Such a thing actually happened within the Imperial Capital?!
The Demon King personally descended to cause destruction!!!
The Emperor clenched his fists tightly. His expression was incredibly grim.
Are those fellows at the border fortress eating shit?!
Tomorrow is the National Day celebration. Yet today, such an incident occurs.
How can he, a man who aspires to be like the founding emperor of the Empire, endure such a disgrace?!
Fortunately, however. The chaos caused by the Demon King subsided after several hours. Furthermore, Regwalt, the commander of his personal guard, was about to arrive to report the specific details.
"You two, dismiss yourselves."
The Emperor waved his hand. He signaled Armet, the second-in-command of the Court Mages who had arrived a step ahead, and Böse, the head of the Magic Special Forces, to withdraw first.
However, just as Böse was about to walk out of the palace gates. The Emperor spoke again.
"Böse, put the assassination of Serie on hold for a moment."
Put it on hold? Armet couldn't help but pause in his tracks. But seeing that the Emperor had not called for him, he continued to leave in silence.
"Your Majesty..." Böse was stunned. "The matter of assassinating the Great Mage Serie is no joke. Our Magic Special Forces have been preparing for this for decades!"
"We even recalled the elites who were supposed to be deployed to defend Kino Pass for this National Day celebration, all for this one operation!"
Hearing Böse's words, the Emperor couldn't help but feel a surge of anger. He understood the logic, of course. But he had an ominous premonition.
Battle reports from Kino Pass had not been sent back for nearly two days. Even Denken, whom he had sent to oversee the battle—his chief Court Mage—was nowhere to be found. This made the Emperor feel that the situation was dire.
"Kino Pass has lost contact. And now this incident has occurred in the Imperial Capital. Do you think now is still the time for an assassination?"
The Emperor waved his hand irritably. He didn't want to listen to Böse, who looked like he wanted to say more.
Under the current internal and external pressures, he urgently needed to meet with his Knight Commander to discuss concrete countermeasures. If Denken were here, the Emperor believed Denken would naturally be able to offer some advice. Only...
"Your Majesty!" Böse gritted his teeth. With his head lowered, he left in a huff.
It was at this moment that Regwalt, the commander of the Lion Knights, entered the palace supporting Denken.
"Your Majesty, something has happened."
Denken looked as if he had aged decades. He knelt before the Emperor with trembling limbs.
"Thud!"
Looking at Denken's miserable state, the Emperor felt as if a large stone had been dropped into a well. A very bad premonition arose!
"Denken, why have you returned? Didn't I tell you to assist Hendrik in defending Kino Pass?"
"Your Majesty, Kino Pass is finished! Everything is finished!" Denken covered his eyes and spoke in a sorrowful tone.
"The demons have somehow developed a magic that can actually revive fallen demons! There's no way to fight, simply no way to fight!"
"Where is Hendrik! I want to see him!" The Emperor slapped the armrest of his Lion Throne and stood up abruptly!
The fall of Kino Pass meant that the demon army could drive straight in, marching south all the way to the Imperial Capital! What National Day celebration! It might as well be the Day of National Ruin!
Denken was weeping and did not answer. Seeing this, Regwalt was forced to answer with a grim face.
"Your Majesty... General Hendrik... has fallen for the country..."
Fallen... A brave general... A top-tier general of the Empire had died just like that? The Emperor was dazed for a moment.
"Your Majesty, the urgent matter is to summon the nobles from all regions to gather their forces and guard the Imperial Capital!" Regwalt urged immediately.
After all, with a demon army of hundreds of thousands pressing in, his three thousand knights plus the thirty thousand city guards and those useless Court Mages had no chance of holding out! That was a demon army that had swallowed the hundreds of thousands of troops at Kino Pass! Their strength absolutely could not be underestimated!
Their only reliance, one could say, was Böse's Magic Special Forces and Serie's Continental Magic Association.
"That's right. It is vital to summon the regional nobles to the capital to assist in the defense."
The Emperor's fists cracked. Unstable on his feet, he suddenly collapsed back onto the massive golden Lion Throne.
"Your Majesty!" Denken and Regwalt were frightened and hurriedly moved forward to support him. But the Emperor merely waved them off and began issuing orders.
"Denken, you are responsible for contacting the Court Mages and the Magic Special Forces to join the defense of the capital. Regwalt, immediately send men to call upon the Imperial nobles to send troops to support the capital!"
Countless squads of golden knights galloped through the capital on their warhorses to all points!
It was just after arranging all the emergency affairs that the Emperor received news of the fall of the harbor. Finally unable to hold on, he spat out a mouthful of blood and fell unconscious!
For a time, the Empire was covered in dark clouds. The eve of the National Day celebration, which should have been festive, suddenly became so oppressive that everyone fell into silence. The heavy atmosphere told everyone: something major had happened to the Empire...
"Is Yulian alright?"
Serie walked out of the wooden hut, staring uneasily toward the Imperial Capital. It looked terrifying over there, as if something horrific was about to happen.
"He'll be fine." Frieren pursed her lips and shook her head gently.
"How do you know?" Serie watched Frieren quietly. Frieren didn't speak but turned back into the hut to flip through her grimoires. However, she was looking at them absentmindedly.
Frieren touched her calm chest and thought to herself: That fellow would never do anything he wasn't sure of.
"Lady Serie! Mistress Frieren!"
A figure flew in from the sky. Purple hair, with a pleasant smile on her face—it was undoubtedly Fern. Fern landed steadily amidst the sea of flowers and handed the parchment stamped with the Imperial seal to Serie.
"What is this?" Serie took the decree and looked at it curiously.
"It's a decree from His Majesty the Emperor. It's essentially a request for you to lead the Continental Magic Association to assist the Empire in defending against the approaching demon army..." Fern said with a wry smile.
"Genau said this proves the Empire has given up on assassinating you. You can return to the Continental Magic Association." Fern looked a bit worried as she spoke. "I just don't know what this demon army has to do with Yulian... and Yulian still seems to be under the ruins without any movement..."
"Let's go." Without waiting for Serie's reply, Frieren was already standing at the door of the hut, ready to depart.
The three of them looked toward the Imperial Capital together. At the same time, three great armies were converging on the Empire from the north, east, and south!
"The era belonging to the demons is finally coming." Schlacht, wearing a cloak, sat cross-legged on a bone dragon that revealed its gruesome white frame. The sky was covered in patches of dark clouds. "Lord Demon King, we are arriving soon."
The mage unit led by Qual had abandoned their ships. They activated flight magic and headed toward the Imperial Capital in a grand procession.
"Your Majesty, you were truly muddled!" The nobles complained that their Emperor had neglected the defense of Kino Pass because he wanted to assassinate Serie, leading to a massive invasion! Yet they gritted their teeth and urged their armies forward!
This was a battle against time! But Yulian was not in a hurry at all. The demons had a massive advantage. Logically, if Yulian broke free now and continued to exert his power in the capital, the demons could not lose.
However, Yulian remained on guard against Schlacht's strangeness. This Schlacht was different from the Schlacht he knew...
"You think so too, right?" The Hero's Sword, which had been released and was now by Yulian's side, responded by gently trembling its blade upon hearing his question.
He, Yulian, might not be the Demon King who destroys the world—but he should be the Hero who saves it!