Although it seemed like everything progressed in a fast and chaotic manner, it was far from that…

A few days before the meeting with the branch head, I had already discussed the facts I knew about the Light Association and the most likely possibility of the whole Light Empire fall in the hands of the demons with the Emperor…

It wasn't that hard to convince my 'uncle', as we already started making big moves in preparation for all possible scenarios, dispatching half the Lightning Army to camp close to the Light Empire but not too close to be noticed, as we actually planned to start a siege to root out the demons from the domain.

The only problem of that method was that by doing so, we would have to sacrifice the uncorrupted but oblivious citizens as the demons were not likely to surrender and would possibly massacre the whole Empire to at least create more destruction and weaken the overall power of the domain.

However, as we chanced upon the half-fake acting branch head, who seemingly had hidden meaning to his words, we decided to take a soft approach and take them down from the inside, as my analysis and 'Eye of Knowledge' proved their prowess in easily understanding the demons' almost perfect trap.

Finally, as we entered the last part of the trap, the dinner hall, we had already sent signals for the army to start preparing the Siege formation, trapping the whole capital in a cage of lightning as we took care of the most powerful figures who were supposed to suppress us to submit or just simply kill us and march towards the Lightning Empire which was supposedly greatly harmed by the evil dragon's rampage…

"No, that's not how everything should have-"

Before he could even continue his words, the flying lightning blade sent by uncle blue had already separated his head from his body as silence suddenly filled the hall…

I also moved out to prosecute the rest of the corrupted personnel in the hall, and thus the demons' plot was finally put to an end…

`~~`~~`~~`

Big news spread all over the Light Domain!

The Lightning Empire had officially announced that the legendary demons were not only true but they had been influencing the whole domain and interfering in its affairs for years!

That announcement was only the start as more came out, shocking the small kingdoms all over the domain.

The great Light Empire, the only rival of the Lightning Empire for the supremacy of the domain, had actually long fallen to the hands of these stealthy demons!

The acts of their major organization that was supposed to hold the mantle of protecting the demons from the advent of the Dark Domain was actually the one that covered the facts and managed to blind so many eyes till this point, eventually causing a disaster to almost befall the Lightning Empire, which had almost caused the total annihilation of the Lightning Capital's people…

As if to continue their shocking streak, the Third announcement made by the Empire was about their advance to seize the demons that took control of the Light Empire and the human traitors who fell for the demons' temptations, eventually executing the demon disguising as the Light Emperor and his followers and finally taking custody of the rest of the people's capital who were put under the demonic influence out of their will and searching for ways to cure them…

With such a huge list of shockers, the small forces weren't fully convinced as that happened too fast, thinking that it was the Lightning Empire's excuse to conquer the Light Empire, but…

As soon as they sent envoys and scouts to check for themselves, they could only start preparation for the demon's invasion that these huge steps were only the prelude to its coming…

`~~`~~`~~`

"Is there really no way to cure the demonic influence?"

"Your majesty, we have tried all ways we had in hand, but to no avail, the purification methods of the 'Demon Association' were only usable by them as they were the source of the influence itself, we can't duplicate it in anyway."

"What about using the purifying effect of the lightning element?"

"We of course tried that out, but the effect is just too destructive, if used the affected might turn into idiots or just die instantly due to how violent lightning is…"

"Do we really have to massacre the whole Capital's inhabitants?"

The fact that all citizens inside the Light Capital were corrupted almost made the result similar to the expected result if we used a direct siege instead of faking our capture…Of course, their corruption wasn't as deep, in fact they were only at the beginning stages, but that only meant that they would turn into another time bomb that would explode with time…

However…

"I may have a solution."

"Oh, you have one Ian?"

"It's just a possibility, I just want a chance of two weeks, if I still fail then, we can only resort to the last method."

"hmm, alright, 2 weeks won't make such a great difference, I will give you the chance."

Remembering the Dragon Ancestor's promise to help me purify the domain, I decided to bet on the chance that these people who didn't fall completely to corruption would also be freed, of course that was only my assumption but it was worth it to try anyway…

After leaving my opinion, I left the meeting hall as I still had some stuff to finish in preparation, after all, the earlier I was ready the better.

The first task to finish was to…

`~~`~~`~~`

knock. Knock.

"It's me, Jean"

"You can go in…"

The face of the usually bright paladin seemed to show hints of deep sadness as cry marks were visible on his face…

"Are you still sad about that?"

"I know you warned me that he might be planning to trick us, I know that this is the best for the domain but… but…"

The branch head who had accepted the demonification seed was executed that day as there was no saving him, meanwhile his grandchild was still safe somehow, but it seemed Jean who was quite close to the branch head still couldn't accept how everything went…

"But I won't understand? Is that what you wanted to say? Did you forget that you aren't the only player out there?"

"Eh?!"