Edward's plan failed, but his goal did.

According to the Night's Watchman's original assumptions, Brandon, as the Prince of East Sackland, had the name of the crown prince, but not the crown prince - for the simple reason that his popularity throughout the empire was so poor that apart from a very small number of nobles and the Duke of Byrne who were willing to support him, even the nobles of East Sacland who were willing to pay his allegiance to him were very few.

That's why he took the opportunity of the return of the Legion of the Valley of Blood, crowned Brandon with the Iron Crown and the Sword of Power, and made Brandon the emperor of the empire "in one step", and then slowly accumulated his prestige through war.

It wasn't what Brandon wanted, but he knew exactly how rare the opportunity his Night's Watch leader had gotten.

So he changed his approach and turned retreat into advance - using "save the imperial capital and officially crown" as a reason to call for soldiers to "voluntarily" join him, turning their reluctant "election" into a spontaneous alliance "fighting for the common good".

It happened suddenly, but Brandon didn't make it purely on a whim, but after careful consideration.

There are 8,000 remnants of the Broken Mountain Fortress, 30,000 East Sakrand Legions, 6,000 Boi Cavalry Legions, and 3,000 Byrne Knights' Legions... These people come from a variety of sources and have different interests, but they are generally the same: the march into Golovin.

So Brandon let this army, totaling nearly 50,000 troops, spontaneously gather under his command, and it is still a huge army that is fully equipped, has top phalanx infantry and light and heavy mobile forces, has good logistics support, and has extremely high combat quality, which has become his "basic plate".

At the same time, the 20,000-strong Boi army had already set out from the Great Green Sea under the command of the Great Boi, and was entering the territory of East Sackland;

The lords of East Sacraland, who had completely surrendered to the Imperial Crown Prince, were also gathering their troops according to the orders of the Heavenly Dome Palace, and 50,000 conscripted recruits were rushing to the nearest barracks one after another;

In the south, the 80,000 Byrne's elite legions, which had already been assembled, were marching to the aid of the imperial capital of Golovin according to the orders of the Council of the Round Table;

At the same time, the Duchy of Arles, under the threat of Byrne, began to gather an army to advance into the mountains of Elemmont, as promised by their Duke at the meeting of the Knights of Edgeworth, and the mountain people of this hilly region began to rally one after another.

East Sackland, Elleman, Poy, Byrne, Arles... The entire empire is marching according to the arrangement of Conod's life and following the agreed route.

Some of these troops had already received the news, while others were still ignorant of what was happening in the Imperial Capital and Broken Mountains, and they were only mobilized one after another because of Conod's orders.

This large army of tens of thousands, plus the looted and concentrated materials in the imperial capital, enough to squander the 200,000 army, and the complete logistics line from West Sackeland all the way north to Ebolden, is the greatest "legacy" left by Conod.

What Brandon has to do now is to rely on the army of 50,000 people in his hand to advance all the way south, and while fighting with the Azorean elves, he will continue to receive these inheritances under his command in the name of "Imperial Crown Prince", "Rescue the Imperial Capital" and "Avenge Emperor Conod", march to the Imperial Capital, and triumph in the Heavenly Dome Palace.

Stepping into his own palace and making those who despise him bow down - that's what Brandon wants.

...........................

"Uh... Wait, don't rush, come one by one. ”

In Byrne's tent in the ruins of Broken Mountains, Loren Turin, who was sitting at the round table, looked at the gang of guys around him who had surrounded him, and raised his hands with a smile on his face to show his throw.

Luthen, Mentor Dalton, Isaac, Charlotte, and Ain, five people with different expressions surrounded him in the center.

"I know you have a lot to ask, and I know that you may have been waiting for a long time, and I know that you have been worried about my safety, so ......"

"Who's worried about your safety?"

Before he could finish speaking, Charlotte, who snorted coldly, snapped and said, "I'm worried about Ain, and the warriors you took to the Valley of Bloodbones!"

"Duke of Byrne, I don't know what you think about making such a crazy move when you have a better choice......?!

"She's really worried about you. ”

The little wizard blinked softly, and the red-faced Countess of the Red Blood Castle snorted softly and turned her head, her shoulders moving slightly.

The black-haired wizard smiled awkwardly.

Unlike the "reasonable" Ain, the more assertive Charlotte does not express her emotions so simply and clearly, she wants to control everything, but lacks this power, so she can only desperately suppress her emotions and impulses, especially when faced with a situation that she has no control over, this anxiety will become more and more obvious in her.

"I've learned the rough story from Lusen. ”

Glancing at the gray-eyed boy behind him, Dalton Kander put his hands behind his back and looked at Loren: "So... What's the situation now?"

These are actually two problems.

The Azorean elves have launched a full-scale invasion and are heading for the imperial capital of Golovin, but with the annihilation of the Azorean army in the north and the death of the Eagle King in the Valley of Blood, the Azorean elves' strategic plan to besiege the empire on three sides has completely failed.

Not only that, but despite the fall of the Boundary Mountains, the main army did not suffer too many casualties due to the timely withdrawal, and the strength of the Duchies of the Empire in the Middle East, Sackland, Poy, Arles, and Elems was still well preserved, enough to inflict a military advantage on any part of the Azorean elven invaders.

In other words, unless the imperial capital of Golovin falls immediately, or the deep forest fort is breached, and Lothair is completely occupied by the Azorean elves, and the connection with Ebolden and West Sacland is opened, and the two Azorean elven armies echo left and right, otherwise the Azorean elves who are fighting each other can only be surrounded and annihilated.

Of course, the strength of the elves is still very strong, and it cannot be completely denied that there is still the possibility of follow-up reinforcements, but at least the advantage of the war situation is slowly tilting in favor of the empire, and the Azorean elves, who have no roots in this land, will not be able to gain a foothold unless they colonize on a large scale.

And the empire, which has experienced nearly half a year of war, has finally gradually exerted her true strength.

But the problem lies in the empire... Or that Loren Torino's enemies are not just the Azorean elves.

"To put it simply, our next enemy is still the Azorean elves, but... And it's not just them, the 'Black Cross' Seliol... He's back. ”

The black-haired wizard smiled wryly.

When the words fell, everyone's expressions were startled at the same time.

On that snowy morning a few years ago, Loren had already told everyone about the threat posed by the "Black Cross" Serol, and he somewhat understood what level of threat this guy was.

In a word, "the mastermind behind the destruction of the Dragon Kingdom" and "the culprit who killed the black duke and sealed the Valkyrie" are enough to explain everything.

The moment he opened the second valve, he had already discovered the power of the Void in Seliol... Although it was very faint, so faint that he could not have noticed it before, but this time he did find it.

Loren was also very sure that the other party knew this, and it was very likely that he had even deliberately let himself find out, and in the eyes of the arrogant Seriel, this might be his way and posture of declaring war on himself, after all, he would not have been able to detect him without opening the second valve.

He's declaring war, like some knight on high - I'm coming, prepare as much as you can, because no matter how much you prepare, you'll die by my sword.

"No... Is compromise possible?" Charlotte couldn't help but look back.

She knew very little about Seliol's existence, and basically understood that a certain evil god who was very hostile to Loren had killed the Black Duke.

Sighing, Loren shook his head: "Never die." ”

The Countess of the Red Blood Castle frowned.

"What is his purpose?" Dalton Candle asked coldly, "Is it still the same as in the past, to capture the two nine-pointed star chalices?"

Loren bowed slightly.

"And now that one of the grails is on you, and the other is where you know, then ......" Dalton, who muttered to himself, came to an abrupt end:

"We have to stop him. ”

The black-haired wizard nodded solemnly: "We must stop him." ”

The location of the second Holy Grail is a secret that only Loren himself knows - a secret that he cannot tell anyone, but also does not even have any "impulse" to remember... He didn't quite understand it before, but now he understood why the "Last Wizard" was warning him like that.

Because the void reaction itself is the "radiation" of a certain consciousness message and emotional changes, one's own emotions and changes in thoughts will act on one's own void reaction.

Just by opening the second valve, Loren can "read" the other party's emotional changes from the empty reaction of others, whether they are lying, and then change to the "black cross" Serol, I am afraid that he can "read" more things from it.

Maybe just a flashback, a fragment in his mind, could be detected by him extremely critical information.

"That's... How will he attack?"

Rusen was most concerned about this: "When exactly?"

Loren still smiled wryly.

"Anytime. The black-haired wizard whispered, "Anytime, anywhere, in any way... For Seliol, there is no such thing as a pawn in this world that he cannot use, and in a sense, he is really only one step away from taking the world. ”

"Alright, alright, it's almost my turn, right?"

Pushing away Lusen beside him, Isaac squeezed in front of Loren, his eyes widened: "Tell me quickly, you opened the second valve, right?!"

"Uh... Right. ”

"That's right!" I knew I had guessed right when Lusen described it!" Isaac smiled smugly, then glared at the black-haired wizard eagerly:

"So... What the hell does it feel like - is your current existence a 'physical' existence or a 'spiritual' existence, and do you no longer need to use runes to use the power of the void?!"

"Uh, this ......"

"Ask one by one!" The little wizard on the side stood up angrily and glared at Isaac: "Loren hasn't fully recovered yet, how do you want him to answer you!"

"I... You're this... Head watering... All right. ”

With a long sigh, Isaac, who was a little discouraged, took a few deep breaths and looked at Loren solemnly: "One question - what is the so-called 'wisdom' of the second valve?"

"This... It's hard to put it all in three words. ”

Loren whispered, "My advice is that one day, you also find an opportunity to open the second valve yourself... You'd better be more cautious, because once you've taken that step, there's no going back. ”

"There's no way back... What do you mean?" asked Isaac.

"Put simply, you have to make a choice – a decision that will cause a part of you to disappear completely, and it will never be recovered. ”

"Instead, you will become another level of being, more of a transformation than evolution, and in terms of what I have seen, the cost may be much greater than what you get. ”

"Hmmm......"

Isaac squinted, lost in thought.

"Well, I'll be as cautious as I can then—if not I'll wait until I'm dying, and I know that the Freiswalker School has a lot of ways to prolong your life. ”

"As for the rest... I'll figure it out myself when the time comes, because it's not interesting if I fully understand this kind of thing, and knowledge needs to retain a little mystery in order to make people want to explore!"

Loren nodded.

As for whether Isaac can do this, it is completely out of the consideration of the two of them - with his talent and the inheritance of knowledge from the Dragon King's Tower, it is really strange that he can't open the second valve.

Just as Isaac was about to ask something, a flag bearer lifted the curtain of the tent and stood outside the door in the direction of the black-haired wizard with a slight greeting:

"On the orders of His Royal Highness Brandon de Salion, Prince of East Sackland, if the Duke and the Earl of the Red Blood Castle have no special reason, please move to the conference hall and discuss with His Highness about the rescue of the Imperial Capital!"

Although the flag bearer used an honorific tone, his expression and attitude were very tough and could not be refuted in the slightest.

"Now?"

"Now. The flag bearer said solemnly: "His Royal Highness Brandon's original words are - if Duke Byrne agrees, a battle meeting will be convened immediately. ”

In the morning, I just made a lot of fanfare in the barracks, and in the evening I started planning what to do?

The black-haired wizard sighed, glanced at Charlotte, who was slightly drunk, and stood up silently:

"Please tell His Highness Brandon that the meeting can begin!"