Chapter 135: The Army to Save the World

"..."

Looking at the pale golden Veil outside the window, the former Knight King of Bretonnia, now a grand lord merely scraping by in Gelongni, stared with somewhat dull eyes, watching the golden rift with numbness.

Compared to the rifts that had appeared above the bay a year ago, the power now displayed by the matured Star-Bearers and their appearance made the Knight King feel a sense of heart-pounding dread. Those pale golden Elves were expressionless, yet filled with a mysterious fighting spirit.

These Elves seemed to have no need for conversation; they advanced in total silence, constantly projecting their oppressive presence in all directions, silently wiping out every enemy. This appeared to be a good thing, but it was not only the Chaos Army that was being wiped out. The innocent people amidst the Chaos, the crowds within castles and fortresses, were also being driven out and sent to the Golden Land and the Arctic.

These supernatural monsters possessed a hair-raising technology; they seemed capable of tampering with people's souls, destroying the souls people already possessed, and replacing them with an individual that was similar but not the same, crafted from flesh and blood.

It was difficult to describe that horror in words; it looked as if monsters were disguising themselves as humans to hunt.

The Knight King had tried very hard to resist these monsters, and had tried very hard to make his subjects resist the fear in their hearts. But no matter what he did, the moment they saw those pale monsters, an uncontrollable sense of insane terror and despair would surge within people's hearts.

At first, everyone could convince themselves that these were allies, that these monsters were actually born from people's fear and ignorance, and that we were all allies against Chaos. But watching the light in the firmament grow increasingly brilliant, watching those massive structures begin to rise from the ground, with countless spiraling stairs and super-giant mountain ranges taking shape, no one began to believe that this thing belonged to humanity or stood on humanity's side.

It was not just in Antarctica; it was said that the structures in Antarctica had already covered the sky. And the Arctic was no less impressive.

That massive, towering spire that threatened to cover the entire sky, like a tree growing upside down, spread its branches beneath the Planetary Shield. Countless Star-Bearers and their allies shuttled across it using their power, then transformed into small meteors in the sky, falling toward the locations that required their Orbital Strike.

The golden Veil, the golden sky—even breathing made one feel the scorching psychic energy surging in all directions, letting everyone feel the power and conviction presented by the madman named Li Ang. He had long wanted to fight a decisive battle to the death with such a monster.

But what could be done now? They had never attacked humans or intelligent life; they were merely loyally striking at Chaos.

Even his own subjects, though filled with fear, would cheer wildly for these monsters upon seeing the scenes of Chaos being destroyed. Watching them spread from the poles to all directions, watching them cross mountains and canyons, advancing toward even further reaches. The Knight King had even heard that the Star-Bearers had joined forces with the players of Hope City, completely monopolizing the North.

This kind of thing sounded like a fantasy; one had to know that the Chaos disaster in the North had persisted for who knows how many tens of thousands of years, yet now it had been suppressed by the Star-Bearers. Even that insane Chaos tide had been checked; what else could they do? The Knight King even felt a sense of self-mockery. He had fought Chaos Demons his whole life, swearing to be at odds with monsters. In the end, he even dreamed that he would join forces with demons to fight monsters.

This had to be said to be an irony of his life—

"You aren't dreaming, you damned mortal."

"...?"

Under the Knight King's somewhat terrified gaze, a crow flew in from beneath the pale golden Veil.

This crow was far stranger than imagined; its feathers looked less like pitch-black and more like a noble and exquisite deep blue.

Unlike the black and red eyes of ordinary crows, this crow looked as if its pupils were burning with pale blue flames. Those azure eyes stared at the Knight King, then suddenly landed on the windowsill. Under the Knight King's increasingly shocked gaze, it stretched out its beak to preen its feathers.

"Realize our promise yet? Mortal?"

The crow smoothed its feathers, tilted its head to look at the speechless Knight King, and fluent language flowed from its mouth, irrigating the Knight King's brain.

"We will keep our promise, and I know you couldn't possibly trust us, but damn it, I don't trust you either. Ah~ damn it, the great Lord of Change demands we cooperate, damn it all. It should have been the Prince of Darkness coming to find you, but she got bored, so I came."

The crow spoke to itself, paced around, hopped onto the fruit plate to eat some fruit, and made a satisfied sound.

The Knight King stared blankly at the azure crow before him, feeling that he might be hallucinating under the pressure.

Yes, it must be that; it must be a hallucination under the intense pressure of survival.

One had to know that life now was full of pressure, the demon tide was still spreading around Bretonnia, everything was still in a terrible state; what kind of dream could he have had to realize he was going to join forces with demons to fight the Star-Bearers? He had fought demons his entire life.

It must be because the Star-Bearers in the sky had brought him immense pressure, making him feel that even such a raven must be an emissary of the Chaos Gods, otherwise there was no way to explain—

"Ah, damn it, a person like you will probably be enslaved by that monster sooner or later."

The giant raven cursed in dissatisfaction, flapped its wings, and landed on the ground.

Then, under the Knight King's horrified gaze, the giant crow began to twist and deform, its body rapidly expanding amidst shadows and light, unfolding its supernatural form and psychic flames.

Under the gaze of the former leader of Bretonnia, who had completely collapsed, the Great Demon, looking like a large bird, smiled at the mortal, then extended a finger to turn everything around them into a mass of rainbow light. The supernatural, powerful magic completely sealed the surrounding environment, leaving only the muffled sounds of the two people between them.

It was real.

That impossible dream was likely a reality.

The Knight King looked at the smiling Great Demon in a state of collapse, feeling that he had lived his life in vain.

Bretonnia, the Knight of the Kingdom. A kingdom known for kindness and justice; although it was true that there might be some things inside, all the knights were willing to offer their bodies to fight Chaos. But how could it be like this now? How did he inexplicably listen to the slander of such a Chaos Demon and let it into his bedroom? No, he was the Knight King, the leader of Bretonnia, the paragon of knightly virtue. He must kill these monsters, he must prove that he was the one who was right...

"You don't need to hypnotize yourself; we aren't allies either. We are just huddling together for warmth under the crisis of survival. Ah, how hateful, if the demons of the Prince of Darkness had come, they would surely have been able to explain it clearly to you. After all, you two are old flames..."

"What?!"

"Your relationship with Chaos is much closer than you imagine. You always think you have detached yourselves from Chaos, but in reality, you have never achieved that."

The giant demon flapped its wings, looking at the Bretonnian King, whose sanity had almost collapsed, and a look of contempt appeared on its face in a very human way. This demon from the God of Change did not like this move at all, but there was no other way now.

They must unite; only by using each other's most powerful strength could they drive that monster out of this planet.

"You are protected by gods and possess powerful abilities and combat strength; the knights of Bretonnia will coordinate with the Empire's artillery to charge at those soulless monsters on the battlefield. You will become legends sooner or later, but only after completely killing that enemy of life. After that, we can happily slaughter each other, but before that, we have a common enemy."

Ignoring the dejected Knight King, the Great Demon of the God of Change, covered in feathers, was fiercely lecturing the decadent figure, dancing and gesturing to display various psychic flames and images in the surroundings.

These supernatural flames formed a strange mirror, showing the appearances of various leaders from all directions, as well as the Star-Bearers advancing coldly. The pale Star-Bearers were advancing every moment; even now, the sky fire outside the window was falling in all directions without interruption.

"There is no time to waste; our attacks on you will come to a temporary halt. Since you didn't intend to be with that madman, we won't do anything to you. Intelligent beings and Subspace demons are just the two sides of a mirror; you will eventually become like us, and we will eventually appear in the Material Universe. All of this was destined long ago, but that monster is not."

"We must unite. Demons will only become his constant rations; his appetite is getting bigger and bigger now, even wanting to eat the entire Subspace. From our perspective, the Subspace in that region cannot even be observed for signals."

"Only by uniting, only by uniting and using every power and tool that can be used, can we truly resolve this crisis."

"This is the army to save the world; it should be to your taste..."

A Great Demon going all out and trying hard is very useful. As a Great Demon of the God of Wisdom, countless plans are born and annihilated in its brain almost every moment.

In the past, all demons would happily execute their plans. But now the demons have realized that being devoured by that monster is true destruction and death. There is no time for playing around; demons are very serious about their attitude toward resisting the Star-Bearers.

They know very well that these so-called kings and knights, as well as the leaders everywhere, are simply unreliable; after all, compared to the Star-Bearers, the hatred between them can be called a blood feud. But the demons do not intend to ease this contradiction; they are, in the end, just using each other. If possible, it wouldn't matter if these Order races were truly cut off from the Subspace afterward.

"We can promise, we can sign a contract from the Subspace itself. We swear that we will be isolated from the material world and never see each other again, as long as you can stop that monster, anything is fine."

Countless parchment scrolls flew in front of the crow-like Great Demon, presenting one plan and auxiliary unit after another.

Even the Knight King himself did not know that he had so many troops under his command; he just stared blankly as the Great Demon began to act on its own, starting to have the knights connect and cooperate with each other. Some defensive lines were already things that could be abandoned on the parchment scrolls, and more populations were flowing everywhere.

The destruction caused by the demons was unimaginable, but when the demons realized that they truly had no way to completely destroy the Star-Bearers' plan on their own, the conditions offered by the demons were also generous.

"Ten thousand years, we promise the Subspace will be stable for ten thousand years, and every intelligent being can claim a Subspace individual as their guardian deity after reaching adulthood. We will swear in the name of the Chaos Gods and defend this oath with our own souls and existence. I beg you to sign quickly, we really don't have much time."

"What contract? What time? I am a Knight of Bretonnia, we will not yield—"

"You damned piece of trash! What does it matter if you are the Knight King of Bretonnia? Even if you were a beggar, I would have to kneel down and beg you to let us unite right now! Things are that critical!"

The Great Demon looked at the Knight King before him in a rage, saying the most cowardly words with the most furious expression.

But before the Knight King of Bretonnia could react to what the Great Demon had said, he suddenly saw countless golden lights surging from within the Great Demon's body.

And the moment it realized that light had appeared, this Great Demon of Chaos instinctively let out a miserable shriek.

"Arghhhhh!!!!"

"What's wrong?!"

Watching the demon, whose body was surging with cracked patterns and spraying black smoke in all directions as it shrieked, the Knight King instinctively dodged away. And that instinctive movement happened to lead him to the window.

That brilliant, golden pillar of light erupted from the Giant Tower, like a sharp sword thrusting toward the shield of the firmament. The platinum torrent washed the entire sky into a pale white, even causing the demons hiding in Bretonnia to shriek and collapse onto their knees in their rooms as if exhausted, gasping as they looked at the sky that had dimmed once more.

"The ninth impact... the ninth one is already over... time... time..."

The Salvation Army, a coalition of demons and Humans must be formed, otherwise there will not be enough time or population...

The demon spat out a mouthful of pale blue spirit fire and muttered while writing on a form, as if it wanted to record this scene of unity thoroughly.

(End of this chapter)