"Consultant" Xiao Fernando

There may be many knights controlled by the Flame Demon within the Silver and Tin Palace.

However, these mindless fire demon derivatives, without the fire demon's direct control, are actually not much different from mindless dungeon monsters. Once they are lured in and gathered together, a single shot from the Paradox Flame Butterfly is enough to wipe them all out.

As for the Flame Demon's true form, it had fallen into a brief slumber under the control of the other Path of Twilight transcendent being. Even with such a commotion, it still hadn't awakened.

After a long time... when the old man in the black robe slowly walked over, the place was already empty.

He wasn't late, nor did he accidentally let the intruder escape.

—The old man did it on purpose.

Xiao Fernando Bruzwick Jr. was not of noble birth. Although he was of noble lineage, his father, Old Fernando., was merely a destitute viscount who had even sold off his family's lands. His current success was due not only to his talent on the Path of Twilight, but also, and perhaps more importantly, to his constant caution and prudence.

If you encounter the enemy head-on, then a battle is inevitable. If you let them go, it's your responsibility; but if you fight them directly...

Xiao Fernando. is already Fifth Level superhuman!

As the Dean of the First Faculty of the Spirit Tower, the newly appointed Earl of Bruzwick, Honorary Colonel, and Deputy Minister of Railways, he is now only one step away from succeeding the Black Minister! With such a powerful position, why risk his life?

Just go through the motions of duty... I came to take a look, lest I be unable to answer Queen Louise's questions about what's happening outside.

He cautiously manipulated the ghosts, scattering them far away to search the surrounding area—these ghosts were a group of spirits he had intercepted and turned into his own spirit servants when the knights were transformed into Flame Demon Knight.

After confirming that the enemy had left, the old man cautiously approached and carefully sensed the remaining Path Power around him.

The old man couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

—Because he not only sensed the extremely intense remnants of the Dedication Path, but also vaguely perceived divinity! "... Is it divine magic? No, it doesn't seem like it..."

Xiao Fernando. murmured.

So, is it a powerful illusionary demon that Dedication Path?

The elderly man quickly recognized the other person's identity.

It must have been a passing Dedication Path Demon who sensed the birth of the Flame Demon and came to take a look... I hope so. Or rather, that's the only explanation.

Because in other circumstances, there's nothing he can do.

The Xiao Fernando. is here is more as a limiter for the Flame Demon.

Much of his power was used to seal the Balrog, and some was used to protect the Queen and the Prince. He himself didn't have much fighting strength left. If there were too many enemies, or if they became too difficult to deal with, he would probably have no choice but to unleash the Balrog and flee.

In that case, the fire demons raging on Glass Island would probably destroy the city completely... The teacher would definitely be unhappy.

His teacher is the current Black Speaker, and he has the potential to become the next Black Speaker. Now, he only has one rival to compete with.

This trip to Avalon was arranged by his teacher to gain experience. His teacher, who had lived for nearly three hundred years, planned to emulate the First Black Prime Minister and transform himself into a vengeful spirit. Before that, he needed to compete with another young lady.

Although he is over seventy years old this year, by the standard lifespan of Path of Twilight transcendent, he can only be considered to be in his prime. Fifth Level Path of Twilight transcendent can live to at least one hundred and fifty years old... and if he uses magic potions to extend his lifespan, he can easily live to two or three hundred years old. As for the decay and decay of the body, that itself helps in the perception of the Path of Twilight.

Without knowing the pain of aging, one cannot feel the weight of life and the mystery of death.

Xiao Fernando. is not even a hundred years old yet. If he can succeed as Prime Minister, he can stay in that position for at least thirty or forty years.

... Or maybe we should just leave it alone.

Looking at the land and palace that had been completely destroyed by the great power, leaving a long tunnel, the old man wisely decided to ignore it.

Anyway, this has nothing to do with me; it's a problem with the plan devised by His Majesty the King.

General Karl's death and transformation into a Balrog directly led to the deaths of the Knights of the Round Table Hall and the fake Princess in the flames. Although another "Doll" could be made at any time, they hadn't brought any extra materials this time—it would be disastrous if they were discovered. The golem masters in the main force were already urgently creating new Doll, but it was too late.

This directly led to the collapse of the original plan.

Because Princess Isabel was not there to withstand the pressure and surrender voluntarily, the palace engulfed in flames and the Round Table Knights assimilated by the Balrog... instead turned the fear of the Avalon people into anger.

Even though the Stibium Army easily broke through Avalon's weak and feeble army from the front, even though the War Golem had already entered Glass Island, even though these rebels didn't even have a real Top Layer commander... they were still doing their best to wage bloody street fighting.

—After three days of bloody fighting, they showed no intention of surrendering.

Even ordinary people were infected, their initial fear and resistance gradually turning into anger. The descendants of these former rebels who fought against the giants had their fighting spirit rekindled... that overwhelming rage made Xiao Fernando unwilling to even touch it.

Those neglected little villages are one thing; as long as they're wiped out, no one will know where they are. But it's different on the royal capital, Glass Island.

Even the most ruthless Stibium General dared not easily harm civilians—the war correspondents from the Iris camp were like flies drawn to excrement, arriving even before Iris's vanguard forces did.

Xiao Fernando. didn't even dare to imagine what kind of outrageous things they might fabricate if they took any photos. And if they attacked the reporters, the situation would be even more serious.

Avalon and Star Antimony had no real enmity, and domestic support for this war was actually minimal. The only reason this somewhat risky plan was implemented was because the military guaranteed a swift victory—its objectives were threefold: to gain the support of the Founding Family, to secure Avalon's Ice-Free Port and friendly trade relations with the Theocracy, and to divert attention from the conflict between domestic alchemists and Demon Scholar.

Now that things have escalated like this, all three of these points are probably problematic.

If they were to target civilians, even disregarding the Theocracy's subsequent repercussions... even the civilians of their own country would likely strongly oppose it.

This is why, thanks to the Star Antimony Army's reluctance to act rashly, the inspectors, Light Cavalry, and Law Mage who launched urban warfare based in residential areas, despite being lower-ranking professions, caused the Stibium Army a great deal of trouble.

The most troublesome area is Lloyd District.

There were also other extraordinary individuals from other paths mixed in, and they were very familiar with the extremely complex terrain of Lloyd District —they even had a large quantity of alchemical explosives, could set traps, and had extensive experience in urban warfare and night combat. After it got completely dark, the pitch-black alleyway entrance made people afraid to go any further.

The street fighting has been ongoing since this morning until now.

It's already 4 a. m... and it's almost dawn.

After a group of low-level superhumans destroyed a Golem, the Star Antimony Army commander seemed to have finally hardened his heart. He ordered the use of the Golem to launch a crackdown in Lloyd District.

This will almost certainly cause collateral damage.

However, the results were remarkable.

The Golem's attack left the superhumans who relied on guerrilla tactics in the alleyways with nowhere to hide; a single attack was enough to completely clear an alley. It was a physical clearing, even the buildings were flattened.

Given the structural strength of Avalon's buildings, any structure not reinforced by preservation techniques would collapse the instant the scorching beam of flame swept across it. A beam strike that would severely injure or even kill Fourth Level transcendent being with its head-on impact would be fatal to civilians and low-level transcendents if it merely grazed them.

—Since we've already started, killing once is the same as killing them all.

Xiao Fernando thought that once the commander in charge of suppressing the Lloyd District arrived in the Red White Queen District, they would be able to subdue the knights there. As for the griffins at the entrance of the Silver and Tin Palace, they originally didn't intend to touch them... because once Avalon was under control, these White Feather Griffin would be spoils of war.

If Star Antimony had their Griffin Legion, how powerful they would be! Griffons enhanced by alchemical products... that would definitely be far superior to the primitive use here in Avalon!

But who could have imagined that Karl would be assassinated so inexplicably! He had only been gone for less than five minutes when he turned back and saw his teammates had turned into Balrogs, without even sending a distress signal. If he hadn't been with the Queen and Prince at the time and protected them in time... they probably would have been burned to death and turned into puppets by the out-of-control Balrogs.

As a result, the griffins that were originally intended as spoils of war became powerful enemies instead.

The main force that launched the rebellion was the high-level superhumans and students in the school. They joined forces with the pureblood griffins on the Griffin Bridge and almost wiped out the small wave garrison in the Red White Queen District.

They even launched several attacks on the Silver and Tin Palace, but they were all easily intercepted by the Flame Demon Knight.

Fortunately, although the Balrog was out of control and the griffins went mad, the Round Table Knights who were empowered by the Balrog, as well as the group of spirits he urgently summoned, were enough to hold the Silver and Tin Palace before the main force arrived.

Although it may seem like he did nothing—those were things he wasn't supposed to do anyway.

Xiao Fernando. is just a standout player.

—It's probably impossible to make any contributions now... Let's just shift the blame for now.

The massacre of civilians was the fault of the army commanders; the poor execution of the plan was due to General Karl's dereliction of duty; and it was normal for the vanguard to be no match for the White Feather Griffin and the superhuman teachers and students. The root cause was the failure to prepare "backup Doll" in advance and the possibility that the fake Isabel might be assassinated.

As an overseer and protector, it was enough for him to keep the Balrog from going mad and to protect the Prince and Queen.

As for that "unidentified demigod of the Dedication Path," Xiao Fernando. didn't even want to touch him.

He didn't want to participate in this inexplicable war in the first place... If it weren't for gaining experience, which extraordinary person on the Path of Twilight would be willing to take such a big risk and travel so far?

... So what should I do?

So Xiao Fernando thought for a moment, then manipulated the soil to rise again, covering the previously dug tunnel and walls, making the surroundings look almost the same as before. He then used preservation magic again to completely solidify the building and the ground.

That way, when it gets light, no one will realize that a battle took place here last night.

So no one will know that the Flame Demon Knight in the Silver and Tin Palace have been almost completely wiped out... Relying on the remaining power of these Flame Demon Knight from the past two days, they can probably stop them from continuing to probe.

If all else fails... taking real action isn't out of the question...

Xiao Fernando. was still somewhat reluctant.

His strong adaptability to the Path of Twilight had already made him incredibly fed up with this increasingly troublesome and completely out-of-control situation. It was only thanks to the rationality provided by the Equilibrium Path that he was able to think clearly about what he should do next.

He has done all he could do now.

As for the rest, he figured it wasn't his responsibility to interfere. If he did interfere, he'd be blamed if things went wrong, and even if they went well, it would just be icing on the cake—so he was very clear that all he needed to do was protect the Queen and the Prince. He didn't need to worry about anything else.

There was nothing he could do until the "New Isabel Doll" arrived with the main force—

Fortunately, Princess Isabel escaped, so the Doll that were later brought over could be described as "Isabel being recaptured after her escape." This sounds much more plausible than "escaping unscathed from the palace burned by the Balrog"...

On the other side, Iver led the group through the Red Queen District at a rapid pace.

There were more enemies on the White Queen District, seemingly coming from Lloyd District; while there were far fewer on the Red Queen District. Iver and his men marched on without encountering any organized resistance. The few scattered soldiers they did manage to take down were easily dispatched.

Neither Iver nor Olive, who were not good at fighting, made a move—the advisor and Grape alone easily defeated them.

The advisor was extremely skilled in magic. Although both were at the Third Level, he was clearly much more proficient Sherlock.

Most obviously, when he casts spells, he only slightly opens his mouth and chants in a low voice, making it impossible to see his lip movements. He also makes some feints to mislead the enemy about their own casting time—his chanting time and casting gestures are completely out of sync. This combat strategy opened Iver's eyes.

Clearly, this is something players simply cannot do. Furthermore, since arriving in this world, Iver hasn't experienced many real battles between superhumans—while the advisor clearly started from a very low level.

Sherlock's primary profession is that of Law Mage, and his spells only work when the target hears him speak. This led him to develop a habit of chanting loudly after becoming a mage... This is a habit that Sherlock should be reminded to correct later.

Grape's fighting style is inherited from the advisor.

Her chanting was so low that it was almost inaudible. Even in Mycroft's fat body, her dodging was incredibly agile— Iver also noticed that her fighting style was very rare, centered around creating barriers using preservation and petrification spells.

This is what's known as a control-type shield healer. It's quite common among players and is a very mainstream, even toxic, build in 3v3. Constantly strengthening defense and controlling enemies... Iver even noticed that she easily intercepted a Demon Scholar's summoned "Curse Infant," without even breaking the shield.

That was a burst spell that even Fourth Level tank class could survive! With the grapes defending and the advisors attacking, they defeated three waves of enemies and finally arrived at St. Genevieve Chapel.

The key was with Iver —he obtained the holy sword from Bishop Mathers the first time he met him.

Now is the time to apply it.

Iver inserted the key into the main door of the chapel, infusing it with a little Light Attribute and Fire Attribute magic.

Two tree-like patterns, one gold and one red, flashed by, completing the runes on the gate.

At that moment, he slightly turned the key and opened the tightly closed chapel door.