The dark demon battle of the Manasvir Empire’s capital, Macnadix City, still continued. Compared to the fights between humans, those between demons were even bloodier. Demonic beings, who had left pain and death aside, attacked each other out of instinct with rarely any magic to be seen. Many of them faced each other head-on.
Right now, during this demonic rampage, the humans didn’t even have the courage to go out and watch as they all hid indoors. On the bright streets illuminated by the sun, Skeleton Soldiers slashed at each other with blades and spears, the Undead tore each other’s corpses apart, and even the phantoms came out without fearing the sun.
The streets looked like doomsday had arrived. The demons lunged at each other in the streets with not a single human to be found. The air was thick with the stench of blood and decay, while the roads were dyed red with blood. Since it wasn’t human blood, the color wasn’t as bright. It was all dark-red demon blood.
The warring dark forces were divided into three factions. The first was the mutated demons that had occupied and operated the imperial city for over ten years and belonged to the Netherworld Creator’s faction. The second was the Demon King, Bella’s, allied forces of two nations. They had the capital’s eastern district’s Christian Hotel as a base and magical arrays to provide support.
The third party had the strongest battle power, consisting of the Abyss Insect Race, the Abyss Mechanical Demons, and the Abyss Skeletal Race. Under one of the Abyss Creators, Insect Impress Vicky Hill’s command, the allied abyssal forces managed to crush the mutated demons who had been occupying this place for more than a decade in just less than three days.
Besides the imperial city area, the mutated demon lairs outside of the capital city and their base had been cleared out by the Abyss Demonic Beings. Right now, the allied forces of the Abyss Demonic Beings had already closed in on the capital, Macnadix City. Considering that they were hard to control and preferred attacking humans more than their own kind, Insect Empress Vicky Hill parked the group of Abyss Demonic Beings around the city’s borders on standby under Bella’s request. Right now, the flames of battle happening within the city were mainly the responsibility of the Demon King’s allied forces.
Hundreds of unflagged airships appeared above the skies of the imperial city. Along with several other Renegades, Bella was waiting on the United Airship Fleet’s flagship, “Sky Ark”. After coming out of the Sky Arena, they got onto the airship and flew towards the imperial city.
Bella planned to conceal information of the Demon God and Renegades’ participation in the fight so that the Evil Creator won’t be able to guard against their attack, allowing them to launch an ambush. Hence, except for the time at the Sky Arena, Demonic Dragon Emperor Alisha and the others didn’t make any other moves. The main combatants now were the demonic beings under Bella while she and the rest were on the viewing platform, enjoying desserts leisurely as if they were on holiday. They looked more like a bunch of noble ladies on a trip rather than top-tier dark existences.
There weren’t a lot of demonic beings flying in the sky, much less any that could pose a threat to Bella’s fleet. Coupled with the fact that control of the air had already been seized by the Demon King’s allied forces, as well as the Abyss Demonic Beings, Bella’s United Airship Fleet easily advanced to the imperial city.
At nine meters above the imperial city walls, the gates were locked when Bella and the girls arrived. The front of the city gates and the city walls were strewn all over with discarded armor and weapons. From the types of equipment, they should have belonged to the Manasvir Empire’s royal guards.
The royal guard, known as the strongest in the empire, had already run off without leaving a single corpse behind. These guys really did run fast. Empress Manya Felan had lost a lot of resources to have hired such a group of money-wasting soldiers who didn’t do their work.
After the soldiers guarding the city retreated, the imperial city was taken over by the ones who were truly in control, the mutated demons. These mutated demons weren’t very intelligent and couldn’t use the magic cannons and the various defensive equipment set up on the imperial city walls. Faced with the advancing airship fleet, they were at a loss on what to do for a moment.
Bella was glad that those mutated demons didn’t know how to use the defensive weapons and magic-guided cannons. As the wealthiest human empire, there were many magic-guided cannons erected atop the city walls as if they didn’t cost a penny. The cost of one alone could replace a hundred standard guns of similar power.
After the United Airship Fleet crossed over the city walls, they stopped in the air and did not fire. The guns on the airships were all loaded, but Bella was hesitating. The last time she had come to the gathering at the imperial city, she couldn’t see it too well since it was night time. She never had a good look at the palace.
Now that it was day, Bella was able to have a clear look at the layout. Empress Manya Felan had designed the imperial city herself. It might be because of homesickness as a transmigrator or just an act out of her subconscious, but she had copied the template of China’s ancient city on Earth, the Forbidden City, directly.
The familiar architectural style of the city made Bella a little reluctant to fire. The other Renegades were also in tacit agreement with Bella, as they did not comment on her decision.
“Let’s just sneak in. Our target should be inside the palace, so we can take a shortcut in there. That’s fine, isn’t it, Noreya?”
“No problem. I’ll show you what I can do.”
After becoming Renegades, Kriss and the other Black Warriors had even more perverse strength. The darkened Noreya used a red mist to bring Bella and the others into the assassin’s exclusive sneaking state. After that, Demon Gate Lordress Arifiels activated the “Spiral Sky Staircase”, allowing Bella and the others to easily land atop the imperial palace without using parachutes and flight magic that would be too obvious.
The number of mutated demons entrenched within the imperial city numbered over a million, but Bella and the others infiltrating were only seven. They might be few in numbers, but Bella was confident enough. A Demon God plus six Renegades, this lineup was enough to deal with the mutated demons here. Even though Demonic Dragon Emperor Alisha and the others were moving alone, if there was the need, they were just as capable as gathering a large number of familiar demons in a short period.
The creator behind the curtains would at most be using a surrogate body, so they had a good chance of crushing him when it came to a real fight. Right now, Bella had to make sure whether there were any live people in the imperial palace! If not, she could command the Demon King’s United Airship Fleet to raid the place.
After they descended, Bella led the group based on the information she had from the escaped Empress Manya Felan. There were secret passageways in the Empress’s palace that led deep into the palace towards where the Emperor was at. When the palace was first built, Empress Manya Felan had specifically left secret passageways in case of emergencies and never told anyone for ten thousand years. The ones who made those tunnels had long been gone from the world, and if Bella hadn’t bullied her to death after getting her in her control, Manya Felan would not have been willing to tell Bella about it.
As they advanced, they encountered many Demonic Beings patrolling the area, but they were unable to see through their concealed states. Bella and her team easily evaded the patrolling demons and arrived at Empress Manya Felan’s palace. Even though they were sneaking, Bella still asked her roommates and part-time followers, Kriss and the others, to wear black demon masks to prevent being seen while they were rescuing the survivors. The evil scent of the Renegades was too obvious, so it was safer to hide their appearances. Bella herself also wore a demon mask .
Empress Manya Felan’s palace was in an eye-catching place, right in the imperial palace’s center. In the ten thousand years since the establishment of the Manasvir Empire, it was Empress Manya Felan who held authority over the nation’s finances, while the military and political aspects were entrusted to Emperor Manas and his family. Therefore, the Empress’s palace was built in a place that was different from usual. Instead of being located in the imperial city where the Emperor’s harem was, it was built at the imperial city center, close to the main hall where the Emperor dealt with imperial matters.
Instead, the chambers of the Manasvir Empire’s Emperor were built in the harem area. The successive emperors and Manya Felan had always maintained this mismatched position. It was completely opposite, but this also saved Bella a lot of walking. If it was built in the harem area, it would be difficult to find with so many other buildings in the palace area.
“Lisha, Kriss, do you want to wait here for a while? For the Empress’s palace, you don’t have to…”
“No. Bella, I’m not so innocent like that silly girl Lisha. What haven’t I seen before?”
“I’ll be fine, Bella. So, don’t worry. Let’s go!”
With her special intuition, Bella sensed that there were likely very obscene images in the Empress’s palace. Before being bullied unconscious, Empress Manya Felan had mentioned that none of her personal battle maids with martial skills managed to escape with her. There were only two outcomes in the demon-infested imperial palace: death or capture. Compared to battling to the death, Bella would rather believe that they would be captured.
Bella tried to stop her more innocent girls, Little Sister Lisha and Princess Kriss. However, Demonic Dragon Emperor Alisha and Myriad Sword Demon Krysan, as well as Demon Gate Lordress Arifiels, had their acceptability bar for such erotic scenes raised after their dark transformations. The shyness in their eyes was gone, now replaced with an inexplicable excitement. Bella had a vague feeling that these Renegades might be the same “type” as her, “gentlewomen” who enjoyed ero stuff.
The demons stationed in the Empress’s palace were Skeleton Soldiers in golden armor, seemingly obtained from the royal guards who had fled. Other than that, they were able to hear strange sounds as soon as they entered the palace. Bella could not be more familiar with those sounds, as she often heard them.
On each of the marble pillars on both sides of the palace passageway inside the luxurious Empress’s palace were beautiful maidens hung upside down on golden chains. The girls had their hands bound behind their backs by golden chains while being gagged by a small golden ball. There were also collars made of pure gold around their necks. Even their legs were firmly secured together by gold chains, after which they were hung upside down in mid-air. There were golden basins under them filled with water. Every so often, the golden chains would suddenly lower for a short time, pressing their heads into the water for a brief moment.
The clothes of these beautiful maidens had long been stripped off, and their bodies were covered in sweat. The tears on their faces painted a very erotic image. If it weren’t for the fact that they were Empress Manya Felan’s personal battle maids, any other palace maid would long have their wills broken under this sort of extremely embarrassing humiliation games.
After Empress Manya Felan escaped, the battle maids who had stayed behind to protect her were all captured and taken as bait. If not for that, they would long have been killed. As for the reason why it developed towards the hentai route, that was purely because the ones in charge of watching over them were Skeleton Soldiers. Skeleton Soldiers lacked the tools in that department, but that would be hard to say if they were swapped out for ogres.
“Isn’t this legendary waterboarding? What a novel way of interrogating someone!”
“The chains are not bad, but the way they’re tied up isn’t aesthetically pleasing enough. Huh? Bella? What’s wrong?”
“Kriss, Ariel, you guys… Forget it. Let’s hurry up inside and see if there are any demons around. If not, let’s go save those battle maids!”
When Bella saw Myriad Sword Demon Krysan and Demon Gate Lordress Arifiels chatting without a single shred of embarrassment, and even seemingly excited, she was slightly taken aback. When did these two get all this strange knowledge? Also, they seemed to know even more than the “senior” Bella. The contrast between the before and after personalities of the Renegades was a little hard for Bella to get used to.
The actual one in control of the Empress’s palace was Skeleton King Maloxam. This skeletal demonic being standing over three meters tall with a massive hammer in its hands and a crown on its head was too conspicuous. The only thing lacking was to have the words “Skeleton King” engraved onto its own skull. When they saw Skeleton King Maloxam’s haughty appearance, Bella almost wanted to take this chance to clean this guy up once and for all.
“Wait, Bella. See that mechanism up there on the pillar? It won’t be hard to off that Skeleton King now, just… it might implicate other people.”
“Huh? Oh, you’re talking about the mechanisms on top of the pillars!”
With the reminder from the attentive Assassin Noreya, Bella finally discovered the secret on the pillars. A self-destruct mechanism was attached to the golden chains tying up the fair legs of the battle maids. The other end of the mechanism was controlled by the magic ring on Skeleton King Maloxam’s hand.
Once Skeleton King Maloxam was defeated and he pressed on the ring, the mechanisms on the other end of the chain would break open, causing the constrained battle maids to fall and enter eternal slumber in the palace. This hostage-taking technique was close to surpassing the “senior” Bella in terms of shamelessness.
Unfortunately, it was also a move that Bella couldn’t do much to help. She, who was now in sneaking mode, was sort of peeping at her enemies on the bright side. She approached Skeleton King Maloxam and launched a sneak attack, reaching her hand out to grab Skeleton King Maloxam’s hand, which had the control ring on it.
With a crisp “clack” from bones breaking, Skeleton King Maloxam’s right hand was destroyed by Bella’s dark energy, along with the control ring.
Without the support of that ring, his hostages no longer helped his case. When the patrolling skeleton soldiers saw Skeleton King Maloxam under attack, they all rushed over, but they were still a step too late. Skeleton King Maloxam hadn’t been able to think of a countermeasure yet when…
“Where did you assassins come from? Who dares plot—”
“Checkmate, foolish Skeleton King.”
Bella let go of its hand and quickly flashed behind it. Almost at the instant that she left, several sword energies pierced through Skeleton King Maloxam’s body, killing it instantly. Soon, the remaining Skeleton Soldiers also dissolved into white ashes, following their king.
The entire Empress’s Palace had now fallen under Bella and the others. Bella didn’t even glance at the large amounts of gold and jewelry left behind in Empress Manya Felan’s palace. Compared to that, she was more interested in the group of battle maids they had just released. Their beautiful faces were filled with fear and horror. These mysterious beauties that appeared from nowhere had killed Skeleton King Maloxam instantly, and they didn’t seem to be good people either.
Bella couldn’t be bothered to explain and temporarily saved them for now. Since even Empress Manya Felan was hers, her battle maids would also follow suit. When she returned, she would have Empress Manya Felan lay down the order. Not a single one of these battle maids would be able to escape her demon claws.
“Bella, I found it! It’s the passageway to the Emperor’s chambers!”
Deep in the Empress’s Palace, beneath her large bed, Assassin Noreya found the secret entrance to the Emperor’s chambers. Although this secret passage had survived for ten thousand years, the entrance and steps looked new, as if they had just been built. The door to the secret entrance was not locked. Empress Manya Felan must have opened it when she was trying to escape back then. She had the idea to escape through the secret tunnel, but she had abandoned it for some reason.
The secret underground passageway didn’t just lead to the Emperor’s chambers; it led elsewhere as well. Bella did not go in instantly, as she had detected an unusual smell. When she neared the entrance, she heard soft footsteps coming from the passageway. The problem was, nobody besides Empress Manya Felan knew of these passages, so who did these footsteps belong to?
At the entrance of the secret passage, Bella found the key left behind by Empress Manya Felan. Looking at its location, she presumed it was dropped in a hurry. There was no reason for a key this important to be tossed aside so casually.
“Please wait, Bella. The secret passage… Something’s wrong!”
“What did you sense, Isaman? Is it a Demonic Being?”
“It’s no Demonic Being. It’s more like an Evil Being!”
