𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟑𝟏.1: 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 (3)
While the Allied Forces were fiercely battling against Chaos, the conflict of civil war was gradually escalating within the Empire. The Imperial Senate was convened under the assumption that the Emperor might pass away, and as the Electors, who held voting rights in the council, began their vote. . . the tension grew even thicker.
Eventually, through a majority vote, the First Prince Valentine was elected as Crown Prince. Surprisingly, votes in support of Valentine came not only from the Electors of the Central, Eastern, and Southern regions but also from some within the Western and Northern regions.
This was thanks to Valentine’s status as a CID official Diamond-ranked Grandmaster.
As a result, the faces of those who supported the Third Prince Douglas and the Second Princess Arwen hardened, and when the chairman of the Imperial Senate declared Valentine as the Crown Prince, they had to leave the conference hall with even more contorted expressions.
Following a brief coronation ceremony, Valentine, now firmly established as the Crown Prince of the Empire, began managing state affairs on behalf of his unconscious father, the Emperor, and immediately took preemptive measures.
Crown Prince Valentine first detained the remaining Electors from the Western and Northern regions in the capital under various pretexts. Meanwhile, he ordered the Central Military District to deploy troops to the Air Force Command and Maesterium, and summoned forces from the Eastern and Southern Military Districts.
Of course, he instructed them to move as secretly as possible and began his operation through Hecaton, who had now become under his control. Since the agents of other factions within Hecaton had been completely purged, there was less concern about information leaks.
‘𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘗𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘌𝘺𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦.’
The Crown Prince did not solely rely on Hecaton. He moved the three organizations – Hecaton, Kronen, and Peace Eye – separately, making them leak different information to each other, creating confusion.
Therefore, those trying to gather information separately would surely be bewildered by the immense information disruption. Of course, even with this, everyone knew that he and his two siblings would eventually have to part ways, so it was impossible to prevent them from preparing as well.
‘𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘵. . .’
If civil war broke out, supplies might not be smooth. This would deal a blow to the Expeditionary Force in the New Continent. . .
‘𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘺𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘔𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦.’
Crown Prince Valentine had placed his own people as lords in those territories for this very reason. He hoped that they would support the expeditionary force without getting involved in the civil war as much as possible.
Of course, to do that, he would have to prevent the rebels from crossing the Pyrenees Mountains. . . but that much should be possible. The Pyrenees Mountains were notorious, as the Democratic Republic had stopped the Imperial Empire’s advance with a relatively weak force.
🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸
While the Imperial Empire was experiencing escalating tensions of civil war, the Allied Forces, facing the forces of Chaos, were experiencing moments of crisis and victory.
A dream team was formed to deal with the three Archduke Demons. The champions of the Church, composed of individuals expected to be the strongest, would take on the Archduke of Gluttony. The Dark Brotherhood, a secret society from the Titan continent, would face the Archduke of Lust, Asmodeus. And finally, the Archduke of Envy, Invidia, would be handled by the Diamond-ranked heroes of the Allied Forces.
Naturally, Oswald was among those heroes.
“It is an honor to fight alongside you.”
said Archduke Malekis, the Dark Elf Archduke, to which Oswald responded with a smile.
“The honor is mine, to be able to fight with Your Excellency, who is comparable to a Sorcerer King.”
“You flatter me.”
Then, the Drake ‘Eugnil,’ bestowed with the name of the dragon ‘Eugnil,’ joined them.
The Drakes of Century, who were confronting the demons of Chaos in place of the dragons who had gone into hiding. Each of them could use magic comparable to an 8th Circle Wizard and possessed physical abilities on par with a Sword Master.
However, due to the presence of two beings presumed to be far stronger than Drake Eugnil, Eugnil was currently maintaining silence. Their pride, believing themselves to be the protectors of Century in the absence of the dragons, was considerable.
Thus, they stood before Archduke Invidia, whom they were assigned to deal with, and finished their preparations for battle.
【Hmm. . . Did I look too weak? It seems like they only picked the relatively weak ones to come here?】
One of them possessed strong magical power but wasn’t that threatening, another was confirmed to be a Drake, a subspecies of dragons, and the last one was a strange fellow without even magical power. However, Invidia could sense unfamiliar yet familiar energies from that strange fellow, but she didn’t seem to know what they were.
“How dare you, a mere demon of Chaos!”
‘Eugnil,’ already feeling a subtle inferiority complex from being weaker than human and Dark Elf, roared fiercely and charged towards Invidia without any hesitation.
As Eugnil flew towards her at high speed, light emanated from his body, and soon he transformed into a large Drake. Then, from his massive mouth, a breath of flames erupted, striking Invidia’s entire body.
【Huhu. . . This is rather warm. As expected of a subspecies, I suppose? Only the breath of an elder dragon could inflict any harm upon Invidia!】
Then, Invidia’s black wings flapped, sending hundreds of black feathers flying towards Drake Eugnil. The feathers, flying like sharp hidden weapons, inflicted wounds all over Drake Eugnil’s body, and the Drake, surprised by the attack’s unexpected strength, screamed and retreated.
“. . .”
“Ha. . . Seriously. . .”
Archduke Malekis was speechless at Eugnil’s disgraceful display, and Oswald thought that the High Elves, who had sent such a useless creature as part of their team, were truly absurd.
Anyway, watching Eugnil get utterly crushed, Oswald discreetly used his Eyes of Truth on Invidia, the Archduke Demon of Envy.
[𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐝𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐧𝐯𝐲, 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐚]
[𝐀𝐠𝐞: 𝟗,𝟖𝟓𝟎,𝟎𝟒𝟒]
[𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐯.𝟖𝟎]
[𝐀𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐋𝐯.𝟖𝟎]
[𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐋𝐯.𝟖𝟎]
[𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐯.𝟏,𝟖𝟎𝟎]
[𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐯.𝟏,𝟎𝟎𝟎]
[𝐄𝐧𝐯𝐲 𝐋𝐯.𝟔𝟎𝟎]
[𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐋𝐯.𝟏𝟎𝟎]
[𝐏𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐜 𝐋𝐯.𝟐𝟐𝟎]
[𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐯.𝟏𝟓𝟎]
[𝐉𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐋𝐯.𝟏𝟓𝟎]
[𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐋𝐯.𝟐𝟓]
[𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞: 𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐯.𝟗]
[𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞: 𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐯.𝟐]
[𝐓𝐰𝐨-𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐋𝐯.𝟏𝟎]
[𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐋𝐯.𝟔]
‘𝘈𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳. . .’’