At the moment she saw the Sky City, Magico was completely stunned. This was not only because of the shock of a gigantic city floating in the sky, but also because… it reminded her of a legend!
"Could this be the Battle God City?!"
The so-called Battle God City was an incomparably powerful magic metropolis constructed by the Holy Demon Order during the GI era.
Here, one point must be explained. The era names on this continent were not decided by humans, but instead used the existence of the Demon King as a benchmark—from the birth of a Demon King to the Demon King's death. For example, the Demon King Jill whom Duanmu Huai had killed, her era designation was GL. The GI era came after Jill, during the time when Guy, who had sealed Jill and inherited the Demon King's blood, ruled.
During the GI era, a genius mage named Luka Lune created biometal magic. Together with another twenty-four mages, he formed an organization known as the Holy Demon Order. Relying on their overwhelming magic power, the Holy Demon Order successfully unified the human world for the first time. Afterwards, in order to fight the Demon race, the Holy Demon Order began constructing the Battle God City, attempting to completely liberate humanity from the grasp of monsters.
However, the Demon race would naturally not sit idly by. Soon, the Demonfolk launched an attack on the Holy Demon Order, opening the curtain on the "Holy Demon War."
And yet, the final fate of such a grand and ambitious nation was deeply sigh-inducing. Because the "Barbarians" (referring to humans who could not use magic) could not endure a prolonged war against the Demon race, they raised the banner of rebellion. Betrayed by their own people, the leader of the Holy Demon Order, Lune, was driven mad with rage. In his view, everything he had done was for the sake of completely freeing humanity from the Demon race, yet now those humans had repaid kindness with ingratitude and rebelled against him!
Having fallen into madness, Lune issued the order for the remaining Battle God Cities to completely annihilate humanity. However, in the end, this insane command was never carried out. He was defeated by his own companions, and a generation's emperor thus fell, while the Battle God City plummeted from the sky.
Seeing the threat resolved, Demon King Guy ordered the Demonfolk to withdraw, and the Holy Demon War, which had lasted nearly a hundred years, finally came to an end.
It was only after this that the Kingdoms of Helman, Lisath, and Seth were established one after another, forming the tripartite balance on the continent.
In fact, beneath the territory of the Kingdom of Seth lay the remnants of four Battle God Cities. It was from these ruins that Seth discovered magic amplification devices, which were then used to construct the Machino Defense Line to block the Demon race's advance.
But…
History was like a ridiculous cycle.
Back then, the Battle God Cities built by the lofty mages were stabbed in the back by the magicless "Barbarians" and thus fell completely.
Now, the magic kingdom of Seth, built upon the ruins of the Battle God Cities, was likewise stabbed in the back by riots from magicless Level 2 citizens, and was on the verge of following the same fate as the Holy Demon Order.
Thinking of this, Magico could not help but feel overwhelmed with mixed emotions.
"Battle God City?"
Duanmu Huai naturally had no idea what Magico was thinking deep inside, nor did he care. He merely shrugged.
"Although I don't know what Battle God City you're talking about, I can be sure this probably isn't that thing you mentioned… Alright, get on."
The reason Duanmu Huai had summoned the Sky City was simple. First of all, this was no longer a war between humans, but a war between humans and the Demon race, so naturally he would no longer remain silent. Back when he was in Lisath, the reason Duanmu Huai had not chosen to summon the Sky City was because most of those attacking Lisath were Helman soldiers rather than Demons. In fact, aside from a few Demonfolk, Lisath did not suffer much Demon race invasion at that time, so Duanmu Huai did not need to go to such extremes.
But now, with the Demon race's army invading Seth having become an established fact, Duanmu Huai naturally… would not hold back.
It had to be said that the appearance of the Sky City truly shocked the Demon army.
Unlike humans, Demons naturally had very long lifespans. Many Demons had even lived through the Holy Demon War. Therefore, when they saw that magnificent and enormous Sky City, quite a few Demons felt their hearts skip a beat.
Holy shit, is history about to repeat itself?!
Humans might not remember how terrifying the Battle God City was, but the Demons certainly did!
On top of that, Duanmu Huai had summoned over a hundred giant dragons in one go, pushing things straight to the heat dissipation limit, beating the Demon army so hard that they dared not advance. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Duanmu Huai gathered up the people in the royal capital, then quickly withdrew his forces and moved toward the Fortress City.
"This time, we truly owe you our thanks, Lord Inquisitor."
Standing beside Duanmu Huai, King Gandhi spoke with deep emotion. To be honest, even King Gandhi himself had nearly been scared senseless when he saw an entire city flying over his head.
After all, this was something he had only ever seen in history books!
"It's nothing. For the Inquisition, eliminating demons is our duty."
Duanmu Huai waved his hand, then looked at King Gandhi with some confusion.
"But that said, how did things end up like this?"
Duanmu Huai naturally already knew the sequence of events and had guessed that killing Papaya had certainly been one of the causes. However, he did not care about that at all. A corrupt and degenerate bastard deserved to be killed. What he couldn't understand was how things had escalated so suddenly. Why had a riot broken out all at once?
"It's a long story. On one hand, it was coincidence. On the other hand…"
At this point, King Gandhi's expression darkened.
"I suspect there is a traitor."
"Oh?"
Hearing King Gandhi's words, Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow and immediately understood what he meant. It was not strange for the resistance organization to attack the magic amplification devices. From the mouths of the captured resistance leaders, their plan could indeed be said to have some logic to it.
However, the problem was—who had leaked the information about the magic amplification devices?
The existence of the magic amplification devices, as well as their relationship with the Machino Defense Line, was top-level classified information. Only King Gandhi, the stationed Seth Four Heavenly Kings, and a few top officials knew about it. Yet now, this information had leaked to the resistance organization Pentagram. That meant someone had to have disclosed it.
Unfortunately, the captured Pentagram cadres knew nothing about this. According to them, only the supreme commander, Nelson, knew the details, and in fact he had been the first to receive the information. Unfortunately, Nelson had already committed suicide at the headquarters after the uprising failed.
"I imagine you already have someone in mind."
Although there was no longer any proof, there were certainly suspects.
"Of course."
King Gandhi's face was gloomy. He could roughly guess who had done it, even though there was no evidence…
However…
Pulling his thoughts back, King Gandhi looked at Duanmu Huai once more. He had to admit that this time, Seth had been helped and the nation saved entirely thanks to him. As the ruler of a country, he naturally could not fail to offer some form of reward. But what should he give him…
"Master is Her Majesty Lilia's fiancé."
At that moment, as if seeing through his thoughts, Kanami Kendou, who was standing nearby, suddenly spoke. Upon hearing Kanami's words, Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes.
"I never agreed to that, alright."
"But Lady Lilia has declared that she will marry no one but you, Master, so please return to Lisath as soon as possible to hold the wedding."
"I refuse."
Duanmu Huai silently chose to refuse. He already had more than enough fiancées…
"I think it would be better for Master to go back. Otherwise, who knows what Her Majesty Lilia might do."
"Then we'll talk about it when the time comes…"
Hearing Kanami Kendou's reply, Duanmu Huai sighed helplessly. Lilia's obsession with him truly gave him a headache…
"..."
Hearing this, King Gandhi fell silent.
He knew some things about Duanmu Huai and Lisath, but he had not expected his relationship with Lisath's ruler to be this close… This was not good news for Seth. Although Duanmu Huai currently did not seem inclined to marry Queen Lilia, their relationship was clearly there, and moreover… that ninja named Kanami, if he remembered correctly, was Queen Lilia's trusted confidant.
Things were starting to get complicated.
After that, King Gandhi found an excuse to take his leave and went to the civilian district of the Sky City. This place had now also become a refugee camp. After the earlier Demon army attack, the divide between Level 1 citizens and Level 2 citizens no longer seemed so deep. At the very least, King Gandhi could see Level 1 citizens helping Level 2 citizens treat their wounds, while Level 2 citizens helped Level 1 citizens take care of the injured…
This was the scene he had always wanted to see.
Looking at the sight before him, King Gandhi's eyes filled with tears. Although Seth was now facing the danger of national destruction, under the threat of the Demon race, Level 1 citizens and Level 2 citizens had finally united… What could possibly be more gratifying than this?
But now was not the time to dwell on that.
King Gandhi composed himself, went to a corner of the territory, and found his daughter.
"Magico."
"Ah, Father."
Seeing King Gandhi arrive, Magico hurriedly stood up. What she did not expect, however, was that King Gandhi merely stared at her intently, to the point that she began to feel uneasy.
"Father??"
"Oh, come with me. There are some things I want to talk to you about."
"Th-this… alright."
Although somewhat confused, Magico still nodded and obediently followed King Gandhi out. Under his guidance, the two arrived at a corner of the Sky City.
"Do you see it, Magico? I never imagined I would witness such a scene in my lifetime."
Looking at the lively scene below, King Gandhi could not help but sigh with emotion.
"...…"
Magico nodded as well. As King Gandhi's daughter, she naturally understood what her father's ideals were.
But then, King Gandhi's next sentence nearly made Magico throw her back out.
"Magico, what do you think of that Inquisitor?"
"What do I think?!"
Hearing King Gandhi's question, Magico looked completely bewildered.
"Well… he's very capable, and I'm also very grateful that he was willing to help us…"
As for anything else, Magico had nothing more to say. After all, she had only met Duanmu Huai twice. How much could she possibly know about him?
"Is that so…"
King Gandhi nodded, then fell silent for a long time before finally speaking.
"Then, have you ever considered… marrying him?"
"Wha—————?!!"
Hearing this, Magico couldn't help but scream, then stared at King Gandhi in shock.
"W-wait, Father, what are you talking about?!"
"Although the rift between Level 1 citizens and Level 2 citizens has been resolved, our situation has not improved."
King Gandhi did not look at Magico's expression, but stared straight ahead as he continued.
"Seth is currently being invaded by the Demon race. Even if we take ten thousand steps back and manage to repel the Demon army in the end, given the current circumstances, Seth's national strength will still be greatly weakened. This is completely different from when Lisath was attacked. For a very long time, Seth will likely be unable to recover."
Lisath had been attacked by the Demon race back then, but in reality, the Demon race had only sent three Demonfolk to assist. The main attackers against Lisath had been Helman's army. Moreover, the Demonfolk had used mind control on Lisath's soldiers. Strictly speaking, when the battle ended, Lisath had suffered no major losses aside from losing a castle and some soldiers.
Not to mention that afterwards, to make amends, Helman had ceded land and paid compensation, allowing Lisath to profit once more, effectively offsetting all losses.
Seth, however, was completely different. At present, the Demon army had already occupied nearly half of Seth's territory. A large number of citizens and troops had been annihilated by the Demon army. Without several decades, it would be difficult to recover.
With Seth in such decline, the covetous Lisath and Helman would naturally not sit by idly. Moreover, Lisath had already conveyed a message to Seth through the security forces, expressing their willingness to send troops to help Seth reclaim territory seized by the Demon race—an ill-intentioned proposal that King Gandhi naturally rejected.
Indeed, with Lisath's help, the Demon race could certainly be defeated.
But at that point, would Seth still exist?
Would Lisath kindly return the land it occupied?
King Gandhi would never believe such a thing, even if beaten to death.
As for Helman, although due to their previous failed attack on Lisath and the death of the prince, the entire country was still embroiled in internal struggles between the prince's and princess's factions and had taken no action, it was still possible they might send troops to grab a share. After all, King Gandhi was a king—he knew very well that when internal politics were unstable, the best solution was to launch an external war.
Not to mention that the Demon race was not only Seth's enemy, but the enemy of the entire human world. If Helman and Lisath truly sent troops under the pretext of fighting the Demon race, what could Seth do even if it refused?
Therefore, Seth needed a backer!
For King Gandhi, he now had only one choice.
That was Duanmu Huai, the Inquisitor from the Inquisition!
If Duanmu Huai were merely neutral in stance, that would be one thing. But King Gandhi had already realized that this was not the case at all. Not only did he have an unclear and complicated relationship with Queen Lilia of Lisath, but even Queen Lilia had sent her trusted confidant to stay by his side. And judging by how the two of them interacted, they even seemed to get along quite well?
This was bad—very bad!
Although Duanmu Huai had once told King Gandhi that the Inquisition's stance was to not intervene in internal human conflicts, focusing only on threats from aliens and demons, this also meant that if Lisath truly attacked Seth, he would not interfere!
So… King Gandhi had only one option left.
That was to have his daughter form a marriage alliance with Duanmu Huai!
Even if they could not marry, there at least had to be a relationship. As a man, King Gandhi knew very well that men treated women very differently depending on whether there was a relationship or not!
"So, I hope you can associate with Duanmu Huai."
"T-that's impossible!!"
Compared to Lilia, Magico was clearly much more normal. She immediately rejected her father's request.
"I'm already dating Alex! Even though that guy is very capable, but…"
"Alex is a capable man, but he lacks dominance. And the relationship between the two of you has only stayed at the stage of talking, hasn't it?"
"Isn't that only natural?! That kind of thing can only be done after marriage!"
Magico's face flushed red with anger. She was still an innocent young girl, and she never expected her father to say such things in front of her!
"Besides, it's not even certain whether that man likes women!"
If Duanmu Huai were here, he would definitely make Magico understand very clearly whether he liked women or not.
"Your Majesty."
Just as the two were arguing incessantly, Xun suddenly appeared quietly before them.
"What is it, Xun?"
"It's like this…"
Xun glanced awkwardly at Magico, then looked back at King Gandhi.
"Two young ladies have come looking for Lord Inquisitor. They claim to be Lord Inquisitor's fiancées…"
"Eh?!!!"
(End of Chapter)