"You are either naive," Alex said, shaking his head slowly, "or lying through your teeth."
There was no heat in it, just the calm of someone setting a fact on the table, without ceremony, without apology.
"But since you've shared your view, I'll share mine." He leaned forward slightly, his forearms resting on the glass surface, his eyes steady on Magnus across it.
"Your decision rests on a single assumption, that regardless of Empress Siles' personal reasons for waging this war, once she achieves her objective she wouldn't allow the Demon King to run unchecked."
"That even if she departs, a united Eldravian Empire would be capable of standing against him and his armies." A pause. "And in a positive scenario, you are right. The world survives, and both threats are neutralized. The entrance trial is cleared, the doors to the cosmos open, and everyone earns the right to walk through them."
He let that sit for exactly a moment.
