Hero of Darkness

Chapter 1309: The Undermined Enemy

The morning suns shone brightly as the quiet atmosphere gave off a sense of tranquility to those who had been running from one place to another for the past couple of days.

And despite yesterday’s handout incident witnessed by thousands of people, nobody blamed it on the Heavenly King of Metal.

People were simply happy that the armies of the united empires were gone for good. Even though they knew a few more batches would come within the week, they at least had some time to breathe.

As for Harkan, who was battered and bruised… he hadn’t left his room since his return.

Jaro, the Heavenly King of Metal, on the other hand, had his own matters to worry about. Because just this morning, he received an important mission transmitted to him.

Just like yesterday, the sky was now filled with flying warships and thousands of soldiers on the ground as a royal procession took place.

Kaali Adisesha, the Empress of the Beast Empire, had finally arrived.

After all the formal rituals and customs were followed to welcome the ruler of the nation, a private meeting was held between the empress and the heavenly king of metal.

“So where is that Rudra you spoke about?” asked Kaali with discerning eyes.

Jaro shook his head and informed her that Rudra and his people had already left a day ago.

“They should have reached the first junction in the Empire of Wind already.” he iterated with an apologetic tone.

“You… you should have forced them to stop.” said Kaali with an incredulous countenance.

“I had no choice. They had two intermediate 7th-stage saints, and my son was also held hostage.

Besides, if a fight occurred between them and me… millions of people residing in the confines of this entire junction would have died.

I did us a favor by bowing my head to those bastards instead.” said Jaro firmly.

Normally, he wouldn’t dare to refute the empress, but his reason was also sound.

Because if things had escalated further… this entire base would have been turned to dust.

“To think that they would send two 7th-stage saints on a meager errand mission…” said Kaali with a resentful tone.

Just then, a moment of realization dawned on Kaali.

“Wait! There are four battlefronts that their forces will be facing.

They all will diverge their destination at some point, won’t they?” she asked.

“Yes. The ones coming through our empire’s junctions are heading towards the eastern side of the battlefront.

There are 3 more different routes for them, leading to different fronts through routes in different empires.” elaborated Jaro.

“Let us assume that every entourage has backup 7th-stage saints just as you reported… then does that mean they have that mawarriorsior of such caliber?” asked Kaali with a shaken countenance.

“Even if we assume that they send only one in each path… that would be at least four 7th-stage saints just for one trip.

And there is also the Hero of Darkness himself. The way things are… their united forces must have at least 7 to 8 saints of that rank.” hypothesized Jaro.

“So they have the strength of at least two 8th-stage saints. And they have the backing of a Sovereign as well.

I knew that their forces were going to be strong… but this is simply absurd.” spoke Kaali with a frustrated expression.

The atmosphere turned somber as she realized something…

“So that was the reason why he was so confident and dared to threaten us again and again during the council meeting.

He forced out the idea of these junctions knowing very well that at every base they will visit… someone would try to create trouble for their forces.

And he will get a chance to intimidate the host empire’s forces whenever similar incidents happen,” said Kaali with a thoughtful countenance.

“What does he intend to achieve by doing that? I cannot underestimate Kahn Salvatore anymore.

He is a terrifying mastermind who is already two steps ahead of us. And if he allowed to grow further… he could be an unavoidable disaster even after the Demon God were to be killed.

If not for our existence hanging on the result of this Great War… I would have preferred to have him killed.

Unfortunately, he forced the disabandonment of the Inquisitors already.” said Kaali.

“What about Markgrav? He is part of the Inquisitors. We can contact him to spread this information with the rest of his colleagues.

I am certain that the other empires would also prefer to have him killed after hearing this fact.” said Jaro.

“No… ever since the Council of Great War enforced their disabandonment… many of them have become isolated.

Markgrav hasn’t reported anything to me ever since I sent him the word. Neither are his whereabouts known.” revealed Kaali.

“What? Has he gone rogue? His clan is still within the empire… why would he risk their annihilation by becoming a traitor?” asked Jaro.

“You don’t know him that well. Even though he is an Intermediate 7th-stage saint himself, he always declined to become a heavenly king despite having legitimacy as well as strength.

He does not crave power or authority. For him… it’s simply revenge,” she iterated.

“From what I have found based on his background history… he shared a past with the previous Heroine of Nature, the one who came before Maximus almost 300 years ago.

The Lionkins don’t live past 400 years even if they become an 8th-stage saint. Yet, he has dedicated almost 3 centuries just to exact his revenge.” revealed Kaali.

“What kind of relationship did he have with the Heroine?” asked Jaro.

“You were not born then, so you wouldn’t know much. Even I was merely a Semi-Saint when everything happened.

His own clan originally disowned Markgrav because he did not show any promise to become a clan heir since he couldn’t even sense mana during his childhood.” revealed Kaali.

“There are plenty of candidates like that in every tribe and clan who get discarded.

And later, he was forced to become a mere squire for the members of the Hero’s Party back then.

Though his rise to strength is mostly unknown to even me, some suspect it was due to help from the heroine herself.

She treated him fairly and even changed his fate by deciphering what was wrong with his body and why he couldn’t use mana despite having the talent for it.

He owes his life to the Heroine, and if the intel was true…” reiterated Kaali.

“The Heroine of Nature was like an elder sister to him,” she elaborated.

“I hate it when a mere servant forgets their place. But if Markgrav is doing what I think he is…

Then we probably won’t have to worry about anything,” said Kaali with a devious smile on her face.

“The Inquisitors… may still be active.”