"How is the progress of the collection of souls, that died on the battlefield, going?"
"Everything is proceeding smoothly, Sir. It's quite unfortunate that we didn't meet our goal in building the required altars, but that can be compensated by increasing the number of souls that we collect from the ongoing war."
The man who sat on the throne nodded his head. "What about the key? Do we have any news?"
"The agents that are currently monitoring the two princes say that both of them are doing their best to acquire the key," a man wearing a black robe reported.
"Unfortunately, the timing of the war has caused them delays because the King is always with his war council. There have not been any opportunities for them to ask, or look for the key without making it look suspicious."
"Hoh~" the man sitting on the throne leaned back and tapped his finger on the armrest. "Tell them that they have exactly one week to find it. At the end of the week, if the key is still not in their hands, they can forget about our deal."
"As you command." the black-robed man bowed his head and left the room.
The man sitting on the throne watched him go with a calm expression.
The reason he gave the two princes an ultimatum was because they couldn't hold off their plan for too long. According to the Archmages in their Organization, it would take one week for them to finetune the altars and invoke the continental spell that they had prepared.
The "Harvesting" of souls was proceeding smoothly. Originally, they would only need a hundred thousand souls at most if all of the altars were built. Unfortunately, they had greatly underestimated the efficiency of their agents' ability to instigate the war.
Since that was the case, they would just need to gather more souls in order to make up for the lack of altars.
A million souls.
This was the number of souls that they needed in order to activate the spell that would bring the entire Southern Continent to its knees. Originally, they were worried that they wouldn't be able to meet the target. Fortunately, one of the Myriad Beasts participating in the war was an Ant Queen.
With the ability to give birth to thousands of eggs a day, it was able to raise an army of hundreds of thousands that destroyed the first line of defense of the Hellan Kingdom. Even now, the Windsor Fortress was nearing its destruction even with the Sword Saint there to protect it.
The might of a single person, would not be enough to hold off an army of over a million. Especially if this army had several Centennial and Millennial Beasts under the protection of the two remaining Sword Saints of the Aenasha Dynasty.
-----
"Magicians, Open Fire!" Gareth, the Great General that commanded the defense of Windsor Fortress, roared amidst the screams of the Ant Army that had advanced to the walls of the fortress.
A myriad of spells from different elements rained down on the Ant Army with fury. The barrage seemed unending, but looking at the sea of ants that were steadily making their advance, their resistance looked like a futile attempt to prevent the inevitable.
Over twenty Millennial Ants steadily crawled towards the fortress, and their eyes burned with bloodlust. However, they were not the only High-Level beasts in the Aenasha Army. Fifteen more Millennial Flying Ants hovered above the battlefield, which made the defenders almost lose hope.
If not for the Sword Saint, the six Archmages of the North and East, the Aerial Cavaliers from Freesia, the Gryphon Brigade, and the reinforcements of the Royal Academy that had arrived in the nick of time, Windsor Fortress might have fallen already.
"The bombardment of the Second and Third Years is almost over," Est announced. "First Years prepare your spells!"
"Fourth Years, get ready!" Matthew declared.
Hundreds of spells were activated simultaneously as the First Years and Fourth Years waited for their Head Prefects' next orders. Est and Matthew watched the burning Ant Army in front of them as they waited for the right time to unleash the spells that they had prepared.
A minute later, the first round of bombardment had ended, and the Second and Third Year students of the Magic Division backed away to replenish their mana reserves.
As soon as they stepped back, the First Years and the Fourth Years stepped forward to take their place.
"Open fire!" Est and Matthew ordered simultaneously.
A rain of spells descended on the battlefield and slaughtered everything in their path.
After the incident at the Grand Coliseum, the King didn't order the Royal Academy to mobilize right away. The shock and anger that the Magic Division experienced on the day of the Inter-Division Battle rendered them unable to immediately participate in the war.
Simon, the Dean of the Academy, had announced that a Demon had possessed Carter's body. He added that the Demon used an elaborate scheme to put the majority of the Magic Division under his control and force them to betray their comrades through the use of a powerful spell.
Several high-level Spirit Users were dispatched to the academy in order to fully neutralize the lingering effects of the Mind Weaver Spells from their bodies. The revelation given by the Dean made the students very angry and caused them to hate the Demons even more.
They also mourned the loss of the talented professor who had fallen into their hands. Since the war had taken a turn for the worse, the King was once again forced to call upon the students of the academy to defend their homeland.
Although a week was not enough to wash away the frustration that the Magic Division had felt, there was nothing they could do but participate in the war that had broken out.
Wendy and Est decided to let Ian remain by William's side in order to continue his recovery. All the students had been mobilized to participate in the war, and Priscilla was chosen to temporarily command the Angorian War Sovereign, which had also been sent to Windsor Fortress.
"Show them the might of Freesia!" the Captain of the Aerial Knights shouted as the Hippogriff Formation charged towards the flying ants in the sky.
Flying beside them was the Angorian Knight Order led by Priscilla. Due to William's efforts, the Aerial Knights of the Angorian War Sovereign had several mock battles against the Gryphon Brigade which allowed them to gain battle experience when fighting with their mounts.
This was their first official battle. The young knights under Priscilla's command felt anxious because William wasn't there. Although Priscilla was present to command them, she couldn't replace William's "invincible image" in their minds.
Priscilla knew this, but there was nothing she could do at the moment.
"I know that all of you are feeling anxious, but you should focus your attention on the enemies in front of you," Priscilla said with a determined voice. "The commander didn't train all of you to die meaningless deaths. Let's show everyone the might of the Angorian War Sovereign! Kill them all!"
""Kill!""
The Captain of the Gryphon Brigade laughed as he raised his spear. "You bastards, make sure not to lose face in front of the kids! Death to our enemies!"
""Death!""
The Aerial Defenders and the Insect Swarm collided. Blood rained down from the sky as shrieks and screams reverberated all over the battlefield.
The battle lasted for three hours before the Aenasha Army was forced to retreat once again. However, they had successfully destroyed the walls of the Fortress, leaving it open for their next invasion.
If not for the fact that Aramis had successfully killed Emeric, at the cost of the thousands of brave Hellan Soldiers that had accompanied him in a suicide charge towards the center of the enemy's formation, the Aenashans wouldn't have opted for a retreat.
The Archmages accompanying Aramis had also thrown caution to the wind and unleashed 8th Circle Spells that attacked both friend and foe alike. These frenzied attacks deterred the General leading the Aenasha Army and forced him to order a retreat.
Although the main bulk of their forces were the Ant Army, Aramis and the Archamages ignored the Ants and focused on killing the Human soldiers. After a one sided-massacre and the loss of a Sword Saint, they had no choice but to retreat in haste and in the fear that the berserked Archmages would wipe all of their Human resources off from the face of the world.
The suicide charge bought the defenders a few days of reprieve, but it was not enough to prevent the inevitable.
Three days later, Windsor Fortress finally fell and the surviving defenders were forced to retreat. They made their way to Ravenlord Citadel. The last fortress that stood between the Aenasha Army and the Capital of the Hellan Kingdom.