Argen sat on the snow holding his pistol. He had lost his left arm due to the AMR fire by Martin. He had shot Valkin, but Martin fired back at him and hit Argen's shoulder and abdomen. Both had lost something precious, and both had counterattacked. The Arkanian helicopter left, and Argen's troops failed to stop them. Argen had survived. His vision began to blur, and his surroundings began to darken. The voices and the sight slowly began to fade. He felt a hand on his right shoulder, and then he collapsed.
Argen woke up inside a hospital in the Zaphlisian capital, Sirtinsk. His assistant Rokhnir was sitting on a chair beside him. Rokhnir saw and rang the bell, and soon a nurse arrived. She injected a painkiller and left.
"Woke up, finally?" Rokhnir said.
"Yes…What happened?" Argen asked back.
"You forgot?" Rokhnir was stunned.
"No…I remember getting shot and losing my arm. What happened next?" Argen replied and asked.
"After you shot their injured comrade, the leader, Martin Arkila, fired back and hit your right shoulder and abdomen. They were able to escape, and after 4 days, you woke up." Rokhnir informed.
"They escaped? And 4 days?" Argen was shocked.
"Don't worry, they lost a friend; their morale is broken. As for you…The doctor declared that you will not die, so the morale of our forces is in place. Moreover, our soldiers aren't fragile." Rokhnir said. "Are you feeling dizzy?"
"Okay," Argen exhaled. "No, no…I am not dizzy. I had enough sleep."
"Fine then, eat up and get ready. We have to attend a war council." Rokhnir said and walked towards the door. "By the way, you lost the bet." Rokhnir smiled and left.
"You…" Argen smirked, and then the nurse brought him food.
Rokhnir was one of those people with whom Argen would be open and frank. The others were his grandfather, parents, and wife.
Argen ate the food, rested for some hours, changed his clothes and alongside Rokhnir, went to the military headquarters of the Zaphlisian army. They walked through the huge halls and went into the council room.
All generals and the ministers of the Hectagon Alliance were there. Argen walked and sat on his chair near the General of the Army.
"Lost an arm to a 17-year-old? Heh," A Zerathian general spoke as Argen sat.
"He isn't just a 17-year-old. He is swifter and sharper than most of our generals. He is a captain at this age." Rokhnir spoke before Argen could respond.
Rokhnir was about to speak more, but Argen signalled him not to.
"Well, I am alive. Unlike your predecessor. And I actually learned something from this encounter." Argen answered while looking in the Zerathian general's eyes.
"What?" He asked.
"That he is better than all the people in this council and more capable, except for me. And you know why?" Argen tilted his head slightly and smiled.
The general clenched his fists and sat back. All of them knew the harsh truth.
"We have to do something fast. Our resources will run out fast at the current pace." The finance minister of the alliance spoke.
"Why ours? What about them?" Dormisian general asked.
"They may have small land compared to ours, but their population is also small. They barely have 10 million." The finance minister answered. "So, they have more than enough resources. And have no problem of people starving to death."
"We will call their supreme commander for a ceasefire deal. If they accept, we will reinforce and again attack; if not, we will kill the supreme commander."Argen presented a plan.
"Ceasefire deal? It's a humiliation for us to ask weaklings for a ceasefire." The Zaphlisian general was furious.
"I love your audacity to say this," Rokhnir said.
"Isn't that a humiliation that you failed to defeat those 'weaklings' for the past three years?" Argen asked with a smirk.
The Zaphlisian general began to look here and there.
"Why don't we just airstrike them? Our stealth bombers can easily finish them." The Tartusian general gave an idea.
"No…I have said this before that our air force will be focused on Targalia." The General of the Army finally spoke. "We will go with Argen's plan."
"The Arkanian are too sensitive about Michaela. Won't they react harshly if he is killed?" The Margusian general spoke.
Besides Argen, the Margusian and Tartusian generals were the sharp and good ones.
"Yes… They will have two options. They will either surrender or launch a full offensive. But they are not fools. They would never launch a full offensive. So they will surrender," Argen replied. "And then I will get what the empire wants. None of them has the power to question us," Argen thought to himself.
"Fine, we will send the invitation to them. If they decline, the special forces of the Phoenix Empire will infiltrate and kill Michaela and other generals as a bonus." The Army's general spoke, and the order was issued.
Argen was close to achieving his orders and taking revenge on Martin. He would kill two birds with one stone.