“Sophie is being controlled.” Stella offered an extremely bold deduction.
Via did not immediately question Stella. Instead, she fell into a subtle silence.
After seeing Via’s reaction, Stella pressed further. “Via, do you also think so?”
“There are all sorts of abnormalities about Sophie. She is completely different from the Sophie I know, almost as if she has become another person.”
Before meeting Sophie, Via had considered many possibilities.
Whether accepting her or rejecting her, both were possible.
The only thing she had never expected was that even though they were close blood relatives, the other party showed no intense emotional fluctuation upon meeting her again. Instead, she calmly intended to treat her as a heretic and dispose of her.
“Which abnormality about Sophie do you find the strangest?” Stella asked with some curiosity.
“If I have to pick one… wait!”
Via suddenly thought of something.
When Sophie saw her, she had not remained cold the entire time. For a brief moment, her emotions had surged strongly. But immediately afterward, golden light rose in Sophie’s eyes, all emotion vanished, and her attitude became extremely icy.
This abnormal change truly did not seem like a normal phenomenon.
Through this point, she could confirm that Sophie was being controlled.
“Sophie should be under the control of the Holy Land. I can confirm this now. The reason she stood for Soren is most likely the Holy Land’s will.”
“So it really is like that.”
“Soren took the Holy Land becoming the state religion as the representative condition and cooperated with Pope Altes. In order to help Soren securely sit on the imperial throne, Altes controlled Sophie to issue a so-called divine oracle, shaping Soren into the emperor designated by the gods.”
“Then besides dealing with Soren’s army, we also need to handle the Holy Knights of the Holy Land.” Stella sounded a little worried. “Those Holy Knights are all very strong. They are not simple characters.”
“That is indeed the case. We need to carefully consider what strategy to adopt next.”
At present, Via had no choice but to accept the fact that Sophie was an enemy.
Although it was not by her own will, her older sister had still gone over to the opposing camp.
All of this was the work of the higher-ups of the Holy Land behind the scenes.
“To use such despicable methods to control Sophie… higher-ups of the Holy Land, just you wait.”
“Demon King, Wade’s side is already prepared. As long as you give the order, they can raise troops in response.” Alef reported the current situation in front of Via.
“The other city lords in the southern region are the same. They can immediately form a coalition army to campaign against Soren under the name of Princess Stella.”
“Anytime is fine?”
Via looked at the three-dimensional map of the Saint Luo Empire, picked up a chess piece symbolizing an army, raised it toward the imperial capital, then set it down again.
“Yes, Demon King. Every city lord has their own army, and with the resources held within the cities, it is enough to support a prolonged civil war.”
“Is that so.”
“Demon King, shall we raise troops now?”
“Alef, let me ask you a question.”
“Please speak, Demon King.”
“Suppose the coalition army we form can indeed gain a certain advantage against Soren’s forces, and might even have a chance of winning the civil war.”
Via raised several white chess pieces and placed them on the imperial capital.
“At that moment, if the Holy Land dispatches a legion of Holy Knights to join the civil war and aid Soren, what would the situation become?”
“This…” Alef hesitated and did not answer immediately.
“Speak your true thoughts, Alef. No need to sugarcoat.”
“Then the situation would become extremely unfavorable for us. I can confirm that the coalition would have a high probability of being unable to take the capital and might have to retreat to the south.” Alef’s tone did not sound optimistic.
“If it turns into a prolonged war of attrition, Soren should be able to outlast us. Combined with the pressure from the Holy Knight legion, we would lose, correct?”
“Mm.” Alef nodded reluctantly.
“The Holy Knight Order legion of the Holy Land is an enemy that cannot be ignored. Since they have already intervened in the civil war against the Second Prince, if we start a new war, they will absolutely not sit idly by. After all, Soren has promised that as long as he remains on the throne, the Holy Land will be the state religion.”
“Then do we still have a strategy to deal with this?”
“There should be. We currently have a huge advantage.”
“What is it?”
“Soren does not know that we will launch a war, nor does he know that I will join this war. On the contrary, all of their movements are within our sight.”
“One in the open, one in the dark… there is an information gap, Demon King.” Via analyzed. “Correct. With an information gap, there is room to maneuver. Since we would lose if we follow the conventional flow of war, then we will reverse it. We will use our advantage of remaining in the dark to conduct a rapid war while the other side is unaware, end everything like a flash of lightning, charge into the capital, and carry out a beheading operation against Soren. Can this be done?”
“Of course it can. Secretly transfer the coalition toward the army, have Wade and the others openly cooperate with Soren and pretend to hand over power, then launch an attack when the other side lets down their guard. After all, in Soren’s eyes, how could these insignificant city lords dare to rebel?”
“Demon King, there is one key problem.”
“You’re thinking about the Holy Knight army, right?” Via saw through Alef’s concern. “That point is also easy to resolve. Draw the main force of the Holy Knight legion away so that when something happens, they cannot return to the capital immediately. By the time they can return, everything will already be over.”
“How do we draw them away?”
“It only takes one order from me.”
“You are currently not a high-ranking member of the Holy Land. You are—”
Alef thought of something and suddenly understood.
“That’s right, you are the king of the demonkin!!”
“I can issue an order to the Demon King’s Castle, have the Royal Court pretend to create the illusion of launching a war against the Saint Luo Empire, and provoke conflicts on the border. This will definitely attract the attention of the Holy Knight Order and draw their main force to the border. On the day we feign an attack on the border, we can launch the beheading war against Soren in the capital.” Via replied.
“Brilliant! This is truly a brilliant move!” Alef was very excited. “Demon King, even if Soren racks his brains, he would never think that the movements of the Desolate Fallen Continent are to coordinate with the coalition resisting him. How could he possibly set up defenses against an invisible opponent? In this way, we neither let the two races go to war nor achieve a substantial victory!”
“Soren, you had best prepare yourself for a game against me.” Via placed a chess piece on the capital of the sand table, pushed over the piece symbolizing the current emperor, and the corners of her mouth curved into a confident arc.
“If I win too easily, it will make me feel rather bored.”