For the 2nd time, Ben showed his vastly improved war acumen.

The others in the strategy room including Rex were intelligent enough to think of this, but it was the speed at which his brain worked to quickly think of this that set Ben apart from the others as a better war strategist.

Ben was chubby, direct, a terrible womanizer, and even sometimes knuckle-headed but when he was motivated to learn something, he gave his all to it.

During his short time spent in the Great Myriad Metal Shelter, he attended military classes of the Big-bone family on war strategies and responses.

Back then when he thought about his 2 childhood friends, from the wars that went on in the Great Shelter, he knew that strength alone did not cut it to fight and save them, he also needed a proper war mind to achieve great things.historical

After graduating from the academy of the Big-bone family, his decision was to go seek the patriarch's permission to go out and build his own army.

When he heard that Rex already started this route before him, it served as one of the hidden reasons why he no longer returned to the Great Myriad Shelter but instead decided to stay behind and help Rex.

Being childhood friends with Rex and understanding his personality, he knew that if Rex made it to the top, then all of them were literally already at the top.

As soon as Ben made his suggestions, no one opposed it, they were impeccable and everyone including Rex bought into his suggestions.

The dilemma became choosing the option of either joining the war as a neutral to seek benefits or taking the option of trying to negotiate with the Gang leader of the Kong Gang.

Aragorn spoke first. "Joining the war as neutrals to seek benefits is a great risk on our part, we'll be terribly exposed if this irritates the other 2 gangs and forces them into an alliance which will worsen our problems".

"I advise we take the 2nd alternative of negotiating with the Gang Leader of the Kong Gang, that's the safest and more surefire way for us".

"I'm sorry Aragorn, but we'll have to disagree with that". Erling and Jacob spoke up almost at the same time as the same thing went through their minds.

Erling continued. "During the take over of the Blood Market region, Rex used intimidation tactics to lower our resistance. Of course, that played a huge part but the other reason why we submitted was because you are far stronger than us".

"If we rejected your offer, we had a high chance of dying".

"Now play this scenario, if both the Axe Gang and the Berserk Gang asks the Kong Gang to surrender, who do you think they'll likely surrender to?"

"The Axe Gang". Jacob answered. "They have a more notorious reputation than us, and we have to be sincere, they also have a stronger army than ours".

"This is why we should take the option of entering the war as neutrals, if things play out well, we can take advantage of their hatred for each other".

"And if luck is on our side, we can reap the most benefits from the war".

This was a critical decision that involved the fate of a lot of lives, for the first time in all his life, Rex felt scared of making a decision.

When he decided to take in more gangs to stand a chance against the Gandalf Gang, his ambition was big but it was definitely not this big.

The actions of the Axe Gang escalated everything to a level out of his control. In the end, he started getting involved in the lives of warriors and civilians in such a scale that he never envisioned even in his wildest dreams.

Rex suddenly stood up. "This decision is too important to leave to me alone, it will be decided in a voting pool where all of you must pick one of the 2 options".

"It will last 15 minutes, I will be back then to see the results".

-----

[You have activated Blood Tome's mystic effect: Phasing- Mid-range teleportation!]

----

Without waiting for them to object, Rex left the strategy room.

Rex's actions showed how heavy this decision weighed on his mind, their faces soon turned solemn as they also gauged the weight that each of their votes carried in the lives of hundreds of thousands of warriors and over a million civilians.

Aragorn stood up first. "I will cast my vote now".

Without waiting for the others, he drew a chart with 2 sides where he put option 1 on the left and option 2 on the right. Below both sides of the chart, he put a mechanical ballot box to represent both options.

He picked a random book, wrote his choice before putting it on the ballot box. As soon as he voted, the others stood up and also started voting.

..

Bzzz!

Rex appeared far from the gang headquarters, the civilian quarters.

Due to the differing powers and status between both sides, in most shelters, there were usually civilian quarters which were the poorest in the whole shelter. The Southern region of the Red Zone was no exception to this rule.

Since he became a mystic warrior, Rex hardly paid attention to the world of the civilians but today, he felt an urge that pushed him here.

He came to see if he could wind down all the pressure.

As Rex walked through the streets, all he saw was suffering and poverty. Malnourished kids, beggars in the streets, thieves, armed robbers, the scene was like that of a nation that was hit by a mega-scale nuclear bomb.

While the gangs flexed their superhuman strength and fought for supremacy, it was the civilians who suffered it the most.

When powerful mystic warriors fought, sometimes, earthquakes, storms, and tsunamis could be induced and all these unknowingly end up affecting the innocent civilians who already had piles of problems of their own.

As Rex walked, he could tell that the recent battle between him and the old Exquisite Army had repercussions here as he saw signs of a mini earthquake.

He was shocked, he never knew that the mystic world affected the civilian world so much. Back in the King Resistance Shelter, he was really pampered.

The more Rex looked, the more guilt he felt.

"The war is not even over yet". He mumbled. "The ultimate showdown against the Axe Gang is definitely going to cause even more trouble".

Rex wanted to give up and stop the suffering but he also recognized that giving up would mean all their suffering before now would have been in vain.

He made some realizations as he clenched his fists. "I owe you all a debt".

"To pay it, I must overcome the Axe Gang and bring a future of prosperity to all civilians, I must overcome the Axe Gang by all means".

So much suffering showed how much the overlord gangs neglected the civilians. Rex also neglected them before, but after seeing this, he had a change of mind. He was now motivated more than ever to achieve his goal.

"To achieve my goal, I will do anything!" He clenched his fists.

Rex activated the Blood Tome again and teleported back to the strategy room. On getting there, the voting already came to an end, he was the last voter.

He looked at the results, votes for the 2nd option was winning with a mere 1 vote. This made this last vote of his even more important.

Rex clenched his fists again. He was ready to do anything to achieve his goal, but if he could reduce the suffering while doing it, he would feel better.

Rex took a paper and wrote down his vote, he voted for the 2nd option.

Once the outcome of the vote was announced, Rex took the leader's position again and addressed them. "This is my plan".