"Should we chase after them, sir?" Shale asked while looking at the retreating Alexander and Josephine.
Oscar squinted his eyes before shaking his head. "No. It's better to kill the remaining members of the organization here. We'll use this to deliver enough damage that they can't deal with us for a few months."
"A few months, huh?" Shale nodded in understanding.
"Yeah. It's time to clean up the Demon Banner Army."
"Understood."
Both of them returned to reinforce the bases, making sure that no one would return alive.
Meanwhile, Anna and the others had restarted their journey and headed straight to the Moon Temple headquarters.
Even though they only had reached halfway, they could find the sincerity of Layla regarding this plan.
On the way, they were greeted by a group of holy knights.
They were led by two powerful individuals. One of them was a 48-year-old Paladin, and the second one was none other than the only archbishop the Moon Temple had.
"We wele you, Anna Stargaze, and the rest of the people from the Ardagan family." The archbishop shifted his glance to the back. "It seems that some of you are injured. Please allow us to treat them first and escort you to the Moon Temple."
Anna nodded with a serious expression. "Thank you for the help. There are a lot of things I want to say, but let's go to the Moon Temple first."
"Indeed. We'll definitely not treat our biggest sponsor badly." The archbishop nodded.
While everything was working out for Anna and Oscar, the same couldn't be said to the Supreme Devil Organization and the royal family.
"What? Everything has been wiped out?" Duke Raymond stood up in shock.
The king's expression turned dark as he glared at the Duke. He had told him to be cautious against them, but he and a lot of people ended up persuading him to take them on.
Duke Raymond gritted his teeth and said, "How can they wipe them out? There are six people who have reached spirit grandmasters. In fact, two of them have surpassed the rank of grandmasters. Anna Stargaze has only Howard and Felicia, right?"
"That's what we believe as well. However, no one can confirm that information right now, especially now that they have met up with the Moon Temple's escorts."
"Kh." Duke Raymond gritted his teeth. "How? Did they have a hidden force? Did Noel Ardagan join the fight?"
They couldn't answer the questions. Noel Ardagan was supposed to be in the city, and the remaining force of the Ardagan family had been scattered across their land, so Anna shouldn't have any hidden force to defeat them.
That was when one thing came to their mind.
"What if… Anna Stargaze has reached the spirit transcendence rank?"
"!!!" Everyone was stunned. They didn't want to believe it, but this one reason explained everything. If Anna had reached that rank, she would definitely have the strength to kill all of them. Even the marshal confirmed that possibility in the past.
"Is that true?"
"But if we think about it, there is really no other way."
"Anna Stargaze actually has such a power?"
"No. If we consider this to be true, what do you think about Noel Ardagan?"
"What about him?"
"Anna Stargaze has been the most talented person in our kingdom, but Noel Ardagan somehow keeps up with the pace she is growing."
The people fell silent. "Surely not… right?"
They didn't really want to believe this. If Noel and Anna had both reached the spirit transcendence rank, they could join hands with the Demon Banner Army and control the entire kingdom with their strength alone.
"If this is true, we have to reconsider our approach. Two spirit transcendence experts along with the Demon Banner Army."
"Should we call them to the palace to force them to explain themselves and swear allegiance?"
"But if they know about their strength, a lot more people will switch sides to the Ardagan family."
"If we play this badly, there's a high chance they will immediately gain most of the people's hearts, which will make our position even worse."
"But if we don't do anything, they will keep growing."
"Not necessarily. By looking at our damage, we won't have enough pawns to deal any serious damage. But because of their sacrifice, we manage to discover this truth a lot sooner."
"That's right. If I'm not wrong, they are planning to go on an expedition, right?"
"True. Why don't we use this time to build up our strength again? The sea expedition has never succeeded, so there's a high chance it will fail as well. If we use this to smear their reputation, we'll be able to attack the Ardagan family with enough justification with our new build force."
They considered this possibility carefully because one wrong move would definitely make attacking them impossible in the future.
Of course, they were scared because the king was angry. He was the one who had told them to be careful, so if they mess up one more time, they might die.
…
Supreme Devil Organization.
"The attack itself is a trap. Right now, we don't have enough people to even manage a few of our branches." Alexander frowned. "They must have planned this for a long time, especially with how Oscar places his troops."
Josephine gritted her teeth and shouted, "I don't like this. Am I supposed to accept that my student has reached the spirit transcendence rank before me?"
"Josephine. Shut up. This is not the time for that. I'm sure that the Demon Banner Army will be putting a lot of pressure on us. I suggest we should hide and rebuild our strength." Alexander's expression darkened.
Josephine looked like she couldn't contain her anger, but he didn't care. The most important thing was that they had fallen into traps and a third of their force had been crushed.
Laufey calmly said, "Why don't we use demons to fill up our rank as well?"
"Demonic humans?" Alexander frowned.
"Both. We will use both Demonic Humans and Demons. This should be enough for us to stand on our ground. If our defeat here is according to their plan, not only the Demon Banner Army but even the Ardagan family will definitely e. They know that the royal family can't do anything right now after all."
"!!!"
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