Qianye stared intently at Margo. “What about him? Let him run. He won’t be able to come out and meet anyone without five years of recuperation. You, on the other hand, are someone I remember. You ran quite fast back then, why aren’t you running now? Are you planning on fighting me to the death?”
Margo’s breathing quickened.
He discovered that Qianye’s aura wasn’t stable, a clear sign of weakness. This wasn’t strange because Qianye had just killed so many experts and then injured a demonkin duke. How could he not be drained? He was likely a spent force at this point and only feigning his power.
Wasn’t this an opportunity?
In the blink of an eye, all he could see were contributions, fame, endless resources, and willing beauties. Even the aloof Nighteye might view him in a new light.
The more Margo looked at Qianye, the more he liked him. It was as though a massive bag of merits was standing before him.
Qianye immediately noticed the man’s expression and guessed what he was thinking about. He then looked around to see a group of counts and viscounts gathering around, hoping to take advantage of the situation.
Qianye broke into a laugh. “Who would’ve thought? There are quite a few brave ones.”
He appeared amidst the Evernight experts in a flash and unleashed his domain. Life plunder followed, and most of the experts lost their lives. Only two marquises were left on the verge of collapse and were duly cut down by Qianye.
Qianye’s blood core pulsed quickly as the essence blood poured in, sending him into a state of bloodboil.
“How’s that?” Qianye asked.
“I surrender!” Margo was as decisive as ever.
The dark race army was thus routed.
The defeated army was so big that the humans couldn’t take any prisoners. All they could do was watch as the enemy scattered in all directions.
Following the long, cruel war with the Empire and the temporary unification under Nighteye, the dark races had learned to be smart. They escaped in all directions, leaving no opportunity for the Empire to chase after them.
Qianye stood at the center of the battlefield, watching the soldiers clean up the field. This kind of victory was something they hadn’t tasted since Song Zining’s departure. Everyone was in high spirits, and their gaze toward Qianye was full of worship. Soldiers had always revered the strong, and Qianye had shown them unparalleled heroism in charging the enemy central command, killing their experts, and wounding the duke.
Everyone could see that even the three divine champions produced little results in the fight. All the merits belonged to Qianye alone.
Of course, the divine champions wouldn’t get involved with menial tasks like cleaning up the battlefield. They all arrived near Qianye with odd expressions.
Margo was on Qianye’s heels, completely ignoring the three weak divine champions and paying full attention to Qianye. “Sire, never in my life have I seen someone of your style and looks! The council surely has a place reserved for you. You’ll be a senior member at the very least if you’re willing to join.”
Qianye shook his head. “I will not go.”
The three divine champions heaved a sigh of relief.
“Your decision is sound. Truth be told, the council is currently in a decline and occupied by useless old people. I’m sure you won’t be happy if you join them. Only someone of your talents and looks is a match for that person.”
Qianye finally reacted after hearing the last part. He glanced at Margo and said, “You’re a part of the twelve vampire clans. Look at yourself, is this even appropriate?”
Margo spoke as though everything was right and proper. “Why not? Dignity is just like floating clouds before a true king. I’ve heard about your exploits, that even the Summit of Peaks has submitted to you. What can a small marquis like me do?”
“I’m only working together with them, and the people they’ve sent only go up to William’s generation.”
“William! The same William who has undergone two spiritual enlightenments? The one who’ll reach the duke rank once he matures? Even he is following you?!” Margo’s hands were on his chest, almost as though he were about to sing.
Qianye stopped him with a frown. “William and I are… old friends. We’re simply working together, understood?”
“Yes, sir. Whatever you say is the truth.”
Qianye glanced at Margo. “What do you want? Do you want to join Tatumu?”
“If possible, I would love to buy back my freedom. My family holds a good position within the clan and is fairly well-off. They can surely give you a satisfactory price.”
Duke Wenyuan could no longer hold his thoughts in. “Sire, do… you not plan to restrain him?”
Qianye seemed surprised. “Why?”
“What if he… tries to attack you…”
Qianye broke into a laugh. “He won’t dare.”
Margo said obediently, “I’m a long-lived species, I want to live a few centuries more!”
“But he might run away…”
Qianye said, “Last time, I stayed behind to capture Tatumu. This time, though… he’s the only one. He can try fleeing if he wants.”
Margo smiled wryly. “Sire, your Spatial Flash is famous throughout Evernight. I’m not dumb enough to run. I fled last time because there were people to serve as a sacrifice.”
Qianye stood with his hands behind his back. “She should know that I’m here by now.”
Margo said, “The report should’ve reached the rear by now. Her Majesty should have seen it if she’s still working on military affairs?”
“Should’ve?”
“It’s like this, Her Majesty doesn’t like working on military affairs. I don’t know when she’ll be in the mood to flip through the battle reports.”
Qianye frowned. “That means you guys have been fighting on your own during this time?”
“We just followed Her Majesty’s previous battle plans.” Margo was clever with his words.
Qianye shot the three divine champions a glance. Among them, Duke Minghai was the eldest, yet his face was entirely red at this point. Now that actually impressed Qianye a bit.
Divine champions could stay in full control of every part of their body, and it was all too easy to remain indifferent to everything. How could Duke Minghai fail to control something even a champion could? His flushed countenance was for Qianye to see, a show of embarrassment.
Qianye felt bad about making a bigger fuss about this. These three had actually been beaten until they were scared. How could they win if they were so intent on fleeing?
They had thought that they were facing Nighteye, but this commander had long since been ignoring military affairs. All she did was send some subordinates to beat the Empire black and blue.
“What’s she doing then?”
“This… how should this subordinate know?”
Margo’s shamelessness drew glances from the three divine champions. He had just surrendered, but now, he was calling himself a subordinate.
Nighteye actually wasn’t handling military affairs at the moment. She did go past her office but didn’t even look at the mountain of doc.u.ments on the desk. A baron rushed over at this point and ran straight into Nighteye. The man was so shocked that he almost dropped the doc.u.ments in his hand.
“Your Majesty, this is the latest battle report… the urgency level… is the highest.” The baron was so nervous that he couldn’t speak clearly.
“I understand, just leave it there.”
“Your Majesty, but…”
“I said, leave it there!” Nighteye repeated her words.
The baron went pale and started trembling all over. He placed the doc.u.ments on the desk with great effort, then scrambled out of the room. He stumbled as soon as he got out of the door, landing with a loud thud.
Without even looking at the papers, Nighteye walked over to the glass doors leading to the balcony.
What entered her vision was a sizable fortress with tall walls protecting a wide stretch of land. The street blocks inside were divided in an orderly fashion—workshops, barracks, warehouses, airship port, etc. There were a total of nine kinetic towers to provide for the massive fortress’ energy requirements.
At the far end of her vision, a pillar of black fire could be seen gushing into the sky. Before this majestic natural phenomenon, ordinary experts could only be compared to insects.
Although only she could see the flames because her vision was far superior, the fortress could already be considered close to the sinkhole. It was also guarding a confluence of many roads leading toward it.
There was a lone mountain in the distance that was more suitable for controlling the sinkhole, but the flames were simply too fierce at this point. Only a handful of experts could set foot on that mountain peak.
Nighteye’s gaze landed on that peak for a moment before moving away.
An anxious vampire duke outside of the office dragged back the baron from just now, asking, “Have you delivered the report?”
“I have.” The baron began to tremble. He was still quite young, and the effects of bloodline suppression were too strong on him. It was already commendable that he could stand in front of this duke.
“Did Her Majesty look at it?” the duke asked.
“No.” Seeing the dark expression in the duke’s eyes, the baron said, “I left after leaving the doc.u.ments on the table. I don’t know if she read it afterward.”
The duke’s expression eased up a bit. He arrived at the door and knocked on it.
“Enter.”
The duke opened the door and walked in but saw no one.
Nighteye’s voice arrived from the balcony. “Just speak from there, I’m enjoying the scenery.”
Calling Blacksun Valley a hostile environment was an understatement. How could there be any scenery to speak of? But the duke wouldn’t say that out loud. He stood at the door and said respectfully, “The latest battle report from the frontlines says that Duke Larga suffered a defeat and fled on his own. He was badly injured and needs to recuperate back in their mainland.”
“Then send him back, put a reserve in this place.”
“Your Majesty, the reason for his defeat. I think…”
“I’m enjoying the scenery, I don’t want to know right now.” Nighteye’s voice was cold.
“You should know because he lost too quickly and miserably. I think you will know the only person capable of defeating him so.”
“Speak.”
“Qianye.”
