The Demon Army Marches

Having effectively placed the Magic City under their control, the demon army next set their sights on the Holy City.

Holy City Palan.

A city that still believed in the gods said to have once existed in this world, spreading their doctrines and teaching divine magic.

Naturally, this was the one city that was incompatible with demons. An unavoidable battle awaited them there.

The demon army directed nearly all of their one million troops toward capturing this city.

Those who had defected from the Magic City to the demon army were sent to deliver a surrender ultimatum just in case, but returned as nothing but severed heads.

"It seems humans have fallen into an even more barbaric race than ourselves at some point."

Muttering this, Rei commenced the full army's attack.

Unlike the Magic City, Palan's walls stood at a full twenty meters tall, and its facilities were well-equipped.

Even the attacks from the giant races were blocked by magical defenses. The first day ended with almost all the casualties on the demon army's side.

The problem occurred before the second day began.

The holy knights commanding each unit were assassinated en masse.

The culprits were completely unknown. There were no eyewitnesses. Yet despite it being the dead of night, the temple's upper echelon was forced to decide on new assignments.

Then the second problem occurred.

These priests of the temple's upper echelon were also assassinated.

The second day's battle took place amid an atmosphere of suspicion and paranoia.

The demon army's attack was gentler compared to the first day. It was as if they were probing for weaknesses.

Nevertheless, Palan suffered heavy casualties.

This was because the hastily appointed commanders couldn't give proper orders.

And then the dreaded second night arrived.

Once again, several high officials were assassinated. Moreover, this time it was the priests.

In siege warfare, defeat is decided the moment morale breaks.

In that sense, Palan hadn't yet lost until the afternoon of the third day.

Their defeat was decided on the morning of the fourth day.

A dagger was found thrust into the pillow beside the head of the High Priest, who had been under heavy guard.

This was, needless to say, a message that they could kill him whenever they wished.

Thus, Palan's leadership decided to surrender.

The soldiers on the front lines were not satisfied with this.

Though they had taken some damage, the walls were still completely intact. They had lost some commanders, but there were still plenty remaining.

Yet even they lost the will to fight by the fifth day.

The holy knights who had been commanding them just the day before had greatly diminished in number.

The identity of the assassin was never discovered.

After all, no one would ever suspect that the harmless peddler they saw every day was responsible.

Palan was disarmed, and the expeditionary forces from the Magic City that had fought alongside them were permitted to return home.

The holy knights were naturally isolated and had their freedom taken away for a time.

Thus, in just six days, Palan, which had prided itself on its holiness, fell into demon hands.

However, Rei did not allow the demons to enter the city. She understood the matter of public sentiment.

What she did was destroy the walls and completely open the gates.

She left the temples where numerous divine statues were enshrined completely untouched. The residents of Palan would simply continue living anxiously in their city without walls.

The demon army's advance did not stop there.

They left behind about half their forces—units with inferior combat strength—for maintaining order and securing supply lines, and directed the remaining elite troops toward the center of the continent, the location where the empire once stood.

Currently, troops from Casalia and Lemdria were marching there to restore the lost order.

This was supposed to be where the first decisive battle between demons and the forces of Lemdria and Casalia would take place.

Meanwhile, in the eastern part of the continent.

In a certain sense, this area was enveloped in even greater peace than Ogress.

First of all, the demons never attempted to make a move on the Great Forest. This was due to a direct order from the Demon King himself from long ago.

Mutual non-interference with the elves. This was similar to the relationship between humans and elves.

Istria, to begin with, didn't have the stamina left to oppose the demon army.

Their ten-year civil war had finally concluded, and the new king had made the liberation of slaves one of his policies.

These slaves naturally included demi-humans, and for such an Istria, cooperating with demons was not a difficult decision at all.

In fact, the demon territory's farming methods would soon revive their devastated lands, but that was a story for later.

The Istrian king formally recognized demon immigration into his territory and formed a de facto alliance. In this regard, it was the same relationship as Ogress.

The countries in the southern part of the continent initially treated it as someone else's problem.

However, when the Magic City fell and the Holy City followed, they recalled the legends of the previous Millennium.

That aside from the imperial capital and the eastern islands, almost all humans on the continent had been exterminated.

In the southwest, Luabra existed in name only at this point. The head of the great tribe that had protected it decided to send reinforcements to the human side.

The southern nation of Karasuri was in a pathetic state where they couldn't even mobilize their army due to a bank run among their merchants. The human side was unaware that this was the result of a scheme the Demon King had carried out over many years.

Despite their long war with Lemdria, the Seven City Alliance in the southeast decided to support them. Though organizing an army was difficult, they would primarily handle rear support.

Thus, the preparations for the decisive battle were complete. On the human side, Lemdria and Casalia's armies numbered 500,000 each, with 100,000 reinforcements from the southwest and 100,000 from the smaller nations' combined forces, for a total of 1,200,000.

This was, of course, the largest army in human history—an impossibly massive force.

The commander-in-chief was Lemdria's Prince Ryuke Sion. Despite being only twenty-one years old, he was a skilled commander who had captured a fortress that even his late father, King Ryuke Hollyn, had failed to take.

However, his battle instincts told him that this massive army wouldn't be able to move effectively.

So he devised a simple strategy: Lemdria's army would engage the enemy head-on while Casalia and the other forces surrounded them.

The stage was the land that was once the northern part of the imperial territory.

The decisive battle would take place in a region called Falsas.

Meanwhile, at that time, in Black Cat's headquarters located in Lemdria's capital, a meeting—who knew how many times this made—was being held.

"We shall remain observers in this war."

Yamato—Saint Emperor Ryuke Shifaka—spoke first, unlike his usual pattern of speaking last.

"Is that alright?"

Thor asked, his question loaded with various implications.

Shifaka nodded.

"Even if we intervened in combat, if Ars brings that thing, the result would be the same. Rather, both armies would suffer collateral damage."

"So you've given up on avoiding the Great Collapse?"

Even the normally taciturn Alvis interjected.

He was the one who, twelve hundred years ago, had led the surviving humans from the Dragon Wing Continent to this one—another Great Sage.

"I haven't given up. But there's nothing we can do in the current situation."

Shifaka's eyes looked as though he had already given up on everything.

"If it's just a straightforward fight, I think the human side could win if I used explosion magic, but…"

Even the usually energetic Shana was subdued in this situation.

"That would be meaningless. Even if we defeated 500,000 demons, another 500,000 would remain. And besides…"

With his fingers interlaced, Shifaka stated a fact.

"There are probably more than ten times that number of troops remaining in the demon homeland."

This was true.

One million demon troops. However, given the high combat capability of the demon race, most of them should be suited for battle.

This battle's outcome—humanity's defeat—was decided the moment they lost the Golden Dragon Clarice.

"What about Valis? She fought on the human side before."

Azel asked, though he already half knew the answer.

"We've lost Clarice. If we lose Valis as well, we won't survive the Great Collapse. We cannot ask for her help."

Those words came from the only human among them to have survived a Great Collapse, and they permitted no objection.

"So in the end, we couldn't decide on anything?"

Thor sighed. However, Shifaka denied this.

"I will try meeting with Queen Ryuke Reiana."

These were unusual words from Shifaka, who normally never took action himself.

"Azel, please accompany me. If possible, I want to bring Dragonslayer Carla into our camp."

Yes, Shifaka had not given up.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with the Demon King, the Saint Emperor was perhaps the human furthest from giving up in this world.

"And let's also speak with Kuo. There's no way the Great Forest alone will escape this situation unscathed."

His comrades could see a definite gleam dwelling in his aged eyes.