Book 4: Chapter 174: The Second Great Battle of the Vaughan Plains

Sarnia Duchy’s Capital City, Sarni City. Demons have already reclaimed the surrounding areas. The defeated Beastmen army that consisted of a million soldiers had retreated to the Vaughan Plains. Bella’s Six Paths Army, except for the Second Path Army “Blood Rose,” had mysteriously increased in number. Their numbers rose from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

“I say… Lisha, er… Alisha, why did you come out?”

Bella had only now realized that Lisha, who had been standing next to her, had transformed into Demon Dragon Emperor Alisha. Her night-black hair perfectly matched her beautiful pair of golden eyes. Alisha looked far more domineering than the cute and adorable Lisha. Among Bella’s “Darkest Knights,” several Demon Dragon Emperor guards emerged. They were the result of Alisha’s work.

“Hmph, what’s wrong? I change my look, and you no longer recognize me as your little sister! Now that you’re stronger, do you want to…”

“No, how did you come out? Lisha… is just another you!”

“Hmph, even Kriss came out, how could I be left behind!”

Alisha discontentedly turned away, purposely looking away from Bella. It was the first time Bella had seen Alisha sulk, and she temporarily struggled to adapt. However, with Alisha’s reminder, Bella looked over toward the Third Path Army “Phantom’s Sword” and saw that Kriss, who was leading the army, had changed quite a bit.

Kriss still had her old silver hair, but her formerly light purple eyes had changed into a deep purple. Her silver hair also seemed as if it were alive with a mysterious purple light. Her facial expression also differed from the old Kriss, making her look like an entirely different person.

Seeing Bella looking in her direction, Kriss shot Bella a friendly smile, showing that she still remembered her old ties. Holy Swordsman Cynthia looked at Kriss with a guarded expression. As a Holy Swordsman, she was unable to figure out how Kriss had suddenly shot up so much in power.

Despite still being a silver-haired beauty, Kriss’s demeanor had changed drastically. Since Cynthia was standing behind Kriss, she didn’t notice that Kriss had switched to her dark alter ego.

Bella hurriedly looked around. Thankfully, only Kriss and Lisha had switched to their alter egos. Elaine, Ariel, and Noreya were still their usual selves. They didn’t need to change to their alter egos, even though their armies had expanded.

“Fine, little sister, stop sulking! You are all my little sisters, okay?”

“Hmph, at least you’re a competent big sister. Let’s go! I can’t wait to show off on the battlefield. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had such a large battlefield to display my talents.”

Since they were on a battlefield, Bella gave up on going over to greet the new Kriss. Bella still had to take care of a lot of things, and besides, Demon God Angel was keeping an eye on things from within Kriss’s army group.

In the sky, a multitude of flying demons was heading off into the distance. They were scout demons and were about the size of a regular bird. The demon’s each had a scrying eye that was hung from their legs. Bella wanted to get a handle on the enemy’s situation before making her battle plan.

Before long, the scout demons had already relayed the latest intelligence; the Beastmen had a 100,000 man army stationed on the Vaughan Plains. They were inside the human army’s abandoned fortress. Based on the banner, it was Wolf King Springhall’s army.

There were only two Beastmen armies that had invaded the Gabriel Empire. They both had around one million troops, and their vanguard was Springhall’s army. The army currently assaulting the Empire’s border region was led by the Lion King, and was a completely separate force from Springhall’s army.

Bella’s forces had already totaled over 10 million; breaking through this force of 100,000 was barely worth an afterthought. Before the army had even steadied itself, Bella’s “Darkest Knights” army group had already led the charge toward the Beastmen garrison on the Vaughan Plains. Blood Demon King Eleanor led the “Blood Rose” army group right behind them. The remaining four army groups were still sorting out their logistics and temporarily stayed back.

The fortress on the Vaughan Plains only held 100,000 Beastmen defenders. When they saw over a million demons flooding toward them like a tidal wave, the usually courageous Beastmen hurriedly locked the main gate, ducking down for their bows.

Before the Beastmen could even raise their heads back up, they were skewered by spears raining down from the sky. Large numbers of ghoul lancers, under the guidance of the flying demons, threw their spears into the fortress. This sort of temporary fortress had rather short walls, at only two meters high. Against spear throwers that had the height advantage, they offered practically no protection.

The fortress didn’t pose much of an obstacle to the Demon Army. Although Bella’s army didn’t have the Abyss Demon King to support them, they had the strongest mount, Devastating Evil Dragon Emperor Lolita. This darkness attributed loli gently waved her small hand, sending a jet of black colored light that blasted open the fortress’s main gates.

Before the disordered Beastmen defenders even had a chance to prepare, large numbers of demon soldiers raised their pikes and charged in formation. The Beastmen, who didn’t use shields, instantly fell in droves.

Bella and Lisha charged into the front lines while also holding back as much as they could. It was a group battle, and if they had unleashed their full power, then their demonic underlings wouldn’t have anything left to play.

The defending Beastmen were mostly Wolfmen. The Wolfmen’s defensive capabilities were far inferior to their offense. This weakness was exposed as soon as the two forces met. An army whose main strength was speed and mobility had no advantages to speak of in a chaotic melee.

Bella strapped her shield onto her back, switching to using her demon claws and sword in tandem to kill the enemy. The demon claw’s killing power was frightening. When used to attack, it was cloaked in an aura of killing intent similar to a sword aura. It could simultaneously penetrate the bodies of multiple Wolfmen in a single strike, leaving them with scattered corpses.

Demonic Dragon Emperor Alisha fought rather aggressively. She still hadn’t pulled out her weapon; instead, her two hands had transformed into dark gold dragon claws. Alisha’s explosive attacks sent the enemy flying as if a giant dragon had struck them; it was one shot, one kill.

The warriors who had run forward to block Bella and Lisha were forced to retreat. The garrison commander of the fortress, Wolf Warrior Ivan, seeing the approaching Bella and Lisha, was so afraid that his legs were shaking.

If he could run, Ivan would have been the first to escape. This wasn’t even a battle; it was a one-sided slaughter. What was even more shameless was that the among the enemy’s demonic army, there were many priestesses, their Radiant Church robes had a stark contrast to their surroundings.

Ivan almost burst into tears. With the Radiant Church working together with the demons, there was no way to win this battle. Not only did these priestesses know the light magic, but they also were able to use a Dark Priest’s reanimation magic. As soon as a Beastman warrior finally managed to cut down a skeleton soldier, a round of reanimation magic would raise it being as good as new.

On the Beastmen continent, deserters were punished even more harshly than in the human empires; they would be executed. With no options left to him, Ivan was preparing to charge forward, but Bella had already arrived. Bella walked past him, accompanied by a flash of sword light. This Wolfman general had the same fate as his soldiers, decapitation.

The unlucky Wolfman general didn’t even get a chance to declare his name before getting cut down. The people present didn’t even react to death; he died like cannon fodder.

Seeing that their commander had been slain in an instant, the remaining Beastmen’s morale plummeted. They couldn’t care less about the deserter penalty and all dashed for the back door of the fortress. Although the demonic army could have surrounded the forces, cutting off any escape, they had decided to leave the back clear, leaving the Beastmen an avenue of retreat.

Chasing a fleeing enemy was far easier than finishing off a cornered animal. The 100,000 Beastmen army were ridden down by the “Darkest Knights.” Before the sunset, hundred thousand Beastmen souls rested on the Vaughan Plains, accompanying the 150,000 troops of the human army in death.

History would name this event as the “Second Great Battle of the Vaughan Plains.” The Darkness Sacred Region’s army recaptured the Vaughan Plains that had been lost by the Allied Human Army, eliminating the threat of the Beastmen against Sarnia Duchy and Sarni City. Taking into account the siege of Sarni City earlier, the Beastmen had lost over 250,000 troops in Sarnia Duchy.

“Bella. Isn’t this too cruel… If the Beastmen surrendered…”

“President Maria, this is war. There’s no such thing as too cruel.”

After the battle, Maria led the other priestesses to clean up the battlefield. Bella had brought these priestesses from the third generation Radiant Church Pope McPherson’s Monastery. Based solely on age, they were several thousand years old. They were able to live until now due to some special secret techniques. It wouldn’t be entirely correct to say that they were still human.

Bella decided that they were various demons that possessed the special ability to use holy magic. Each army group included a couple of priestesses. Once Maria found about these priestesses’ origins, she was silent for a long time. She didn’t know how to face the complicated and dark history of the Radiant Church.

Maria was also unused to the scene of Bella massacring the remaining Beastmen soldiers. Maria was still a relatively kindhearted cleric. No human army had ever annihilated a Beastmen army of over 100,000 troops. Bella was the first to take this achievement.

“If you’re not used to it, wait for me in my tent. I’ll give you a good lesson!”

“What… Do you want to do something bad again? No… I… I…”

“You what? President Maria, if you don’t come to my tent, then I’ll have to come to invite you personally. If you don’t want people to see you being carried into my tent…”

Bella left a red-faced Maria, as she walked to the command tent with Lisha. Maria helplessly sighed as her frantically beating heart slowed down. She began carrying out the duties of a battlefield priestess, praying for the dead so that their souls might rest more comfortable.

“Alisha, when are you going to return Lisha to me!”

“What’s wrong, you don’t like me? Or do I annoy you! What if I never return her!”

“No… You’re also my little sister. Don’t throw a fit, okay! You don’t annoy me.”

Seeing Demon Dragon Emperor Alisha’s wicked smile, Bella was a little unsettled. She had never imagined that Alisha was such an “S.” She wasn’t like Lisha, who was a gentle little sister. She was an evil little sister. For the time being, Bella couldn’t do anything to Alisha, since she was powerful. It was still challenging for Bella to overpower her.

“What’s wrong, is little sister Lisha being naughty? Is she hard to control?”

Right as Bella was about to fall into an awkward situation, Kriss appeared in the nick of time. It was the first time that Bella got a close up look at Kriss’ dark transformation. Besides her drastic change in demeanor, there was no change to her body, unlike Lisha, whose hair color completely changed.

“You… Are you jealous that I’m flirting with my big sis?”

“Nonsense! What’s wrong with me chatting with my lover?”

“Alright, let’s first go have dinner, stop arguing.”

Right when the two were about to have “an accidental shot of love,” Bella hurriedly defused the situation. They were currently in a state of war; if two commanders were to start a fight out of jealousy, it would be recorded in the history books. Considering that Alisha and Kriss were under her command, Bella shouted them down before a large scale internal conflict situation could arise.

Bella walked up and grabbed onto Kriss and Lisha’s small hands, causing the two beauties to quiet down instantly; they obediently allowed Bella to lead them toward the command tent. It was then that Bella realized the two weren’t about to start a fight and were joking around. She had misjudged them due to the changes in their demeanor from their dark transformations; they spoke much more aggressively than usual.

After night fell, the Vaughan Fields reverted to peacefulness. The Six Paths Demon Army did not linger here. Instead, they hurried toward the south. Demons didn’t even know the concept of rest, and according to the flying demon scouts’ intelligence reports, Wolf King Springhall’s 800,000 strong force was currently stationed at the former Grande Duchy capital, Nolan City.

Bella planned to ride their momentum and reclaim Grande Duchy in one fell swoop. If they could strike before news of the defeat at the Vaughan Plains reached Springhall, that would be the perfect ambush opportunity.

Under the moonlight, large numbers of demons were rapidly mobilizing. With the aid of darkness magic, millions of demons moved without making a single noise as if they were shadows. Bella and her girls were riding along in specially designed carriages, resting after the battle. They weren’t like the demons, who were always in a battle-ready state and untiring.

Bella’s carriage was located in the center of the first path army, “Darkest Knights,” and drawn by specialized demons. The amenities in the carriage were on par with the Emperor’s carriage. Now that all of the girls had hidden into the carriages, the grand army looked like a pure demonic army.

In the south, there was a significant temperature difference between day and night; it was unusually cold at night. Due to the recent battles, many lost souls wandered the night, and it was only the demon army that dared to travel at night.

Bella lifted a corner of the carriage window screen and saw many lost souls wandering in the distance. They rose due to the lack of priestess’ rites and could only wander around, terrorizing travelers to ease their own suffering. If one didn’t possess a sacred symbol of the Radiant Church, then they would be ambushed.

However, meeting Bella’s demon army, the lost souls couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. These lost souls were like peasants fleeing an imperial procession. The demons thought that the sight of these lost souls would annoy Bella, and went forth to corral them away.

Letting down the window screen, Bella returned to the table. There weren’t any chairs in the carriage, the passengers all sat on the floor. Lisha and Bella rode the same carriage, while Kriss had already returned to her carriage. The passengers of the first carriage were the girls of the “Darkest Knights.”

“Alisha, would you tell me about your past?”

“Dear Sister wants to listen? Nevermind, we can talk about it when there’s time. Your own story isn’t any less exciting than mine. I’m a bit sleepy, wake me if there’s a problem.”

It was hot in the carriage and the sisters in the carriage, due to the lack of the opposite sex, all wore thin clothing. Demonic Dragon Emperor Alisha wasn’t wearing any outerwear but was wearing Bella’s specially designed dark gold underwear. As she sprawled on a foam cushion, her posture was exceptionally provocative.

Bella, to avoid losing control, could only grasp for a topic of conversation to distract herself. However, Alisha feigned tiredness and went to sleep. Bella went up to the seductively posed little devil and covered her with a warm blanket, planting a soft kiss on her cheek.

After settling Lisha, Bella opened up a map and began planning for battle. Kenneth’s force of Dark Humans hadn’t appeared in Nolan City, and she didn’t know if they had a change of plans. As long as they benefitted Nolan City, she’d be able to devour Wolf King Springhall.

At that time, there was a substantial possibility of the Beastmen force that was assaulting the Empire’s borders to return. Nolan City was currently the Beastmen Army’s supply base. The entire landscape of the battlefield would shift if they managed to capture Nolan City. It would all come down to the battle of Nolan City.

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