The Lemdria Campaign

The battle between Lemdria and the demon army proceeded roughly as expected.

Before the demons' overwhelming military might, Lemdria's army suffered defeat after defeat.

But even that was part of Prince Sion's strategy.

With their supply lines stretched thin, the demon army struggled with provisions. Though they tried to procure supplies locally, the humans were uncooperative.

So despite continuing to win their battles, the demon army found itself being cornered.

"A scorched earth strategy, huh…"

Within the main camp's tent, Haruto groaned with a troubled expression.

And there was yet another weakness the demon army had.

They couldn't use the Machine Gods, their strongest fighting force, too frequently.

A Machine God's core was called a magic core, made from an even more purified form of magic crystal. Filling it with magic power required an tremendous amount of labor. Considering the Great Collapse that would come after this, he wanted to conserve their strength.

Not just Haruto, but his staff officers were also deep in thought.

"Why don't we just assassinate Prince Sion?"

The one who said that was Rei. Such an idea came naturally to her, given her specialty in intelligence gathering and assassination. In fact, Haruto had repeatedly carried out assassinations that led to the Sacred City's fall.

"That would be impossible. Prince Sion is surrounded by heavy security, and he himself is quite skilled."

The one who objected was Ferna, and Haruto followed up.

"Yeah, and there's another problem. When the Great Collapse comes and fighting breaks out, we need him to serve as a fighting force for this world."

This was another of the demon army's weaknesses.

They had to win. But they couldn't win too decisively and annihilate their opponents.

This was a fatal weakness for the demon army.

Yet even so, the demon army drew closer to Lemdria's capital.

Along the way, they stationed surplus forces in occupied territories, leaving only an elite force to advance toward the decisive battle.

In response, Lemdria's army maintained their logistics through short supply lines, and despite their losses, never suffered a decisive defeat as they continued their retreat.

This strategy was actively endorsed by the king, and passively supported by the crown prince.

Meanwhile, battles on the Casalia front were progressing toward an overwhelming demon victory.

In war, it's crucial to minimize losses when defeated, but Casalia simply didn't have generals skilled enough for that.

Additionally, with Ogress forming an alliance with the demon army, it could be said that the burden on the logistics division had lessened.

"A pack mule again… I'd love to blast something with magic once in a while."

Though Serge grumbled, he understood the importance of his role.

Ogress fully siding with the demons dealt a severe shock to Casalia.

After all, Ria was Casalia's princess before she was Ogress's queen.

And the repeated defeats had broken the spirit of Casalia's leadership.

Just six months after the demons' invasion began, Casalia signed a peace treaty with them.

However, the terms weren't disadvantageous to Casalia, and didn't significantly damage the royal family's dignity.

"But really, were you sure about those conditions?"

Ria asked while riding in a carriage with Asuka.

The condition for peace was to provide Casalia's wastelands to the demons. The same as with Ogress.

If a nation had been losing so completely, one would expect more favorable terms for the victor.

But Asuka just laughed with a "fufun."

"The demon territory has developed land improvement techniques. That's how we've been able to maintain millions of soldiers. And there's also the option of having them farm during peacetime."

The tuntian system. It's difficult to implement, but apparently it had been successful in the demon territory.

Various other agricultural methods had also succeeded, bringing significant benefits to the human side as well.

When you think about it, they had at least a surface-level understanding of modern Earth's agricultural methods. With magic applied over a thousand years, even crop breeding improvements would be possible.

And with Haruto's scientific knowledge, it would be even easier.

And there were major developments on the Lemdria front as well.

South of Lemdria, the Karasuri Kingdom had begun supplying the demon army through a roundabout route.

This was the fruit of Haruto's long-term infiltration, but for Lemdria, it was like a bolt from the blue.

Though Karasuri wouldn't immediately go to war with Lemdria, they would now have to direct forces to the south as well.

Seeing this situation unfold, the City Union to the east of Lemdria wavered.

As a coalition of city-states that had long been in repeated wars with Lemdria, some cities began to cut off their support for Lemdria.

While they hadn't been counting on them too much to begin with, having to allocate forces to the east as well pushed Lemdria into a desperate situation.

And then, the demon army's invasion began.

Having devoted troops to logistics, their total force was roughly 100,000. However, the quality was exceptional.

Above all, the Demon King stood at the forefront.

A carefully selected elite force began their invasion into Lemdria's territory. To counter this, Lemdria deployed a massive army of 300,000. Leading them was Prince Ryuke Sion. Lemdria's greatest military asset.

On a vast plain, the two armies clashed.

The result was devastating.

The demon army, with knowledge of modern warfare, dominated the skies and pushed their magic-specialized races to the front, clashing head-on.

Even Prince Sion, likely the greatest tactician of the age, couldn't counter them.

The Machine Gods that flew in and landed at the heart of Lemdria's forces devastated their formations.

Forbidden-level magic broke through Lemdria's defenses and routed their vanguard.

Thus, Lemdria's greatest military force was defeated.

Lemdria still had military strength remaining, including in the capital. But as for whether they could win against the gathered demon army, King Ryuke Hollyn was skeptical.

Prince Ryuke Sion, the defeated general, felt the same. He understood that the gap in tactical civilization was simply too great.

Because he was a genius, he paradoxically couldn't find a way to victory. If there was any chance, he thought it would have to be off the battlefield.

However, the enemy was the demon race. Whether tactics meant for humans would even work against them was unknown.

It was then that a peace envoy arrived from the demon army.

A dark elf with brown skin and silver hair. The peace terms brought by Demon General Rei weren't unfavorable to Lemdria.

The former imperial territory that had become wasteland would be placed under demon control. That was all.

They would withdraw from the Lemdria territory they had already invaded, and a buffer zone would be established at the border—it was actually advantageous terms for Lemdria.

Lively debate took place at the court, but when considered calmly, there was only one choice.

Thus, the human side's greatest nation, Lemdria Kingdom, was also forced into coexistence with the demons.

"So it's over…"

Receiving all the reports in Manesh's court, Ria muttered.

She sat heavily on the sofa, looking through documents. Carla and Guinevere were seated on either side of her.

"So this means the demons' invasion will stop for now, right?"

Guinevere asked. Ria repeated the explanation she had received from Asuka.

"Apparently the former imperial territory can sustain the demon population. Invading all the way to the southern continent would stretch their supply lines too far."

The Millennium's war between humans and demons was effectively concluded with this. The postwar processing remained, but that too would be a troublesome matter.

"The time has finally come."

Carla murmured. The Millennium had ended. What came next was the real event, the Great Collapse.

"A collision between worlds, huh. Honestly, I don't really understand what that means."

It was too abstract a concept. Even Serge's knowledge was vague on this point.

But the real battle was yet to come.

 

*

 

Several days later, an envoy from the demons appeared in Manesh's court.

It was the now-familiar Asuka. She had visited the castle as an official envoy.

Seeing the contents of the documents, Ria was astonished.

Leaders from major nations would be invited, and of all places, they would devise countermeasures against the Great Collapse in Lemdria's castle.

"Forget the former imperial territory, you're going to hold a conference in the castle of a country you were just at war with?"

When she groaned in disbelief, Asuka laughed through her nose with a "fufun."

"That's what makes His Majesty so amazing. If we said to meet in demon territory, those cowardly humans wouldn't come, would they?"

That was certainly true. Unless one had combat ability like Ria, entering a gathering of demons would be unthinkable.

Even so, the time until the meeting was short.

"It's coming soon."

Asuka watched Ria with unusually serious eyes.

"The Great Collapse is about to begin."

With humans and demons no longer killing each other, the cycle of souls had weakened.

As a result, the boundary between worlds naturally grew indistinct and would eventually collide.

Ria nodded and conveyed her agreement to attend.

 

*

 

The Great Collapse.

"Well now, what kind of battle is coming…"

A devastating era was approaching that even the war-loving Ria couldn't comprehend.