Ch.93The Final Stratagem – 6

“What should we do about the incident at the academy? There are too many witnesses to deny it outright.”

“Since she’s not the Imperial Princess, focus on digging into that angle, and divert attention away from that bastard as much as possible. There’s nothing we can do right now. Later, we’ll manipulate some testimonies after working on people’s minds.”

“Understood!”

Astaroth had been holed up in the Astriere family mansion for several days, wracking her brain with all her might. And remarkably, she was even taking action personally.

Originally, Astaroth’s position was to sit elegantly in her seat and simply order her underlings around. That was the role of the Succubus Queen, and she believed that was how a queen should rightfully behave.

But now the situation had changed.

After the failed invasion of the academy, she had to flee the demon realm in a hurry, and she was now in a position where she absolutely, unconditionally had to produce results by any means necessary to return.

She had invaded the human realm on her own whim, defied the Demon King’s orders, and above all, was facing charges of treason. If she returned empty-handed, it was certain she would be purged regardless of whether the treason charges were real or not.

‘That goddamn meat dildo bastard…’

Astaroth ground her teeth hundreds of times a day thinking about Mira Crate. She had imagined dozens of times tearing him limb from limb, turning him into a meat dildo, and letting her subordinates pass him around.

Conspiring with humans to betray the Demon King? Killing her maker and fleeing to hide in the human world? What absolute nonsense, yet somehow all the circumstances had aligned perfectly, reducing her to this pathetic state.

All because of that one man. What a disgraceful situation.

“No, it’s still fine. I just need to destroy the Empire and go back. If I destroy the Empire, the Demon King will surely forgive me, and the treason charges will be dropped…”

Constantly biting her nails and muttering to herself, Astaroth reached for the next document.

It was really just a matter of time now. She had meticulously created evidence to fill in the ambiguous causal relationships, and all that remained was to gather everything and set it off. Then she could have the entire Empire in her hands.

The Starlight Order’s contribution was particularly significant. With the Order’s money and influence, killing or disposing of people discreetly was trivial. No matter how corrupt the Order was, humans couldn’t resist it.

They shouldn’t be able to resist it.

“The Magic Tower has issued a statement condemning Prince Igor and the Starlight Order!”

“What?!”

The news came like a bolt from the blue. Astaroth hurriedly checked the document brought by her subordinate succubus. Her eyes trembled madly as she read the text.

“The Starlight Order has betrayed humanity by being enthralled by succubi, lost its light by being contaminated with demonic energy… and Igor, the disgraced prince, is the same… Our Magic Tower, represented by Archmage Valera, will join forces to expel all demons from human territory until… What the hell is this?! Since when do the Magic Tower bastards work together?!”

“I-I don’t know either…”

“It’s that bastard Mira Crate, isn’t it?! It is, right?! AAAAARGH!”

Astaroth threw the documents and flipped the entire desk over, tearing at her hair in a hysterical fit. The succubus who had delivered the papers trembled, afraid the rage might be directed at her next.

Astaroth was a Succubus Queen who had lived for what could be considered a long time even by demon standards.

She prided herself on knowing human history relatively well, but this situation was unprecedented. Since the establishment of the Magic Tower, she had never once heard of the entire Magic Tower uniting.

“No, it’s still fine. There’s still enough time to destroy the evidence. Somehow, within that time—”

“M-My Queen! Something terrible has happened!”

“What now?!”

“The Order’s branches are being attacked!”

But the statement distributed throughout the Empire was just the beginning.

The origins of the Magic Tower date back hundreds of years in Imperial history. However, except for the very early days, there had been almost no exchange between the different Magic Towers.

It was more important to monopolize knowledge rather than share it with other towers, so they could boast about how great they and their towers were.

The Magic Towers had maintained this attitude for hundreds of years, but the emergence of healing magic changed everything completely.

All the tower masters of the Mage Association witnessed the miracle of healing magic, and to receive this miracle as quickly as possible, they needed to achieve results at maximum speed.

“Distribute all our research data to the Red Tower. They’re researching magic formulas, so they’ll sort through and use what they need.”

“Take this to the Black Tower. It will help with managing mana flow.”

“Inform the Green Tower. Tell them we’ve improved the magic they sent us.”

“The Blue Tower has sent a prototype. Test it as soon as possible and let them know the results.”

Thus, exchange between the Magic Towers became inevitable. The tower masters who had witnessed the miracle released all the magical knowledge they had accumulated to fulfill Mira Crate’s requirements.

“What? Create a magic that can identify humans enthralled by succubi within the next two hours? That’s impossible!”

“Shut up and do it! I’ll fire you if you don’t listen to me!”

Throughout history, there had never been a means to identify humans enthralled by succubi. No one had felt the need for it.

It was well known that demon society operated on strict hierarchy and survival of the fittest, and it was thought that even succubi, with their high pride, would never stoop to hiding and operating in the human world.

There had been no precedent for such cases.

But now that it was revealed that succubi had infiltrated and were operating within the Empire, it was right to root them out, even without the incentive of healing magic.

“I-I’ve got it! I’ve done it!”

The result was a succubus detection spell created in just 2 hours. Even its creators couldn’t fathom how it was possible.

There was a slight chance of false positives, but since the initial goal was to capture and detain suspects, it wasn’t a major issue. The Magic Tower had also promised substantial compensation to victims of false identification.

“Succubi infiltrating the Empire… Is this truly the case?”

“Tsk, tsk. As if I would lie about such a matter. I need your help.”

“I must do what is right. Tell me what you need.”

The Emperor soon learned the full details of the situation. It was thanks to Valera, who had the authority to have a private audience with the Emperor, ignoring all protocols.

As soon as the Emperor understood the situation, he issued an edict to root out the succubi. Emboldened by the Emperor’s decree, the mages stormed into nobles’ houses to use the detection spell.

“Argh! Release me! I am to be the Emperor!”

Igor and his faction couldn’t escape the detection spell. They were all judged to be enthralled by succubi and were bound and thrown into the deepest part of the palace dungeon.

“It’s finally time to execute the next operation.”

“I agree. I’ll make preparations immediately.”

After completing the inspection of nobles across the Empire in just 3 hours, the mages detained all the enthralled nobles and moved on to their next action.

That was to raid the Starlight Order.

“The time has finally come to teach those filthy creatures a lesson! Rise up, mages!”

The Order hadn’t spared the Magic Tower in their tyranny, so the Tower had also suffered tremendous damage. They had only suppressed their hostility out of necessity.

When injured during research in ways potions couldn’t heal, they needed divine healing, and even apart from that, priests and nuns were essential on the battlefield.

But not anymore. Now that mages could replace the roles of priests and nuns, there was no reason to tolerate the Order’s tyranny any longer.

“Take the Royal Guard with you.”

“I was planning to do so without being told.”

The Emperor authorized the deployment of the Royal Guard and knights from across the Empire, with the Sword Saint leading the charge, wielding a wooden sword. Considering he had never held anything resembling a sword before, it showed his extraordinary determination.

The mages also exerted all their efforts. All the archmages volunteered for the raid, and all the tower masters likewise took to the field personally.

The raid on the Starlight Order, mobilizing all the Empire’s resources, took place as the sunset covered the entire sky.

The Starlight Order had made some preparations after seeing the Magic Tower take action, but even the Order couldn’t withstand the entire Empire.

The starlight that had seemed eternal thus faded away.

“Ugh… ugh…”

In a no-man’s land turned into a land of death by war.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!”

There, Astaroth was screaming with near-madness.

6 hours.

That was how long it took for everything Astaroth had carefully built over the past hundred-plus years to evaporate.

Igor was imprisoned, his faction expelled, all the enthralled nobles captured, and the Astriere family exterminated. The Starlight Order was also paying for its sins.

Astaroth had no cards left to play.

If she had openly fought using succubi, the defeat might not have been so one-sided, but that would only have given the humans, who already had perfect justification, even more momentum.

The succubi remaining in the demon realm were implicated in treason charges and could barely breathe, so it would have been impossible anyway. That was the fact conveyed by the last succubus who escaped.

“Haha… hahah… hahahahaha!”

Realizing that truly nothing remained, Astaroth laughed. She just laughed and laughed, as if she had gone mad.

She had now become someone who could no longer set foot anywhere.

If she returned to the demon realm, she would be lucky not to be executed as a traitor, and she couldn’t escape the crime of defying the Demon King’s orders. All that remained was to hide like a rat and survive on human energy.

But her pride couldn’t accept that.

“Hahahaha… huh?”

Just as Astaroth was beginning to entertain the vain fantasy that all of this was just a dream, a red dimensional gate appeared nearby. It was a gate from which overwhelming demonic energy could be felt.

Startled, Astaroth instinctively knelt on the ground and bowed her head.

“D-Demon King…”

The Demon King walked through the space. With a demonic sword vibrating much more violently than usual in his left hand, he looked down at Astaroth with an expression filled with rage.

“D-Demon King! I—”

As Astaroth tried desperately to make excuses, her eyes widened. The person responsible for her downfall, Mira Crate, appeared smiling next to the Demon King.

Astaroth frantically shouted:

“It’s him! Demon King! He’s the culprit! You’ve captured—”

“I know.”

“What…?”

Frozen in place by the completely unexpected answer, Astaroth, who had been crawling to lick even his shoes, stiffened.

“W-What do you mean, you know…?”

“What do you think it means?”

Mira Crate, still smiling, wrapped his arm around the Demon King’s shoulder and pulled him closer. A smile full of mockery reflected in Astaroth’s eyes.

“It means your boss was actually the traitor.”