"What!?"

"That's right, Clan Head. The King Rank is nowhere to be seen." Peter repeated himself.

"Are you sure he isn't in the Kenzal Clan?" Senzal tried hard to stop his voice from cracking.

Peter nodded his head and said, "Even Kenzal is expecting help from the King Rank but he isn't there. I am a hundred percent sure that he's gone."

"DAMN IT!" Hearing that, Senzal kicked the ground and cursed.

He then looked at the battlefield. Seeing how his people were being killed with each passing second, he thought, 'If this goes on, we would be wiped out by the sect.'

'No.' Senzal's eyes shone with determination. 'We cannot afford to lose after coming this far. The Senzal Clan has stood as the rulers of Redstone City for tens of thousands of years. It will not go down like this. The Clan will continue to stand tall and mighty.'

Senzal took out his cellphone and went through his contact list and soon saw a name on it. As he looked at the name, he continued to think, 'This predicament shall pass too and the clan will continue to stand tall.'

Senzal called that number right away and within a few moments, the call got connected.

"Hello?" A rough voice said from the other side. It seems that it belonged to some old man.

"Mr. Hess, I am Senzal from Redstone City. Long time no see." Senzal said in a calm tone. Though he was stressed, he did not show weakness to the other person on the line and acted calm.

"Senzal, is it? What makes you call me?" The man asked from the other side.

Senzal took a deep breath and said with determination in his eyes, "it's about time you return the favor."

"What favor?" The man asked calmly.

Senzal knitted his brows and said, "Continue acting ignorant and I'll make all your deeds public."

"Tsk. Says the guy whose sextape was exposed on the internet. Everybody saw your wife get pounded by your son, you, and your nephew. Do you think you have the right to threaten me with that?" The old man's mood seems to be getting worse.

Hearing his late wife, son, and nephew's name, Senzal became melancholic. But his eyes once again shone with determination and he said, "Whether I have the right to speak or not, you'll know it within the next hour if you don't return the favor."

"What are you going to do?"

"As said, I'll make all your deeds public."

"..."

"..."

There was a moment of silence between the two parties. One was contemplating things and the other was waiting for a response.

A few seconds later, the voice on the other end replied. "Fine. I'll return the favor. But after this, you and I have got nothing to do with each other."

"Works fine for me." Senzal replied.

"What do you want me to do?" The guy asked.

"Remove Redstone City from the list of conflict zones and make all the people cease the war and go back to their territories. That's it."

"Oh? You want me to do that? You'll end up becoming a dog with only one leg remaining."

Senzal rubbed his temples and said, "being a one-legged dog is better than being a dead dog. Do as I have asked."

"Your choice, it's not like it matters to me. After this favor is returned, we've got nothing to do with each other and you'll send all the evidence to me."

"Okay." Senzal said and cut the call.

After putting his phone in his ring, he looked at the battlefield and once again said with determination in his eyes, "just wait for a bit, it'll be over soon."

"Clan Head?" Peter, who was beside Senzal, called him out.

Senzal looked at him and said, "ask them to hold on, Peter. The war will be over soon."

"Are we going to end things like this?" Peter asked.

Senzal nodded. "Yes. Nobody winning is better than somebody winning. All three will suffer and I, for one, know that the Sect would need a lot of time to recover from this. We can attack them in the future when we are sure of victory."

"If you say so, Clan Head." Peter nodded and left.

After Peter was gone, Senzal called Kenzal and notified him about the betrayal of the King Rank.

"WHAT!?" Kenzal's panicked voice was heard from the other side.

"Calm down. Though he may have been gone, we will still not lose the war." Senzal said calmly.

"What the fuck do you mean, you bastard!? The King Rank betrayed us, how the fuck are we going to win!?" Kenzal couldn't help but curse.

Senzal had always annoyed him. Yet, this bastard expected him to remain calm after delivering such devastating news.

Kenzal was holding onto the hope that King Rank would come to the battlefield and he'll help the Kenzal Clan, but he had never shown up.

He was about to become depressed when Senzal gave him another ray of hope. But this hope didn't seem to brighten Kenzal and he could only curse and ask what Senzal meant.

Senzal could tell that Kenzal was panicking. He cleared his throat and said, "I never said we'll win the war. I just said we won't lose it. Hold on for a while, the war will be over soon."

"Tsk. Whatever." Kenzal said and cut the call.

After finishing notifying Kenzal, Senzal went to the battlefield and helped out his own people and defended his territory with all his might.

.

.

.

.

.

An hour passed.

Lith was enjoying the slaughter of the weaklings before him. He had no idea how many people had ended up dead under his blade.

Killing Rank 9s and 8s was too easy for him so he went to attack the Half Saints and Saints.

He realized that defeating a Saint Rank wasn't possible for him at the moment, but yes, killing a Half Saint was. After reaping the soul of one Half Saint Rank, he went to hunt the other ones.

Lith was in the midst of fighting a second Half Saint Rank when suddenly

DONG! DONG! DONG!

A loud noise of a gong was heard by everyone on the battlefield.

Lith and his opponent both jumped back and stopped fighting. Then they both looked towards the source of the noise.

In the air, there were around ten people standing in a circle. They wore the same type of black uniform and appeared like soldiers.

"Attention everyone!" A person among the ten shouted.

"We are the officials in charge of national security, aka the ones protecting and ensuring the peace and harmony of Uklov."

Another person beside him continued, "We have got a notice from the CNC stating that all fights are to be ceased. Redstone City will not be a conflict zone anymore and will be restored back to its neutral state."

"I repeat, all fighting must cease. Go back to your own territories now."

"What!?"

"The status of the conflict zone is revoked!?"

"Hey! What the hell!"

"We all fought so much for what?"

There were mixed reactions among the crowd on the ground. Some were delighted to know that they wouldn't have to give up their lives to protect the clan. Many were disappointed that the sacrifices of their comrades, the battle they fought, was all in vain.

The happiest of them all was Senzal. His plan had worked and his clan was saved.

The one in the worst mood was Wan. The Sect had paid a heavy price to fight this war. The King Rank as well as the other people they had brought in had not helped for free.

The war stopping without a conclusive victor was definitely not the result he wanted to see.

He flew in the air towards the officials and standing in front of them, he asked, "Can I know why the city is back to normal?"

The official in front asked, "you must be Mr. Wan from the Shadow River Sect, right?"

Wan nodded. "That's right."

"It has come to the CNC's notice that rules weren't being followed properly. Your sect, although didn't break any rule, the army of yours took a route which wasn't in the conflict zone and it is considered an offense. But as it is not a major rule break, you'll only need to pay some penalties and things should be good." The official said.

"What" Wan was dumbfounded as he heard that. "How is that an offense? We just walked normally through the non conflict zones without harming anybody."

The official shook his head and said, "we don't make the rules, Mr. Wan. If you've got a problem, you can send an application to the CNC and wait for it to get processed and get your answer."

"For now, it would be best if you cease fighting and go back. Please don't make things difficult or we may have to end up using force." The official said politely.

Wan's expression became grim as he heard that. 'What in the world caused this? Wasn't the criteria for a conflict zone to become normal about the parties involved solving out their matters? In our case, it meant either the two clans or the sect winning in this war.'

'But nobody has won or lost. So why has the status been removed? I don't understand.'

Wan was starting to feel worried. But he didn't ask this to the security officials as he knew it would be futile.

He went down to the ground with a dour face. As he reached his people, he tried to hide his feelings and ordered them like a good leader,

"Everybody stop. It's time to retreat."