"Without a doubt, many people will die in this war. I know you're not okay with that, but you haven't asked to stop it either, Vaan slowly ntioned as he stood beside Astoria.
"It's true that I'm not okay with it," Astoria admitted before saying, "But I also know you have plans to make use of this war, and I don't want to get in your way."
"I know," Vaan calmly acknowledged.
"That's why I will give you a chance to announce your identity to the empire and persuade them to give up. Those who still have loyalty to the true heir will be spared, but those who stubbornly defy it will pay the price."
"Thank you, Vaan," Astoria said gratefully, resting her head on Vaan's shoulder.
It had been over three hundred years since she left the Holy Knight Empire. Although she still possessed a sense of responsibility to the people, it wasn't as strong as in the past.
At the sa ti, she had beco more flexible with her principles since her eting with Vaan.
It was impossible to save everyone; so sacrifices were necessary for the greater good. It would just be like cutting off the rotten branches and keeping the healthy ones.
She had to be decisive to move on from her past.
…
After Vaan's talk with Astoria, he resud his work on the southern borders. He moved between the three border regions, strengthening the battle witches as he checked on their progress.
Eventually, midnight arrived.
Back in Fort Whitebridge, more than four-fifths of the battle witches had retired to their sleeping quarters, leaving only one-fifth to carry out night duties.
As such, the security was lower than usual.
"My Lord. It's ti," Aeliana alerted after she sensed changes in the antimagic spores she had spread out in the three border regions.
"Their numbers?" Vaan asked.
"About five hundred, more than the agreed number," Aeliana answered before adding, "They have taken the right passage, the closest one to Fort Whitebridge. No signs of any other secret passages being used."
"So the Assembly of Silent Night only revealed one of their secret passages to the empire, huh? Make sense. It would be strange and stupid of them to show all their cards," Vaan casually comnted before saying, "Alright, let us head to the rendezvous location."
"Yes, my Lord," Aeliana and Artemis answered.
Before they left, Vaan instructed Zodreg to watch over Fort Whitebridge from the skies in their absence.
…
…
…
Two hundred yards away from Fort Whitebridge, at sixty feet underground, five hundred and five n clad in black moved through the secret passage.
Besides the five hundred n from the empire, they were also accompanied by five elderly n from the Wizard Tower.
More importantly, the five hundred n from the empire were all Rank 4 Aura Lords with strength rivaling the current known lords and nobles throughout the Holy Knight Empire.
However, none of their nas were known to anyone other than the emperor. They were one of the emperor's secret shadow groups, the Deathsworn Group.
From a young age, they were secretly trained to the extre to achieve strength that could repel any threat directed at their emperor. As such, they only answered to the emperor, only living and dying by the emperor's orders.
When they departed for their mission, they were prepared not to co back alive.
On the other hand, the five elderly n were all Peak-stage Second-Circle Wizards with power comparable to Early-stage High Witches. They were tasked to assist the Deathsworn Group with their magic.
However, they didn't have the sa resolution to lay down their lives if push ca to shove.
"This passage is completely pitch black. Let illuminate our path with so light magic—" a Peak-stage Second-Circle Wizard was quickly interrupted before he could finish.
"Stop it, you fool."
"We are treading right under the kingdom's noses. Do you want to expose our location? Furthermore, I can sense disruption in my mana flow. We are most likely passing through an antimagic zone, so your spell won't work properly here."
"But the dark organization didn't ntion anything about their secret passage having an antimagic zone," another wizard doubted.
"Even if they didn't, can't you use your head? Are you even a pursuer of truth and knowledge? The antimagic zone is clearly used to mask our presence. Otherwise, even if we are this deep underground, the kingdom could detect us."
"Well, you have a point," the wizards acknowledged, not wanting to argue further.
…
Soti later, the group reached the end of the secret passage and climbed the ladder leading outside, where there were finally so traces of light.
"Rember our objectives: group one will find and secure the imperial princess, then return to the empire, group two will study the southern borders, group three will investigate the central region, and group four will observe movents from the capital."
"As for group five, you're on standby with , ready to assist each group when needed. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir."
"Move out."
Shortly after, the four-fifths of the group split off into four different directions, leaving the fifth group behind with the speaker, who appeared to be the leader of the fifth group from the start.
"I will now rendezvous with the border lords and hand them the Rank 4 ntal Strength Potions. If I don't return, you know what to do," the fifth group leader stated.
"Yes, sir."
Nevertheless, the exchange took place smoothly without a problem. After the fifth group leader t up with Artemis and handed her the potions, they each went on their way.
The fifth group leader returned to his group, and Artemis headed back to Fort Whitebridge without Vaan and Aeliana.
At that mont, Vaan and Aeliana had been hidden nearby, using an invisibility spell that Aeliana had cast on them.
After the fifth group leader eventually departed for a different region half an hour later, Vaan finally broke the silence between him and Aeliana.
"Their positions?" Vaan asked.
"Most of them are heading north, but they left behind a fifth of the group to stay in the southern borders, my Lord," Aeliana answered before inserting her opinion, "Judging by how they are spreading out, they must be trying to form a wide network."
"Is that so?" Vaan rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"It seems the empire is quite careful. Despite possessing an overwhelming advantage with their military force, they still want to establish an intelligence network in our kingdom to feed their empire information."
"They're really going all out to ensure they are victorious in war and fully justified in doing so, huh? But, unfortunately, they've already fallen for our first trap. We have the initiative in our ho ground."
"It's ti to use that move, Aeli. Let us start with the ones in the southern borders," Vaan instructed.
"Yes, my Lord!" Aeliana answered as her eyes flickered with excitent.
In the next instant, she closed her eyes, focusing her senses on the antimagic spores within the southern borders. At the sa ti, she pressed her forehead against Vaan's, sharing their consciousness.
Soul Link
It was a dangerous spell, rarely used by any witches due to its high risk and limited usage. It involved linking two consciousnesses and sharing thoughts and control of each other's body in real-ti.
The slightest disharmony could result in breaking the link and causing severe damage to both their souls if not outright crippling their minds.
But for Vaan, who shared a master-servant relationship with Aeliana, it was not a problem.
The both of them quickly locked onto the empire's infiltrators in the region. Then, they remotely cast hundreds to thousands of ignition spells at once, which was only made possible with Vaan's high-speed thought processing and multitasking ability.
In essence, Vaan could cast any magic by using his servants as a dium with the soul link spell.
Nevertheless, the antimagic spore had limited mana. Thus, the scale of the ignition spells was minuscule. Even so, the scale of their power was just enough to burn Thousand-Mile Scent-Tracking Powder within the antimagic spores.
As a result of burning the Thousand-Mile Scent-Tracking Powder that made it to the infiltrators' brains, they produced a relatively mild poison with a strong sleeping effect that knocked out the infiltrators instantly.
A normal person would stay unconscious for eight hours at most. But for the sturdy Aura Lords, the duration of the sleeping effect would be drastically reduced to a re hour or two.
Even so, it was more than enough ti for Vaan to round up the unconscious bodies.
Because the infiltrators still had antimagic spores inside various parts of their bodies and Vaan also had his wide-range Omni-Sense, Vaan and Aeliana didn't suddenly lose track of the infiltrators.
After they went to round up the unconscious bodies in the southern borders, Vaan sent them to the Red Dragon Clan.
"You don't need to remind you what needs to be done with these guys, right?" Vaan asked for confirmation despite informing the dragon lords of his arrangent prior.
"Of course not, Supre Leader," Astarot shook his head.
"You wanted us to extract information from them and learn their objectives and thods of contact, then brainwash them with hypnotism so they beco oblivious to feeding their empire with false information, right?"
"That sums it," Vaan confird with a nod before suddenly saying, "But leave this one aside for now. I will study this one for a bit."
"Understood, Supre Leader," Astarot acknowledged.
Afterward, he signaled his subordinate dragons to take away the hundred unconscious bodies to carry out their task.
"My Lord, this old man… possesses two saturated mana rings around his heart like Peak-stage Senior Witches!" Aeliana exclaid with shock and amazent after she curiously checked out the remaining unconscious body.
"I know," Vaan nodded before comnting with amusent, "I knew it was possible in theory, but I didn't think Pangea actually had n who were willing to go to such lengths to gain power. I guess I underestimated people's desperation for power, even if it ans castrating themselves."
"You an he doesn't have a PP, my Lord?" Aeliana gasped as her eyes widened dumbfoundedly.
"Precisely."
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