The Evernight fortress in the central region. Nighteye was on the sofa, entranced in a history book. Margo was standing beside her looking uneasy.

A knock came from the door as a baron entered with a thick stack of documents. He bowed toward Nighteye before placing the files on the rack. The desk was already covered in battle reports, so there was no more space for new ones. After completing his job, the baron bowed again and left.

Another knock was heard almost immediately afterward.

“Enter,” Nighteye said lazily.

A demonkin duke entered. Performing an appropriate salutation, he said, “Your Highness, did you not read the battle reports?”

Nighteye remained silent, but Margo lashed out furiously, “Mind your words, Lord Rodney!”

Rodney said proudly, “This is no place for a mere marquis to speak!”

Margo was red with anger. He wanted to do something, but he knew he wasn’t the other’s match.

Nighteye finally looked up. “If you think killing you will affect my relationship with the Eternal Flame, then you’re gravely mistaken.”

Rodney smiled coldly. “How am I mistaken?”

Nighteye replied calmly, “My relationship with him is beyond bad, killing you will make no difference.”

The duke was visibly moved. He bowed slightly, saying, “I was rude just now, please forgive me. I have indeed come under the orders of the Eternal Flame, His Highness will also be in a difficult position if you kill me here.”

Nighteye returned to her book. “What does he want?”

“His Highness is concerned about the recent battles. He heard… some bad news. That’s why he asked me to come to the front lines and observe the progress here.” Intentionally or otherwise, Rodney glanced at the tall pile of documents on the desk.

“Everything’s going well.”

“How come I heard differently?”

“What did you hear?”

Rodney said in a loud voice, “I heard a certain person has been ignoring their military duties, causing our front lines to be pushed back repeatedly. Now, even the Tempest has fallen into human hands!”

Nighteye said calmly, “Those who don’t listen to me will meet this fate. As for the Tempest, it neither belongs to the vampire race nor the demonkin. The Eternal Flame surely knows this reasoning and won’t make a fuss about it. Unless…”

Nighteye stared intently at Rodney, killing intent surging in her eyes. “Unless you’re here to cause trouble!”

In the blink of an eye, Rodney felt as though he had fallen into a cold abyss. He was unable to move his body at all, and all he could see was a pair of eyes.

Nighteye walked over and delivered a resounding slap. This slap was neither too strong nor too light, but Rodney fell on his back and couldn’t get up for a long while.

After that, Nighteye returned to her seat nonchalantly and picked up her book once more. “Since you look down on the marquises, you may return to that rank and experience it again.”

Rodney clambered up unsteadily and nearly collapsed again. His aura fell rapidly until it reached the glorious marquis level before stabilizing. Furious and shocked, he cried out, “Y-You! What did you do to me?”

“You won’t even be a glorious marquis anymore if you don’t make yourself scram.” Nighteye didn’t even look up at him.

“The Eternal Flame won’t let you off!” Rodney left after saying this.

After he was gone, Nighteye said, “Close the door.”

Margo closed the door obediently and stood on attention, just like an elementary school kid.

Nighteye walked over to the desk and picked up the top-most battle report, sighing as she read the contents.

Margo held his breath, not daring to make a sound.

Nighteye put the report down and walked over to the window. She spoke as if she were opening up but also as though she were just muttering to herself, “Saniel was really talented and had great ambitions. I thought he would be able to accomplish something.”

Margo said, “Lord Saniel is the pride of our vampire race. He… did he fall?”

Margo wanted to slap himself after asking so—even the Tempest had been lost; there was no way Saniel’s fate would be any better. People would rather lose their lives than lose a Grand Magnum.

Nighteye sighed. “He was too arrogant. I already warned him not to face that man alone, but he clearly didn’t listen. How will I face the Azure King now?”

Margo agreed entirely. “Indeed! My mind went blank when I saw him back then, and I immediately fled. That’s how I managed to live until now.”

Nighteye shot him a glance. “You have such insight?”

Margo said, “That’s my innate ability. I can sense potential danger, and…”

“Go on.”

Margo spoke honestly, “I trust someone related to you would surely be at your level, people like us simply can’t compare. Since I can’t beat him, why not just run?”

Nighteye chuckled. “You’re quite honest.”

“Perhaps a bit too honest. Your Majesty, when do you plan to let me go back?”

“For what? To throw your life away?”

Margo seemed puzzled.

“What are you going back for?”

“I promised Sire Qianye that I would return. If I cannot serve him, I must still hand him the ransom money. Only then will I be at ease.”

Nighteye replied, “Just stay at my side for now. Deal with these matters after the showdown.”

“Showdown? My presence doesn’t really affect the outcome, does it?” Margo wasn’t lacking in self-knowledge.

“Of course not.” Nighteye glanced at him. “I said before, right? We still owe the new world two dukes.”

“Yes,” Margo didn’t feel that it had anything to do with him. The gap between a glorious marquis and a duke was still considerable. One was definitely not a substitute for the other.

Nighteye looked at him intently, saying, “If we can’t hand over two dukes, one duke and several marquises will also do.”

“That won’t do! Isn’t that cheating?” Margo almost jumped up.

He quickly clammed up afterward, noticing his loss of composure.

Nighteye paid him no heed and merely went on with her reading.

After standing beside her for a while, he simply couldn’t bear it anymore. “Your Majesty, the demonkin are getting outrageous. They actually dare to treat you with disrespect, this is unbearable! That was a great lesson you gave him.”

“Just a lesson? He probably won’t ever return to the duke rank.” Nighteye smiled indifferently. “But I spared his life at least, so I guess it counts as a lesson.”

Margo’s mouth fell open. “J-Just a slap…”

Nighteye didn’t explain what the Eye of Destruction was, nor did she need to. “I’m only a duke at the moment, so their address is beyond fitting.”

“So what? You’re the incarnation of a powerhouse.”

Nighteye sighed, then stopped speaking. Margo stepped to the side tactfully and stood there like a statue. He knew that Nighteye would spend days on end once she started reading. Standing day and night wasn’t that difficult a task for a glorious marquis.

A day’s time went past just like that. Nighteye remained engrossed in her book, while the baron in charge of delivering reports visited with increasing frequency, and his expression looked more and more distressed each time. However, no one dared to disturb Nighteye after witnessing Rodney’s fate. After occupying the desk, the documents filled up on the shelf and then spilled over onto the floor.

The reports came in so frequently that Margo could no longer remain still. He risked his head to offer a reminder, “Your Majesty, would you like to take a look at what’s happening?”

“The defensive line has probably collapsed, hasn’t it?” Nighteye seemed nonchalant.

Margo was stunned. “Collapse of a defensive line? T-This is the umpteenth defensive line that they’ve broken. The humans will soon be at our door.”

“They won’t fight their way here. He’s not that dumb.”

Gazing at Nighteye and her almost nonexistent aura, a thought came into Margo’s mind. Maybe that person wasn’t fighting his way toward this fortress because he didn’t know Nighteye was here.

…

At this moment, a group of human soldiers was rushing through Blacksun Valley. Their numbers were small, their armor was in tatters, and the weapons they carried were mostly damaged. Most of them had even switched to using dark race weapons. But everyone in this unit was as swift as the wind, as fierce as a tiger, and overflowing with killing intent.

Qianye was marching swiftly at the lead, with Duke Minghai and Wenyuan at his side.

Duke Minghai’s eyes were full of spirit. His old, declining state was nowhere to be found, and there was even some black hair around his forehead. It was as though he was growing younger.

Duke Wenyuan, on the other hand, was a lot thinner than he used to be. Despite being wrapped in bandages, he was as tough as steel and akin to an unsheathed sword. That enigmatic scholarly appearance from the past was entirely gone.

Qianye stopped all of a sudden and stared into the distance.

The two dukes followed his gaze but saw nothing.

Qianye pointed in that direction, saying, “There’s a pillar of black fire over there. That should be the true passage into the new world.”

Duke Minghai said, “I was there when Commander Zining set up the central fortress. There’s only one place with a pillar of black flames. Speaking of which, those flames are truly miraculous. I’ve never seen or even imagined anything like it.”

Duke Wenyuan also chimed in, “That fire pillar is made of burning darkness origin power. Who knows how much darkness origin power is down there.”

Qianye narrowed his eyes as he looked silently in a different direction.

“Sire, what’s in that direction?”

“A dark race fortress. It’s probably bigger than Song Zining’s fortress from back then.”

“Do we attack?” Duke Wenyuan asked calmly. It was as though he had no idea they had only three thousand soldiers left.

Along the way, this squad had pressed forward no matter how big the enemy forces were. There was no such thing as retreat. After killing their way through countless defenses, they had finally arrived at the doors of the Evernight camp.

Duke Minghai and Wenyuan could not see the dark race’s final fortress from this distance; only Qianye could.

After gazing for a long long while at the yonder horizon, Qianye shook his head. “There’s no need.”