('I cannot be the only one to survive this ambush,') He knew this.
Out of the sixteen Martial Squires that were ambushed out of the twenty-four, it would be far too suspicious if he, perceived to be the weakest Martial Squire as a grade-B Martial Squire, was the only survivor.
Such an outcome would be extremely hard to believe, and anyone who hears it will definitely find it very odd, even if they didn't suspect anything immediately. He was sure that Chairman Deacon would be very suspicious. He was also sure that Guildmaster Bradt would be quite suspicious too.
Chairman Deacon's suspicions would be that Rui is either hiding his power or is a spy from the group that ambushed his Voidhunters. Guildmaster Bradt knew that Rui was not colluding with the assassins that he had sent, thus he would suspect that Rui is hiding his true power. Furthermore, Guildmaster Bradt also knew that Rui could project power greater than his actual power, a trick that Rui had been forced to reveal to hold a gun to Guildmaster Bradt's head.
This information was enough for the shrewd old man to grow suspicious of Rui being the true identity of the Voider, and that was something Rui would rather avoid being suspected of at all costs.
Thus he needed at least one other, preferably two other Martial Artists to also survive, and thankfully Kane understood what he meant.
This was purely out of self-interest. Rui did not give a damn about the Voidhunters personally, given that they were actually hunting him. If he could get away with being the sole survivor, he would have no problem doing so and abandoning the Voidhunters behind, but couldn't. He was far too careful to make such a careless and short-sighted move.
He scanned the ongoing battle with Riemannian Echo as he observed it.
('They'll die soon, the only reason they're holding on is that Squire Fren seems to have taken down that grade-ten Martial Squire. Currently, it's twenty-two Martial Squires vs fifteen, and if not for Squire-Fren taking on three grade-nine Martial Squires, they would have been long dead.,') Rui mused.
Kane pranced around the battle intervening in dangerous moments just to ensure that they barely managed to avoid death in an inconspicuous manner. Rui approved of this, killing them with his poisoned blade rashly would be a foolish move and his presence would certainly be realized even if nobody could even remotely close to sensing him.
He considered his course of action from here on out. He was quite confident about surviving and not having their identities revealed. Thus, he focused on his third priority, which was ensuring that his survival was not strange and suspicious.
('Now then,') He considered his options calmly. ('What to do?')
If a larger proportion of Martial Squires survived the improbable attack, it became less likely that they were all spies. This was why he wanted more numbers, but there were other considerations on which targets he ought to have Kane protect.
('I should pick a survivor from each group may be,') He wondered.
That would also reduce the probability that the survivors were all in on a single scheme as opposed to if a single party survived. It was less likely that these parties all just happened to betray each other for the sake of someone like Guildmaster Bradt when many of these parties had been together for a long time before the Shionel Dungeon had even been discovered.
Thus, if there was a survivor from each group, the probability of betrayal was just drastically reduced.
('All in all, four survivors including me, and three others from three other groups will make a lot of sense, and is probably the way to go,') Rui mused as he coldly analyzed and calculated the outcomes and the aftermath of all combinations and permutations of survivors and victims.
('Alright, I've made up my mind,') He decided. ('Squire Fren from party Saberstrike, Squire Cale from party Frontburner, S quire Meenal from party Trionel.')
He chose the strongest Martial Squire and the two weakest Martial Squires, as far as rank went, as the three survivors. This was the objectively best outcome as far as outcomes go.
Rui nodded, having made up his mind before carefully entering the edge of Kane's sensory range while making sure to stay out of the sensory ranges of the others.
"You made it!" Kane heaved a sigh as they both separated from the fight for a second. "I knew you wouldn't lose, even to an A-rank Martial Squire. There's just no way!"
"You're damn right I wouldn't," He smiled goodheartedly before his expression turned more solemn. "Alright, I've figured out what you need to do. You need to nick the Martial Squire assassins fighting the grade-ten Voidhunter, that Voidhunter, and that one as well with your poisoned blade. Ensure that it's just enough that those three Voidhunters get an edge and win or escape. The remaining Voidhunters, you can poison them and ensure that they die."
This would ensure that the three survivors' Martial Squires would gain the edge that they needed to survive or escape. While the remaining Voidhunters would all die.
He had no problem with the rest of them dying, they were his enemies, after all. Rui didn't think he was a bad person, but showing compassion to people who accepted an assassination contract to kill him?
('That's not even a funny joke,') He snorted, shaking his head.
The Martial Squire battles had all spread out as each of the Voidhunters had tried scattering and escaping when the ambush launched, unfortunately for them, they did not have prior warning, nor did they have a headstart to escape like Rui, thus they were bogged down by their opponents.
The only reason that the Voidhunters had survived even this long was that it was more difficult to kill someone who did everything in their power to escape and survive than someone who resolutely fought head-on even when they were at a disadvantage. That delayed the process of killing them.