"Thank you for reminding ! Praise the Chief Divine!"
"Praise the Chief Divine!"
Both n bowed their heads and bid each other farewell with a salute as the procession continued on its way.
Xiuxoke walked briskly as the wind and soon arrived at the entrance to the Temple District, where a thousand-strong Eagle Warrior Battalion had already gathered, fully ard and standing in solemn wait for the two battalion leaders. He looked around, Stanley was not there yet; only the camp captains saluted him.
Xiuxoke returned the greetings with a gentle smile and then took his place at the front of the line. The towering Great Pyramid Temple lood before him, the priests had already lit the roaring Sacred Fire, and the blue Sacrifices were being escorted out from the holding cells of the various temples. He gazed at the gradually brightening sky, at the endless line of Sacrifices, and thought of his aging father preparing for the Sacrificial Rite in the Great Temple, heaving a soft sigh.
"The New Year’s Grand Sacrifice will last three full days, the High Priest will personally wield the blade... My father’s health..."
As he pondered, the bear-like Stanley appeared at the end of the street, his eyes brimming with exuberant spirits. He roared a greeting to all and then threw an arm around Xiuxoke’s shoulder.
"Haha, praise the Chief Divine! Xiuxoke, my old friend, we et again!"
"Praise the Chief Divine! Greetings to you, Battalion Leader Stanley!"
"Haha, the sun is dazzling, the clouds are dispersing, the sacred Grand Sacrifice is today! A fine day for flowers and blood, I’ve been looking forward to this for a long ti!"
Stanley, though young, held a high rank and exuded an unrestrained confidence. In the presence of Xiuxoke, who was of similar standing, he behaved quite affably.
"Just now on the way here, I watched the human sacrifice ballga. There were so brilliant strikes, splashing blood and breaking the bones of the opponents... You know, the Tekos warriors might be barbarians from the mountains, but they play ball with a fierce bravery, far better than the Tarasco warriors! I watched two gas; the Tarasco teams lost both matches, sentenced to sacrifice the whole team. When they were brought up to the altar, there were even so who wet their pants! Haha!"
Excited by the talk of a great ballga, Xiuxoke nodded with a smile. Then, with a touch of puzzlent, he asked.
"Stanley, isn’t the human sacrifice ball court inside the Temple District? Where did you watch it just now?"
"Oh, Xiuxoke, you’ve only been in the Capital City for two or three days, probably not clear about many arrangents. With the return from the western expedition, among the captives brought to the Capital City, there were four thousand Tekos warriors and four thousand Tarasco warriors, and more than two thousand n from the Nobility..."
"The captives involved in the Sacrificial Rites are simply too nurous! The Elder Priests, with their illustrious statuses, are only responsible for sacrificing nobles from Tarasco. The remaining warriors from the two groups are all thrown into the human sacrifice ball courts. The generous and compassionate King, in both the Nobility and Civilian Districts, has added four new ball courts, allowing all the citizens of the Capital City to join in the revelry!"
"Ah, what? This Grand Sacrifice will sacrifice a total of ten thousand people?"
Hearing this number, Xiuxoke gasped. Even though he was hardened by battlefield slaughter and accustod to heaps of corpses and seas of blood, he was still profoundly shocked. After all, the total population of an ordinary City-State would be around ten thousand.
"Haha, Xiuxoke, it turns out your mathematics isn’t as good as mine!"
Stanley laughed heartily. In his eyes, the lives of enemies were no more than weeds by the roadside; only the brave deserved admiration.
"Eight thousand warriors enter the human sacrifice ball courts, competing for three days. The losing half becos Sacrifices on the small pyramids, while the winning half becos slaves for the construction of the King’s Palace. Oh, and you need to add the injured from the ball gas, the nobles sacrificed by the elders... This festival will probably sacrifice exactly a Xiquipilli, eight thousand people! Haha!"
Stanley slapped Xiuxoke on the back, laughing. Then, his expression beca serious and his eyes glead, showing a rare sign of wisdom.
"Xiuxoke, compared to the feat of annihilating the Tarasco Kingdom, what does this number amount to! The Tekos barbarians are stubborn and always resist and flee, too troubleso to manage, it’s better to send them to the ball court to please the people!
And those brought to the Capital City are the die-hard loyalists of the Tarasco Kingdom, senior warriors and hereditary Nobility who held power and wealth. We xica have destroyed their Kingdom, taken their Fief, killed their kin, stolen their wives and daughters, and divided their Wealth. Can we really expect gratitude and sincere allegiance from them?
... Haha, only the low-ranking warriors and Nobility are worth recruiting because the Alliance can offer them more! As for the rest, whether seasoned warriors, Divine Descendant Nobility or the Divine Eagle Royal Family, let’s send them all to the altar to be offered to the highest Chief Divine!"
Xiuxoke considered for a mont and nodded in agreent. After a brief pause, he looked doubtfully at Stanley, assessing the wide forehead and bear-like stature of the other.
"Stanley, who said that? It doesn’t sound like sothing you could co up with."
"Of course, I did!..."
Under Xiuxoke’s scrutinizing gaze, Stanley bellowed out the first half of the sentence. Then, sowhat embarrassed, he paused and finished the sentence in a lower voice.
"... I heard it from the respected King Aweit."
Xiuxoke laughed softly, with an ’I knew it’ expression. Stanley’s face turned a bit red, and he turned and bellowed.
"All Eagle Warriors, get your gear ready! March to the Temple District, and stand guard around the Great Temple! The immortal Elder is about to arrive. If any suspicious foreign envoys approach, kill on sight without question!"
"Roar!"
The thousand-strong Eagle Warrior Battalion roared like wild beasts, and they filed by Battle Group to arrange defense around the Great Temple in the Temple District. As the Sun God’s guard, their only duty was to ensure the safety of the Great Temple. Inside the Temple District, there were already stationed three thousand Royal Warriors and a thousand Jaguar Warrior Brigade. These five thousand elite warriors of the Alliance were more than enough to suppress any threat!
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