Under Kahn's highly oppressive aura, the three semi-saints kneeling on the floor were too stunned to even speak as soon as Kahn revealed the Blood-oath Token.
This was the most foolproof method of signing a contract in this empire and a blood oath token was something only used by the elites of the society when there were grave matters related to two different parties which required both sides to deliver upon their promise.
But if there was any form of resistance shown by either of the participants, the ritual would fail and the contract would never be established.
The main reason people still used it was because if either of the parties involved don't live up to the contract or tried to betray or backstab the other one… they would die within 10 hours.
These blood-oath tokens were extremely rare and their magic was so strong that even a saint would die if they broke the contract.
The deal between the three factions regarding the Emperor's Chosen competition was also established by using an artifact by having their respective faction leaders partake in the ritual.
"I already gave you guys a choice. But you chose to ignore it. So why should I care if you live or die?" asked Kahn in a condescending tone.
There was a reason why Kahn waited all this time and hadn't exposed their scams to the public.
He was waiting for the right opportunity and strike when he could reap the maximum benefits.
"Choose whether you'll serve me or your respective factions or clans from now on." he spoke in a domineering tone.
"My lord… Can you give us some time to discuss?" asked the lionkin in a scared voice.
"Fine. You have 10 minutes." replied Kahn and sat back at his sofa.
The three commanders then left the manner and using a domain artifact they started their discussions among themselves.
But little did they know… that Kahn was using the Hive Mind skill to watch and hear through the assassins that were already hidden in their shadows.
"The fuck!! That bastard knew this was going to happen! He knew we'd be cornered to the point where we don't have any choice but to accept it!" cursed the orc semi-saint. Her voice filled with fury and immeasurable hatred for Kahn.
"What choices do we even have now? If our doings are revealed… even our factions will discard us away.
Like they did with commander Aswala." spoke the lionkin who was originally from the Pureblood faction and had seen how the Demi-Human completely renounced the bearkin semi-saint as the culprit and the traitor to protect their own reputation.
Commander Aswala was already disowned by the Demi-Human faction as soon as the recordings of his trial spread across the empire. Saying that he tarnished their name and creed with his actions. Their clans and factions had no part to play in his crimes.
And if Kahn revealed their secrets.. The fate of these three semi-saints would be no different.
A heated argument happened between these commanders and finally, once the ten minutes were up, they returned to the manor and all of them kneeled in front of their sovereign who was carefreely enjoying a glass of wine.
"We will follow your orders, my lord. As long as you keep our secret." spoke the centaur knight, the semi-saint of the neutral faction.
They did it because currently, even their factions weren't trying to protect them and treated their lives as a calculated casualty in case Kahn was about to aim his sword at them next. And even now.. They hadn't sent any type of backup for them either for some reason.
"Good. Know that there's a reason why I'm keeping you all alive. But there's a condition." spoke Kahn and started setting up the conditions of their contract.
And as expected of him.. Kahn had presented a contract to them but also made the condition that they'd become his double agents in their respective forces. Content orıginally comes from NoveIＦire.net
And when the time came.. They wouldn't even think twice before betraying their clans and factions.
This was basically a slave contract with extra steps.
"Complete the ritual if you want to stay alive.
From now on… all of you are my servants!"
And under his ominous aura, all three commanders underwent the ritual by surrendering their minds to this tyrant of a sovereign.
After the semi-saints left and Kahn was left alone with his subordinates.. He had an elated expression on his face.
Kahn was blackmailing these people because they were more useful to him than being dead.
Blatantly killing them just to get their cores like he did with commander Aswala would be an extremely stupid move on his side because if he did so.. The three noble factions would reign down hell on him one way or another regardless of the consequences. The one-time offense could be let go but if he crossed the limit, he'd be in deep trouble.
Although Kahn was the strongest guy here.. He may have to leave the borders of the fiefdom one day for some reason. And then he'd have the saints waiting to slaughter him.
Besides, he still did not know what would happen in case he was to become a saint under the domain barrier that surrounded this fiefdom. Whether he'd be thrown out of it or die on the spot was still a mystery to him.
The chances of the latter were most likely to happen so there were limits on how much he could provoke the three factions given the current situation.
So creating a cage for himself with his own hands was an outright foolish choice.
But instead of killing them.. Kahn had better uses for these 3 semi-saints. Something that he couldn't reveal to extremely honest people like commander Stark and commander Mormont of The North.
Kahn did so because rather than toppling the military order and chain of command, he could still use these people to easily get hold of the other 3 regions under their rule and would not get any form of resistance from the local or the military forces either.
And under his orders after performing the blood-oath token ritual, the semi-saints themselves would cut down the weed for him while he reigned from behind the shadows.
So after taking full control of the government using People's Court.. He used the fear it created and took control of the military itself.
Because it was a must part of the fiefdom infrastructure as the monster tide was bound to come this year again and Kahn needed a stabilized chain of command and people who would follow his orders.
"Omega, Oliver and Jugram… since you've completed your tasks.." said Kahn as he finished the glass of wine and spoke in a sinister tone.
"Set up the meeting. It's time to begin the third stage of our plans."