The communication was cut off, leaving the room in a dead silence.
Diocletian sat quietly on the sofa, fiddling with his scepter without saying a word.
Roland stood behind the Pope, equally silent.
After a long while... Diocletian slowly turned his head to look at Roland.
"What do you think?"
Roland pondered for a moment. "Are you asking about this campaign, or... her?"
Diocletian's brow furrowed slightly.
"Both."
"As for the campaign, I am not particularly optimistic about this Saintess of the Moon. Although her idea is good, she is a novice on the battlefield. Even with her extraordinary talent, it will be difficult for her to control the knight orders of several nations, which were only recently assembled. Consequently, it will be hard to maintain the encirclement."
Diocletian did not stand up; his finger lightly tapped the golden scepter.
"Continue."
Roland took a deep breath, carefully recalling the plan the Saintess of the Moon had just described and organizing it from the beginning.
"Her goal is clear, her strategy is clear, and her actions are clear. However, the combat power in her hands is very limited. Even if the Dragon King can help intercept reinforcements at sea, demon territory has not been stepped in by anyone for a thousand years. To us, it is a completely foreign land."
"Conducting an encirclement in such a territory is almost impossible. Unless she is truly a child chosen by God and God himself acts as her guide, she cannot succeed."
"Then what do you think... we should do?"
Diocletian's attitude was humble. Although he was the Pope, he was clearly inferior to this holy knight in matters of war.
He understood his position well; he could make broad policy decisions, but he would never micro-manage this holy knight on the battlefield.
"Act according to the plan."
Diocletian was slightly stunned and looked back at Roland.
"Didn't you say it was impossible for her to do it?"
Roland lowered his head to meet Diocletian's gaze.
"It is impossible for her to succeed in besieging the demons, but she can succeed in forcing the demons to return for reinforcements."
Diocletian's brow furrowed as he fiddled with his scepter, pondering for a moment.
"Are you saying we should use her and those assembled knight legions as disposable pawns to lure the demons back?"
"Yes."
"At the very least, she is personally risking herself for the sake of all races on the continent. Aren't you afraid of criticism for doing this? Do you dislike her?"
Roland shook his head slightly.
"To be honest, I like this Saintess of the Moon very much and admire her actions. But the only choice I can make is the most advantageous solution. If we sacrifice the entire Kingdom of the Sun just to ensure her safety, the only result will be failure. The Kingdom of the Sun has a population of nearly three hundred million. Once it falls to the demons, they can expand and grow within a few short years, and the Kingdom of the Sun is obviously closer to the continent than that isolated outer island."
"The demons gaining seafaring capabilities is a major event not seen in a thousand years. In truth, what I hate most is not the demons, but those nobles who were willing to fall into depravity and ultimately served as the stepping stones for others."
Roland looked up at the communication room, where the image had long since vanished.
"In the end, all of this is because of the internal decay within the Kingdom of the Moon over the past few centuries. Perhaps you can take this opportunity to completely integrate the Kingdom of the Moon and eradicate those useless parasites."
"No..." Diocletian sighed and shook his head.
He stood up, and his scepter lightly touched the ground.
"Regardless of whether she returns this time, I will not do anything to the Kingdom of the Moon in the short term. This is something she earned with her own life. Her actions have earned my respect. Even though I wish to integrate the Eight Nations of the Holy Church, that does not mean I can violate my own faith."
Diocletian slowly turned back to look at Roland.
"Assemble the troops immediately and take the magic airship to the Kingdom of the Sun. You must ensure the safety of Momoka Saint Raphael, the Saintess of the Sun. Hold off the demons as much as possible. If the demons retreat, you must cling to them tightly and make them believe we truly intend to devour the outer island! Buy time and create an opportunity for our brave Saintess."
"Also, gather the mages at the Great Wall coastline immediately. When the war begins, I want to see a storm on the Eastern Sea that swallows heaven and earth once again."
The chaotic air currents in the storm would cause the mana elements in the air to become turbulent. This could indirectly sever the communication between the demon army and the demon home island.
In that case, being unable to make a decision, the enemy would surely return to reinforce their base.
Unless the demons truly did not want their home island anymore.
If that were the case, there was another way.
Push the intercepting army toward the Kingdom of the Sun. As long as the army on the Kingdom of the Sun held out, they could completely crush the demons on the main island of the Kingdom of the Sun.
In doing so, they would instead have an opportunity to completely annihilate the demons.
If it truly came to that, as the Pope of the human race, he would surely stand up and call upon all races across the continent to launch a final offensive against the demons.
"Now then~ my dear Lady Luo Li, let me see... as the Chosen One who can communicate with God and sign the document tablet, what kind of surprises can you bring me?"
Before leaving the communication room, Diocletian looked at the empty space with a smile playing on his lips.
The door slowly closed, and darkness swallowed everything!
Suddenly!
A violent elemental surge broke through the lock of darkness!
'Voom—'
A low roar echoed, growing louder as the mana elements fluctuated more intensely.
Finally, a massive, brilliant white orb of light formed!
This was an incredibly condensed yet chaotic mass of mana elements. All the mana elements had congealed together to form a high-temperature energy sphere!
"Fire!!"
'Voom—BOOM!'
With a world-shaking explosion, the massive orb of light poured out from the ten-meter-long cannon barrel!
The one-meter diameter muzzle was completely covered by the erupting light. A massive pillar of light instantly swept across the ground, the roar deafening!!
The earth trembled continuously. Nothing remained wherever the light touched. Any demon caught by this pillar of light was instantly vaporized, leaving only scorched earth behind.
A single shot had taken away thousands of demon soldiers.
The cannon barrel quickly turned a glowing crimson, unable to withstand the intense heat.
At this moment... on the outermost part of the four islands of the Kingdom of the Sun.
On the outer island known as Kyushu, which was the smallest of the four islands and the furthest from the continent.
There was a place between Kyushu and Honshu that almost overlapped, interlocking like gears.
This place was known as the Kyushu Pass.
Although the two islands appeared connected, they were not actually joined. At the point where they interlocked like gears, there was a cross-sea bridge on the two protruding peninsulas.
This bridge was the only entry and exit point connecting the two islands.
On the Kyushu Bridge, the bustling scenes of the past had long since disappeared.
On the Honshu side of the bridge, the streets were filled with mutilated corpses lying on the ground.
Looking closely, almost all of those corpses were adult males.
Not a single female corpse could be seen... because those unfortunate women who were captured were either eaten clean or dragged into demon army camps to become breeding machines for the demons.
And the infants and young children were among the demons' favorite foods.
Not even the bones would be left behind.
Heads were scattered across the streets, with the brains even dug out and eaten, leaving only hollow skulls.
Through those empty eye sockets, one could see the hollow cavities inside.
At the Kyushu Pass, Momoka stood on the city wall.
She watched the demons constantly rushing toward the Kyushu Bridge, trying to rebuild the bridge and break through the blockade.
Her heart grew increasingly heavy.
The speed at which the battle had developed exceeded her expectations.
Nearly half of the people had no time to escape at all.
The old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled were scattered everywhere, having committed suicide on the streets.
Corpses already covered three of the four islands of the Kingdom of the Sun.
Only this island of Kyushu was still barely holding on.
Because Kyushu had almost no flat beaches, the difficulty of landing was anything but ordinary.
Precisely because of this, Kyushu was often seen as the final barrier.
Now, it truly had become the last straw that people could grasp.
Almost all the men participated in the battle.
Cutting wood, transporting grain, operating the cannon batteries, and rushing to manufacture crossbow bolts.
The entire nation was like a massive machine running at its limit before a total collapse.
Everyone was holding their breath, determined to hold the Kyushu Pass.
Once this pass was lost, the rest of Kyushu was just a plain.
"Has the population on the island been tallied?"
It seemed the effect of the mana cannon had made the demons wary. The demon army began to retreat, temporarily halting their attack.
The Kyushu Bridge was approximately ten kilometers long.
Now, this bridge was completely broken.
The demons constantly used their own bodies to fill the gaps in the bridge, but they usually only ended up buried in the sea.
It had been five whole days since the rapid evacuation from the main island to this place.
Those who could escape to Kyushu were either nobles or the slaves covering the nobles. Most commoners did not have time to retreat before dying on the other islands.
"Reporting to Your Highness, we have an approximate figure."
A samurai clad in armor knelt on one knee. A flash of inner conflict crossed his face, but he could only grit his teeth and speak.
"The total number of survivors is approximately seventy-three million. Among them, about twenty million are male... the rest are all the elderly, children, and women."
"Why is it like this?"
Momoka looked back at the samurai in surprise.
He was Momoka's Guardian Knight and one of the only three top-tier combatants left in the Kingdom of the Sun.
Level 59... Otsuki Kojiro.
"...The people knew the demons' intentions. During the evacuation, most males stayed behind to cover the retreat. Therefore, those who could escape here were either infants or women. The proportion of males is very low."
Speaking of this, Otsuki Kojiro's mouth twitched slightly as if he were enduring something.
"There are almost... no elderly people either."
Hearing this, Momoka took a sharp breath, feeling a buzzing in her head, and nearly lost her footing.
Fortunately, a small shrine maiden beside her hurried forward to support her.
"I'm fine..."
Momoka waved her hand, pushed the shrine maiden away, and looked down at Otsuki Kojiro.
"Have the strong among the people been summoned?"
"They are still being gathered. This includes members from the original Inagawa-kai, Sumiyoshi-kai, Yamaguchi-gumi, Wagatsuma-gumi, Kyokuto-kai, and Matsuba-kai. A total of over one hundred and thirty-two thousand people have been assembled. Among them, about sixty thousand have a strength level over thirty. The top leaders and the strongest among them have already gathered in the meeting hall, waiting for your return."
"Also, Yuichi Jokoji from the Mage Association and Kuroshima from the Alchemists' Association, as well as Naoto Kyogoku and Alvis Church from the Adventurers' Association, are also waiting for you."
"I see... let's go."
She looked back at the Kyushu Bridge behind her. At this moment, the demon army seemed to have temporarily halted their thoughts of attacking, and there was no sound.
However, at the demon camp, many demons could still be seen gathered together.
With Momoka's eyesight, she could clearly see everything happening there.
Countless women were surrounded by countless demons, and wretched scenes were constantly occurring. The women's screams only brought more intense desire from the demons.
Some of those women had vacant eyes, yet the demons' unique nourishing ability prevented them from even dying of exhaustion.
When demons breed, they feed some nutrients from their bodies back into the mother to ensure that no matter the circumstances, she retains at least a sliver of life to produce offspring.
Otherwise, with the demons' powerful lust, they would have tortured those women to death long ago.
However, although they could barely maintain life, the wills of those women had already completely collapsed.
Taking a deep breath, Momoka slowly closed her eyes.
On the battlefield, it was necessary for her to activate her Eyes of Truth to ensure no stronger combatants were hiding among the demons.
Otherwise, once this blockade was breached, the battle would take a turn for the worse.
By doing so, she could clearly see everything happening in the demon camp.
Every time she saw this, she felt as if someone had stabbed her heart ruthlessly.
All she could do was use the Wind and Thunder God Bow in her hand to snipe as many powerful enemies as possible.
Up until now, more than twenty demon generals had died at her hands.
And two demon marshals had also suffered greatly before her bow.
Now... the reason they could firmly suppress hundreds of thousands of demon soldiers at the Kyushu Pass before the Kyushu Bridge was that she had not stepped down from the city wall since arriving on Kyushu.
Just as she closed her eyes, a dark shadow suddenly flashed at the edge of her vision.
Her movement to turn away suddenly paused, and then... Momoka snapped her eyes open.
She took her longbow from her back and aimed at a void space on a reef island beneath the bridge.
She pulled the longbow back abruptly, and a streak of flame followed her fingertips, rapidly spreading onto the empty bowstring.
At this moment, her power instantly transformed into a physical form.
Upon the arrow composed of lightning, a layer of raging fire was draped!
'Whoosh!!!'
She suddenly released the bowstring, and the lightning arrow shot out like a bolt of purple electricity cutting through the void.
In an instant, it appeared on the reef island!
The next second, the dark clouds in the sky seemed to respond to this shot.
Lightning tore through the void!!
'Crack—!'
Accompanied by a thunderclap, a figure emerged from the void, looking at itself in disbelief... at the large hole pierced through its chest.
The corpse fell powerlessly to the ground.
"Congratulations, Your Highness, on shooting another demon general!"
Momoka gazed coldly at the corpse until she was certain it had lost all signs of life, and only then did she slowly close her eyes.
"It is nothing. Let's go and meet those people."
She hung the Wind and Thunder God Bow back on her shoulder and walked down the city wall without looking back.
She left the demon general's corpse on the reef to be washed into the sea by the waves, becoming food for the sharks.
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