The Adventures of an Overpowered Knight in Another World Chapter 717- Battle of Blacktide

"What about the operation?" Mammon asked.

Duvessa smiled. This time, it looked genuinely frightening.

She conjured a map depicting the border regions of Solaris and several strategic locations, such as their royal capital and treasury.

"The plan proceeds perfectly. The council members are working under my command. Since we have manufactured a crisis large enough to force the seven kingdoms, the council will make it so that Solaris deploys its strongest heroes away from the capital"...

"The Alliance protocols will ensure neighbouring kingdoms simultaneously request reinforcements. Solaris will have to answer".

Little by little, Duvessa laid out the entire plan to bring the kingdom of Solaris to collapse.

When the war begins, whether it be heroes, commanders of the seven great knight orders, or other powerful knights, they would all move away from the capital.

"Those greedy humans, because of their foolish nature, are even ready to sacrifice one of their heroes. The newly risen Level 10 Hero of Solaris, Reinhardt Arcknight, who received the class of Divine Paladin... Hm? Is there something wrong, Lord Mammon?"

Duvessa, who was reporting her progress and plans to bring down the seven kingdoms, suddenly noticed this great demon before her, who possessed an ancient bloodline that every demon envied, behaving strangely all of a sudden.

Was it fear that she sensed within him? Duvessa frowned.

Thinking over the Seventh Heavenly King’s reaction when she mentioned the last line. Could it be because of the Divine Paladin?

Mammon was also slightly surprised by his own instinctive reaction. What was going on? Why did he feel threatened by just hearing the name of that class?

Mammon recalled the knight’s name that Duvessa had just reported to him. Nope, he had never met this knight before. So what could be the reason?

This made him all the more confused. Still, he quickly suppressed his hidden anxiety and asked Duvessa to continue.

The crafty Ninth Heavenly King made a mental note before continuing with her report. "The Temple of Light and other major Orders will be drawn toward the front. Their strongest defenders will become isolated from one another. During this time..."

The map of Solaris that Duvessa conjured shone brightly, especially their Royal Palace, where the treasure was hidden. More specifically, it was the location of one of the Supreme Divine Treasures.

The Crown of Dawn... Humanity’s greatest defensive relic. The artefact had protected an ancient kingdom from countless catastrophes.

Duvessa continued. "During the confusion of the campaign, the humans on our side and demons within the Council will manipulate military deployments. The Level 10 hero, Divine Paladin Reinhardt Arcknight, will be assigned an impossible objective"...

"During this time, with our forces outputting pressure on all sides, assistance for the hero will become impossible. It will be our chance to swiftly remove one of the scourges on our side. If a Heavenly King personally makes his move, killing the Divine Paladin would become even simpler"...

"The news of the death of a hero would send the kingdom into chaos. I will use this opportunity to sneak into the kingdom and, with the demons already stationed there and the humans outside, I will steal their Supreme Divine Treasure."

Saying that, Duvessa showed a beautiful smile, one that was dangerous yet beautiful. "By the time the truth becomes apparent... it would already be too late. Their celebrated hero would die, the kingdom in shambles, and the Supreme Divine Treasure, the Crown of Dawn, their last resort symbol. The successive blows would shake the kingdom’s foundation, making it easier for us to quickly overwhelm them and make Solaris history."

The plan was well thought out. It contained no obvious flaws and accounted for all factors. Military necessity, political pressure, chaos, distance, timing... Everything aligned perfectly.

Mammon couldn’t help but give Duvessa a deep glance. In the field of scheming, she had already left him behind. Perhaps even those mighty ones would be impressed by her.

"There is only one problem. We need to kill the hero at the shortest possible time. What’s more, the hero we are targeting may be a newly risen hero. However, his reputation exceeds that of the other old heroes in some way"...

"He is called their brightest star, the hope of humanity, and the hero the people believe can overcome any obstacle. Plus, with his near perfect record of missions and battles with our demonkind, I’m uncertain whether either Malcroth or Skarnyx can kill him. It might not be possible to kill the hero in the shortest time, even for Beleth."

What she was indirectly hinting at was for Mammon to make a move himself. As for Duvessa herself, her role was to steal the Supreme Divine Treasure during the chaos.

Mammon thought over it. Although he disliked making a move himself, these new Heavenly Kings were indeed extremely weak.

As for Astaroth, the demon had lost his physical body during a battle with a kingdom hundreds of years ago. Right now, his soul is in the midst of recreating another body in the Great Demon Prison.

Even if the other party can create an avatar, the strength is too far apart.

Suddenly, Mammon burst out laughing. A terrible sound, like a mountain collapsing, echoed inside the court.

"Very well, I will make a move myself and kill that hero with my own hands and break the spirit of the kingdom in a single stroke."

Duvessa also smiled. If their plan is successful, Solaris will fall. And once one of the Seven Kingdoms falls, the others will also fall like dominoes.

Each of these kingdoms is plagued with its own problems and cultural or racial divides. A little flame and humanity are over.

"Your plan is good. However, you also need to include another thing," Mammon reminded.

Another thing? What could it be? To catch the attention of the Seventh Heavenly King.

"Search for a woman who shows unusual powers or abilities. If any woman matches the description, kill her immediately. If you can’t kill her, kidnap her and bring her to me."

He gave her the same instruction he gave to his Demon Generals.

The more she heard, the more curious Duvessa got. Why was Mammon searching for a woman with unusual abilities? Why did it sound more urgent than defeating the rest of humanity on the continent?

When asked... "Lord Mammon, who is this woman? And what kind of abilities are we talking about?"

The Seventh Heavenly King released his aura and silenced Duvessa.

"Duvessa, don’t overstep your rank. There are some things you don’t need to know. Remember, you might be special. However, demonkind doesn’t lack special demons. Especially ones with ancient blood. If those old demons want, they can seize the fragment of chaos from all of you."

The pressure instantly caused Duvessa to step back.

"Understood." Faced with the threat, she could only nod obediently and forget about all the distracting thoughts.

But of course, this made her all the more curious, and her fascination with the ancient demon bloodline became even stronger.

She firmly believed that the current Heavenly Kings, like Malcroth and Skarnyx, cannot be regarded as the peak of demonkind. Only those with the ancient demon bloodline, like the old monster before her and the Jester-Jester, born with an unnatural ancient bloodline, had the capability.

Although she never met those higher ranking Heavenly Kings, she made her own guess.

"Good, if you understand. Now get to work."

.

Days became weeks. Weeks became months. The preparations intensified. Convoys departed regularly for the borders. Scouts returned with increasingly grim reports. Entire regions of the Tainted Lands had gone silent.

Demons had begun appearing all around the borders of the seven kingdoms. Something that had never been seen in many decades. This made the threat all the more real.

With the onset of war, the changes could be seen in the daily lives of the ordinary people too.

Whether it was Solaris or any other kingdom, people smiled less. Parents hugged their children a little tighter. Taverns became louder, and churches became fuller.

Everyone seemed to understand something terrible was approaching. And all of them needed something or the other to reassure themselves or keep themselves distracted.

Before long, the mobilization order finally arrived. The great bells of Solaris rang across the kingdom.

Once... Twice... Thrice...

The sound echoed through cities, villages and fields alike. Every knight immediately understood its meaning... War.

The Kingdom of Solaris had officially entered a state of military mobilization. Similar scenes could be seen happening all around the world.

Outside the headquarters of the Temple of Light. Thousands of knights stood ready. Flags fluttered in the wind. Armour with masterful craftsmanship gleamed beneath the morning sun.

At its glory, the Temple of Light’s strength was no weaker than that of the others of the Order of the Blazing Sun, the number one knight order in the current timeline, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

The age of preparation had ended. The age of battle had begun. The battle that the history would know as the Battle of Blacktide.