Chapter 321 |
Inside the arcane prison, a tall young blonde woman was continuously trying to break the surrounding arcane barriers with a longsword that emitted mysterious power, causing ripples of energy on the barrier.
Although the arcane prison remained stable, it was evident that the blonde woman’s face showed no signs of excessive tension.
At that moment, a handsome young human man quietly stepped into the area where the prison was located.
It was Josh, who had just returned.
The woman trying to break the prison immediately became alert, because although the man looked like a human like herself, the respectful attitude of the surrounding robots toward this young man indicated that his identity was not ordinary.
“Should I call you Adora, or She-Ra?” Josh asked with a smile through the arcane prison.
“Who are you? I’m She-Ra, not Adora!” The blonde woman was surprised she could hear Josh’s voice. She knew that earlier, when she tried, not even sight or sound could pass through this strange prison.
What she didn’t know was that normally the arcane prison blocks everything, including sound, but this can be adjusted by the caster.
Right now, as the caster, the blood elf archmage had lifted the sound restriction, so the woman inside the prison, She-Ra, was able to hear Josh’s voice.
“So you are the leader of this organization? Why did you capture us?” Hearing Josh reveal his identity, She-Ra was first startled, then angrily reproached him.
“Heh...So the so-called guardian of Etheria, the extraordinary She-Ra, is at this level? Breaking into someone else’s home, then when caught, you turn around and question why the intruder captured you?” Josh was taken aback by She-Ra’s question at first, then found it somewhat amusing.
Hearing Josh’s words, She-Ra was momentarily speechless, her face flushing red.
In previous infiltration operations against Hordak, she had instinctively positioned herself as the righteous party, and had completely forgotten that this intrusion was indeed their unauthorized first step.
“Previously, my subordinates were not negligent in hosting you, right? Yet you killed many of my men. Even if some were mechanical soldiers, that’s hardly proper hospitality, right? Your so-called Anti-Hordak Alliance is how you promote justice?” Josh sneered at She-Ra.
“Hmph, isn’t it because you want to collude and ally with the evil Hordak, to consort with the evil Horde, and deserve to be exterminated by everyone!” She-Ra, embarrassed and angry at Josh’s mockery, retorted.
“That’s even stranger. We are originally a neutral organization. The Horde attacked us first, so we fought back. Now, under their call for ceasefire, why would we continue to fight them to the death? Just because of your so-called evil?” She-Ra’s naïveté made Josh speechless. She recalled that in childhood cartoons, this girl seemed quite rational, but meeting her now, she was such a naive person?
“...Forget it, I can’t argue with you! Since I’ve fallen into your hands, I’ll obey your commands!” Fortunately, She-Ra wasn’t truly foolish and knew she was in the wrong. She decisively stopped arguing with Josh. “But you cooperating with the evil Horde will sooner or later bring regret!”
“Who said I’m cooperating with the Horde? Her?” Josh waved his hand, and a small creature with butterfly wings, looking like a tiny fairy, appeared in his palm.
“Lublinna? Let her go!” Seeing the small creature in Josh’s hand, looking somewhat listless, She-Ra anxiously said.
“Don’t worry, she’s fine, just a bit dizzy from banging against the arcane prison for so long. But honestly, a little liar like her who falsely reports military intelligence would be sentenced to death under me!” Josh shook the little creature.
The already dizzy little creature became even more confused from the shaking.
“I said, put her down now!” Seeing Josh’s harsh treatment, She-Ra became furious, her divine sword suddenly radiated brilliant light, and she violently struck the arcane prison. The heavy blow caused the prison to shake violently, flicker, and show signs of instability.
Seeing this, She-Ra immediately tried to press the advantage and completely destroy the prison.
However, at that moment, Josh lightly placed his left hand on the prison, which instantly stabilized again.
When She-Ra’s second strike hit the prison, instead of shaking it, a powerful rebound force threw She-Ra flying back, smashing heavily against the wall on the other side of the prison.
“She-Ra, no!” The previously dizzy little creature suddenly shouted in alarm.
“See, Adora, you still seem a little unclear about who’s in charge here now!” Josh looked down at She-Ra, who had fallen to the ground inside the prison.
“I told you, I am She-Ra, not Adora. She is our leader and she will lead the army to defeat you and the evil Hordak!” She-Ra stubbornly stood up and stared at Josh.
Although calm on the surface, her heart was already in turmoil.
How did this man know about Adora?
Even longtime enemies like Hordak and many Anti-Hordak Alliance leaders barely knew this.
“Oh, what ambition, but a bit of wishful thinking. If your brother saw you now, he’d probably be very disappointed!” Josh paid no mind to She-Ra’s threat.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Hearing Josh mention her brother, She-Ra was shocked but still stubbornly denied it.
“The great cosmic giant He-Man, Prince Adam of the Eternia Kingdom, former guardian of Etheria. It’s a pity. He even asked me to take good care of his sister, but now it seems some people don’t want to accept this kindness!” Josh teased the defiant She-Ra.
“What?”
“What?”
Hearing Josh’s words, both She-Ra and Lublinna shouted in surprise.
She-Ra was amazed that Josh knew He-Man’s true identity and that he had entrusted Josh to take care of her.
Lublinna, as She-Ra’s friend, knew She-Ra was actually Princess Adora of Eternia, but she really didn’t know that He-Man was Adora’s brother Adam.
Though in the animation, He-Man and She-Ra’s ways of hiding identities seemed clumsy.
In reality, they were quite secretive.
“Impossible, you’re lying to me!” She-Ra quickly rejected Josh’s words. “And if you really promised He-Man, then why negotiate with Hordak?”
“I’m doing this to help you!” Josh’s playful expression suddenly turned serious, and with a wave of his hand, the arcane prison confining She-Ra instantly dissolved, even loosening his grip on the small Lublinna.
The freed little creature immediately cheered and flew to She-Ra’s side, hiding in her beautiful golden hair, then sneakily peeked at Josh.
Not bad, this little one is quite fun, would make a good pet.
“To help us?” Josh’s words left She-Ra instantly confused, also amazed that he so easily freed her.
Could everything he said be true?
“I know you have many doubts, but I’ll ask you this: what do you think your chances are of winning a direct battle against Hordak’s army?” Josh smiled slightly and asked a very realistic question.
“…Alright, I admit, our chances are less than thirty percent... unless my brother returns. Have you really seen my brother? He’s not dead? Then why hasn’t he come back?” At first, She-Ra answered honestly, but her longing for her brother soon shifted the topic to He-Man.
“Don’t worry, He-Man is fine. The reason he hasn’t come back is, first, when we met, he hadn’t found the way home. Our arrival here was a complete accident, and at first I didn’t even know this place was Etheria! Second, when we met, he was dealing with something very important, possibly concerning the fate of the entire universe. But he didn’t tell me the details!” Josh said with a look of deep feeling.
“I see. Whatever delayed his return must be very troublesome!” After Josh’s explanation, She-Ra immediately started imagining, then after a long pause, took a deep breath and continued asking Josh, “Alright, about my brother, I’ll temporarily believe you. But you say the negotiations with Hordak are to help us? How do you explain that?”
“You just said your Etheria allied forces have less than a thirty percent chance facing Hordak’s army head-on. What about the reinforcements from the Great Horde Empire?” Josh nodded, then asked another harsh reality question that made She-Ra have difficulty breathing.
“Less than ten percent... but if you can help us, we definitely have a chance to defeat the evil Great Horde Empire!” She-Ra was a bit discouraged at first, but then she thought of Josh’s Ouroboros Legion, which had repelled the Hordak fleet in a short time with great strength, and she said involuntarily.
“That’s right, She-Ra. I helping you can indeed turn your situation around to some extent, but at what cost? Tell me, what price does our Ouroboros Legion have to pay to completely eliminate Hordak’s legion, and later the Great Horde Empire’s forces?” Josh pretended to be excited and loudly questioned.
Under Josh’s questioning, She-Ra was silent.
In the early days when Ouroboros fought Hordak’s legion, although they won some local victories, in the end Hordak’s legion only mobilized one region’s garrison forces. After all, the Horde Empire occupied most of Etheria’s land and needed legions to garrison, not to mention that much of the troops were assigned to watch The Great Rebellion.
In such a situation, Hordak’s legion still fought Ouroboros' legion fiercely, only slightly at a disadvantage, causing heavy losses to Ouroboros.
If Hordak concentrated all his troops, what would the battle look like?
“Then what do you say we should do?” She-Ra sighed.
“Very simple, you surrender!” Josh smiled and gave an answer that She-Ra found unbelievable.
“No, that’s impossible!” She-Ra said angrily.
“Don’t be anxious, little girl, listen to me!” Josh raised his hand to stop her. “Think about it. If your rebels let civilians with no combat power wear elite troops’ equipment and surrender, while the elite troops disguise as ordinary refugees and hide, then hold a surrender ceremony — do you think Hordak will fall for it?”
“You mean?” Hearing Josh’s suggestion, She-Ra’s eyes lit up.
“Plus, as Hordak’s ally, we participate in the surrender ceremony together. With both sides working together, do you think Hordak and his men can resist us? Also, whether by design or accident, we can reduce losses to the minimum. What do you think of my idea?” Josh smiled and laid out his entire plan.
“This... this... this idea is really great. No wonder you want to negotiate with Hordak. If we can really achieve this, we can completely wipe out the entire Hordak legion!” After understanding Josh’s full plan, She-Ra was extremely excited!
“Heh, that’s right, but in this process, you will definitely suffer some grievances!” Josh continued.
“It doesn’t matter. As long as we can destroy the evil Horde people, a little grievance is nothing! I’m already eager to tell the others about this plan!” She-Ra said excitedly. “By the way, what about my comrades?”
“Don’t worry, they are all fine. I’ll take you to find them now!” Josh said.
“Thank you, Mr. Kane!” She-Ra said gratefully.
“Heh, it’s nothing. You’re He-Man’s sister, so that makes you my sister too. Helping you is only right!” Josh said.
“By the way, Mr. Kane, my friends don’t know the true identities of me and my brother yet. Please keep it a secret!” As she said this, She-Ra reverted her transformation and became a plainly dressed young woman — that is, She-Ra’s true form, Adora, speaking to Josh.
“Of course, I understand!” Josh smiled and nodded, then turned around to lead Adora.
But the moment he turned, a strange smile appeared on his face.
Help the allied army trap Hordak? What a joke!
Since Josh had set up this scheme and knew both sides’ detailed plans, why not take this chance to swallow both sides at once?
This move is called the house always wins!