Emiya Shirou doesn't want to work overtime

Although each Imperial Arms user is capable of taking on a hundred or even a thousand enemies, their physical strength is ultimately limited. No one can control the [Guardian Machine God "Supreme Throne"], which can only be controlled by those with the bloodline of the Emperor.

Almost none of their Imperial Arms users possess skills like Esdeath's, which can instantly eliminate thousands of people.

Chapter 367 Plans Can't Keep Up with Changes

Forty or fifty figures darted through the woods, following a pink kitten that was running swiftly through the branches.

Shirou Emiya still held the opposite opinion to Najenda, as he was unaware of just how powerful Esdeath was now.

However, based on Najenda's words and the explanations of those Emiya homunculus, it is certain that Esdeath's strength is far greater than the one when Shirou Emiya defeated her.

At that time, Esdeath would require at least 50,000 elite soldiers and more than 10 Imperial Arms users, including Akame, to barely have a chance of defeating her.

Now, Najenda asserts that the size of the army is meaningless in the face of Esdeath's current strength; hundreds of thousands of troops cannot even exhaust Esdeath's stamina.

Even Teigu users are no different from ordinary soldiers in front of Esdeath.

Those fifty Emiya androids truly possessed the combat power of Imperial Arms users, and in some ways, they were even more troublesome than Imperial Arms users.

Not only because of the Imperial Arms they wear, which possess a mental network, but also because their combat coordination is even better than that of the Night Raid members.

It can be said that the power exerted by Emiya's homunculus is definitely greater than the sum of its parts.

Even so, they couldn't figure out any way to defeat Esdeath.

Let alone defeat Esdeath, it's impossible to even injure her.

Najenda believes that all hope now rests on Shirou Emiya. If Shirou Emiya goes to fight and dies at Esdeath's hands, then the Revolutionary Army will truly have no chance of winning.

To increase Shirou Emiya's chances of winning, Najenda believed that all the Teigu users should be sent to deal with Esdeath. Even if they could not provide support to Shirou Emiya, it would be a great success to wear down Esdeath's stamina.

Shirou Emiya, however, believed that this was a suicidal act, meaningless and only making the Revolutionary Army weaker.

In conclusion, after a period of discussion, the final decision was that all the Teigu users would go to deal with Esdeath.

Even someone as powerful as Esdeath couldn't withstand Murasame's attack from Akame. If there were a chance, if Esdeath were to be scratched by Murasame, then everything would be over.

Although the final decision still followed Najenda's wishes, the overall strategy changed.

The original plan was to cover for Shirou Emiya and to help him kill Esdeath at all costs.

After being reminded by Shirou Emiya, Najenda realized that she might have been overly glorifying Esdeath. No matter how powerful Esdeath was at this stage, she was still just a mortal.

Even if Esdeath is brushed against by Murasame, she will still lose her life.

The plan has once again reverted to protecting Akame and allowing her to find an opportunity to kill him in one blow.

However, the Revolutionary Army does not currently have more than 50,000 elite troops to distract Esdeath and exhaust her stamina.

The focus of the battle remains on Shirou Emiya.

If Akame doesn't find an opportunity to kill him with a single blow before Shirou Emiya is defeated, then everything will be over.

They didn't place much hope on Shirou Emiya; in fact, they didn't even have any hope of winning against Esdeath.

The gap in strength is simply too great.

Esdeath's power is deeply ingrained in people's minds; it is something everyone has felt.

Although Shirou Emiya once faced Esdeath head-on, no one knows the outcome of that battle. All that is known is that Shirou Emiya did not appear in the Imperial Capital for three months after that battle.

During those three months, Esdeath grew stronger and stronger, to the point that no one could see the end of her power, leaving no emotion but despair in people's hearts.

"arrive!"

As Chelsea, who had transformed into a kitten at the forefront, finished speaking, everyone present slowed their pace and gently stepped onto the soft soil.

Although, in theory, Esdeath's army should have no chance of finding them on the hilltop where they were, these Imperial Arms users still moved with utmost care.

Sweat streamed down their foreheads.

The Revolutionary Army's Teigu user squad did not head directly from the main road towards Esdeath's location.

Those who can wield Imperial Arms or Imperial Arms generally have decent physical abilities.

Moreover, they needed to eliminate Esdeath before their army could raze the newly conquered capital.

So they chose to take a shorter but more dangerous route.

There are countless dangerous creatures in the forest, but these creatures pose no threat to Shirou Emiya's almost automatically locked-on sword arrows.

He also wanted to stop Esdeath as quickly as possible, so he took the initiative to eliminate all the dangerous creatures around them that wanted to attack them.

The revolutionary army now has no power to stop such a legion.

Although Esdeath's army was extremely powerful, it also had obvious weaknesses.

That is, extreme worship of her.

No one in the entire army could match Esdeath's influence; almost everyone worshipped and believed in her.

To put it bluntly, if Esdeath had any intention of overthrowing the Empire, the vast majority of her subordinates would unconditionally support her in doing so.

Such an army has extremely high cohesion, but it also has fatal weaknesses.

That is, if Esdeath dies, the army will lose its fighting capacity in an instant.

The only way to prevent the capital from falling is to kill Esdeath before she arrives in the capital.

"How is this possible? The intelligence must be wrong!"

Chelsea, the first to emerge from the forest, looked down at the deserted wilderness below the mountain, her pupils shrinking involuntarily.

According to reports from intelligence personnel at the front, Esdeath's legion should have passed through this area today.

"Tazmi!"

Tatsumi, who was in the Teigu user group, quickly spread his wings and grabbed Chelsea, then flew down the mountain.

“These footprints indicate that Esdeath’s legion has passed through this area completely, and it has been a day already.”

Chelsea's expression turned extremely bad. The reason why the Teigu users were led by her was because of her excellent intelligence gathering ability. At least before finding Esdeath, her role was very important.

Chelsea also provided this shortcut.

Where is Esdeath now?

Tazmi quickly asked.

Chelsea touched the footprints in the yellow sand beneath her feet and kneaded them in her hands.

"I'm afraid Esdeath will arrive in the capital soon!"

The intelligence agents hadn't expected it, the Revolutionary Army hadn't expected it, and Najenda certainly hadn't expected it, that Esdeath would choose to travel at night, forcing the legion to arrive near the Imperial Capital a day ahead of schedule.

Logically speaking, it would be unwise to have an exhausted army stationed around a city.

The troops were already in poor mental and physical condition after their long march, and now they were continuing to travel without rest.

Soldiers in the army rarely have enough mental energy to defend or attack, and it is almost always easy for the enemy to find an opening and launch a surprise attack.

However, as long as Esdeath remains in the army, all conspiracies and schemes against the army will be ineffective.

Chapter 368 War! War!! War!!

The only saving grace was that Esdeath was unaware that the Revolutionary Army in the Imperial Capital had absolutely no means of resisting her legion's attack.

Based on Najenda's understanding of Esdeath, she wouldn't act immediately, but instead choose to observe the strength of the Revolutionary Army's infiltrated forces capable of directly storming the Imperial Capital.

Esdeath would only step in and eliminate a person if her own warriors were helpless against them and were simply being slaughtered.

Esdeath did not want her interest in leading an army to vanish into nothingness because of her overwhelming power.

Her strength wasn't just in terms of raw power; otherwise, she wouldn't have been one of only two Grand Generals in the empire.

"Emiya-senpai, if we sneak in like this, we shouldn't be discovered, right?"

Upon discovering that Esdeath's army had already reached the city gates, Najenda did not hesitate at all, ordering Chelsea to immediately turn around and head towards the imperial capital, which they had only recently left.

Now is a time when we can't afford to waste a single moment. You have to understand that although the army will get tired, the physical fitness and mental strength of the soldiers in this world are far superior to that of Shirou Emiya, who hasn't learned the breathing technique.

Najenda was unsure whether Esdeath would immediately choose to attack, because for the people of the Empire, even if they were exhausted, it wouldn't significantly affect their combat capabilities.

It should be noted that Akame once went without sleep for several days in order to assassinate a target, just to find that one sliver of an opportunity to kill instantly.

Such fatigue is not enough to significantly affect Esdeath's fighting ability.

Now, Esdeath's hundreds of thousands of troops are lined up neatly a few kilometers away from the capital, seemingly having just arrived and preparing for battle, organizing their weapons, equipment, and provisions.

It will probably not be long before a full-scale offensive begins.

Meanwhile, Shirou Emiya and Tatsumi activated their [Demon Possession] stealth abilities and infiltrated the army to search for Esdeath's location.

The only ones most skilled at using [Demon Possession] are probably Shirou Emiya and Tatsumi. The others, fearing that their murderous intent towards Esdeath would alert her, did not follow them in stealthily.

War seemed unavoidable, and most of the Imperial Arms users returned to the capital cursing and began preparations for a direct confrontation with hundreds of thousands of troops.

Only a small number of users, like Akame and Mine, whose Imperial Arms are specialized in a single type, remain on standby.

The Revolutionary Army did not want the Imperial Capital to fall before they could defeat Esdeath.

They can only be considered to be struggling now. Ever since they couldn't find a way to defeat Esdeath in the Empire's arsenal, the Revolutionary Army's high command has been making a death throes.

The revolutionary army's high command was unwilling to give up everything they had worked so hard to achieve. Moreover, the residents of the capital no longer wanted to live the miserable lives they had previously endured.

Seeing the revolutionary soldiers' self-sacrificing resistance, and seeing Shirou Emiya's reckless act of saving lives, the flame of resistance in their hearts slowly rose.

Fortunately, in the days following the occupation of the Imperial Capital, Shirou Emiya projected many Imperial Arms and Imperial Arms, and many like-minded individuals joined the Revolutionary Army.

However, their strength was naturally no match for that of a true Teigu user, so they did not go with Esdeath's extermination force.

As for the other, more powerful weapons, most of them require magic to activate, so Shirou Emiya did not project them out to give to them.

In their hands, those weapons were nothing more than weapons that were harder and sharper than normal weapons.

At this moment, the entire army was silent. The soldiers stood in the wilderness with perfect posture, as if waiting for something, waiting for someone to appear.

In this indescribable atmosphere, Tatsumi dared not make a sound, only daring to move his body with minimal effort.

At this moment, the only sound in the entire army was the whistling of the wind.