I could not have thought of a better way to surrender this nation peacefully to the adversary who was once our greatest ally. Perhaps sometime again in the future, the mistakes of my judgement to betray them would return to me and bring justice back to those whom I had wronged. Those demons once relied on us dearly, and this is how I treat them? It was by a stroke of grace that Queen Magicnet did not wish to end us here and now after such a betrayal on my behalf. What choice did I even have back then if not for the benefit of my people? If she wishes for me and Eura to be prisoners and be questioned, then so be it. I will accept any punishment they would give for me and Eura to benefit the Aineura Empire.
“Sister, forgive me. I should have assessed the situation better before we blocked their path. My intelligence gathering was unacceptable that we didn’t consider their true abilities other than them being simple spies from Aseota. I should have…” My gaze turns toward Eura, holding her face while we are left sitting on the ground by Queen Magicnet.
“That is enough, Eura. Little sister, at the very least we are not dead yet. We could still atone in other ways that our empire has done to the demons without our deaths.” I comforted Eura.
“And at the price of our life, we surrendered Toratoga along with our own empire. Toratoga would have been enough for them. Was it that necessary?” She looks confused.
“It is. We have done so much against them that it outweighed all the good things we have done for them. If it meant that they would not raze our empire, then so be it. Have our captors, our only ally that we ever so betrayed, choose how they would deal with us.” Eura may indeed not see the benefit it would be for our people in the long run, with our lives unbelievably spared. Knowing Eura, she is probably a little disappointed that it did not end in an honorable fight against Queen Magicnet. She would have loved dying an honorable death from attempting to save me from the Demon Queen. After all, she does not want to be remembered as a hero that wanted nothing in life but to fight. She wanted people to remember her like a true family to her sister, not just some sort of adventurer doing my bidding.
As I fondle Eura's head then biting her neck to heal her, I am left in awe trying to understand the power of our new Demon Queen. I could comprehend how she is to some extent, but that is the end of it. After this blue and lifeless slime returned and absorbed itself back towards her thighs, she too turned into one, as if she was the slime herself.
Queen Magicnet herself is not a slime, as I have appraised her. Is the new term called an ‘Artificial Intelligence/Machine’ a new race of slimes? What do these terms even mean? I fail to understand how a slime could turn from being a liquid to a demon, and now she turned herself into a small piece of black slab! The glowing blue slime lifted itself to the air and turned into a small black triangle that looked exactly like how the survivors of the Toratoga Fleet would describe, only smaller now. After which my eyes are constantly deceiving me while this small piece of triangular stone slowly grew in size and floated higher and higher. In its final form, it covered the entire Toratoga City , almost turning day into night with its shadow. At the moment I realized what I am seeing is the reason they named her the ‘flying metal fortress’. There too I knew one reason as to why Queen Magicnet did not end us there, we are simply too weak for her to be a worthy adversary to begin with. How I knew this is not some illusion spell the Queen used while she herself is already long gone is that the massive fortress in the sky tilted itself and turned its red gaze towards the 7th tower. The colors of the fortress above us matched the colors of Queen Magicnet as she removed her disguise when she bested us.
She turned her attention back towards the 7th tower, in which she simply hovered over it. What would seem like tentacles appeared to come from her back and touched the tower. These tentacles retreated back to her when distant noises reached us from across the outskirts of the city. Eura and I looked around and saw smoke all around the borders of the city. What in the lords are happening over there? Are we having a rebellion from the pirates now?
Several messenger vampires arrive coming from almost all directions while in their bat forms. I was just as well thinking about making them report back to me and tell all the people in both empires of the 7th tower that they are now subjects of the Aineura Empire, but here they are now. They are all panicking to report to me the bad news.
“Lord Aru, … Toratoga. Toratoga is being attacked by the Taito-Sareta Empire, of the 8th!” one of the messenger catches their breath and reports.
“What…?! … Ridiculous! … I thought they were our allies by our membership under the Alliance of the Eight?!” All the vampire elites as well as both me and Eura are in disbelief. Why are they attacking us? And to what end?
“Lord Aru. I bring urgent news from the battle. It seems the leader of the Taito-Sareta Empire has passed a letter for you and your sister! Please read!” This has got to be some mistake. The contents of this letter are already predictable, knowing that it came from the infamous leader of the 8th empire.
“To the dear sisters of the Cardavenia Empire, I formally regret to inform you that you and all the empires you control under the 7th are now branded by the Alliance as a rogue nation for insubordination. Your leadership actions have led to the death of the Hero Petrel along with the control of his empire. Knowing your history as described by the Queen Dragon Turea Icaru Alia Tera, you have collaborated with the 9th demons and are possibly doing the same as of now as well. We have no choice but to take the territory you gained after you have betrayed the Admiral and your very own beloved Cardavenia empire by force. You will both pay for your reckless decisions with both of your heads detached from your solid body! Do not worry! I will make it painless for both of you. <3 Sincerely, Hero Shia Vendura Sareta.”
“Outrageous! How could they not tell us before they attacked our people?!” Eura exclaimed.
“It is a signature action of their leader, Shia, to delay messages to their enemies. The moment the letter is read by her adversaries, it is already too late. The wolves she conquered with it called her ‘The Lighting Princess”. The lightning was already hitting the ground before hearing the letter message from the thunder.”
“What should we do now?…” Amidst the loud conversations and panicked voices of the surrounding vampires, I had to make a move now or risk losing more people against the sword and claws of the invading 8th Empire forces.
Ahh… enough! There is just too much that has happened against our nation. We need to stand our ground here and defend the 7t-… 9th subjects! My subjects! This may also be our chance to prove Queen Magicnet that we are still worthy to defend the demons from harm, not that there are many demons left due to my incompetence!
“Messenger vampires, tell all forces and the people first that they are now subjects of the Aineuran Empire! Tell them that they shall all hold their ground to fight back and should the demons from the 9th arrive in their aid, they shall not fight them. Tell them that the Alliance has turned against us all! Give them no mercy!” The vampires cheered with morale replenished, and they went back into their winged forms to send the message.
“As for all of you elites and leaders, go to every fort and barracks and assemble a force for each front of the battle. Reinforce the people fighting, Cardavenia or Toratogan, in battle. The 7th must not fall!”
“Yes, Lord Aru!” The vampire elites assumed their bat forms as well and turned towards all directions where the guards and pirates could be residing.
“As for you sister, Eura, go back to Cardavenia and ask prepare to defend it at all cost. Knowing the Alliance, they might have also prepared a sizeable force there to probe our home while we are away.” Eura nods her head, with a concerned look on her face.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“And what of you, sister? Where will you be?” She asked a very good question. I fear something else beyond our power might arrive to raze our lands to the ground If I do not tell Queen Magicnet about it quickly.
“I will go to Queen Magicnet and ask for her aid in a possible encounter with her, the Dragon. Should she attack here, I must ask the demon queen to take her down or at the very least drive her away.” If the demon queen’s size is final as we see it above us, then Turea is about one-third the size of her, and she could very well damage Queen Magicnet if she is taken by surprised. I could not see how Queen Magicnet could damage Turea in her own way with what was described by the pirates in the Battle of the 9th Tower, but using her pure magic may be enough to scratch her. The dragon is the most powerful hero of the Alliance, even with the combined effort of all other heroes under her, she could still defeat all of them with at least one-fourth of her power exhausted.
“I see… Let us just hope we will still make it together with this one alive together, right, dear sister?” Eura held and lifted my hand. Despite her love for battle, she could not fathom the idea of leaving me alone without her by my side, or at least knowing that I am safe and within her reach. She knows my weaknesses of being alone in fights too well, but this time, we have to separate our battles. She may not show it on her face, but she is just as afraid as she is as brave in facing the odds.
“That would not be a problem. Queen Magicnet is here and should I be too wounded to fight, I will fly towards her protection. ” She still needs us both alive, as we are prisoners of war, after all. It would be an encumbrance for her alone when both of us get captured or killed by the 8th, and I will not allow that.
-
Hah… hngg… I could not inform Queen Magicnet in time. Just as I was about to fly up and reach her about some hours ago, she moved away and moved towards the sea. She then placed herself on the seas and just stayed still there for hours on end. I did not see it myself, but it seems she has been moving herself around frequently. Queen Magicnet’s citadels and towers above her fortress body, as I would assume, have been moving around for hours. I do not know what she has been doing, but it seems important, to her at least. Whatever she is doing, I still need to defend Toratoga and possibly her as well, as she seems to be vulnerable when she stays on the sea like that. Fortunately, considering that none of the 8th seems to bother the immense fortress that has been floating on the sea for hours, she doesn’t seem to need my protection at all.
After failing my attempt to tell her about Turea, I have landed down on the docks and fought alongside the pirates and some vampires themselves. I have lost count of how many Lvl. 90 Direwolves I have killed since then. I had recovered 10% of my HP before the start of the battle when the Queen one-sidedly fought against us. We vampires could regenerate ourselves with the enemies we kill by simply biting their dead corpses, so it was not that long before I regained full health just by simply killing all of these wolves. Their numbers seem to never end in any way we fight for the last few hours. I have not seen the Slime Lord anywhere since the start of these attacks. There is also only one dark elf mage per around 100 of these direwolves I have seen since this battle, along with the direcrow and direowls they summoned. That fact concerns me to the highest. Where are the rest of their army? What is the slime Lightning Princess thinking? Perhaps she didn’t have enough troops to transport here through her Teleportation Gate Spell? I could think of her probing the enemies defenses with minimal amount of forces, but this tactic is not like her. Could it be that the dragon told her to test Toratoga’s defenses? But they already know that too well that none of the 7th humans or pirates could beat any of the forces from the other tower nations. Could it be…?
Before I could finish my thought while biting a fallen direwolf’s neck, I rushed to turn into my winged form and flew towards the sky. Into the sun I flew faster and just before the clouds could reach me, a glass pane hit my head, and it broke into its thousand pieces that make it up. I knew it, they are watching this battle unfold here. The 1st tower nation is watching us defend this city to the last. Looking Glass spell is still currently active somewhere around here in the sky. Colliding straight towards this invisible Instrument Skill is not enough to dispel it, another glass pane would appear again to replace it until the caster stops channelling their MP to it. With the spell active in the sky, the Alliance is definitely observing Queen Magicnet’s actions to assess how powerful she is now.
Speaking of the defense, the other parts of the city where only the 7th humans are defending it are losing their ground. As expected from the vampire elites, the vampires hold them off and stood their ground. The city is attacked in all directions, and the Northern and Southern gates are in the enemy’s control. Most of the 8th tower’s forces in those areas are already slaughtering the women and children hiding in their homes, while the rest of the remaining 7th pirates are defending the innocent to their own demise. As a leader of my own empire, I could not stand the murdering of the innocent, under the rule of the enemy or otherwise. My chest felt heavy, and I hesitated for a moment to choose between which side of the city I should aid first. I calmed myself down, and before I scrambled again to meet the murdering 8th forces in the southern part of the city, I gazed towards the sea where Queen Magicnet is and saw things I could not even begin to comprehend.
“...How is that possible?! Where did all those oddly shaped structures come from?!” All thinkable possibilities and reason left my head as I count at least 5 additional fortresses and citadels apart from the Queen Magicnet herself that are the size of around one-fifth of the Queen’s. There I also saw around 50 dark objects floating around the base and on top of these structures. They are too far for me to see what they area really until 5 large dark slabs, similar to that of the shape of a sea ray without a tail, rapidly approached me while hovering in the sky. Just like the red eyes of the demon queen herself, they too had two those eyes and are giving a petrifying screeching and wailing sound, like that of an undead witch screaming in the labyrinths. They were too fast, faster than that of a wind dragon or any high level harpy that it gave off a loud thunderous boom as they went by, it must be some sort of enchantment skill to fly faster. I don’t understand, they use enchantment skills but not one of them give off any presence of magic. Not one of them even flapped their wings! I could not even comprehend to match their speed with my winged form. All 5 went past me in haste and circled around the city skies before diving towards all sides of the city. One after another, explosions erupt from their wake as they streak past the city walls. I could not see what happened as they went past the 8th, but as they did, not a single one of the direwolves and dark elves remain standing on the ground. Even at the Southern and Northern front of the city, the 8th simply disappeared, not a single body of the dead are in sight. Even if I did fly fast with one of them towards the Southern walls, I would barely make it in time to defend the last of the 7th’s people.
One of the dark rays turned around from the city center, back towards the city docks, close to where I am hovering now. I get to see a glimpse of what they have done against the 8th forces. They are simply using something similar to a fireball or an arrow of multicolored light that hits their targets with ultimate speed and precision. As loud as they were to move around, so did their weapons. A fireball from a dark elf managed to reach on these flying rays and hit its skin, but it barely did anything. It took revenge and hit the elf with these beams of light, removing him from existence. No wonder, there were almost no bodies around their path. What incredibly terrifying power. These rays must have something else in their sleeve other than those beams of light. With their speed, visual appraisal is almost impossible to do here.
However, they were not perfect with their flight in destroying all hiding 8th forces. Some are still inside the city walls and buildings, where melee ensues between the 7th and 8th. The other dark objects I saw around the structures Queen Magicnet created, are now on their way towards the docks. Their formation is well coordinated, as if they knew and prepared what would happen beforehand. I saw none of these things present at all the years we have been with Queen Arika. What more surprises are these metal creatures going to show this world their of their fearsome power, I wonder?
“What the?! I sense high magic!” My sense interrupted me from my awe at the uncanny weaponry the demon lord used. This magic is different from the one emanating from Queen Magicnet. This feeling… it is far closer than that from the demon lord. So that’s what she has been up to at this point. She wanted to cut the head fast before the body could react. I believe she’s been saving herself for this.
“Good day, Hero Aru Von Carda. Shall I pleasure you over your palace for some tea?” In her elegant blue and dark battle dress, the young looking girl posed into her usual greeting stance.
“I respectfully decline, Hero Shia Sareta, I suppose you prefer to dance with me here instead?” My HP may be full, but my MP are almost drained from fighting and casting spells protecting the 7th. It may take some time for me to recover it fast. This is not good. I just need to delay Hero Shia before she realizes her army is failing.
“How rude! To decline my offer for tea, but I insist. Hmm… Perhaps we can have that tea forcefully down your throat after I finish dancing with you here with your traitorous head on a platter?”