Hearing this news, Judith became completely dispirited, while the Augustus revealed a triumphant smile on his face; he had won.
Looking at Judith, this Augustus knew that everything was over as the current backbone of the city had a face full of despair and gave up resistance. The city was about to collapse; next, they only needed to open the city gates to welcome the Demon Clan’s army, then shift all the blame onto Judith and Scott, and offer the half-crazed Claire to the Demon King. The Augustus family would still be the king of this kingdom.
Even if they only had one royal capital left.
Cliff stood up dejectedly and looked at the Augustus, asking, “Have you already reached an agreement with the Demon Clan?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, so you need not worry. If you want to continue being king later, that’s fine; everything can be negotiated. The only condition is to help completely eradicate the Goddess Church. Afterward, the Demon King promised that as long as it’s under the rule of the Demon Clan, the royal capital will forever be Augustus’s royal capital.”
Cliff nodded and approached the Augustus, asking, “Can you tell me what the specific treaty entails?”
Seeing Cliff’s face full of despair, the Augustus began to talk extensively, detailing the conditions proposed by the Demon Clan. Except for retaining a bit of Augustus’s dignity, it could almost be described as a national humiliation.
Just as the Augustus was halfway through his speech, Cliff suddenly drew the sword from his waist and stabbed it straight into his compatriot’s body.
This was merely a ceremonial sword symbolizing power and had no real lethality; everyone forgot that Cliff was also a knight.
This compatriot looked on in shock as he stared at Cliff, whose despairing expression was now gone. Cliff’s crazy demeanor slowly began to merge with that of Augustus III, who had driven himself mad to target the Northern Border.
“You… you will…”
Hearing that this compatriot could still speak, Cliff twisted the ceremonial sword, pulled out a defensive firearm from his waist, and shot this compatriot.
The blood of his compatriot splattered onto Cliff’s face, onto Cliff’s luxurious robe, and onto the round table of the council hall.
Everyone present, especially those Augustus, who were already eager to move, were all frightened into inaction. Even those who had protected the Augustus suddenly withdrew their breaths.
Cliff panted heavily, unable to determine whether it was due to nerves or because he hadn’t moved for too long, but he still maintained his composure and ordered Judith, “Open the palace gates, unlock the armory, and gather the young and strong in the city. Distribute all the firearms and ammunition to those willing to fight.”
“Recite what this man just said about those treaties to the soldiers and inhabitants in the city without missing a word.”
“And tell them that the Northern Border Governor will soon come to rescue us, it will be either today or tomorrow.”
“Also, kill anyone who dares to mention surrender without mercy!”
Cliff raised the firearm in his hand and fired a shot at the ceiling, and everyone present instantly came back to their senses.
Watching Cliff give clear commands, Judith and Scott immediately got up to make arrangements.
Cliff then turned to the shocked messenger and asked, “Which city wall can’t hold?”
“Probably the northwest direction.”
Cliff said no more but took the decorative sword from the wall of the conference room and, holding the firearm, headed toward that city wall with his guards.
Rumors had already started to spread within the city that the current king had taken advantage of the chaos to escape, planning to sell the royal capital to the Demon Clan, but as Cliff personally ascended the city wall to command the battle, all those rumors vanished.
What Cliff didn’t expect was that after the news spread, the first to come to help him in the city were the students from the royal academy, especially those with less noble backgrounds.
After hearing about the treaty, the students were filled with indignation and rushed to Cliff’s side, who looked at these youthful faces and was momentarily speechless. He wanted the students to go back; they were the last hope of the kingdom, yet the students said, if the country falls, what hope is there to talk about?
Yes, once the royal capital was gone, Cape would definitely be gone too. Humans would fall under the rule of the Demon Clan. What hope would there be left then? These students saw things more clearly than the nobles with differing agendas.
“I know I’m not a good king; I feel as though I’ve just been dragged into this position, but it’s me…”
Cliff started to feel dejected when a student immediately shouted, “Your Majesty, stop wasting words; just tell us if you’re going to fight or not!”
Some students were amused by this coarse statement, which eased the originally tense atmosphere significantly, to which Cliff responded, “Alright, then let’s fight!”
With the help of the students, the precarious situation at the city wall was regained, and morale was even higher than before. With the armory opened, more and more students climbed the city wall, including the descendants of wavering nobles, all together defending the royal capital, regardless of whether they had skills; they just shot recklessly with firearms.
Antipa closely watched the walls of Cape Royal Capital. Through previous communication methods with Claire, Antipa contacted the royal family of Cape again. For some reason, after striking a deal with the royal family, the resistance of Cape Royal Capital became even more intense.
Suddenly, Antipa’s subordinates, the Demon Clan, even had the illusion that they were fighting against the Northern Border army. However, the weaponry of the royal capital still fell far behind that of the Northern Border. Even though the resistance was fierce, it still couldn’t stop the continuous onslaught of the Demon Clan’s monsters.
Unlike the Northern Border, although the royal capital had the capability to resist, it lacked the capacity for a counter-kill.
“Let the chosen ones move.”
Originally intended for dealing with the Northern Border, from the current perspective, they could test what changes had occurred to these chosen ones under the influence of the Black Fog.
Several enormous chosen ones began to continually assault the walls of the royal capital, with the Demon Clan’s Bloodline Magic spewing forth like an unending torrent from the multiple mouths of the chosen ones.
Aside from the power of the Bloodline Magic itself, there seemed to be a hint of destructive aura within those spells, causing the human defenders, who had already gained some control, to begin to fear once more.
Once fear started to emerge, this emotion would only amplify indefinitely, eventually leading to collective loss of control.
The once sturdy city walls began to crumble under the chosen’s assault.
Antipa was very pleased with the performance of the chosen ones. With such immense destructive power, even when engaging the Northern Border, Antipa felt that even now, they could still have strength to contend; no, Antipa couldn’t even think of how the Northern Border could defeat its chosen army.
The barrier of the royal capital was collapsing. At this moment, Cliff stood on the city wall, shouting to the soldiers and students holding weapons, “Behind us lies the royal capital; we have no way to retreat! My people, soldiers, the Northern Border’s support is about to arrive; the Goddess will be with us!”
As if to respond to Cliff’s words, at the moment when the defenses of the royal capital were about to collapse, a beam of Holy Light suddenly descended from the sky, piercing through the clouds and bathing the area outside the city wall.
This Holy Light seemed to connect with the heavens and sealed off the path for the Demon Clan monsters attacking the royal capital. Some chosen ones under the Holy Light began to rot and collapse.
Even Antipa was blinded by the Holy Light, feeling his precious chosen being gradually dissolved by this radiant force.
Fortunately, the duration of the Holy Light was not very long; Antipa quickly recovered, and two unfortunate chosen ones hadn’t escaped the range of the Holy Light and were quite literally bathed to death. Watching the chosen ones gradually rot away and disappear, Antipa’s anger toward the city wall grew stronger.
Shouldn’t the royal capital’s troops collapse at the slightest touch? Why do humans have so many trump cards, seemingly without end?
“The plan has changed; the humans in the royal capital are completely mad; there is no value in cooperation. After we capture them, no mercy will be shown.”
Antipa coldly issued the order, causing those demons nearby to reveal ecstatic expressions. No mercy meant that the Demon Clan could act without restraint, doing whatever they wanted. Upon hearing this command, many demons quickly recovered from the earlier baptism of the Holy Light and excitedly licked their lips.
The Demon Clan swiftly reorganized their offensive, even more frantically than before. Cliff could distinctly feel that previously the Demon Clan might have wanted to take control of the royal capital in a more intact manner, but now they were absolutely intent on seizing the royal capital at any cost. The barrier of the royal capital had long exceeded its load and had reached a point of complete collapse.
Cliff dragged his fatigued body, point his sword menacingly toward the direction of the Demon Clan’s attack. Just then, a continuous rumbling sound came from the distance, rising and falling like a melody, layer upon layer, rolling in like a tsunami, as if it could shake the earth.
That was the roar of tank engines.
