Manasvir Empire’s capital, Macnadix City. Inside the great hall of the royal palace, two dark figures are sitting face to face, playing chess on a black and white checkerboard atop a golden table. The only difference is that the pieces looked slightly different. They were all hideous and terrifying-looking, with not a single normal piece.
“Chapman City has been taken over by demons of unknown origins. The level of the Corpse King is a little over the top, and it’s actually the intelligence growth type. Those dimwits, Dorn and Gavin were instantly killed by those demons; they’re simply a disgrace to the dark realm!”
“You underestimate the human race. I still don’t like your style. Instead of this whole substitution fiasco, we’d be better off occupying them by force. Even though the invasion plans of our peers are too straightforward, they at least have much more sincerity than you do!”
“That is because you look at the issue from a different angle. The Mothers of Creation led by the Creator of Light, Anastasia Vianne, are watching this dimension. If you can’t endure the loneliness, you might just end up like our rival, the Divine Creator. Did he not lose a battle somehow or another and was driven back to his own space?”
The two masterminds behind the plot disagreed on some decisions, with one of them being the type who prefers using active force, while the other was the scheming type. Seeing that there would be no changes even if they continued this discussion, one of the dark figures got up and left, leaving the unfinished chess game behind.
“Are there any issues over at Cromwell Village’s side? Your subordinates aren’t tough enough. They’re a scary lot out there.”
“It’ll be fine. The Dark Chanters aren’t a group that any ordinary person can just deal with. Even if the Holy Maidens of the Radiant Church are there, that group of girls still won’t be able to avoid total annihilation. When that time comes, my little puppet plan will come to fruition.”
“Good. I may just be being paranoid, but we need to speed up. The others are already stepping up their actions, we still don’t know whose hands the prey will fall in.”
The dark figure that was left behind continued to sit idly by itself. It was savoring a glass of wonderful scarlet wine until his peace was disturbed by his subordinate’s interruption. His subordinates came in bearing not so good news. They have lost contact with the Dark Chanters he arranged to stay in Cromwell Village.
“Master…We have lost contact with Cromwell Village. A mysterious force has encased the entire village!”
“We failed? Prepare the next set of plans. It will not be too late for us to deal with those Olsylvia Academy students after they’ve gathered at the imperial city. I would like to see which one of them has ruined my plans. Right, no one else is to hear of any of this.”
“Understood.”
After the other dark figure left, it did not disappear completely. Instead, it summoned its men. Both of the masters behind the plot had their own subordinates, but not all of them moved synonymously. Besides certain joint operations, the actions taken on both sides are separate.
“Master, what commands do you have?”
“Prepare to follow my plans. That guy cares too much about the thoughts of others and their rules. There’s no way he can surpass himself in this way. I will prove him wrong by way of force.”
In the dark shade of Cromwell Village, Bella formed a three-man assault team with Marionette Master Elaine and Swordsman Princess Kriss as they entered the darkness together. After dissolving completely into the darkness, leaving behind the Olsylvia Academy girls who waited where they stood while President Isaman continued to sing “Requiem”, but the Voice of Death placed on the opposite was disrupting the minds of the girls on this side.
Bishop Stanley had originally wanted to get the rest to do some scouting, but Bella declined his kind offer. Though there were many strong people among the girls, it won’t be good to mobilize them as these elite girls were either princesses of that empire or the noble young misses from that empire’s aristocrat families. Even one loss would be hard to account for.
It was simply a separate world inside of the shade. Bella took the lead with Kriss and Marionette Master Elaine following behind on each side of her, forming a triangle as they carefully explored the dark Cromwell Village. Not a single fully intact house could be found in the village within the shade, and a large number of dark, corrupt Demonic Men were wandering about.
Demonic Men did not belong to the demon race. They were mutated demonic beings that transformed to their now monstrous appearances. They either had many arms, or many heads, and with their appearances as badly decaying corpses, they looked terrifying. After catching the scent of humans, the demonic men began moving over to Bella’s group.
After confirming with Bella that Marionette Master Elaine was a trustworthy companion, Kriss summoned her sword space and countless swords flew down from the sky, impaling the demon corpses that surrounded them. Marionette Master Elaine was not to be outdone either as she manipulated ten puppet threads straight into the ground and attacked the demonic men as her strings resurfaced.
The Demonic Men were thoroughly defeated and Bella could already catch a vague glimpse of the Dark Chanters hiding behind the Demonic Men. The Voice of Death came from Crom Cathedral, which was right at the center of Cromwell Village. A large group of demonic beings was gathered at the cathedral entrance, but unlike the demonic men, these demonic beings were much stronger in battle.
The ones blocking the entrance of Crom Cathedral were sturdy-looking red-skinned ogres standing about three meters tall. These red-skinned ogres were one type of mutated ogre and they mainly fed on blood. They generally did not enjoy eating human flesh. They also had self-healing effects during battle which were annoying to deal with.
Besides the hordes of red-skinned ogre warriors, there was also an elite unit—Hell Knight Cromwell. Cromwell Village is said to be the home of the first Dragon Knight of the Manasvir Empire, Cromwell, and the village was named in his honor. After Dragon Knight Cromwell’s death, he was buried in the back of Crom Cathedral of his hometown, Cromwell Village.
That was thousands of years ago and the now resurrected Hell Knight Cromwell was the demonic being mutated from Dragon Knight Cromwell’s corpse from back then. Its mount was no longer a wyvern, but rather a more violent purple Hell Bull. Compared to the dragon race, the deterring power of a creature as terrifying as the Hell Bull was more effective.
“Intruders, this is no place for you to linger. Disappear!”
“You’re the intruder! You’re the one who should disappear!”
Bella summoned her Hell Warhorse and mounted it before rushing straight at Hell Knight Cromwell. After the body of Dragon Knight Cromwell, who had been asleep for thousands of years, was resurrected, it still seemed to retain its basic intelligence despite its motor senses being gone. Bella came up for a challenge a little too hastily and did not fully equip her warhorse with its full heavy armor. Without even preparing her lance, she just rushed over with a knight’s sword in hand, which was overly courageous.
The red-skinned ogres rushed over together with Cromwell behind him at the same time, hoping to get the upper hand by relying on numbers and drowning Bella and the others in their “demonic tide”. Marionette Master Elaine and Swordsman Kriss seemed to attack at the same time, each of them commanding their own weapons back to back.
With Kriss’ tacit cooperation, Marionette Master Elaine manipulated the tens of thousands of swords summoned by Kriss which were now strung by her puppet threads, and they all thrust forward at the same time as if they were being wielded by a real person.
A large number of red-skinned ogres were decapitated by the swords before they could even realize what was happening, leaving the scene filled with gore as a large volume of red spurted out, turning the earth beneath the feet of Bella’s warhorse red. And, on that scarlet earth, Bella collided with Hell Knight Cromwell.
Bella’s Hell Warhorse was no match for Fallen Dragon Knight Cromwell’s Hell Bull, and was crushed into a bloody mist in almost an instant. But Bella had already leapt into the air just as the two were about to collide, and it was only the Hell Warhorse Fallen that Dragon Knight Cromwell crashed into, not her.
“Incompetent rat, is hiding all you can do? Come out and fight me!”
“Goodbye, Hell Knight! You’re nothing in battle without a wyvern!”
Hell Knight Cromwell was looking around for Bella when Princess Kriss and Marionette Master Elaine made a coordinated power attack from far away. The “Thousand Stringed Sword Dance” was released. Cromwell was unable to dodge in time, and by the time he regained his senses, his entire body was covered in dozens of swords with holy attributes, which immobilized the Hell Knight.
After falling down from the sky, Bella took advantage of the time Hell Knight Cromwell was stuck for a vertical slash from above, splitting Hell Knight Cromwell into two halves. The long rusted and decayed armor Cromwell wore was unable to withstand Bella’s full-force attack.
“You…Your power! Damn you…I will keep fighting…You cannot advance…”
Hell Knight Cromwell let out an unwilling roar as its body, which had been cut in half, dissolved into a bloody puddle. Alongside its rider, the Hell Bull disappeared completely as well. Hell Knight Cromwell was not weak; it was just that the countless holy swords Kriss summoned were temporarily granted the power to seal darkness, and his long-decayed flesh could not escape the erosion of time, allowing Bella to take advantage of this for a sneak attack.
After slaying Hell Knight Cromwell, the demons entrenched in front of Crom Cathedral, be it the remaining red-skinned ogres or demon corpses there to act as cannon fodder, they all scattered like frightened birds. Hell Knight Cromwell was equivalent to this place’s area boss, so all the remaining demons escaped once their leader was defeated.
After giving Kriss and Marionette Master Elaine the signal to stand down, Bella went inside of Crom Cathedral herself to scout the place out. Without even knocking on the door, she stepped straight through the entrance of the cathedral, whose door had already begun to erode. The Dark Chanters did not back away due to Bella’s invasion and just continued to sing.
The Dark Chanters were all gathered in the chapel of Crom Cathedral, and their mouths were the origin of that terrifying song. Where the Goddess of Light’s statue used to be at the center, the statue had already been destroyed and replaced by some statue of an unknown demonic being. The face of the dark idol looked so ferocious that it clearly was not left behind by the World Destructors on Bella’s side.
With the demon gods and evil gods of the World Destructors all being ladies, they would never intentionally erect ugly, demonic, or terrifying statues of themselves. They’ll definitely make sure to keep a complete human figure. The origins of the dark idol in the chapel were unclear as of this moment, but it must have been left behind by the demons who took control of this place.
The dozens of Dark Chanters were standing in several rows, just like the believers of the Radiant Church, singing their daily prayers. Most of the Dark Chanters had their back to Bella, and only the one in the lead was facing her. After entering the chapel, she faced that Dark Chanter singing in the lead directly.
Bella almost turned away from the Dark Chanter’s appearance, not daring to look straight at it any longer. That face was so severely decayed that it looked almost like a skeleton with two black holes for eyes and a mouth that can no longer close. The image of these chanters was so poorly designed. Which bastard designed something as tasteless as this? Bella really wanted to blast the guy who was in charge of making these demonic beings.
The Dark Chanters did not even react to Bella’s arrival, as if nothing had happened. Bella thought it was strange. Even if they did not have eyes, they surely must have seen her, right? But in order not to scare Kriss and Marionette Master Elaine, Bella contacted them with a magic contact crystal to tell them to wait at the door and not to enter.
The singing voices within the chapel seemed to carry some strange bewitching power, as if it was luring its guests to come closer and join the Dark Chanters in their song. As a Demon God, Bella could understand the meaning of their song; they were calling her over to join them. But if you could understand the true meaning of their words, then their alluring song would basically become useless.
Bella did not get close to the chapel. She was the only one there right now, so she could finally use that precious object. Bella took out the “Praise of Light” jewel, a gift from the Creator of Light, Anastasia Vianne. It was strongly effective on dark beings, and due to Bella not being careful last time, she instantly caused damage to many demon kings and demon gods. So, there were no more surprises this time.
Under the glow, the Dark Chanters finally realized that something was wrong. Many of the Dark Chanters reacted like snowmen under sunlight, quickly melting into dark water. The Dark Chanter at the lead fell to a kneel position reluctantly and pointed a finger at Bella, as if it could not understand how this person could resist the charms of their dark song!
“You…Why won’t you sing…Why…Aren’t you…”
“Sorry but your song’s too difficult, You’re better off leaving it for hell!”
Bella was not tempted by their dark song even to the end and cleansed the entirety of Crom Cathedral with her “Praise of Light”. Following the crisp sound of a crystal breaking, the dark artifact holding the dark shade over Cromwell Village could no longer withstand the power of the Creator of Light, Anastasia Vianne, and erupted by itself.
Bella felt a little regretful that she did not get to take a good look at what the dark artifact looked like. It might even be useful to her! It really was a waste to have just broken it like that. Bella came to the chapel and, wielding her knight’s sword, destroyed that dark idol.
This was just one of Bella’s bad habits, but unexpectedly, it revealed a secret to her. A secret door to the cellar was hidden underneath that idol. After making sure that the secret door wasn’t open, she sent a message to Marionette Master Elaine to come in with Princess Kriss to check it out.
“Bella, you…We can’t open this door so it’s better for us to leave it to Assassin Princess Noreya to figure it out!”
“Right. Bella, the skies are clearing outside. The Manasvir Empire’s royal guards have come to pick us up. You should go take a look. They’re already clashing with our students.”
Before leaving, Bella used the broken rocks from the destroyed idol to seal up the secret door once more. Outside of Crom Cathedral, the girls of Olsylvia Academy had formed several circles and surrounded the cathedral completely. Further outside of that were the royal guards of the Manasvir Empire, looking to number about ten thousand in units.
The atmosphere was a little bit tense and Princess Lisha, Princess Irene, and the knight princesses of the Octavia Empire looked like they were going to fight at the front. More than a dozen royal guards had already been beaten down in front of them. Bella said that these golden guards were just trash in battle, and when she saw how they were beaten, she knew that Lisha and the others went easy on them.
“That…Please, students. We mean no harm. We just came to pick you up. Where are your teachers? I’ll talk to them.”
“I don’t know if you mean any harm, but the atmosphere of this entire event did not feel the least bit friendly. We of the Octavia Empire are not to be messed with, so let me tell you now. Not one girl will be separated from us here! No need to involve the teachers, leave all discussions directly to us sisters of the knight department!”
It turns out that as soon as the crisis in Cromwell Village was averted, the Manasvir Empire’s royal guards had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. They claimed to have come to escort the girls from Olsylvia Academy to the imperial capital, Macnadix City, and that all the strange occurrences happening in Cromwell Village were just a small test for the girls.
But their next plan disgusted the girls of the Rose Society. Based on the plan, the girls would enter the city separately in groups of ten, which was a request the girls of the Rose Society resisted. If they are separated now, then there was the danger of them being taken out group by group. Also, the royal guards wanted to destroy Crom Cathedral at the first opportunity while Bella was still inside. As for the reason for the destruction, the royal guards would not say.
This made Princess Irene, who had a sisterly relationship with Bella’s surrogate, Princess Felia, turn hostile with them on the spot. She directly beat down over dozens of their guard members. The student union presidents all unanimously choose to keep quiet and pretend that they didn’t hear anything. At the teacher’s side, Bishop Stanley ate too much and was currently taking a nap. He had no idea that they had already begun arguing. Ingrid and the other three female teachers were just like the student union presidents. They all chose to watch the show on mute.
The commander of the royal guards who was in charge of picking them up, General Joseph, felt his head hurt. Both the splitting of the students and the destruction of Crom Cathedral were orders from His Majesty the Emperor, and he was given no reasons for any of them, so how could he explain? When he saw the students causing a disturbance, with the student union president and the accompanying teachers choosing to remain silent and even backing them up from behind, he knew that this was going to be hard to deal with.
“Which one of you is in charge? Go and tell the person who gave the order that your empire is only sponsoring the academy’s competition, not hosting it, so please do not overstep your authority!”
