Chapter 198 - Conspiracy Against a God (VII)

"I don't believe in loyalty and benevolence to control people. Only force can firmly control potential rebels." Queen Rhaenys II of House Targaryen.

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The two armies attacked each other again, this time in daylight, but neither Aenar nor Robert used their full armies in battle. Each wanted to weaken each other's strength at lower cost and save men for the chaos that would ensue after the battle.

These small clashes had been going on for a week and seemed to have no end. Every day, once a day, the infantry of House Baratheon left Harrenhal to face the army of House Targaryen on the battlefield.

Even though Aenar wasn't afraid of losing soldiers, he still wanted to preserve his forces for the confrontation with the Night King. Losing too many soldiers was completely unacceptable to him, especially considering that it had taken this army almost ten years to reach its current level.

(Note: Although he had previously founded the Red Faith).

"Damn seven days of war in a row." Visenya sat tiredly in her chair. Her armor had a few bloodstains on it, but there wasn't even a scratch, showing that the enemies hadn't even managed to hit her armor.

After undergoing the Blood Ritual, Visenya felt her strength increasing with each passing day. The first day was more noticeable, but as time passed, this feeling of growing strength became less, although she could still feel that her strength was still increasing.

In terms of height, Visenya was proud to say that she had managed to grow about ten centimeters in seven days!!!

Although her clothes and armor had to be changed because of her increased height, she didn't mind. As queen, clothes and food were the least she needed. Visenya could still remember the shocked expressions of the Sand Snakes after noticing her growth.

Visenya also discovered that Rhaenys had a similar growth rate, but she wasn't surprised to think that they both went through the Blood Ritual at the same time. However, another thing that made her happy was her powers.

She was currently able to throw a small stone very far. How far you're wondering, but she didn't know herself, because the small stone simply disappeared from her sight when she used her powers, so the queen didn't know how far she could send other things.

But Visenya was happy, although the progress of the skills was slow, it was still there and every improvement could bring a feeling of happiness to the queen of House Targaryen.

"Well, they're attacking with small forces to consume our strength." Rhaenys, who was in a similar situation to Visenya, commented as she wiped the clotted blood from her face with a wet cloth.

Both women took part in these small confrontations every day, leaving them exhausted at the end of the day when the clashes finally ended.

"Where's Aenar?" Rhaenys asked curiously, she wasn't sharing a room with Aenar, so she didn't know what her brother was doing at the moment.

"Improving the soldiers of the Red Legion." Visenya replied with a hint of curiosity in her voice. She herself was surprised to learn that ordinary soldiers had undergone the Blood Ritual process.

"Will they possess powers equal to ours?" Rhaenys asked with an expression still incredulous at the sudden news.

Shaking her head, Visenya replied in a calm tone. "Not exactly, from what Aenar said, the soldiers went through an inferior Blood Ritual, using the blood of those killed in the war."

After hearing this, Rhaenys' expression relaxed. Yes, she was selfish and wanted only members of House Targaryen to have such powers. So knowing that the soldiers would undergo the Underblood Ritual using the blood of the dead, she was relieved.

Whether it was Rhaenys or Visenya, they both knew that the blood of Aenar was special, which is why it could make such a transformation in a person. The blood of ordinary people could hardly compare to the blood of their husband.

"I'm curious how strong these soldiers will be?" Rhaenys asked again with a curious tone, after all it was super soldiers she was talking about, a military force that no kingdom in the world could compare to.

Just imagining having an army of a hundred thousand of these super-powered men, Rhaenys knew that House Targaryen could conquer the world without any difficulty. Entire civilizations would be destroyed in the future just for completing her brother's ambitions.

However, Rhaenys found nothing wrong with that. After the hell she went through, it made her realize that the world only cares about the strength of the fist and nothing else. Loyalty is nothing in front of other people's anger, hatred, pride and resentment.

"From what Aenar said, about five to ten times the power of an ordinary man, but it depends a lot on how long the soldiers stayed in the blood." Visenya replied as he poured himself a glass of water and drank with an expression of relief.

"Our blood ritual didn't hurt at all because of Aenar, but the soldiers' won't have that luxury and the Blood Ritual will test their resolve in front of the pain." Visenya commented with a touch of sympathy for these men.

Although Visenya didn't know how strong the pain would be, she didn't want to ask or even care. Just from the amused expression on Aenar's face, she could imagine that it wouldn't simply be physical pain.

Inside a huge tent, Aenar looked at the five hundred Astartes in front of him with an expression full of relief. The first version of the weakened Blood Ritual seemed stable and no sign of madness appeared in the soldiers.

Which was great news, after all, the Chimeras used by Ancient Valyria didn't know how to think and followed only the most primitive instincts, they were more beast than human and had a great resentment towards anything that was alive.

Although such after-effects could be explained by the material used in Ancient Valyria's Blood Rituals.

Slaves.

Resentment of the living was a terrible thing and caused Chimeras to go mad. But there was one good thing about sacrificing living humans, the amount of lives needed to turn a person into a Chimera was quite economical.

In comparison, Aenar used the blood of more than ten thousand people to create five hundred Astartes. But if he had sacrificed fifteen thousand people alive, Aenar could create at least two thousand Astartes!

But Aenar obviously wouldn't do anything like that. Sacrificing fifteen thousand people was no simple matter, he wasn't the Ancient Valyria Civilization, which sacrificed a hundred thousand people every year to support the enormous magical machine that was the Valyria Civilization.

Honestly, if it hadn't been for the Dragons, Aenar believed that Ancient valyria wouldn't have been able to survive for fifty years before everyone got together and tried to destroy Valyria.

The amount of hatred that Ancient Valyria had accumulated over five millennia could simply not be described as enormous. Everyone hated Valyria to the core.

"Sigismund, beat everyone up and start disciplining them." Aenar ordered with a calm tone.

Aenar knew very well that power corrupts, he himself was an example of this. These soldiers could become arrogant after gaining too much power and start having thoughts that a soldier shouldn't have.

Not that he didn't trust his soldiers, but that's just human nature. Everyone could change with power and money, and so could these five hundred Astartes.

Of course, Aenar wasn't afraid that these Astartes would rebel, he could use the control he had over the Astartes to discipline and even kill the most rebellious, but he wanted to hide this trump card and take some deserters by surprise.

The same was true of the Primarchs, all of whom were under Aenar's control and surveillance. In front of Chaos Gods who could corrupt the human mind and change a person's character and values, Aenar was extremely cautious, especially with those at the core of his court.

"Yes, my king." Sigismund didn't know that he practically had a bomb inside him, ready to explode the moment he had any rebellious thoughts.

However, even if he had known, Sigismund would not have harbored any resentment or hatred towards Aenar. For it was natural to be wary in front of such powerful enemies, no betrayal could be accepted, including betrayal of himself.

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