A Boring Farce

Seeing so many people being teleported in, Ōnoki's expression changed as he hovered in the air.

But this was only the beginning. After the first batch left the Teleportation Array and scattered through the palace complex, a second batch of over ten thousand arrived.

After Right Red appeared, Shiraishi Yoshijo handed him full command. He himself flew over to Ōnoki, held out a hand, and said, "Hand it over."

A flash of anger crossed Ōnoki's eyes. "This isn't what we agreed on. Just how many troops are you planning to teleport?"

"Huh? Didn't you say you needed my help?" Shiraishi Yoshijo asked with feigned surprise. "I carefully prepared an army of a million men. They're absolutely Peach Country's finest troops, yet you're still dissatisfied?"

"An army of a million?" Ōnoki roared. "I wanted to end this war at the smallest possible cost, and I made many preparations for that. All you had to do was send people to take over, yet you teleported so many soldiers here. What exactly are you trying to do?"

By this point, Shiraishi Yoshijo no longer bothered keeping up appearances. Expressionless, he said, "Ōnoki, don't be naive. This is war—one to destroy a nation. A peaceful takeover would be ideal, but it would leave behind too many problems. The Land of Fire is proof enough. Necessary sacrifices must be made, and I can't let you retain control over the Land of Earth."

"You!"

Overwhelmed by fury, Ōnoki pointed at Shiraishi Yoshijo, his lips trembling too hard for him to say another word.

Screams began to rise in the distance.

Although Shiraishi Yoshijo had made quite a commotion, the whole process had actually been very quick—not even half a minute had passed. The palace guards were still utterly bewildered. By the time they thought to investigate