Winner Takes All

He did not hide his aggression. Although Achilles had been demoted from his position as the Chief Guard, he still had the confidence and aggressiveness of the past. At this point, his presence filled the entire military service department. Even Commander Shawn was overwhelmed and was stunned for a moment when he was pushed aside by Achilles.

Jack and the rest simply followed Achilles into the department. Debut and the other three were ecstatic and were secretly celebrating when they walked into the department in full view of the others. They were under the leadership of Achilles and were happy that Achilles was the victor in this encounter. The other sergeants started to whisper among them.

"Tsk tsk... Once a Chief Guard, always a Chief Guard. Even if the Commander had demoted him, not anybody could offend him."

"Terminal Arena... haha, Commander Shawn will never have the guts to take Achilles on at the Terminal Arena. He would be ground into mincemeat by Achilles."

"Sigh... look at that Commander Shawn. Those were past grudges. Now he still brought it up to Achilles. Now he had shot himself in the foot and had lost face. If they were to fight at the Terminal Arena, even three of him would not be able to take on Achilles."

The combination of whispers became loud because of the number of people present. Each of their comments trickled into Commander Shawn's ears. Instantly his expression turned for the worst as each sarcastic comment was like a blade slicing into his body. He felt the intense fire raging within him...

Indeed, he wanted to make things difficult for Achilles. Why couldn't he take a shot at the sergeant who was once a Chief Guard?Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

But Achilles' mention of "Terminal Arena" had put the fear into Commander Shawn's eyes and he did not want such a conflict. Now, it was clear that he now had lost face.

All sorts of mixed emotions raged within Commander Shawn. When he saw the five of them entering the military service department, Commander Shawn said through his gritted teeth, "Stop right there! Achilles!"

The intense roar silenced the entire room. Everyone stared in disbelief at Commander Shawn. Did Commander Shawn really want to challenge Achilles at the Terminal Arena?

Achilles stopped and slowly turned towards Commander Shawn and walked past Jack and the rest. He looked directly at Commander Shawn and asked, "Has Commander Shawn changed your mind and would like to challenge me at the Terminal Arena?"

There appeared to be a hint of panic in Commander Shawn's eyes.

After a pause, he sternly said, "Bullshit! So many people are here to make their reports. You're only a sergeant, how could you bring four rookies straight into the military service department?"

On hearing, the onlookers became perplexed. Some of the sergeants began to look at Commander Shawn with scorn and disdain. They might not feel that way if Commander Shawn had accepted the challenge to the Terminal Arena. Which one of them had not gone through the baptism of fire? Now, not only Commander Shawn did not dare to accept Achilles' challenge to the Terminal Arena, but he also continued to harp on something trivial to create trouble for Achilles. This was getting ... ridiculous! How could a Commander speak in this manner in front of his subordinates?

"Commander Shawn, are you so despicable?" Achilles said and continued to ask, "You dared not accept my challenge to the Terminal Arena and now you want to lecture me on queuing up as a Commander?" "These are the rules!" At this point, Commander Shawn had lost the moral high ground and could not care less about what the others thought and continued, "Everyone is queuing up, what makes you so special that you can cut the queue? No matter what achievements you had, you can't utilize your influence as the former Chief Guard to cut the queue. How can you lead you men like that?" He said it as if each statement was factual and reasonable. However, everyone felt uncomfortable when they heard his statements.

Every soldier was dedicated and full of pride. Whatever Commander Shawn was doing now had started to make a fool of himself.

"Looks like there is a huge grudge between both of you. He had lost all dignity and yet he still wants to create problems for you." Jack sniggered.

Achilles could not help but look at Jack. Thereafter he spoke sternly towards Commander Shawn, "Commander Shawn, you are a Commander so how could you not know about the list of military awards and its associated rules and priorities?"

This shocked everyone present and all eyes were on Achilles. Even Commander Shawn was stunned by what Achilles said. His gaze drifted and Commander Shawn was momentarily in a daze. "Speak up!" Achilles thundered furiously.

Commander Shawn came to his senses, braced himself up, and replied, “Of course I know about the regulations concerning the military awards priority. No units were restricted from claiming any military awards and achievements high on the list will have the priority when reporting!" Commander Shawn became flustered when he said these.

Even those sergeants around them began to look at Achilles, Jack, and the rest with bewilderment. The military awards priority list was created by Commander Zenith. He ranked the achievements from low to mid and finally to the highest.

Once any unit's achievements crossed the mid-level, they could cut the queue and have priority to claim their awards. But any mid-level achievements would already startle the entire Dragon Cavalry! There had been peace for so many years with the presence of the three hundred thousand strong Dragon Cavalry and never was there any intense combat that could deserve a mid-level award. "Achilles, do you take me for a fool?" Commander Shawn laughed and said sarcastically, "Indeed, according to the military awards list, any combat achievements deserving of a mid-level award can have priority in the reporting! But any mid-level award would already have been known by the entire Dragon Cavalry and publicly verified. Only then can you have the priority to claim your award." "The five of you just stroll in expecting the department to judge your claims that you had anything higher than a mid-level award? Do you expect anyone to believe that you brought these rookies out for a patrol and then managed to engage in a combat engagement that deserves an award that is mid-level or higher on the list?"

"Bullshit!"

On saying this, the other sergeants began to nod in agreement with Commander Shawn's assessment. This was also what everyone was puzzled about.

The first patrol of any rookies was to familiarize them with the procedures and duties of the Dragon Cavalry. Everyone knew how safe that first patrol was! Even if there were any contingencies, it could not possibly reach a state of combat that deserved anything higher than a mid-level award. It was practically impossible to get such an award during the first rookie patrol!

Achilles became solemn and serious as Jack looked towards him.

Commander Shawn began to snigger with disdain when he noticed Achilles' change in expression.

Commander Shawn already knew that he had lost face in this encounter but so long as he could expose that Achilles' claim of a mid-level award was fraudulent, then he could turn the tables against Achilles. Once that happened, then his loss of face was worth it!

'Haha, how great of a combat could a patrol encounter? Now Achilles had dug his own...' Commander Shawn thought.

Just as Achilles was about to speak up, the clumping of horse hooves could be heard outside and then the rider announced loudly, "Commander Zenith personally declared, that Achilles and his team, are awarded the military award..."0000