After I died, my personal maid rebelled.

pat, pat.

The dark clouds that gathered at dusk stirred up a few lingering claps of thunder, conveying the vast emptiness pressed down by the dark clouds.

The last rays of sunlight touched the city walls. Kate stood before the large tent, reaching out to catch the raindrops, which were covered in dust. The vitality of spring adorned the wildflowers along the roadside, and even this light rain made the whole world verdant.

Eight hours have passed since the Duke launched his attack, and Kate has yet to receive a single battle report from the front lines.

This is illogical, and Federico hasn't sent any news either.

"Send someone to ask Federico what the situation is in the capital now."

Kate, preoccupied with her thoughts, had just given her orders to the messenger when a commotion suddenly broke out in the camp ahead, with the faint sound of warhorses galloping.

Taking a deep breath and trying to remain calm, Kate suppressed her shock. The Knights had launched an operation without notifying their allies!

It's important to know that the Knights Division was originally the Knights Order, the most elite of the Northern Army's elite forces, and its commander was the loyal Red, with Paul often leading the frontline battles.

Therefore, Kate deduced that the enemy must have made some move.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, a knight braved the wind and rain to quickly reach Kate and loudly reported, "Reporting to Commander Kate! The city gates have been opened, and the monster army outside is retreating back into the city. Please send troops to intercept them immediately!"

"What?"

A few days ago, Kate would have happily sent the 200,000-strong monster army into the city, thus completely sealing off the royal city and gradually turning it into a monster graveyard.

But there is still no news of the Duke who is conducting military operations in the royal city.

Kate clenched her fist and, without hesitation, issued the order to launch the attack. "All troops, listen up! Launch a general offensive immediately! Repeat, launch a general offensive immediately!"

……

Through the blood-stained window sill, Falkov saw a light drizzle through the corpse's fingers, and flames with billowing smoke rising near the city gate.

A thousand thoughts are stuck in my throat, and there's no need to say anything more.

He thought he would witness the end of humanity, but the stupidity of some people far exceeded his expectations.

As it turns out, a pig is still a pig even if it's driven to the capital, and a fool is still a fool who can only fly even if he grows wings. They are simply incredibly stupid.

"Marshal Falkov, you seem somewhat dissatisfied?"

Holding a glass of red wine, Felix, as one of the few nobles who did not turn into monsters, performed flawlessly in this inhuman land.

It seems that in his eyes, there is no difference between humans and monsters; they are all just playthings of some creator.

To be honest, Falkov was somewhat envious of Felix's carefree nature. People with heavy minds, no matter how good their talent for imitation, could never learn that kind of nonchalance.

"Just call me Your Excellency; Marshal is a thing of the past." Lighting a cigar, Falkov slowly exhaled smoke and explained, "They shouldn't have let the troops outside the city retreat back to the capital. Letting the Northern Army in was a terrible mistake."

"You'll get used to it. After all, management is a science, and we're just a bunch of rabble."

Felix laughed. He actually admired Falkov. In the chaos of the Imperial Guard's repeated defeats, it was Falkov who stepped forward, repeatedly building up the royal city's defenses and successfully holding off the Northern Army's advance with a group of peasant soldiers.

Falkov's command may seem unremarkable, but it actually brought out the strengths of the royal city. Besides, not just anyone can command a battle with hundreds of thousands of troops.

"After trapping the Duke of Oswald, in addition to deploying troops to cut off their connection with the palace, we should also send false messages outside the city to lure the Northern army into an offensive. Then, through the coordination between the defenders, we can inflict heavy casualties on the Northern army's manpower in favorable terrain."

Falkov, puffing on his cigarette, explained his overall strategic vision. Felix, sipping his red wine, first nodded in approval, then remarked with a half-smile.

"My last mission was to train a student named Lucas, the young man chosen to solve the cursed princess's problem. But even now, I still don't know the purpose of Lucas as a pawn."

"So there's no need to overthink it, Lord Falkov. When my father entrusted me with the responsibility of serving the goddess, he said something like this. Of course, you can also take it as the old man's nonsense."

"There is no need to think about what is good. No matter which way you go, you are moving forward. Even if humanity degenerates to the point of being completely immoral, history will record it as a great social advancement."

Falkov remained silent. The two stood in silence for a long time in front of the windowsill decorated with corpses. According to this theory, even the greatest social progress could not compare to the end of human history.

"Who do you think will stand the last one standing, Lord Felix?"

"You're quite the idealist," Felix shrugged, not directly answering Falkov's strange question, but instead inviting him back to the banquet hall.

As you walk through the corridor and push open the heavy door, a noisy and lewd atmosphere hits you. A bunch of inhuman monster girls are huddled together, their intertwined tentacles making them look like a bunch of newly hatched, slimy snakes.

The last nobles of mankind gathered here, within the sacred church, to indulge in a life of debauchery on the road to the end.

"Let's go. Normal people always have the hardest lives. We need to go take care of the little one."

Leading Falkov through the chaotic banquet hall and up the spiral staircase, the two quickly regained their breath of fresh air, though the air in the pile of corpses was hardly any better.

"Only a few hundred remained. They came the day before yesterday and took away the last batch of children," Felix said, shaking his head with a wry smile as he walked.

"I'm destined to be a teacher my whole life. You know what they call me? They call me Teacher Felix... How ironic."

Arriving in front of a large door, Falkov, finally realizing something was wrong, was the first to stop.

"What exactly do you want, Felix?"

Falkov, feeling as if facing a formidable enemy, broke out in a cold sweat, his breathing becoming rapid. Right behind the door, he clearly heard a group of cries, the instinctive cries of infants seeking help from adults.

He knew they were searching for children who couldn't mutate into monsters but had already been corrupted, and he also knew that most of the children had been secretly taken away from the royal city.

And the hundreds that Felix mentioned were all—infants?

"Do you know, Your Excellency Falkov, that a baby's first cry signifies the arrival of the soul, and that when life comes to an end, the soul leaves the body and departs from the world?"

Felix's eyes gradually glazed over, and his tone turned melancholic. "If this journey of the soul were to become extremely short, what do you think would happen?"

"You mean the demon's curse?"

Falkov immediately thought of the demons. Legend has it that the demons made a wish to the goddess, hoping that the goddess would enhance the power of their race, but instead, they were cursed with a large number of newborns dying.

It can be said that this is precisely why the demon race became the first race to turn its back on the goddess.

"Yes, Lord Falkov, this is the most complete depravity, a calamity powerful enough to awaken some terrible being."

"And the cleavers must be human beings themselves."

Felix pointed to himself, then to Falkov; as one of the few adult humans within the Vatican, they had been given this task.

"Have you heard another legend: those who commit heinous crimes will have their souls plunged into an abyss of weeping, where endless ice and fire will torment the guilty until the end of the world!"

Falkov roared in shock, preferring to be torn to pieces by the monsters rather than slaughter any of the babies!

"Yes, Your Excellency Falkov, that's why I didn't push the door open."

Felix smiled faintly, a smile tinged with sadness. He, too, did not want to shed innocent blood, but he knew perfectly well that they could not save these children.

Even if he and Falkov each carried only one, they couldn't escape this fortress of corpses.