The Cloud Brawler 8 - (Pre-Honkai Star Rail, MartialArtist!SI)

The liberation of Thalassa was not the kind of job I enjoyed.

Sure, no one liked to work, but the issue stemmed beyond the general notion of 'work is hard'. It is more of a multi-faceted trouble that came with the mixed view the locals had over the Xianzhou. While most of the leaders were keen to be cooperative at best, the worst cases saw a few tribes trying to raid out outposts. And that was not pleasant at all considering how tied our hands were in terms of diplomatic ties with the decentralized leadership.

It even got to the point where I almost snapped at the fish-guy that dared to say that perhaps I was the one that needed to be more honest in handling these tedious chores. My age was questioned, my skills were doubted, my... well, my sanity was felt 'troubled'.

I still remember the promise I had to give Teng Xiao before departing for the campaign: I can't go in and just blast my way through the Abundance's monsters. Not only would that be destructive towards Thalassa itself, but also damaging of the reputation the Xianzhou had. Also, my infamy would grow if I proved myself to be a mindless brute.

This last bit was what truly felt most important. Not much because I valued the other two things less, but rather I knew that it was the most relevant when it came to someone with my power. I hadn't sparred with my teacher in a while, but he had to admit he would have to struggle to consider winning against me.

It was a most doubtful matter, but such thought became more difficult to hold close as two years came by and the campaign had done limited progress. The Abudance had lost its momentum, but any push was weakened by the advantage Yaoshi's slaves had in endurance and resilience.

The medical bays were constantly filled with more wounded, the morgues were seen burning corpses of many valiant Cloud Knights. And I was meant to stay put and not intervene as this saw hardly a change. The sacrifice was growing too... unfair.

Too wrong.

And, as much as I wanted to believe myself a figure of patience, I think one last event caused me to briefly break that vow I made with my teacher. One of the officers came running and brought with him data over a sudden encirclement over the southern flank - a flank that should have been deemed safe due to the presence of loyal tribes swearing it would be sheltered.

Maybe that line had been broken, but the report suggested no warning before the surprise attack. The entire section was about to encircled, that was tens of thousands of knights that would be completely caught in a deadly maw.

I felt my irritation grow as I tried to reach out for the tribes. Some were 'busy', others downright refused to answer, and I knew that the situation could not be tolerated any further. After I dismissed the officer, I teleported into the pocket, and I was caught off-guard that the energy pattern my mind picked as the 'closest' one was currently in a bad spot.

I could recognize the two women, both appearing slightly surprised as I appeared before them. The world was dying as the legion of Yaoshi was relentless and wild in its ruthless murdering, and Zhengxi was crying, her eyes unfocused but recognizing me while she pressed her palm against her sister's hip. A large gash was forcing a lot of blood out of Bao. There were similar cuts all over, and she appeared to have a broken arm too.

I walked up to them, crouching down to Bao as the young woman appeared waning the more time passed.

"I-I am sorry, L-Lieutenant-General," The short-haired knight offered an apologetic smile. "I-I can't- I can't protect my sister. Wh-What kind of oath-kee-keeper am I?"

"...A dutiful one, Bao. And one that shall live," I mumbled, reaching for her worst injury, my hand pressing beside Zhengxi's as I carefully manipulated my life force to supplant hers. It was a tedious job with the chaos surrounding us, and I felt satisfied as I felt her body was receiving the energy well enough. Her wounds started to close up, but I still regaled the shocked Zhengxi with a serious look. "Take her to the nearest medical camp. She will need rest, but she will live."

The younger sibling appeared stunned by what had just occurred and my words, but she took hold of herself once more, nodding as she picked her sister up and rushed away from the...

Monsters.

I stood up, I felt my blood boil as I turned to enemies I have faced so many times, trying to kill as many Knights as they could. But as I felt my energy pulsing from within, as I felt it bubble out and be shown off within mere moments of glaring at those beasts... I saw them all turn in shock towards me.

I inhaled deeply...

And the 'Ten Minutes of Thalassa' ensued.

For ten long minutes, I would teleport around and blast every single Abundance slave in sight. I spared none of the fiends, I showed no compassion or mercy as I wrecked their frames and bodies as if they were toys. I cared not for the destruction I left behind, not if it didn't create woes for the other knights.

These ten minutes of 'release' felt like heaven to me. Finally, I was doing something I was good at and that would spare so many lives. I felt years of work done in less than a few 'moments' for me. I felt without guilt, I felt light and free - it was almost like Baiheng had organized me another birthday parties. I may not be that happy to spend time with her friends (with how complicated they were - except Lil' Bro), but I loved the way she could prep up a birthday party for someone like me.

And now I want chocolate.

Still, the ten minutes ended and I felt the burden of the 'world' plus the fact I would have to answer for my actions suddenly fall onto my back like a planet. It would take a few hours for the planet to be made aware of what happened.

Most people had felt it, but no one knew what 'it' was. So, when the footage started to come out, and I was done getting my ass munched a bit by Teng Xiao, the overall reaction was split in two camps: amazement and fear.

The former was absolute with the Xianzhou forces in the planet, and it was a slight minority within the locals. I had done something that pretty much explained why I had been assigned to lead this campaign. And, surprisingly enough, the chiefs were less ambiguous over their support. Most now understood that there was a reason why I appeared so miffed so frequently.

Then again, I may have gone a bit overboard over what ensued during these ten minutes. In fact, I had done more than exterminate the assaulting force against the southern flank. I had shredded those within three minutes, with the remaining seven seeing me reducing the Abundance's presence within the planet by a third.

I sure had missed on how much I was progressing in my training, having somewhat ruled out major step-ups considering I had my hands tied about it but... well, I think it was still going quite well. Not much on a physical level, but my spiritual grasp had increased immensely with how much time I could meditate over decisions, situations, people.

Speaking of people, I got enough time to spare to check on a certain couple of siblings after I was done with the paperwork of these ten good minutes of freedom.

I found Bao and Zhengxi training, the former appearing in a good mood and good health. They both stopped to greet me and... I couldn't help but notice how much they were... How do I put it? Would 'simping' work here? No, it wasn't that bad, but I just had this gut feeling that the seeds were already there.

Nonetheless, it was fun to see them and the other troops doing better. As far as we could now predict with a higher cooperation from the locals, the Liberation War may conclude within next year, so we were all working hard to see that prediction turned into reality.

And if that meant a lengthier break from work and more free time to properly train, then I was all for it.

AN

Next time shall see a different POV! This one is... Jingliu! Also, I hope people have seen Genshin's 4.6 Special Livestream because I am so stacking up Primos to get Arlecchino! DAD, PADRE, YOU SHALL COME HOME~!