Chapter 370 Machinations of the Empire
Furthermore, they are now known as an empire because they managed to integrate dozens of other nations under their wing. Judging from the population count alone, they would be the indisputable number 1.
"And such a powerful empire decided to mess with our kingdom...!"
Queen Thalia's anger was apparent. After all, she found out that the Empire was the one who orchestrated this time's demon attack. It's not like they could control the demons like Noir did, but rather "lured" the demons near the Cleaver Kingdom before teleporting away.
Prime Minister Vermont was tasked with "borrowing" the important records of the Cleaver Kingdom so that the Empire could earn more ammunition when the time to annex them came.
If not for my interference, then their plans might've succeeded.
"President Will, sorry for dragging you into our affairs."
Queen Thalia apologized immediately, bowing her head deeply. After all, tomorrow, they were supposed to come under our wing. With the Empire planning the same thing, a conflict of interest would happen. It was as clear as day that the Empire would try to mess with us next.
"Well, what's done is done."
Although it's a little troubling if a war between kingdoms starts, it's not like we don't have a hand to play. In the first place, if there's someone at fault here, it should be me for accepting the Cleaver Kingdom's offer.
"Anyway, what's important is what we do from hereon out. So please raise your head, Queen Thalia."
"... Thank you."
A powerless smile appeared on her face. It was the face of a tired, widowed woman, finding the smallest solace in the depths of hell.
As the three of us were starting to ease up, a portal suddenly appeared beside me. From there, Ember jumped out with a serious expression.
"Master, I've rallied the Luo and Seimei, along with the Virgil family, for backup. They're already pushing back the demons as we speak."
*Kachack!*
I turned to look at her hand and found one of the mass-produced rifles we were releasing to the world. I guess she wants to participate in the battle too.
"Then, Queen Thalia and Princess Hazel, we still have some work to do. Please stay inside the castle, as it's probably the safest place right now."
After saying what I needed to say, I turned toward the portal that Ember made. When I entered through it, what welcomed me on the other side was a completely one-sided battle.
"Kill the demons!"
"I ran out of ammo! Who wants to give me some?!"
"Sh*t! I got hit!"
"Healers! Over here!"
Although it wasn't a bloodless one, since a lot of tamers who got careless and their tamed monsters who let their guards down got injured by the demons. Still, we had Priestess Harumi with us, so those injured easily stood back up and returned to the frontlines.
"Looks like they don't need any more help here."
I tried to scan the battlefield, where the direction straight ahead of me was south. There, the battle was intense, with a lot of tamers here and there pulling the trigger of their rifles.
This side was the part that got pushed back the most, so it consequently became the fiercest area on the battlefield. To the east, a shadow was flying past, turning one demon after another into ribbons of skin and meat.
To the west, a burning hell was occurring, with the demons getting roasted completely, not even leaving ashes behind.
"Fang and Igni are already handling the east and west sides pretty well."
I turned around, facing the north. There, only a few demons were present. Well, relatively few, should I say? There were still hundreds of them lined up, attacking the walls of the castle.
"So the entire outer wall was destroyed already? I wonder how the towns are doing? Ember, can you get some eyes on the surrounding towns?"
The outer walls were supposedly stopping the demons from entering, but seeing that they were already outside the castle's walls, I could already guess the state the towns were in.
"... I just hope there's a lot of survivors."
A few moments later, Ember shared with me through the Mental Scape the aerial view of the surrounding towns. As expected, only smoke and flames could be seen from afar, and some large demons were still rampaging wildly.
"..."
It wasn't a gruesome sight, since we're viewing it from up high, but it wasn't hard to imagine how hellish the view down there was.
"Paragon Empire..."
I can't help but let a smoldering rage spread in my heart. Still, the time wasn't right yet. I breathed deeply a few times, trying to calm down, before controlling the six [Shadow Clones] that I left at the castle's entrance.
I let them run in six different directions, each with towns where I could vaguely see survivors running away from the demons.
"But switching controls between the six multiple times a second isn't going to make it... I need to do this a bit more efficiently!"
Changing my approach, I instead divided my consciousness into eight, with six controlling the clones and the remaining quarter focusing on the current situation before me.
It's like I was playing six FPS games on stacked monitors, making it a lot easier compared to the on-off control from before.
The towns weren't that far, so my clones immediately arrived at the scene.
However, what I saw through the clones' eyes wasn't pretty. Blood and gore spread everywhere, along with fire, smoke, and destruction. Death throes and screams filled with fear echoed from all over.
All six clones were experiencing almost identical events.
"..."
I decided to just focus on saving those still alive instead of just watching the carnage all over the place. My clones moved, not wasting their energy at all, moving to the closest demons on the shortest path available.
After that, there was nothing but a massacre. Every demon in town died brutally, and I used every method I had to eliminate them. As I was focused on clearing all the demons, I noticed that Ember's eyes multiplied, watching over all the other towns around.
On those that my clones haven't reached yet, tamers from the Luo, Seimei, and Virgil were fighting, prioritizing saving civilian lives as much as possible. Seeing that the situation was getting better, I heaved a sigh of relief.
Just as my tension faded, the six clones also vanished like smoke, having already spent all their energy.
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