465 Day of Decisive Battle
After the witches got their much-needed rest and mourned their losses for the night, the following day quickly arrived.
"I'm excited for the upcoming battle, Supreme Leader."
'So am I.'
Zodreg's excitement could be clearly sensed in his sound transmission to Vaan, which didn't come as a surprise at all.
After all, Zodreg and the other nine Rank 5 young elite dragons had been bored of playing their supporting roles. Their chance to reveal themselves to the world and actively participate in the forthcoming battle was finally arriving.
"My Lord, all 250-thousand battle witches have arrived and are ready to sortie!" Artemis excitedly reported after the battle witch army lined up outside Fort Whitebridge.
After losing 20-thousand battle witches in battle and leaving behind 10-thousand battle witches in each fort to defend them, Vaan was left with 250-thousand battle witches of the original 300-thousand he had used to fend off the Holy Knight Empire's invasion.
Besides Aeliana and Astoria, Hester and Eniwse would also be participating in today's battle.
"Today, you will march into the empire to fight them on their home ground without the protection of your walls and traps. It's most likely that the empire's army will be even greater than when they invaded us. And yet, I am only bringing this many of you to fight with me. Tell me, are you afraid?"
"With you to lead us, we are not afraid of anything, my Lord!"
The air and earth trembled under the battle witches' united cry, full of confidence, excitement, and anticipation.
"Good! Set out!"
"Yes, my Lord!"
The 250-thousand-strong battle witch army followed Vaan's lead and departed from Fort Whitebridge. They used the ruined remains of the Holy Knight Empire's sieged weapons and ships to form a temporary bridge to cross with their magic.
Nevertheless, after marching to the gates of Equinox City, they found it burnt down and devoid of people, or any activity for that matter; it had become a ghost town.
The Holy Knight Empire had decisively abandoned Equinox City after deeming it wasn't the ideal location to defend. And in order not to let the Kingdom of Black Rose use it as a foothold in their land, the empire took everything with them and destroyed the city.
Vaan guessed Ulrich Salazar had also destroyed all evidence of his ties to the Assembly of Silent Night. Thus, there was no point in searching the city, especially when Zodreg and the other dragons had already scouted it ahead of time.
"Our battle is not here. Let us continue," Vaan stated.
The Holy Knight Empire was luring them deeper into their land, where it was easier for the empire to summon troops from the whole country and attack them from every direction.
Despite knowing the empire's plan, Vaan boldly continued leading the battle witches deeper into the empire's net.
Half a day later, they passed another two abandoned cities that had been emptied and burnt to the ground, leaving nothing for them to take or use.
"Such a waste... Imagine the time and effort it took to build these cities... And yet, the empire decisively wasted them," Eniwse commented with a frown.
"They don't want to leave us anything to use against them while luring us into a bigger trap," Vaan smiled.
"At the same time, they are forging evidence of the Kingdom of Black Rose's aggression against the Holy Knight Empire in this war. It's killing two birds with one stone for them, so why wouldn't they resort to it?"
"Unfortunately, it's all useless," Vaan laughed.
At the same time, he patted Astoria on the shoulder with a reassuring look. They could rebuild and regain whatever was destroyed and lost to be even better than before.
After the sky darkened and turned to night, Vaan's army pitched camp and rest to restore their energy.
The following day when the sun rose back into the sky, Vaan's army continued their advance toward the heart of the Holy Knight Empire.
Eventually, they arrived at a vast rocky mountain region where Emperor Renardier and his army had chosen to make their stand against Vaan's army.
'The empire has set up a large-scale antimagic field ahead, Supreme Leader. It may affect the recording.’
'I can also sense its disturbance. However, it's fine as long as you don't try to record the scene within the antimagic field, Zodreg.'
"You're right, Supreme Leader. It's still working fine."
On top of a mountain cliff, Emperor Renardier and Ulrich stood side by side as they glanced down and watched the Kingdom of Black Rose's battle witch army arrive.
"Just as the reports stated, the enemy didn't target the other regions and marched straight toward us. They have entered our inescapable net, Your Imperial Majesty. It's time to make your speech."
"Right."
Following Ulrich's urge, Emperor Renardier nodded. Then, he took a step forward and cleared his throat. In the next moment, he pointed his finger at Vaan's army with a fierce glare.
"How dare you, people of the Kingdom of Black Rose! The Holy Knight Empire will not tolerate this transgression! Instead of defending against Gehenna, you have chosen to invade another country. All of Pangea will not standby and let you do as you please —!"
"Shut up—!!!"
Emperor Renardier openly condemned and accused the Kingdom of Black Rose of initiating the war with his mighty voice, which could be heard miles away.
But before Emperor Renardier could finish his pretentious speech, his voice was drowned out by Vaan's more deafening and mighty roar that was akin to a dragon's roar after being amplified by Aeliana's magic.
"I did not come here to listen to the emperor talk shit out of his ass!" Vaan thundered, shaking heaven and earth with his voice.
"The Holy Knight Empire has colluded with a Devil's Contractor to disrupt stability in the Kingdom of Black Rose, one of the defending kingdoms of humanity! As such, the Holy Knight Empire only has two choices: Execute Ulrich Salazar, the leader of the Assembly of Silent Night and one of the six Devil's Contractors, then surrender peacefully, or we shall use force to enforce them!"
"If you choose to surrender peacefully, you must also offer up Emperor Renardier's head! These conditions are non-negotiable. Now, make your choice!"
Vaan finally dropped the news bomb on the empire, which was followed by a deathly silence after his words stunned everyone from the empire.
The sheer ludicrously of the accusations aside, the outrageous conditions were simply unacceptable!
Even if others agreed, Emperor Renardier definitely wouldn't!
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