At the central area of the Alessandra Academy’s “Force of the Earth”, Carol Food Street, the hall where the secret meeting of the dark races was taking place, Bella and Kriss were tasting the delicious food while secretly listening in on the meeting of the Blood Race’s elders of the thirteen clans. Other than the first clan elder, who had shown his true face as the meeting president, the remaining twelve were wearing black clothes to conceal their appearances.
This caused Bella to lose interest. Clearly, several of the Blood Race’s elders were girls, but it didn’t matter if they weren’t going to reveal themselves. It felt like she was being tormented listening to that seductive voice. Still, Bella had already gathered information on the Alessandra Academy’s strongest fighting forces and could be considered to have completed the majority of her task ahead of schedule.
The strongest fighters were six Vow Breakers, namely Blood Queen Evelina, Phantom Queen Malvina, Fallen Angel Monarch Jasmine, Chaos Dragon Claudimus, Sacred Demon of Reincarnation Alshelly, and Illusion Shade Samiria. Unlike the Renegades that started out as Black Warriors, these Vow Breakers were originally evil until they changed their stance to the radiant side, in contrast to those who went through dark transformations. Bella simply called it a “light transformation”.
“Turning to the dark side makes you three times stronger, but walking into the light makes you three times weaker.” This saying was extreme heresy and couldn’t be applied to the Vow Breakers. Even under the “light”, their force did not decrease, rather increasing dramatically. Compared to other demonic beings, they really had broken their vows. Wielding dark and evil attributes, they had great immunity toward demonic beings and dark attacks. And, compounded with their divine moves that could restrain the darkness, this became even worse for their “peers”.
Vow Breakers generally appeared along with the Dark Warriors, also known as the Renegades. If a Creator summoned any one of them, then they would have to summon an equal number of the other to keep the balance of power. The only thing Bella didn’t understand was, be it the Vow Breakers or the Renegades, they had all appeared in the last few decades. Which Dimensional Creator of this Other World dimension could have completed this summoning operation while their status remained unknown for the past ten thousand years? Was it a new Creator? Or some other being?
Bella could barely understand the Blood Race language and had obtained a crucial piece of information based on the discussion of the Blood Race’s elders. Most of the twelve academies had Saviors in them. Apart from the Olsylvia Academy and the Alessandra Academy for the Foreign Races, the remaining ten human academies all had Saviors in their midst.
These Saviors were different from those active male Saviors from the Olsylvia Academy, like God Chosen Knight Scott and the rest. Scott and the others had Dimensional Creators on their backs, giving them “gold fingers” as support, which was far more advanced than the others. The latter were Saviors cultivated by the Savior Camp without the help of the Dimensional Creator. Their “golden finger” cheat supports were all reliant on what the Saviors’ base camp provided them.
These kinds of saviors mostly came with their own cheats. Compared to the traditional transmigrated Savior, these Saviors couldn’t hold a candle. If the system broke, those Saviors could all basically quit. Without their systems, they had nothing. And, it was still a mystery whether their souls could return to their original world if they died in battle without the Dimensional Creator providing them help. If Chosen Knight Scott and the others were considered the “temporary workers” of the Savior’s Camp, then the latter weren’t even considered “temporary workers” anymore. Without the acknowledgment of the Dimensional Creator, they were practically “exploited laborers”.
“Ladies and gentlemen. In just a moment, we’ll—”
Before the Blood Race’s elder on the rostrum could finish speaking, a beam of light descended from the sky and pierced through his heart. The Blood Race’s elder looked in disbelief and quickly fell over, turning into a puddle of blood. Only then did the group of demons at the banquet realize that the windows and doorways around the banquet hall were surrounded by humans. These humans wore armor that emitted the luster of divine artifacts.
“Listen up, demons! We are here for a crusade, for justice!”
“Damn it, those warrior bullies are on us now. Brothers, fight for a darker tomorrow!”
This was the first time Bella had seen the Saviors team up to crash a villain’s lair. Her hand holding the teacup did not shake at all as she calmly watched the show while sipping her tea. Kriss, who was opposite of her, enjoyed her cake, as if she had not heard anything. Those Vow Breakers were also doing their own thing, as though they weren’t too bothered about their situation. The stronger an existence was, the more godlike their acting skills became.
These Saviors were from the systems group. You could tell at a glance that the divine artifacts they wore were not from this Other World dimension; they came from the Saviors’ base camp, and the artifacts were collected from various Other World dimensions. These Saviors’ strength was far less than that of the traditional transmigrated Saviors from the Olsylvia Academy. If they didn’t group up, they wouldn’t even dare to come look for trouble.
Hundreds of Saviors surrounded the banquet hall. It looked like an insane move, but the Blood Race and the Wolfman Race weren’t united and fought separately, which would invariably weaken their fighting power.
The Saviors wielded divine artifact-level weapons and beat these dark races so hard, they could hardly fight back. Many wolfmen were killed by their beams of light before they could transform. After making an appearance, these Saviors used a certain divine artifact that caused the entire banquet hall to be enveloped in a divine beam of light. Under the suppression of that divine light, other than the elder-level Blood Race that was basically unable to transform, the rest were strongly suppressed.
Bella just wanted to drink her tea quietly, but a beam of light shot towards her position. Seriously, she couldn’t catch a break. The light attack from the other side was a map-wide “AOE nuke”. Bella really didn’t want to care about these “mass-produced” Saviors. She felt that they were no different from a reinforced version of “Super Soldiers”, and it didn’t feel like an accomplishment beating them.
“Kill all demons, for justice…”
“Seriously, you’ve interrupted my elegant tea time.”
Bella extended a finger and flicked it, sending the beam of light back the way it came. The shouting Savior couldn’t dodge in time and was hit squarely in the chest by his own ultimate move. Even though light attributes would not dole out judgment upon the Saviors themselves, his divine artifact-level armor suffered quite an embarrassing gash.
“Who is ambushing us? Damn it! Come out here and fight me to the death!”
“What a terrifying dark aura. This is…”
Bella did not make a move. She just casually poured the tea from her teacup onto the ground in front of her, an Abyss Summoning Array appearing in the tea. Following that, a huge Abyssal Water Elemental appeared. It was black all over, and unlike the ordinary aquamarine Water Elementals, the Abyssal Water Elemental was a dark inky blue. Since its composition was made up of water from the Abyss River Styx, ordinary humans would face the danger of death just by touching it.
The fighting power of the Abyssal Water Elemental was dependent on the level of the master that summoned it. Bella was a Demon God, so this little guy was almost perverse in its strength. Levels were not visible, however. Still, they had no problem evaluating it as a Holy Beast. This water elemental summoned by Bella was quite intelligent and knew what to do without needing commands from her.
After the Abyssal Water Elemental appeared, the atmosphere in the banquet hall changed. The original brightness was dispelled, and the atmosphere grew heavy. The Saviors, the Blood Race, and the Wolfmen Race on the scene were all shocked silly. This Abyss Demonic Being had definitely gotten the wrong spot. Its battle power was no longer comparable to that of ordinary demonic beings, and the Abyssal Water Elemental didn’t care about much either. It just swung its fist at the nearest Savior to it.
“So strong… What’s up with this guy? The system didn’t give me any hints about this thing!”
With a loud bang, the unlucky Savior, along with the divine artifacts on his body, was sent flying and disappeared out the window. The morale of the other Saviors instantly fell by half. Even the defense of a divine artifact could not hold up to a single of the Abyssal Water Elemental’s hits. This boss was clearly way out of their league.
Bella got up, took Kriss, and quietly left the banquet hall. The Abyssal Water Elemental had a time limit and would automatically melt back into water after the time was up. She didn’t care about what happened next. The time the Abyssal Water Elemental had left was enough to kill off all of the invading Saviors. If the commander of those Saviors still had his mind intact, he would definitely think of retreating.
Taking advantage of the chaos in the banquet hall, Bella and Kriss returned to Carol Food Street. Not long after they left, the Saviors also retreated, leaving behind a group of confused Blood Races and Wolfmen, who still had no idea which villain was responsible for the mysterious appearance of the water elemental.
The only ones who knew that the Abyssal Water Elemental was summoned by Bella were the Vow Breakers, now playing a minor role in Bella’s “performance” and decided to cooperate. If nobody revealed it, the matter of Bella summoning the Abyssal Water Elemental would be swept under the rug. The reason was the subtle relationship between the Vow Breakers and the Renegades. Since Bella had Kriss with her, she did not carry out her original plan to hit on those Vow Breakers for the time being.
The face value of those Vow Breaker beauties was at the same level as the Renegades, Kriss, and the others, after their dark transformations. Bella wanted to flirt, but it was a pity that the time wasn’t right. Bella and Kriss returned to the Dragon Princesses’ dorm. After such a huge incident, the academy might have to go on full lockdown again, so it was better to retreat earlier.
The scent of the Abyssal Water Elemental was too obvious. It was impossible that nobody would notice it. Bella took this time to send a message to Princess Aslan as well to tell her to prepare for an early retreat. If the Saviors could infiltrate the academy, it meant that the situation there was also chaotic. The members of the Gates of Darkness organization did not participate in that gathering, so their movements at this time were also questionable.
On the way back, they saw a number of alert campus guards. The appearance of the Abyssal Water Elemental had still been noticed by the Alessandra Academy’s authorities. The Abyss Demonic Being that Bella summoned before was merely at the level of a footsoldier, while the Abyssal Water Elemental this time was worlds apart. So, in order to get everything back in control, the academy had no choice but to intervene.
“Someone seems to be following us, Bella.”
“I know, Kriss. Be careful. We’re in others’ turf.”
Bella easily spotted someone stalking them from her peripheral vision. No, to be precise, it was a bat that was following them. This was the usual method of detection utilized by the Blood Race. It was fine to use it at night, but it would be a joke to use it during the day. If a bat was going to appear in the middle of the day, then they might as well just come out in the human form.
Although the Blood Race was not very strong, they were very clever. When it saw Bella, it knew out of its instinct that it was likely exposed. So, it made a quick decision to turn around and leave without hesitation. This ingenuity saved its life. Retreating before Bella felt like killing it off was the best option, and if Bella went back on her word, it really wouldn’t be able to leave.
When the two of them returned to the area near the Dragon Race’s dorm, several of the dragon-princesses were just waking up. They had changed into their proper school uniforms, and even the usually scantily-clad Black Dragon Princess Clariss had a rare moment of decency. Bella did not go in, though. Golden Dragon Princess had already retreated into Bella’s pet space ahead of time. Based on what she told her, Bella avoided the Dragon Dorm and did not enter.
Outside the building of the dormitory were a good number of Dragon Race guards. The dragon-princesses did not say a word of what happened last night, so their showing up was for entirely different reasons. Bella and Kriss saw Princess Aslan near the building, who had come here to meet them. Princess Aslan was wearing a more formal version of the uniform and seemed to be fully prepared.
Bella was fortunate enough to see the school uniforms of the “art school”, Antoinette Academy. She really had never seen anyone in the Antoinette Academy actually wear this, but now she knew the reason why. Antoinette Academy’s uniform was in the same nature as the Olsylvia Academy’s: They were all conservative and not popular among the students.
“Mistress Bella, it seems that something big has happened with the Dragon Race. I have already prepared a carriage. Would you like to come to my dorm first?”
“No need, you can escort us out of the school. We’ll get off secretly halfway outside and return to the Olsylvia Academy by other means.”
Bella’s infiltration mission was over in less than two days. By the time she got back to the Olsylvia Academy, the campus festival was right around the corner. She returned to the base camp of the Central Student Union first and reported the general results of her reconnaissance to the presidents. Since none of them were outsiders, Bella directly told Chief President Angelina that she could not complete her scouting due to certain reasons and only knew that there were six experts on the other side at the same level as Kriss.
“Bella, even though your data is not wrong, it is the information about their top combatants. What we want to know is the general data, which is the difference in strength between the average students.”
“Chief President Angelina, you don’t have to worry about that. I have a suggestion. Let’s have a tri-academy friendly meetup. Just think of it as a small event before the tournament between the twelve academies. I know the vice-president of the central Antoinette Academy campus, Princess Aslan, and the northern Alessandra Academy campus’s dragon princesses from the Pure White Sky. I don’t think they’ll refuse. We’ll be able to check on the difference between the average students then.”
“Bella, when did you hook up with… I mean, it’s not impossible. There’s just a venue issue. After all, we’ll become rivals with the Alessandra Academy soon, and entering each other’s campuses would be suspicious. On the other hand, the Antoinette Academy’s atmosphere is terrible.”
“I’ll take care of the venue. This will also help us open up new territories for the Rose Society along the way.”
Bella’s Rose Society currently controlled the McPherson Monastery, the Elven Tavern at Benedict Manor, the former club building area, and the Hausmann Hotel. None of these were suitable to hold large school festivals. The new site that Bella chose was the Ancient Saxton Battlefield located not far outside of Olsylvia City. It was large enough, but it was a tricky spot.
Ancient Saxton Battlefield was the final battlefield of the allied human army and the Twelve Demon Kings over ten thousand years ago, a fight hailed as the “Last Holy War” by the Radiant Church. It was a fierce battle, and the Human Army almost suffered total annihilation. The classics did not mention what happened to the Twelve Demon Kings, only that the allied human army came out victorious in the end.
Ancient Saxton Battlefield had been shut off by the Radiant Church. Due to the semi-paralysis of the Reincarnation Passage, the souls of a large number of human soldiers who had died in that battle were still lingering around at the site, making it an ominous place. The Radiant Church’s Pope was responsible for sealing the ancient battlefield back then, and he had left an oracle before his death: those who could purify the ancient battlefield would gain ownership of the place.
For thousands of years, the Manasvir Empire had never given up on purifying the Ancient Saxton Battlefield until the Emperor’s accident over a decade ago. The purification operations had all ended in failure over the years. Since the ancient battlefield’s demonic beings would not come out, the Radiant Church was too busy dealing with internal conflict and crusading against the Darkness Church. Thus, they did not care about the ancient battlefield anymore.
“You’re not thinking of purifying that place, are you, Bella? It’s big enough, but aren’t you a Demon King? Demon Kings have purification abilities too?”
“Chief President Angelina, I have no such power, but you will understand in time. I’m off to recruit my little friend now!”
“Be careful, Bella. If you can succeed in purifying it, that area will be considered your Rose Society’s territory after the campus festival is over.”
Only Bella, who had changed back into her surrogate, and Chief President Angelina were present at the student council office. After their secret meeting, President Angelina breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t expect Bella to come back halfway, though. Bella locked the meeting room door, and a strange smile appeared on her face as she looked at Angelina with an evil gaze.
“What now, Bella? Aren’t we done here?”
“I nearly forgot, Angelina. I want a little prize to start.”
“A prize… A prize? Wait, don’t pull on my clothes!”
“Senior Angelina, you know what I mean, so no need to struggle. I’ve already moved the juniors outside away.”
