Chapter 1343: The Grand Lord’s Decision

For the next half month, the war in Wolfheart settled into something neither side had planned for.

The demons held four cities and should have been raising Red Mist storage towers in each — the preparatory work for a full occupation of Wolfheart and the eventual push into the Kingdom of Dawn. Instead, the First Army’s mobile columns stopped them again and again. Sedimentation Bay, on the coast, got its towers. The other three cities got nothing. After enough sorties from the Aerial Knights, the nobles responsible for maintaining the Mist supply lines began to waver, and the demons had to pull troops out of everything else to keep the lines guarded and moving. The front stretched. The manpower thinned.

The First Army, for its part, had no interest in storming the cities. It didn’t need to. A convoy would reach a preset position, unload the Longsong Cannons, drop two rounds on whatever concentration of demons had formed, load back up, and leave. This happened several times a day. The demons patrolling the outermost edges of their defense were targets like any other.

It wasn’t all passive, on the demons’ side. They organized counterattacks. They sent a vanguard against Cage Mountain itself. They assembled a mixed force of humans and demons to destroy the road south of Cage Mountain with black gunpowder. But by then the main north-south road was finished. The Kingdom of Dawn’s cement could be moved to the front at any time, and Lotus worked the reconstruction each night alongside the engineering teams. The cold slowed the curing, but the calculus was simple: the road could always be repaired faster than the enemy could destroy it. And after the major construction phase ended, the idle teams had simply stayed in the Cage Mountain area. The First Army had no shortage of hands.

Blow it up tonight. Fixed by morning.

The seesaw ground on. The demons’ assaults lost their early weight — the oppressive momentum that had seemed, a month ago, like a tide that would just keep rising. Now both sides held the line they had and neither gained ground. The war came to a standstill.

“My lord?”

Hackzord raised his head, looked at Siacis, and started to speak. He stopped. He closed his eyes. “Go ahead.”

The expression on Siacis’ face told him what it was before the words came. But there had been so much bad news lately that fury and disappointment felt like responses he’d worn smooth.

“Totolock personally led the assault on the human headquarters at Cage Mountain. He died on the front line.” Siacis kept his gaze lowered. “He lived up to his promise.”

He had kept his word. He had not completed his mission.

Hackzord said nothing for a moment. He didn’t ask for details — in the war against the Union, the death of any higher ascendant had meant extracting every piece of intelligence that could be gathered about the enemy who killed them. Now, with humans, he could construct it without asking. One small mistake, and a strange firearm ended you. He knew what had happened to Totolock. He didn’t need the version with names.

What Totolock’s death actually meant was this: the Western Front’s last fighting unit was gone. He had died with honor. It was meaningless to the race. If he had been transformed into a high-rank Parasitic Eye Demon instead of sent back to the front as a vanguard, he might have served a purpose that outlasted his life. But Hackzord could not say this with another subordinate watching.

Besides — Totolock was not the root of the problem.

No general, however brave, however shrewd, accomplishes much without troops. Hackzord had given the order to attack. And the person who had decided the size of the Western Front’s army was the King.

No. That was wrong. The King had given enough. Blood Conqueror and Mask were the ones to blame — if Blood Conqueror had provided more outposts, if Mask had actually delivered the full number of Symbiotic Demons he had promised rather than half of it, things would have been different—

Hackzord curled his regrown hand into a fist.

But would they?

The thought arrived before he could stop it.

Even if the army had been twice as large, they would have occupied all of Wolfheart. And then there was Dawn. And then Graycastle. At what number did the mathematics actually change?

“All of them,” he said, before he knew he was going to.

Siacis blinked. “My lord? What did you say?”

“Nothing.” He shook his head.

It wasn’t nothing. It was Ursrook’s answer, the answer they had all dismissed.

Abandon the exhausted God Stone mines. Let the Sky-sea Realm claim half the continent. Send everything — every soldier, old and new — to the Land of Dawn, and do not stop until the humans are gone.

Hackzord had thought it unrealistic when Ursrook first made the argument. He could not think that now. The only question was whether he had the resolve to say it plainly in front of the King and every grand lord who would hate him for it.

He looked for a long moment at the Nightmare Lord, who had not moved in days.

Then he stood and walked out of the Red Mist Pond.

“My lord, where are you going?”

“The top of the Birth Tower.” The Sky Lord’s voice came out lower than he intended. “I’m going to request the King convene a Holy See meeting.”

He arrived at the tower platform to the sight of the churning sea of Mist and the Birth Tower’s vast, eye-covered surface rising through it. Looking at it, he felt something ease in him — not peace, but the recognition that there was no longer any road behind him. Requesting a Holy See meeting was a grand lord’s prerogative in theory and a display of presumption in practice. It would displease the others. It would signal that what he had to say exceeded what private counsel could handle. Every grand lord who sat in the Presiding Holy See would know, the moment they appeared, that this was Hackzord forcing their hand.

He had an instinctive resistance to the Holy See — the King’s control there was total, and the Realm of Mind at that depth was not somewhere he enjoyed being. But he had no better option. What he needed to say could not be said in pieces, in private, to carefully chosen ears. It had to be said to all of them, at once, where the King could hear it and rule on it.

The King did not reject his request.

Fifteen minutes later, the other grand lords materialized in their overhanging seats.

“You again, Hackzord.” Blood Conqueror’s voice carried no surprise, only contempt. “Something so important about the Western Front that you needed the King to call the Holy See? Is it more pressing than the Nightmare Lord losing herself in the Realm of Mind?”

“When Valkries fell unconscious, you reported it to the King alone.” Mask’s tone was lighter, conversational — which made it sharper. “Now you call a meeting as though what you carry is urgent. Don’t tell me Sky City is about to be taken by those lowlifes. I went to significant trouble to cultivate Symbiotic Demons for you.”

This bastard. Still deflecting, still pushing responsibility sideways. Hackzord held his gaze cold. Out of five times the agreed Symbiotic Demon delivery, barely half had arrived — and Mask would be the first to point to the intensifying Sky-sea Realm pressure as the reason and the last to admit the agreement had simply not been kept.

In the past, Hackzord would not have let it pass. He would have taken the opening. Now he found he had no interest in it.

“Enough.” The King’s voice entered all of them at once. “The Sky Lord requested this meeting. Hear him out before you form opinions.”

The eyes of the Birth Tower turned.

“And — this is separate —” The gaze settled on Hackzord with a weight that moved the Mist beneath his seat. “The Nightmare Lord’s situation was not your doing. I approved your request to send Silent Disaster to support the Western Front. I expect your report to address the substance of the war, not to be a grievance for more troops. If that is all it is, we are both wasting our time.”

Pressure, dense and physical. Hackzord swallowed it.

“Your Majesty.” He steadied himself. “I do want to speak about the Western Front. But not about troops or outposts. It is about —”

He paused. He looked into the King’s bottomless eyes.

”— the Deity of Gods.”

Chapter 1343 - The Grand Lord’s

Decision Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations In the following half a month, the battlefield in Wolfheart entered a strange stalemate. The demons who had long seized the four cities should have erected a new group of Red Mist storage towers, in order to prepare for taking complete control of Wolfheart, and invading the Kingdom of Dawn. But what was really happening was that they were constantly stopped by the attack of the First Army’s mobile forces. Apart from Sedimentation Bay which was on the coast, they did not construct Red Mist storage towers in the other three cities. After suffering the repeated attacks from the Aerial Knights, the nobles originally responsible for transporting the Red Mist began to waver, forcing the demons to have no choice but to allocate part of their troops to supervise and control the normal operation of the Red Mist supply line. Coupled with the forward expansion of the defense, the shortage of manpower was becoming increasingly apparent. As for the First Army, who felt that being able to rain artillery was enough of a success, they did not insist on launching an attack on the four cities. The demons who patrolled the outermost perimeter of the defensive line were also their targets to be hunted. Several steam-powered trucks arrived at the preset positions quickly, unloaded the Longsong Cannons, fired two rounds at the place where the demons gathered, then loaded back up and left. Skirmishes like this basically happened several times everyday. The demons did not only passively defend under the continuous pincer attacks by the biplanes and Artillery Squad. They had organized a number of attacks, and even when their vanguard attacked Cage Mountain.The rear even organized a mixed force of humans and demons, and took this chance to destroy the road near Cage Mountain, using black gunpowder in the process. But by this time, the road connecting the north and south had been completed. The cement produced by the Kingdom of Dawn could be transferred to the frontlines at any time The simple roads that had been destroyed by explosion could often be completely repaired the following night under the joint efforts of Lotus and the engineering team. Even though the low temperatures, wind, and snow greatly lengthened the cement solidification time, in the end it was simply a question of cost-benefit ratio. If the stabilized gravel surface layer was crushed, all they had to do was fix it immediately. After the completion of the main road construction project, a large number of idle construction teams were gathered in the Cage Mountain area. As such, the First Army was not short of manpower in this aspect at all. As the seesaw struggle continued, the demons’ assault became increasingly slower, and the oppression and power that all their forces had at the start was gone. At this moment, both sides of the frontline came to a pause. … “My lord?” Hackzord raised his head, looked at Siacis and was about to say something when he stopped. He slowly closed his eyes. “Speak.” It was evident from Siacis’ expression that it was not good news. But there had been so much bad news lately that he was no longer in the mood to express any fury or disappointment. “Totolock personally led the attack on the headquarters of the humans at Cage Mountain, and died heroically on the front line,” Siacis said with his head lowered. “… He has lived up to his promise.” He had fulfilled his own commitments, yet did not complete his mission. Hackzord did not show much reaction to this result which he had long expected. He didn’t even want to ask his subordinates the exact details of his death—in the war against The Union, the fall of every higher ascendant meant that the challengers were dangerous, and gathering intelligence about them was essential. However, now, when fighting with the humans, one little misstep would lead to death by those strange firearms. He could completely imagine what had happened to his subordinate in the end. The fact that Totolock had led the troops himself meant that it was the last fighting unit of the Western Front. He died in glory, but it was meaningless to the race. If this underling had not transformed from a Lord of Hell, and was only good as a vanguard at the frontline and not at manipulating magic stones, he might have been more useful to be transformed into a high rank Parasitic Eye Demon than being killed by a human firearm. But the Sky Lord could not utter these words in the presence of another underling. Moreover, Totolock was not the only problem in the current situation. No matter how brave and wise a general is, they would not be able to do much without enough troops under their command. It was he who ordered the immediate attack. And the person who limited the numbers on the Western Front was… the King. No, no, the King had given him enough support. Blood Conqueror and Mask were the most deserving of hate. If the Blood Conqueror gave more outposts, and Mask provided enough Symbiotic Demons as he said he would, the result would have been completely different— Hackzord squeezed his newly grown hand into a fist. But… would it really have been different? The next moment, a haunting thought came to his mind. If they doubled their numbers once more, the Western Front army would indeed be able to occupy the entire Kingdom of Wolfheart, but then there was still Dawn and Graycastle, how many more soldiers would he have to add for it to be enough? “All of them…” The Sky Lord could not help but utter. “My Lord,” Siacis asked in confusion. “What did you say?” “Nothing.” He shook his head. Indeed, Ursrook had already given them the answer. “Abandon the cities where we’ve exploited all the God Stone mines, let the Sky-sea Realm have half of the continent… Direct all our forces to the Land of Dawn. I mean all, including old and new troops, until the human race is wiped off the face of this planet.” This was the conclusion drawn by his best subordinate. Back then, all the grand lords had thought it was an unrealistic idea, but now he could sort of understand what Ursrook had been thinking. After a long hesitation, Hackzord made up his mind. He looked deeply at the motionless Nightmare Lord, got up and walked out of the Red Mist Pond. “My lord, where are you going?” “The top of the Birth Tower,” the Sky Lord replied with a deep voice.” I’m going to request the King to commence a Holy See meeting!” … The sea of mist that billowed beneath him and the Birth Tower that was covered in enormous eyes in the middle gradually appeared before his eyes —seeing this, he felt a slight sense of relief. Holy See meetings were usually commenced by the King. Actions like requesting one wan not only sort of overstepping his place, it would also displease the other grand lords. After all, not everyone was willing to enter this domain in the Realm of Mind where the King had complete control. In the past Hackzord also had an instinctive resistance to entering the Presiding Holy See, but now, he had no better option. Only in this way could he tell the King and all the grand lords what he thought. Fortunately, the King did not reject his request. About fifteen minutes later, the other grand lords appeared in overhanging seats one after the other. “It’s you again… Hackzord.” Blood Conqueror said. “I don’t know what’s so important about the Western Front that you need to get the King to hold the Holy See. Could it be that what you’re about to report is more important than the Nightmare Lord becoming lost in the Realm of Mind?” “Indeed, when Valkries lost consciousness, you only reported it to the King alone,” Mask followed. “Now you have requested a Holy See meeting as if you have something urgent. Don’t tell everyone that your Sky City is about to be captured by those lowlifes—it had been hard enough for me to divert a large amount of resources to cultivate Symbiotic Demons for you.” This bastard… He’s beating around the bush and pushing all the responsibility on me again. Hackzord cast a cold glance at him. Of the five times the number of Symbiotic Demons that they had agreed on, only half of had been delivered so far. It was true that the Sky-sea Realm’s offensive had intensified, but it was also true that the agreed amount had not been reached. If it had been in the past, he definitely would not have missed this opportunity to attack him. But right now, Hackzord did not have the slightest interest in engaging in a battle of tongues. “Enough.” The King’s voice sounded in everybody’s minds. “I believe the Sky Lord must have his own reasons for requesting a Holy See meeting, it wouldn’t be too late to voice your opinions after you hear him out.” “In addition…” All the pupils in the eyes of the Tower of Birth looked at Hackzord. “It was not your fault that the Nightmare Lord got lost. I had granted your request to send Silent Disaster to support you in battle, so I do hope that you’ll not be grieving and complaining in your report and asking for more troops; otherwise, you will be wasting both of our time.” Hackzod felt tremendous pressure. He swallowed, bit the bullet and answered, “Your Majesty, it is true that I want to talk about assistance on the Western Front, but it is not simply about one or two more troops or more outposts, it’s…” The Sky Lord paused and looked into the King’s bottomless eyes. “—Deity of Gods.”