is more suited to Orthodox warfare rather than scheming."

Phantasma snorted in agreement. The difference in treatment that she and Bastian received from Phantasma was irritating for the young woman. But she calmed herself down because she had no choice but to ask, "What did I miss?"

"Lady Sula, our main threat isn't the three families, it's the horse. You are too used to playing politics that you lost sight of what was in front of you. We still needed the Yorks to deal with the North and West walls. Especially during the first waves."

"Exactly, we also need these soldiers because we want to take over Yani City. Not destroy it. Warriors are hard to come by. Let the weak and loyal ones die first. Then we will scoop up the rest."

Phantasma and Bastian spoke with a cool calm that made it seem like they were discussing the weather. It scared Sula how composed the Duo was despite the fact that they were discussing the deaths of thousands of men.

'Now I know what I'm missing. So this is what my brother meant when he said a strategist must always be crueler than their enemy.'

Bastian approached Sula and put a hand on her shoulder. "Now then, we can now tell you why we proposed we take on an extra wall."

Before Bastian could speak, Phantasma interrupted and said, "Lord Bastian, the Cole compound is under attack by a punitive force made up of members of all three families." Bastian smiled to acknowledge that he understood.

Sula shook her head. This was a security alert.

'Even if they know beforehand that this would happen, they should at least show some panic.'

Sula was already battle hardened so she was no coward, however she couldn't help but feel that they were a bit too calm.

"Anyways, as I was saying, there is a reason we took an extra wall. Our intelligence reports showed that that the Eastern wall would mostly be manned by the Oxlades and Dwights. The Yorks took sole custody of the other two walls.

This would lead to both the Oxlades and Dwights reserving their troops within the city. Seeing the Yorks dwindle in number is exactly what they want hence it is unlikely that they would aid the Yorks in manning the other walls. Especially considering that they didn't need help anyway.

But Onismo is still the head of Security and Safety. He is the shield of the city. Hence I knew that if Kenshin allowed some creatures to pass the defensive net. Creatures like say...I don't know, Thunderbirds? Then the Yorks would have no choice but to back up the East Wall because all battles within the city are their jurisdiction. The Dwights and Oxlades wouldn't move an inch as long as York Soldiers exist to fight so long as inside the walls.

This results in them being stretched thin and every weakened."

Sula smiled and said, "So that means they didn't just lose soldiers at the wall. They must have been forces to shift Lord Onismo's own troops. All Kenshin had to do was let in the creatures progressively over time and the casualties would be-"

"56%. According to my sisters, Onismo's personal troops have already lost at least 56% of their troops."

This value caused Sula to whistle.

"Kitrid and co were too unexposed to battle. Soldiers are trained for decades to be used in one day. In this world of cultivators quality beats quantity. According to my sisters, Kitrid, Meera, Tor and other promising seedlings had breakthroughs, despite almost dying.

Before Kitrid and his crew were no different from rag-tag militia. It is only after being bathed in blood can they be molded into a proper army. If they were a lump of iron before, now they are a blade that just lacks a sharp edge."

Sula agreed with this words but it pained her to think of the losses. "How many soldiers did we lose?"

"At least 60 percent are either dead or disabled. From the 40 percent remaining, a quarter have become mentally unstable and suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress disorder. Only 30 percent can be molded into an army worthy of a future B rank City."

Sula's heart tightened at these words. It wasn't the fact that they lost so many soldiers that bothered her. It had more to so with the last words she said.

'Worthy of a future B rank?'

"You think we can become a B rank?"