A middle-aged man was hidden between two houses as he attached a small scroll to a bird's foot before releasing the bird into the sky.
"They should know about this big news right away!" The guy muttered while looking at the bird.
Unbeknownst to him, his shadow began to move. A few tentacles suddenly emerged and restrained his mouth, hands, and feet.
"Mhmmf?!"
The guy panicked, not knowing what was happening. However, he couldn't do anything as his body began to sink into the shadows.
When he submerged completely, it would be the last time that man was ever seen again.
Next to him was none other than Dimitri.
Noel must have predicted that there would be spies in their territory. No matter how careful he was, it was impossible to completely check all their background. So, Noel ordered him to take care of the rest, which meant the spies.
"Luckily, there are only three spies. I'm sure that two of them are from the Supreme Devil Organization and the Royal Family. But I don't know who that third spy belongs to…" Dimitri shook his head helplessly. "In any case, since the news has to be spread, I'll let the birds go."
Yes. Noel had ordered to spread the news, so there was no reason for Dimitri to kill the birds.
Instead, he killed the spies after sending the news, creating an illusion that the spies were still there and would report to them once they got more important news.
This would fool their enemies for a while.
…
As Dimitri said, two of the spies came from the Royal Family and the Supreme Devil Organization.
In the Supreme Devil Organization's headquarters, a man suddenly rushed into the meeting between the Supreme Devil and his Devil Saints.
"We have an emergency… they have fooled us!" The guy shouted, interrupting them while waving the scroll he got.
"Fooled us? What do you mean?" Qiel noticed the scroll and stopped him.
The man handed the scroll to her while catching his breath.
When Qiel read the information written on the paper, she couldn't help but gasp. "This is…"
"What's wrong, Qiel?" Alexander asked while furrowing his eyebrows. It was rare to see Qiel that shocked, so he couldn't help but get curious.
Qiel's expression darkened. "We've been fooled… by Noel Ardagan. We've just received the news from our spy that…" Qiel seemed to have a hard time understanding the situation, but she still finished her words. "…Noel Ardagan and Anna Stargaze are now officially engaged."
"Engaged… Engaged?!" Alexander dropped his jaw to the ground. "Wait a minute… Anna Stargaze once tried to disturb our plan by investigating Count Heirden. At that time, she was able to barely escape through her True Spirit Body. I didn't think too much about her appearance, but it was at that time Noel and the other squads came. Don't tell me… they've been working together the whole time?"
Qiel simply couldn't believe her realization. They all had been fooled by these two geniuses. They were always together, but because of the previous farce, no one would doubt them.
Qiel couldn't help but glance at Laufey. "You were an Ardagan before… did you know anything about this?"
"No." Laufey shook his head. "He never mentioned any engagement regarding his son. However, it might be possible… since Kevin Stargaze was his friend. The reason why they managed to fool all of us was because… Anna Stargaze was truly like that in the past. She wanted to destroy the Ardagan Family once and for all. But the enemies soon turned into lovers. It was hard to accept, but this was the only possible plan I could think of."
"Now that I think about it, Anna Stargaze went to the Demon Banner Army, right? It was to kill him, right?" Alexander asked, doubting his own words.
"What if Kevin Stargaze was the one sending her so that she could know Noel better? It might be what he wanted this whole time… with these two geniuses joining hands, they would pretty much be untouchable. Don't forget that we don't know the extent of the Ardagan Family's power right now… With Anna Stargaze here, they have at least four Spirit Grandmasters in their rank… That's all we know." Qiel gritted her teeth.
No one would expect that they had been fooled to this extent.
Qiel couldn't help but look at Alexander. "Can you do something to them?"
"Oscar is tracking me. If I make my move, we will clash again. So, not at the moment…" Alexander shook his head helplessly.
"I…" Laufey wanted to volunteer, but after the previous defeat, he didn't know whether it was the right thing to do or not.
On the other hand, Qiel said, "It's going to be hard for us to do anything to him. Dimitri could stop one of us pretty easily, while Noel managed to stop my arrows when he was only a Spirit Master. Now that he has become a Spirit Grandmaster, a half-baked plan would just cause us a disastrous defeat."
"Are you saying we should lay low for the time being?" Alexander asked. "You should know that those two geniuses are advancing by leaps and bounds. If we give them another year, we might not be able to defeat them."
"I know. That's why I'm trying to think of a plan." Qiel raised her voice, getting frustrated.
"Noel alone is already a headache, and there is Anna Stargaze, who defeated Count Heirden without her True Spirit Body. If we want to defeat them, we could only strike the people around them or… have at least three peak Spirit Grandmaster to handle them along with a lot of minions." Alexander sighed, realizing that the chance in the Atracaeca Kingdom was truly their only opportunity to kill him.
Laufey thought for a moment and asked, "What if we use the demons? There are a lot of Superior Demons near the border."
"We need at least two high level Superior Demons to pull that off. Just gathering those demons alone will need a lot of time." Qiel rejected the idea.
All of a sudden, the voice of the Supreme Devil resounded in everyone's ears.
"Laufey. If I give you the task, how long do you need to gather all those demons?"
Laufey was surprised at first but soon fell into deep thought. After a minute, Laufey said, "I need three months to do it. I should be able to gather two or three high level Superior Demons along with thousands of demons beneath them."
"Work on it right away. And Qiel, use those three months to create a concrete plan to take him down."
"Understood, Sire." Qiel bowed to him without hesitation. "But Sire… three months are a bit too long. While it's impossible to create the city within three months, they would still have stabilized the territory."
"I will use my own means to buy us some time."
With the guarantee of the Supreme Devil, Qiel instantly ordered, "Alexander. I want you to lead our men and confront the Demon Banner Army head-on."
"So, I'm the bait right now?"
"Yeah. I want you to create a diversion to make sure the Demon Banner Army doesn't get involved in this matter."
"Alright. I could do that for you."
"Laufey, you'll be focusing on your task and gathering as many demons as you can. I want you to hold them back northwest of their territory. We are fortunate that they have chosen the northern part to create their main city. It's easier to strike them there."
"Got it. What are you planning to do then?"
"I have to observe the entire territory and calculate the terrains. Noel is a genius both in spirit and brain. He's most likely going to use the terrain to protect his territory. In fact, he should have made some preparations before choosing this exact location… Considering it's hard to strike him from the west and east as it's blocked by a mountain and a river. So, I can't underestimate him."
Qiel had learned it the hard way. Despite all odds, Noel still had the chance to turn them around, so it was best to calculate everything first.
"Alright." Laufey nodded, satisfied.
"Hey, don't forget those angry nobles… they are counting on him to create the Rune Academy. So, we still need to stop them from reinforcing his territory."
"I know. Those nobles would likely use this opportunity to make Noel owe them a favor. But I have my own means to stop them. Besides, he will surely bring a lot of people into his territory, so there are some opportunities to strike them from the inside." Qiel waved her hands.
"Because of the situation, we have to be fast." Laufey asked one last question, "Qiel, how long do you think they need to become untouchable?"
"The creation of the fortress should take at least a year, even with a thousand workers. But he is a Rune Master, and under him is a Master Blacksmith. Once the wall is built, it's impossible to break it from the outside. Since we're talking about him, he will surely build the wall from the north side first to fend off our attack."
"That's enough. I have to go." Laufey realized the severity of this problem and wasted no more seconds to get it done.
Qiel couldn't help but look down, feeling that she had missed something important.
And that was when Alexander dropped the bomb that everyone forgot due to the engagement.
"Qiel… if Anna and Noel were together the whole time, why would Anna suggest this territory then?"
Thud!
Qiel's heart sank in horror.
