It is common sense to accept that she is powerless. But she doesn't like being powerless and being forced to do something.

She likes to be in control all the time. And frankly, the more she learned about how hopeless her situation is, the more unwilling she became.

Sword Flash, on the other hand, didn't feel as resistant as she was. It was because he recognized that this was an opportunity for him to grow stronger.

He simply can't be as resistant as she is to being forced to protect Arthur since he has already enjoyed the benefits of his position as carerake.

It was because of the gate that he was able to make contact with the League of World Eaters, join them, advance to the sixth mortal coil, upgrade his beloved weapon, and take the leadership assessment.

He has gained too much to mind being made to protect Arthur. And since he doesn't even need to do much, he doesn't mind his situation at all.

For example, their curse didn't flare up to make them stop Arthur from participating in this war. After meeting the so-called handler that Arthur is supposed to meet after Arthur advances to the sixth mortal coil, he understands why Arthur was allowed to go to Aries.

Apparently, Arthur isn't the only one who is being trained in a special program. There are many other people in this special program, but only one of them will survive.

Sword Flash wasn't told what the special program is, but he was told that the participants of the program will eventually have to fight and kill each other. So Arthur can't be weak.

In order to ensure that Arthur won't be weak, his caretakers can't protect him from every danger. They have to expose him to some danger that he should be able to handle either through luck or personal strength.

This is why Arthur was allowed to go on a mission where he might not survive. There is also the fact that they aren't supposed to treat Arthur too specially in order to keep his special situation a secret.

As Sword Flash thought of this, he said to Lady Evergreen, "You're right to think that we should be able to control our destiny. But we must have enough strength before we can insist on this. After seeing the fate of the Red and Blue Fire sect, I'm just glad that I can live and continue to grow stronger."

Lady Evergreen nodded and said, "Yes. That is good. As long as I can continue to grow stronger, all hope is not lost. That is why I've made up my mind to leave the sect if this leadership assessment fails or if the beautiful future that you've been painting for us doesn't come to pass."

"I will attack the old patriarch of the Beast Training sect and use his nascent soul to create my replacement. I don't want to wait until I'm too old or become lucky enough to advance to the fifth mortal before I go upstream to seek greener pastures."

Sword Flash didn't like that she didn't trust his plans, but he didn't begrudge her plans to grow stronger because it would be unreasonable to block the path of advancement of another person.

So he limited his dissatisfaction to snorting. But he did say, "Forget about the nascent soul. I can give you a nascent soul pill to create a replacement if the leadership assessment fails."

"But your plan will hit a setback if the leadership assessment fails. This is because all of the oldest and strongest golden core juniors in the sect have gone to Aries. If they die, you will need to wait for many more hundreds of years before another golden core junior can reach the peak of the fourth mortal coil and help them advance to the fifth mortal coil."

She nodded but said stubbornly, "It is at least better than waiting here to die."

Thunder Drake shrugged and said, "Now that the secret realm has been upgraded to rank 5, I'm not in a hurry to go anywhere. My cultivation speed has increased, so I will be able to reach the peak of the fifth mortal coil centuries early. What's there to complain about?"

Their conversation ended there. The three of them became silent, but this wasn't because they didn't have anything to say. It was more because they had too much to think about.

Meanwhile, in the mothership, everyone was making final preparations for landing in Aries.

They don't expect to enter Aries and land peacefully. They expect to fight as soon as they enter Aries.

Even if they are not attacked as soon as they enter Aries, they expect to be attacked when they land and try to settle down. So they are making preparations to prevent being wiped out this early into the campaign.

In the massive space of level 3 of the mothership, where the troops and the fortresses are stationed, the three avatars of the patriarchs were standing in the air, overseeing everything going on.

The three patriarchs were giving orders to the people below and arranging them into squads. It was mainly Sword Flash that was doing this arrangement because his title in this campaign is to be the supreme general commander.

In the organizational chart that he had given everyone before they set off, he was to be a six-star officer of the army. This is the highest level in the army.

The other patriarchs are five-star officers with the title of general commanders. They also have specialized duties that separate them.

Lady Evergreen is in charge of scouting and information gathering, while the Thunder Drake is in charge of field operations. This means that only Thunder Drake is expected to participate in any fighting.

The three patriarchs don't expect to fight, and even if they fight, their power output must be limited to the C rank of power output. Specifically, their power output must be limited to 99 C.