*Bam!*

A soldier was kicked through a wall by Rory, after trying to attack him.

“Ahh!”

A group soldiers were seen running through the street screaming for their lives. Behind them, Amelia was quickly catching up to them.

She suddenly jumped on the side of a building, and jumped on another on the other side of the street. She started to move like a ricocheting bullet as she advanced towards the soldiers. Soon they saw a shadow hovering over them which prompt them to look up.

“Ah!”

Once they did, they all screamed in unison as they saw Amelia’s blade descending towards them. To them that blade belonged to lady death.

*Bam!*

A powerful gust of wind burst out and blew them all away once the blade descended. Their bodies were covered in cuts that were several inches deep. Their blood sprayed in the air as they all died before falling on their backs.

“You’ve gotten better with a sword.”

Rory walked up beside her and said.

“Since I’ve developed my animus, my element manipulation skills have improved by leaps and bounds.”

“And you used that to make your swordplay even more lethal. Bravo.”

Rory praised.

“How many of them are left?”

Amelia asked.

“Not much. We’ve practically slain all of the fodder that were sent in. What’s left is the main forces of the church.”

Rory replied.

“The nobles and military haven’t made any moves as of yet.”

Amelia said.

“They must be taking orders from the church. It’s fair to say that now that their fodders are gone, the church will deploy them. So keep a look out.”

Rory said.

“By the way, Elia. Your animus drain your stamina right?”

Amelia nodded.

“Then don’t use it unless your pushed to the brink of death, got it? Don’t just use if you see that things are getting desperate. Use it only to protect your own life, not to obtain victory.”

Rory said.

“There might be a lot of strong people in this war.”

“Might? Isn’t the church super strong?”

“Overall, yes. But I doubt they’ll dispatch their top warriors to deal with a small country like this. Also they would must likely use this war to test me out and see if I’m still as strong as I once was. For that only a few strong yet disposable warriors are enough.”

“And if you’re still as strong or even stronger than before?”

Amelia asked.

“Then they’ll regroup and carefully plan their counterattack. They also need to consider if it’s just me or is the entire Pandemonium involved. Because of that, they won’t use their core members because it would be too risky to lose them.”

“So you mean that everyone that came here for the church is disposable?”

Amelia asked.

“Of course, all the soldiers that we’ve killed are human. Isn’t that strange? The Sacred Church’s namesake is the Sacred God and his descendants the Sacred race, yet I can say without a doubt that not one Sacred Race member is in this crusade.”

“Then humans are disposable tools to them….That’s just horrible.”

“But it’s reality. This is the main difference between the Sacred Church and the Sacred Army.”

Rory said.

“Well, they’re both groups of egoistical bastards that believe that they’re the superior race.”

Rory suddenly jumped in the air, and to Amelia’s surprise he stopped midair and started to float.

“His body isn’t even shaking in anyway…..What amazing wind control skills.”

She said.

“………”

Rory silently looked in the direction of where the church forces where stationed.

“As I thought, they aren’t rushing in.”

He could see them clearly despite them being miles away from him.

“Looks like they have about 3000 soldiers. That’s not a lot but they are fairly skilled.”

He suddenly smiled.

“I wonder if I should cut down their numbers for a bit?”

He said.

“Hm?”

He suddenly noticed some odd movements in the army. They started to spread themselves around the city walls as if opening the way for someone.

*Bam!*

Suddenly Amelia saw Rory being devoured by an explosion.

“?!”

The explosion was soon huge that she was blown away by the shockwaves it produced. Even the buildings around them started to crumble.

“………!”

Once the explosion settled, she quickly looked up in the sky to search for Rory. All she saw was smoking clouds.

*Whoosh!*

Suddenly a gust of wind blew the clouds away and Rory was visible again. Other than his face being covered in soot, he was fine.

“That’s quite the greetings.”

He said with an irritated expression.

He looked towards where the church forces were situated and saw a giant cannon like weapon pointing at him.

“Trying to provoke me into attacking you?”

Rory looked even more annoyed.

“Insolent!”

He was visibly angry, but he didn’t rushed towards them.

“Sine you want to play then let’s play.”

Suddenly his body was covered with a huge amount of anima. The anima felt like it wanted to form a storm, because the debris in the area was being blown away while small twisters form on the ground.

*Bam!*

However, before Rory could do anything he heard an explosion coming from a different direction. He looked and saw that the city wall to his left was blown up and soldiers started invaded the city.

*Bam!*

He heard another one in a different direction location and saw more soldiers invading. He calmed down and squinted his eyes when he saw that.

“Those aren’t the churches forces. Looks like the other factions have started to move.”

He said.

“Woah, there’s more 10,000 people well armed and ready to go. Looks like they recruited more civilians than I expected……There’s even more?”

Even Rory was surprised by the growing number of people invading the city all at once.

“Damn, I must’ve pissed off more people than I thought. It looks like a lot of civilians joined the campaign against me.”

He said.

He then descended from the air and landed beside Amelia.

“Elia, the enemy is numbered more than I expected. It looks like they want to flood the city and try to seize it in one go. Staying in the open is dangerous, but as the vanguard we have to do it.”

He said.

“No problem. We just need to defeat more than we expected.”

Amelia replied.

“If you’re good to go, then no problem. But trying to stop them all with the two of us is completely impossible, so we have to leave the rest to the royals.”

Amelia nodded.

At that moment, they could see a swarm of soldiers rapidly approaching them.

“Kill the Devil King!”

“Kill Rory!”

They shouted.

“You’re really hated.”

Amelia gripped her sword and waited for her enemies to come.

“Hate is just another form of love, so I feel honored.”

Rory said.

“Let’s go!”

The two rushed towards the wave of people and began a mad melee in the middle of town.

Elsewhere, James was standing on a hill that allowed him to have a good look at the townscape.

“Looks like the traitors have started to make their move.”

He said. He then spoke so that the hundreds of soldiers behind him could hear him.

“Men, the time has come for us to take a stand. First, I must once again thank you all for the loyalty you’ve shown me despite me mistreating you!”

“It’s no problem, Your Highness.”

Blackz Bull Omar stepped forward and spoke.

“I’m sure that I can speak for all of us here when I say, we followed you because we admire your bravery and nobility, not to gain power and authority through politics. We’ll follow you to the end, until the day you take your rightful place as king!”

“Long live the king!”

The soldiers shouted so loud that it felt like their voice could shake the capital.

“My brothers, I thank you.”

James pulled his sword from his waist and climbed out to an ATV bike that was closed by. The soldiers behind him all climbed on various vehicles with all kinds of weapons from swords to bazookas on their person.

Black bull got on the back of James’s bike with an eager grin.

James nodded and lifted his sword in air, and then shouted.

“The enemy is upon us! In the name of your king, advance!”

“Oh!”

James and the soldiers all moved down the hill while roaring at the top of their lungs. The soldiers who had invaded the city heard them and all turned towards them at once.

“I’ll show you all that I’m the rightful heir!”

James flew off his bike and charged towards the wave of soldiers. His anima erupted and he gripped his sword tightly and swung with a his might.

*Bam!*

The soldiers at the front were all blown away with their bodies cut into pieces. James stomped the ground and spikes of metal burst out and started impaling countless soldiers, and lifting them in the air.

James lifted his sword up towards the sky and shouted.

“Kill all traitors!”

“Oh!”

At this moment, the rest of his soldiers all rushed forward and crashed into the enemy with their vehicles. They then started to use their weapons to cause mass murder everywhere around them.

*Bam!*

“Guaaaah?!”

Their enemies let out agonizing screams in their last moments of life.

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

Explosions began to resound through the entire city as the battle had truly began.

“Whew~. He sure loves war, that meathead brother of mine.”

Said Liam, who was a couple kilometers away from battle. He was watching the events unfold through a pair of binoculars.

“Should we wait and allow him to lose most of his men before we help him?”

Asked Emily Brooks.

Liam and the Brooks Sisters and their father were all together, far away from where the battle was going on. They also had the Brooks family personal army nearby, which numbered in the thousands.

Liam shook his head in response to Emily’s question.

“Now is not the time to think of ways of weakening my brothers. We’re in a desperate situation where we’re completely outnumbered. We can’t afford to scheme and plot against each other.”

Liam said.

“Not to mention, my mother would kick my ass if I did.”

The last sentence was obviously his main reason.

“Then when should we help?”

“When the time is right. Helping now will only cause confusion in our own ranks because we were just enemies a few days ago. This could also led to us losing morale. The best time to help is when they’re in a slight pinch, not when they are on the brink of the destruction.”

Liam replied.

“If we help too quickly it might cause dissatisfaction between us, but if we wait until the last minute while they’ll be grateful they’ll also suspect that we let their comrades die and that we also cause dissatisfaction to grow. Hence we wait until they need help, but not desperately. It will show that we’re willing to back them up, while allowing them to get all the glory.”

He explained.

“Let them be heroes, we’ll be the foundation that keep everything together.”

“…….”

Everyone was once impressed with their prince and how he’s able to look at the bigger picture even at a time like this.

“My mother paired me with James because his strategists all left him when they saw that things weren’t in their favor. I don’t blame them since it’s their job to make right decisions regarding battle, so they naturally would do so with their own life.”

He said.

“I’ll work as James fearless strategist that he desperately needs. I’ll turn him into a hero, but in the end I’ll become king.”

He then looked towards the east.

“I wonder what our little brother plans to do is the future.”

He smiled.

“If James’s the hero, and I’m the foundation, I guess he’d be the protector in the shadows.”