Chapter 169: He is a demon king candidate
Inside the throne room, the king slung a wine cup at the floor. His breathing was erratic.
As the king, he had a connection to Code Zero, so as soon as Code Zero was killed, he was first shocked, then filled with rage.
He wanted to lash out in more ways than one, and at that moment, a guard ran in and knelt before the king.
"Your Highness, the force sent to Blacklight has been wiped out." When the king heard that, it was like a cable had snapped in his mind. He took out a sword, and in one swift move, he appeared behind the guard and slashed his head off.
The king tried to calm his nerves, but nothing was working. He charged out of the throne room and got on a magical wolf beast known for speed.
He rode the beast through the capital to the main base of the army. Immediately upon his arrival, everyone gave way, and the general was called immediately. He met the king in a large lounge.
The general was a duke and a man of renown. He didn't lord over any lands, but rather stayed in the capital and handled the issues of the army.
He was well over fifty and had a lot of gray hair, with the demeanor of a calm storm waiting to explode. He was like the calm before the storm, a mystery to the eyes.
"My king, what would make you rush here?" he asked.
"Ronald, there is no time for much talk. The enemy we sent two thousand men to is stronger than we estimated, and our forces have been destroyed," the king said.
"I know, Your Highness. Word came to me before it got to you. I was shocked that we faced such a strong enemy.
As much as I'd like to give you hope, there is no hope unless we use the secret weapon," Ronald said.
"I already sent Code Zero. It was destroyed as well," the king replied.
As soon as Ronald heard that, his eyes opened wide, and the shock was evident.
"He was destroyed? What sort of enemy have we provoked? I fear that we alone can never survive this. We would be crushed into nothing.
We have to reach out to allies if we want to survive," Ronald said.
"What do you mean, reach out? The enemy will make their way to the capital faster than any ally can. And aside from that, aren't you the greatest tactical mind we have?
You should be able to make a plan that would help fight the enemy. You should be able to save us from this calamity. You control the Royal Knights, the Dark Knights, the elite squad, the Shadow Unit. You control everything that is a fighting force in the kingdom.
And the reason, the reason for that is simple—you are believed to be the best. You are the one we turn to in situations like this," the king said.
"What the hell do you want me to do? This is beyond belief. Our kingdom had four thousand warriors in the capital, as well as mages, and you sent about thirty percent to help Blacklight.
You didn't consult me then. You used your kingly right to send them. Now they all went, and they all died. They were crushed to the ground like nothing.
You also went ahead to send the greatest weapon known to this kingdom to fight the enemy, and the enemy dealt with it.
Doesn't that make you understand that the enemy is beyond what we can handle? Even I, a battle veteran, can tell that we are in a serious situation.
The best I can do is to make a plan to hold the enemy back and buy us time while you reach out to whoever you can to send backup.
If you can do that, I can hold the enemy back for some time. So, what do you say?" Ronald asked.
The king paused for a bit and fell into thought. Then he looked up at Ronald.
"It will cost us greatly to get their help. To stop such an enemy, we must empty our treasury to get this done. So I have a better solution.
Let us feed all the soldiers and mages the blood of the demons that was sent by the empire. We will tell them this is an opportunity to gain power and earn rewards.
With the aid of the demon blood we have, we can transform all of them with the amount of blood we have.
This way, we will have a super army that can take down whoever this enemy is," the king said.
"You want to turn all our men into demonized monsters who stand the risk of losing their sanity, falling into depravity, and dying in the end?" Ronald asked.
"It is for a good cause. Unless we want this kingdom to be wiped off the map, we must take that risk.
So you have to do it. We must set it up in one day and have all of them take it to begin the transformation," the king said adamantly.
"You trust the blood so much, but I heard that a child from one of the academies was killed even after taking the blood," Ronald said.
"Indeed, word of that reached me, but that was only a child. And according to what I heard, the person he faced was a prodigy greater than even the hero candidates.
In fact, thank you for reminding me. The son of Duke Terron, Silva Terron, his talent is something else. If we give the blood to him, we might be able to create something close to the level of Code Zero," the king said with eagerness in his voice.
"Sigh, it seems word has yet to reach you, but according to our spies, Silva Terron is not the child you think he is, but a demon king candidate—and he was spotted in the enemy army," Ronald dropped a bombshell on the king.