"Without a doubt, many people will die in this war. I know you're not okay with that, but you haven't asked me to stop it either, Vaan slowly mentioned as he stood beside Astoria.

"It's true that I'm not okay with it," Astoria admitted before saying, "But I also know you have plans to make use of this war, and I don't want to get in your way."

"I know," Vaan calmly acknowledged.

"That's why I will give you a chance to announce your identity to the empire and persuade them to give up. Those who still have loyalty to the true heir will be spared, but those who stubbornly defy it will pay the price."

"Thank you, Vaan," Astoria said gratefully, resting her head on Vaan's shoulder.

It had been over three hundred years since she left the Holy Knight Empire. Although she still possessed a sense of responsibility to the people, it wasn't as strong as in the past.

At the same time, she had become more flexible with her principles since her meeting with Vaan.

It was impossible to save everyone; some sacrifices were necessary for the greater good. It would just be like cutting off the rotten branches and keeping the healthy ones.

She had to be decisive to move on from her past.

..

After Vaan's talk with Astoria, he resumed his work on the southern borders. He moved between the three border regions, strengthening the battle witches as he checked on their progress.

Eventually, midnight arrived.

Back in Fort Whitebridge, more than four-fifths of the battle witches had retired to their sleeping quarters, leaving only one-fifth to carry out night duties.

As such, the security was lower than usual.

"My Lord. It's time," Aeliana alerted after she sensed changes in the antimagic spores she had spread out in the three border regions.

"Their numbers?" Vaan asked.

"About five hundred, more than the agreed number," Aeliana answered before adding, "They have taken the right passage, the closest one to Fort Whitebridge. No signs of any other secret passages being used."

"So the Assembly of Silent Night only revealed one of their secret passages to the empire, huh? Make sense. It would be strange and stupid of them to show all their cards," Vaan casually commented before saying, "Alright, let us head to the rendezvous location."

"Yes, my Lord," Aeliana and Artemis answered.

Before they left, Vaan instructed Zodreg to watch over Fort Whitebridge from the skies in their absence.

..

..

..

Two hundred yards away from Fort Whitebridge, at sixty feet underground, five hundred and five men clad in black moved through the secret passage.

Besides the five hundred men from the empire, they were also accompanied by five elderly men from the Wizard Tower.

More importantly, the five hundred men from the empire were all Rank 4 Aura Lords with strength rivaling the current known lords and nobles throughout the Holy Knight Empire.

However, none of their names were known to anyone other than the emperor. They were one of the emperor's secret shadow groups, the Deathsworn Group.

From a young age, they were secretly trained to the extreme to achieve strength that could repel any threat directed at their emperor. As such, they only answered to the emperor, only living and dying by the emperor's orders.

When they departed for their mission, they were prepared not to come back alive.

On the other hand, the five elderly men were all Peak-stage Second-Circle Wizards with power comparable to Early-stage High Witches. They were tasked to assist the Deathsworn Group with their magic. historical

However, they didn't have the same resolution to lay down their lives if push came to shove.

"This passage is completely pitch black. Let me illuminate our path with some light magic—" a Peak-stage Second-Circle Wizard was quickly interrupted before he could finish.

"Stop it, you fool."

"We are treading right under the kingdom's noses. Do you want to expose our location? Furthermore, I can sense disruption in my mana flow. We are most likely passing through an antimagic zone, so your spell won't work properly here."

"But the dark organization didn't mention anything about their secret passage having an antimagic zone," another wizard doubted.

"Even if they didn't, can't you use your head? Are you even a pursuer of truth and knowledge? The antimagic zone is clearly used to mask our presence. Otherwise, even if we are this deep underground, the kingdom could detect us."

"Well, you have a point," the wizards acknowledged, not wanting to argue further.

..

Sometime later, the group reached the end of the secret passage and climbed the ladder leading outside, where there were finally some traces of light.

"Remember our objectives: group one will find and secure the imperial princess, then return to the empire, group two will study the southern borders, group three will investigate the central region, and group four will observe movements from the capital."

"As for group five, you're on standby with me, ready to assist each group when needed. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Move out."

Shortly after, the four-fifths of the group split off into four different directions, leaving the fifth group behind with the speaker, who appeared to be the leader of the fifth group from the start.

"I will now rendezvous with the border lords and hand them the Rank 4 Mental Strength Potions. If I don't return, you know what to do," the fifth group leader stated.

"Yes, sir."

Nevertheless, the exchange took place smoothly without a problem. After the fifth group leader met up with Artemis and handed her the potions, they each went on their way.

The fifth group leader returned to his group, and Artemis headed back to Fort Whitebridge without Vaan and Aeliana.

At that moment, Vaan and Aeliana had been hidden nearby, using an invisibility spell that Aeliana had cast on them.

After the fifth group leader eventually departed for a different region half an hour later, Vaan finally broke the silence between him and Aeliana.

"Their positions?" Vaan asked.

"Most of them are heading north, but they left behind a fifth of the group to stay in the southern borders, my Lord," Aeliana answered before inserting her opinion, "Judging by how they are spreading out, they must be trying to form a wide network."

"Is that so?" Vaan rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"It seems the empire is quite careful. Despite possessing an overwhelming advantage with their military force, they still want to establish an intelligence network in our kingdom to feed their empire information."

"They're really going all out to ensure they are victorious in war and fully justified in doing so, huh? But, unfortunately, they've already fallen for our first trap. We have the initiative in our home ground."

"It's time to use that move, Aeli. Let us start with the ones in the southern borders," Vaan instructed.

"Yes, my Lord!" Aeliana answered as her eyes flickered with excitement.

In the next instant, she closed her eyes, focusing her senses on the antimagic spores within the southern borders. At the same time, she pressed her forehead against Vaan's, sharing their consciousness.

Soul Link

It was a dangerous spell, rarely used by any witches due to its high risk and limited usage. It involved linking two consciousnesses and sharing thoughts and control of each other's body in real-time.

The slightest disharmony could result in breaking the link and causing severe damage to both their souls if not outright crippling their minds.

But for Vaan, who shared a master-servant relationship with Aeliana, it was not a problem.

The both of them quickly locked onto the empire's infiltrators in the region. Then, they remotely cast hundreds to thousands of ignition spells at once, which was only made possible with Vaan's high-speed thought processing and multitasking ability.

In essence, Vaan could cast any magic by using his servants as a medium with the soul link spell.

Nevertheless, the antimagic spore had limited mana. Thus, the scale of the ignition spells was minuscule. Even so, the scale of their power was just enough to burn Thousand-Mile Scent-Tracking Powder within the antimagic spores.

As a result of burning the Thousand-Mile Scent-Tracking Powder that made it to the infiltrators' brains, they produced a relatively mild poison with a strong sleeping effect that knocked out the infiltrators instantly.

A normal person would stay unconscious for eight hours at most. But for the sturdy Aura Lords, the duration of the sleeping effect would be drastically reduced to a mere hour or two.

Even so, it was more than enough time for Vaan to round up the unconscious bodies.

Because the infiltrators still had antimagic spores inside various parts of their bodies and Vaan also had his wide-range Omni-Sense, Vaan and Aeliana didn't suddenly lose track of the infiltrators.

After they went to round up the unconscious bodies in the southern borders, Vaan sent them to the Red Dragon Clan.

"You don't need me to remind you what needs to be done with these guys, right?" Vaan asked for confirmation despite informing the dragon lords of his arrangement prior.

"Of course not, Supreme Leader," Astarot shook his head.

"You wanted us to extract information from them and learn their objectives and methods of contact, then brainwash them with hypnotism so they become oblivious to feeding their empire with false information, right?"

"That sums it," Vaan confirmed with a nod before suddenly saying, "But leave this one aside for now. I will study this one for a bit."

"Understood, Supreme Leader," Astarot acknowledged.

Afterward, he signaled his subordinate dragons to take away the hundred unconscious bodies to carry out their task.

"My Lord, this old man.. possesses two saturated mana rings around his heart like Peak-stage Senior Witches!" Aeliana exclaimed with shock and amazement after she curiously checked out the remaining unconscious body.

"I know," Vaan nodded before commenting with amusement, "I knew it was possible in theory, but I didn't think Pangea actually had men who were willing to go to such lengths to gain power. I guess I underestimated people's desperation for power, even if it means castrating themselves."

"You mean he doesn't have a PP, my Lord?" Aeliana gasped as her eyes widened dumbfoundedly.

"Precisely."