No Immortal is a fool. As beings who have lived for thousands of years, their intellect and schemes are incomparable to normal mortals.
Emilia is the same. Even though she normally looks like an innocent girl with a father complex, in truth, anyone who takes her as an innocent little girl will be eaten alive.
Just like this time. Even though Emilia challenged my women to war, since the start, her target was never them.
I was her target.
However, Emilia knew that her chances of defeating me if she challenges me normally are very low. When it comes to strength and schemes, I'm superior to her.
Thus, she decided to target my weakness.
My women.
Instead of challenging me, she challenged my women. She proposed a method where she can force me to interfere as little as possible, at the same time, she gave me a handicap. The fact that I must make my women defeat her.
She forced me to train my women using that as an excuse.
I understood that since the moment she proposed the challenge. However, I could not refuse her offer. After all, this could be my only opportunity to make Emilia accept my women.
But due to that. I was forced to a disadvantageous game of chess.
I had fewer men and fewer resources compared to Emilia, and besides that, I'm forced to use my resources in my women to strengthen them for this challenge.
Emilia, on the other hand, can use her resources freely and without as many scruples as me. She doesn't need to care about the safety of her men, so she can strengthen them even at the cost of their lifespan.
The result of this was that Emilia had a great advantage over me when it came to the chess pieces we could use.
The number of powerhouses in her hands was at least twice that of mine.
It allowed her to use a wider range of strategies.
Such as sending small groups of powerhouses to attack the cities of the empire.
This way, she could lower our morale, cut our supplies, and cut our escape routes.
At the start, we would be able to cope with that, but eventually, the effects of these attacks would start to manifest, and our army will become weaker while the beastkin become stronger.
Until finally, these small advantages will become the decisive point to win the war.
Fortunately, I was aware of her intentions. I had already predicted that Emilia could resort to this, so I had prepared a countermeasure.
Looking at my women, I rested my gaze on a back-haired and red-eyed woman.
Evelyn Humillitie.
She was the headmistress of the Imperial Institute and a powerful mage. Moreover, during the training before this war, she had managed to forge her own path.
Just like Rose, she had become an Irregular.
"Do you know what to do?" I asked her.
Evelyn nodded. "Yes. I will take care of the situation."
"Good. Remember to be careful. Emilia should have anticipated this. She won't let you kill her men easily."
"I understand. Wish me luck, darling."
"Good luck." I smiled at her.
In the next second, a magic circle appeared below Evelyn.
A teleportation magic circle.
…
When Evelyn reappeared, she was above one of the cities of the empire.
Right now, this city was being attacked by two beastkin powerhouses. They were not that strong, only at the thirteenth layer; but they were enough to raze down this city.
When Evelyn appeared and saw the burning city and the innocent citizens killed by the rampage of the two beastkin powerhouses, her expression became frosty.
"You deserve to die."
In the next second, four magic circles appeared around the beastkin powerhouses. Two above them, and two below them.
The beastkin powerhouses were surprised. A terrifying feeling of danger hit them, making them realize that something was wrong.
But it was too late.
"[Crumble]."
Following Evelyn's words, the space around the two beastkin powerhouses crumbled.
Their bodies were crushed immediately, turning into a sickening mess of flesh and blood.
In front of an Irregular, the two beastkin powerhouses were unable to resist.
Evelyn's path was very special. It was called [Theory of Mana and Space]. It allowed her to store her mana in pockets of space, allowing her to use it a will to release stronger spells and increase the power of her magic.
Moreover, using her path as a basis, she strengthened her understanding of space. During the training before the war, she had created a variety of spells based on space laws, increasing her strength by a huge margin.
Right now, she was at least one hundred times stronger than one month ago.
Moreover, her understanding of space allowed her to move to any part of the empire almost instantly. That was the reason she was picked for this mission.
Once she eliminated the two beastkin powerhouses in this city, Evelyn teleported to the next city, killing the beastkin powerhouses there as well.
Then, she repeated that process several times more, every time eliminating the beastkin powerhouses in seconds.
But when she teleported to the ninth city, her expression suddenly changed.
Without bothering to observe her surroundings, Evelyn cast several defensive spells around her and blinked away.
In the next second–
*BOOOMMM!!!*
An explosion shook the place where she was previously.
"Oh? You avoided that?" A leisure voice reached her ears.
Looking in the direction of the voice, she saw a tigerkin man with his hands in his pockets. He was looking at her with an interested smile, and his aura screamed of danger.
With just a glance, she knew that he was stronger than someone at the fifteenth layer. He was an Irregular.
'No, Claus said that the beastkin Irregulars were just false Irregulars...'
Even so, he would be a difficult enemy.
But then, her eyes narrowed.
At some point, she noticed that a foxkin girl and a birdkin boy had appeared behind her.
Both of them were at the same level as the tigerkin man.
"Three Irregulars, huh."
"Her Majesty is wise. She predicted that the Arcadian Empire could only send a powerhouse to deal with this situation, so she sent three of us. It looks like your luck is pretty bad, witch."
"Really? I don't think so." Evelyn's eyes narrowed, and her lips curved up in a dangerous smile. "Killing the three of you here will deal a huge blow to that cocky fox."
"You… You dare to talk like that about Her Majesty." The eyes of the beastkin became cold. "Foolish woman. You will pay with your life."
"If you can, come and take it," Evelyn smirked.
In the next second, the four Irregulars clashed.