The demon’s temporary checkpoint had shifted to the middle of the road and the defenders, except for the Sherman Tanks EX, were following Qiu Yue’s instructions to retreat to the outer portion of the area. As for the Demon Army, they had temporarily halted, mostly confused by the drastic moving of the bridge. With no higher-ups coordinating them, they were unsure whether to charge towards the fleeing cultivators or to wait in one of the safe zones.
Sin Baphomet had literally taken care of the remaining Giants, and there were no additional reinforcements coming out from the safe zone since Prince Stolas had stopped it as soon as the checkpoint had been deployed.
“They had total control of the whole battlefield from the start of the invasion.” Prince Stolas whispered as he dropped to his knees, powerless.
While the amount of distance they needed to cover had been lessened significantly, they were still very much exposed to artillery from the cultivators in front of them, the suicidal crows and wyverns above them as well as the sea.
The last one, the Stalingrad, was more than a menace. It acted as the true gatekeeper of the whole show.
With Mr Derpy providing the magical energy, Lord Wolte had no problems maintaining his heavy battlecruiser to wreak more havoc. His live battery would also not run out of juice any time soon. There were still remnants of the turtle that Derpy could feast upon, and one shouldn’t forget that the cylinders underneath Flashy’s shell. It had been filled with another source of energy, namely the caged up mages who had chosen to be batteries of magic energy for Countess Dantalion. (Mr Derpy greatly appreciated the crunchiness of it.)
—————
“Prince, do you think it is wise to retreat?” One of his guards’ asked as he assisted his Prince in standing back up.
“Don’t even think about it, unless you want to be branded as traitors.” A loud screeching voice was heard from behind them. Prince Stolas immediately recognised that wicked voice before he even stepped out of the magical circle and showed himself.
“The rest of the Demon Horde is coming, and I’m pretty certain they are all dying to return the grudges Moloch had incurred. The loss of Marquis Forneus and Earl Barbatos has proven that this battle is far more dangerous than we initially believed it to be.”
“Kiva.” Prince Stolas uttered the name with a deep-seated hatred.
“Ah Ah~! That is ARCHDUKE Kiva. But as a prince, I shall overlook this breach of etiquette. Try not to repeat that.” The wretched voice turned humble in front of the Prince’s face for a moment. Kiva bowed down with his short raven legs while adjusting his vibrant bright red cape and grinned at the Prince with his two canine fangs out in the open.
Seeing him, Prince Stolas came to a realisation as to why the reinforcements had been coming uncharacteristically slow for the Demon Horde. Sure they had been caught off guard by Moloch’s unexpected choice of dropping his shields one day early, but after so many hours of battle to get so little help?
In fact, only specific requests had come through. Thus, the Prince’s suspicion that someone must have manipulated those events behind the scenes were confirmed with the Archduke’s appearance.
Accompanying Archduke Kiva were not hundreds but thousands of soldiers and mages all armed to the teeth, dying to sink them into Moloch and his troops. The temporary checkpoint was spilling over with hundreds of soldiers, to the extent some had to fall back to accommodate it the bridge.
Many wondered how come the Mad Giant had placed the checkpoint at the centre of the bridge where it was the most vulnerable and only through the words of the surviving few soldiers did the news got out.
Simultaneously, the Demon Fleet Leviathan also emerged from the temporary checkpoint with a separate magical portal and dozens of ships followed suit beneath the Sky Bridge. All of them came splashing into the waters, and a large magical shield had been immediately erected at both sides of the Sky Bridge.
Prince Stolas had never seen such a large deployment before, and even the safe zone was populated with a horde of mages in the blink of the eye. Why had they suffered through all those losses when such forces could have appeared previously? It definitely was not because the demons were limited. To see so many suddenly appear, felt like a slap in his face.
“What? You look like you’ve never seen a large scale deployment before, pitiful Prince. Now, we shall show you the might of your other siblings’ armies. It’s too bad your sister Gaap perished so early. She should have listened to me rather than rushing to aid her favourite brother into battle.”
“If these are all their troops, where are my siblings?!” Prince Stolas questioned with a heavy tone.
“They have been stationed at home.” King Baal suddenly emerged from the magical portal with his Royal Guards right beside him. This alone sent out multiple alerts throughout the entire war room and eventually to all defenders.
“F-…ather.” Prince Stolas immediately bent his knee right in front of his Majesty. The surrounding demons, unless they had essential duties to keep the shields up, followed the gesture. The only exception to this was Archduke Kiva himself. He was merely bowing his head slightly with an evil grin.
“Arise.” King Baal demanded, and the rest returned to their duties. A quiet stare was more than enough of punishment, but the words King Baal said hurts Stolas deeply.
“I am quite disappointed in you, Stolas. You might have been outmatched, but given the resources you had on hand, the result is simply terrible.” The Raven Prince merely kept quiet and tolerated the insult.
He knew nothing good would happen if he retorted back. Besides, it wasn’t that much of a secret that he wasn’t the most favoured Prince in his father’s books. “I should send you back to ponder over your mistakes, but I agree with Kiva. If you stay, you might actually learn something.”
“My Liege. The Demon Fleet Leviathan have engaged that metal ship. Some of our aerial units have begun reinforcing the remainders of the Dragon Devils. Their commands will be passed over so that they can be led by our air force. In the meantime, we have wasted no time in employing a full-scale invasion after Duke Crocell had managed to get the rough coordinates of where the Dragonlite scouts have died. I suggest a brute force against the-“
“The King has his own way of doing things, Kiva.” Prince Stolas interrupted, but King Baal slammed Prince Stolas down to the ground with yet another stare.
“Do not interrupt when someone is talking!” King Baal ordered as he turned to Kiva and gave a gentle smile. “Kiva, I apologise for the bad upbringing my son had. Do continue. And as for you, Stolas, I repeat one final time, your presence here is merely tolerated.”
“You honour me, my liege. But I do not deserve to talk after hearing the Prince’s valid argument!” Kiva replied as he prostrated right in front of the Prince rather than the King. Stolas was already holding his anger back, and it got even worse when he saw Kiva’s shrewd face.
“That guy will be the end of our rule!” Stolas thought to himself as he recalled that on the day of Moloch’s demotion, the ruthless bat demon had been there and seemed happier than most at hearing the news.
“Do not worry, continue on. I appreciate your insights.” King Baal replied as he helped Kiva up instead of his son.
In the meantime, King Baal’s servants had already prepared a throne for him to sit on, and his tent was truly worthy of a king to view the battles from afar. They even started to manage the mages’ broadcast and showed the status of their troops.
“Coming back to your first question which had been overtly obvious. This is a battle that not even your eldest brother could manage, so I told him and the rest of your siblings to stand down at home. Who knows which idiot would dare go into our kingdom when we are at war.” King Baal explained with a side stare towards his son, demanding him to stand at a corner and watch how his father dealt with the traitor.
A certain someone suddenly sneezed, as he closed his laptop and vanished from Jin’s war room…
