In the presidential palace, Rob was browsing through the internet.

After a while, he sighed and stood up. After walking around a bit, he called his secretary and said, "Set up a meeting with Rose."

...

In a meeting room, only Rose and Rob were present.

"Rose, how are things going with the World Union?" he asked.

The World Union was founded by UISEC a few months ago.

Members of the alliance can freely trade with each other without any barriers.

What is more, travel between countries has become much easier. There are costs, however.

As the biggest economy, UISEC has veto power on all policies; the laws of the union are based on UISEC's laws, so any other countries that want to join must reform their laws entirely.

Many dictatorships didn't join because they would have lost their power if they did.

Rose smiled and said, "As of the moment, twenty-five countries have joined; Mr. President, I'm sure all countries will eventually join!" she said.

"Why are you so sure?" asked Rob.

"The deal is too sweet for them not to agree! In the short term, some may resist, but eventually, all will," she said confidently. Rob nodded.

...

Even though Alex III's plan succeeded, he still didn't take over the Candles Dynasty and the Purple Empire.

He succeeded regardless because those two major countries not only failed to halt the rumor but also aided in its further dissemination.

They spread the rumor among their populations, claiming that Alex III was a vampire who would massacre all, insisting that the only recourse was to fight.

Unbeknownst to them, they unwittingly assisted Alex III by spreading the rumor.

In any case, he doesn't need to take them over anymore, with him becoming a vampire.

Lisa, however, was tasked with addicting people in those countries, And Alex III prefers to rule the entire world and won't tolerate the existence of these two significant nations.

...

In a meeting room with Alex III, Lisa, and Jack, Alex III asked, "How is your plan going, Lisa?"

With her head down, Lisa replied, "Your Majesty, many people in the Purple Empire are addicted, and I believe they have lost the ability to resist. As for the Candles Dynasty..." After a brief pause, she continued, "I failed in infiltrating them."

Surprised, Alex III asked, "Why is that?"

Lisa explained, "The Candles Dynasty has ruthless means! They executed all our smugglers; nobody from the inside accepted any bribes, and they killed all who were addicted," she said with a sigh.

Alex III listened and then said expressionlessly, "Jack, make preparations! We are going to war with the Candles Dynasty! I am going to lead it personally." Jack bowed and left along with Lisa.

...

Alex's kingdom quickly assembled an army of over a million people.

The Candles Dynasty was huge, so a million troops was the minimum number required.

With supplies from the Mountains and Rivers Alliance, their food was not an issue.

The Candles Dynasty, which long expected an invasion, assembled an even bigger army of 5 million!

It caused a headache for Alex III.

He wanted fewer casualties, but in the war with Candales, the casualties would be in the millions.

After some research and using the Dream Fog a bit, he made a decision that would go down in history.

"Those Candales people are troublesome! I can't absorb them because they will cause trouble! I should kill them all! It can cause problems on the Star Dream World's side, but I can tolerate it," he thought.

The reason he wanted fewer casualties was the Star Dream World.

Millions of people on Star World losing their links would cause problems. However, he had more to lose if Candles were allowed to survive.

So he decided not to let any of them live.

For this war, the Candles Empire would fight to the death, so just a million soldiers were far from enough.

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After a round of conscription in Alex kingdom, more than ten million men were readied for a war in just a few months.

Alex III only used men in conscription even though Alex kingdom, in general, has become a gender-equal country by now, at least in its laws.

He had a few reasons for it.

First, men dying would damage population growth, but women dying would truly hurt the root of a country.

Second, women are physically weaker, and in medieval times, with one-to-one battles,

Third, men are more willing to fight in general.

Fourth, a men-only army is easier to manage; including women in the military along with men would have its set of problems.

Fifth, he plans to keep his army entirely composed of men without contact with women for months to fight better to take over the cities for the coming looting.

With him deciding to destroy the Candles Dynasty entirely, Alex III, with his usual brutality and cruelty, will let his army loot the city and do all they want.

In a war, he would use everything as an advantage, no matter how evil and despicable; Alex III is a villain with no bottom line.

Sixth, as much as Alex III, for economic reasons, prefers more women in the workforce and a more gender-equal society, many people, men and women alike, still have medieval views about gender roles. Allowing women in armies is still unacceptable, which will boost the enemy's morale and weaken Alex Kingdom's morale.

The enemy could say, 'Alex Kingdom sent an army of women to fight us.'

Even if those female soldiers were to be elite and stronger than men, the appearance is that they are still women, and with a medieval worldview, they would be looked down on.

These are facts.

In modern times, women can fight and shoot with guns as well as men, and nobody would dare look down on them, but this is medieval times.

Among military strategists, however, Alex III included many women.

Even though not suitable for one-to-one combat, women are as smart as men; Alex III witnessed it many times in the dream fog. Using brilliant women in strategizing wars would give Alex Kingdom an intellectual advantage.

Alex III included all kinds of people in its strategizing teams to hear all perspectives. The broader the slate of strategists, the more accurate battle plans would be.

In its conscription, Alex III ordered men who were ideal, with no job, not married, and with only manual jobs, to be a priority for the draft.

He would prefer to keep men who are skilled alive.

Alex III considered untalented and unmarried men as disposable. It's obviously evil and wrong, but this is Alex III. He is not famous for being moral.

...

Alex Kingdom's army first attacked the border city of Holy Candle.

Holy Candle was originally a tiny city, but in the last few years, the Candles Dynasty has strengthened it and turned it into a big castle.

Candles Dynasty had expected the city of Black Candle to be the first city targeted by Alex Kingdom. Black Candle is another border city with strategic importance because the road to Candle Palace City goes through Black Candle City.

Caught off guard, they only managed to send 20,000 reinforcements to Holy Candle.

With the initial 5,000 in the city, it was left with only 25,000 people as guards.

On the other hand, Alex Kingdom had a 200,000-strong army with many siege equipment.

Why is taking over cities difficult? One main reason is that most want to take over the city without destroying it.

Alex Kingdom, however, didn't want to take anything; they wanted to destroy it!

All the catapults began throwing rocks and fire barrels directly into the cities. Fire barrels filled with fuel are set on fire and thrown in.

In just three days, the entire city was burnt to the ground,

With most of the 25,000 killed or burnt and nearly all of the city's civilian population of 36,000 killed!

Alex Kingdom didn't need to use the supplies in the city; they had great supply lines because the entire world, aside from a few isolated countries, was sending them supplies.

Even the Purple Empire, by now, was sending supplies as a show of goodwill.

With Holy Candle City destroyed, they cleared the ruins away and continued their march, this time, to the next city, Red Candle City.

Holy Candle City was not a strategic location; its roads didn't lead to any critical city.

However, Alex Kingdom didn't intend to take over the Candles Dynasty; they wanted to destroy all! There was no need to only focus on big cities.

Red Candle City was a medium-sized city with a population of 200,000 people.

Because the Candles Dynasty hadn't expected Alex Kingdom to attack Holy Candle first, they had yet to improve Red Candle's defenses.

Honestly, even the Candle Dynasty didn't expect Alex Kingdom to want to kill them all! They thought Alex's country wanted to conquer them, not destroy them.

Red Candle City had an army of 20,000 stationed and fell in a single day. Alex Kingdom's army entered the city and looted, and nearly all of the civilians were killed. Without much delay or rest, the army continued moving.

At the same time, the second Alex Kingdom army, comprised of 700,000, attacked Black Candle City. The third, comprising another 400,000 people, and the fourth ...

Alex Kingdom, in total, brought 16 different armies, all led by different commanders but taking orders directly from Alex III, who was in the headquarters and had 2,500,000 reserve units ready to reinforce any army in need.

The hardest battle was the Battle of Black Candle City.

Black Candle was very prepared, with a defense force of 600,000 soldiers. Black Candle is critical because once Alex Kingdom passes it, they would very easily access Candle Palace.

However, without taking Black Candle, they couldn't reach Candle Palace because with Black Candle there, if they tried to surround Candle Palace, they would be attacked both from the front and back and be surrounded.

With 700,000 people, the second army attacked Black Candle all they could, but the walls were so tall that catapults couldn't reach inside the city.

So, they besieged the city, waiting to starve them.

The army of the Candles Dynasty in the city attacked them at night and caused many casualties to the second army.

Alex Kingdom's army, however, remained firm.

After a week, an army of 300,000 from the Candales Dynasty came from nowhere and attacked Alex Kingdom's troops, which were besieging the city.

The troops in the city also came out and attacked. After two days of straight fighting, the Candles Dynasty won the battle!

They killed 300,000 soldiers, with casualties of 250,000.

The rest of Alex Kingdom's army scattered.

They were, after all, conscripts and, being forced to fight, had low morale.

When Alex III heard this, he got angry and ordered all those who ran and their families to be killed! He spread this news far and wide among his army.

If they ran, not only themselves but their family would die!

Then, he sent an army of 1,000,000 from the headquarters to attack Black Candle City again!

Black Candle is important.

If they manage to take Candle Palace, they could significantly harm Candale's morale.

The army of a million came again and laid siege to Black Candle.

On the other side, after destroying Red Candle, the first army reached Tall Candle City.

Tall Candle City was a big city with 600,000 people.

Its fortifications were strong, with an army of 100,000 guarding it.

After reaching it, the first army laid siege. Taking over this city would not be as easy as the last two cities.