Holy Knight Empire's camp, command center.

Inside the camp's biggest tent, Emperor Renardier and countless nobles, lords, and high-ranking commanders gathered around the battle map.

"What is the status of the Kingdom of Black Rose's forces?"

Emperor Renardier enquired with his gaze fixed on the witch kingdom's three border regions, marked with several black flags, indicating the positions of their battle witches.

"There are about 15,000 – 30,000 battle witches in Fort Whitebridge, 5,000 – 10,000 battle witches in Fort Ironhaven, and 10,000 – 15,000 battle witches in Fort Dragontail. According to the Deathsworn Group's information, they also have about 40,000 – 50,000 battle witches stationed in each border city," Ulrich reported.

"So we're only looking 150,000 – 205,000 strong in the border regions at most, huh? A tenth to an eighth of our army.." Emperor Renardier muttered with a frown.

"It was your idea to wait seven days and have the greedy and ambitious witches compete with each other for control and authority. In the end, it worked out perfectly—No, I dare say it worked out even better than we imagined, Your Imperial Majesty," Count Eldridge stated before asking with doubt, "So, why do you look unhappy?"

"That's because I don't trust our information," Emperor Renardier declared with a deep look.

"For starters, the Deathsworn Group failed to pinpoint Dorothy's precise location and retrieve her within the stipulated timeframe; this proves the enemy kingdom has master spatial manipulation technology or possesses spatial-attribute witches."

"However, spatial-attribute witches are extremely rare. Only the Great House of Caelestis comes to mind, but witches from the household are at odds with the Kingdom of Black Rose for the loss of their direct members in the Third Great Expedition. Thus, they are unlikely to lend their help."

"In other words, it's more likely that the Kingdom of Black Rose is in possession of advanced spatial-teleportation technology. Of course, there's still a small chance that they have a spatial-attribute witch within their rank, but I'm leaning towards the former."

"Regardless of the truth, the Deathsworn Group provided no such vital information; this implies the Deathsworn Group is either incompetent or the enemy had in the palm of their hands right from the start, manipulating them to hide information from us, or worse, feeding us false information."

"We all know just how capable the Deathsworn Group is, so there's no way they are incompetent. That leaves us with the latter possibility," Emperor Renardier concluded grimly.

"Impossible," Alistair Cane immediately denied, mentioning, "The Deathsworn Group is something the Wizard Tower had worked with Your Imperial Majesty to create. Not only is each member of this group trained to be absolutely loyal to you, but they also have five layers of mental defense; their souls are set to collapse the moment interrogation magic is used on them."

"There's no way the Deathsworn Group would betray you while they are still alive, Your Imperial Majesty," Alistair Cane stated confidently.

However, Emperor Renardier didn't share the same sentiments.

"Nothing is absolute, Lord Alistair. I don't doubt the Wizard Tower's capability. However, we are facing a kingdom of witches. Magic is also their specialty. Thus, we might be underestimating their magic capabilities," Emperor Renadier stated.

"Is there a special reason why you only doubt our information now, Your Imperial Majesty?" Ulrich asked with narrowed eyes.

"Naturally," Emperor Renardier replied with a nod.

Shortly after, the emperor recounted his encounter with Vaan during the diplomatic exchanged and raised his doubts.

"What are your opinions on this man, Lord Salsburg and Lord Valtran? What do you think of his strength?" Emperor Renardier asked the two marquis that accompanied him.

"There's nothing to think about; that man is just a puppet, Your Imperial Majesty," the pot-bellied marquis, Lord Salsburg, replied without hesitation.

"At first, it seemed like the witches were quite amicable, but they left most of the talking to that man. They are just two-faced, snake-like bitches. Those women definitely brought him along to insult us."

"They were clearly telling us that they are so high and mighty, they didn't need to insult us personally; they have men to use in their stead. And if we couldn't see through that, then we would be viewed as fools in their eyes," Lord Salsburg added grimly.

"I share the same opinion as Lord Salsburg, Your Imperial Majesty," the braided-beard marquis with a scar down the middle of his left eye, Lord Valtran, continued.

"I didn't find anything worth mentioning about his strength either. His build suggests he is physically fit, but there wasn't a shred of aura emanating from his body; he's not even an aura user. He's just the witches' boy toy."

"If the witches weren't carrying him along, he wouldn't even have the opportunity to meet us at such a height, let alone disrespect you, Your Imperial Majesty," Lord Valtran added.

"I have a different opinion," Emperor Renardier argued, shaking his head, then said, "If the man were truly powerless, he wouldn't be so fearless in front of three Late-stage Aura Lords and one Late-stage Aura King."

historical

"He was completely calm in front of my pressure – a Late-stage Aura King's pressure. Can you all believe that? Unless this man has overwhelmingly powerful mental fortitude, he must have some special means of concealing his power."

"My only fear is that he has both – that would make him the most dangerous unknown variable in this war, second only to Queen Henrietta," Emperor Renardier stated, startling everyone. "I'm considering the use of the magitech cannons to test the kingdom's strength. What does our strategist think?"

"I was thinking the same thing, Your Imperial Majesty," Ulrich agreed.

"But, Your Imperial Majesty—! The magitech cannons consume too many mana stones to use! If we use it now, how are supposed to breach Blackthorn City's powerful defense later?" Baron Arderlard asked before adding, "Furthermore, Lord Artemis is in Fort Whitebridge. She might get caught in the blast."

"Fool, stop thinking with your dick and take a look at yourself," Emperor Renardier criticized sternly.

"Do you really think Artemis has any interest in becoming your wife? She was only buying time for the kingdom while misleading us. I shouldn't have put my faith in your words. I should be considering how I should punish you instead!"

"I.. I'm terribly sorry, Your Imperial Majesty! Please have mercy!" Baron Arderlard paled, immediately dropping to the floor and begging for his life along with Baron Gregory and Baron Ranulf.

Nevertheless, Emperor Renardier temporarily overlooked their matter.

After finalizing their war plan, one giant magitech cannon was brought forward, entering the firing range of its target, Fort Whitebridge, which lay on the other side of Stormwind Lake.

The giant magitech cannon was twenty yards long and ten feet high.

In addition to its two large wheels and thick black metal pipe, which had a hollow center no bigger than two inches in radius, it also had four large vertical stakes, two on each side, to impale the ground and withstand the powerful recoil of its shots.

That said, the stakes' effectiveness in keeping the magitech cannon in place was yet to be tested and seen.

"Charge the magitech cannon!" a thousand-man commander instructed after receiving the signal from above.

Twenty thousand high-rank mana stones' worth of liquified mana was poured into the magitech cannon's pipe before the opening was sealed with a thick tungsten rod.

Shortly after the magitech cannon was activated, glowing blue runes lit up on the long cylindrical pipe in a swirling pattern. With each loop completed by the glowing blue runes, the magitech cannon shook more violently until it could no longer contain the chaotic power within it.

Boom!

Following a deafening roar, the thick tungsten rod-turned molten red disappeared from the magitech cannon's pipe, shooting off into the distance with a blazing trail of rainbow sparks behind it.

The first shot had been fired..