People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

Two hours, every second counts, he couldn't afford to waste a single moment!

Whether it's for Victoria, or for himself, or for "Tara" who has been abandoned by the current Victoria!

"Officer."

He said coldly, without needing to name names. The captain of the Crimson Iron Guard, his most loyal warrior, naturally knew who he was calling.

The voice responded immediately, without surprise, and without sadness, as if everything was perfectly natural.

"Your Grace, what are your orders?"

“We’ve gone quite deep,” Wellington said. “Open the hatches, release those small gunboats, and let our forces turn their guns around.”

"Then, raise the flag of Tara!"

"From this moment on, the last drop of blood shed by the Tara people for Victoria has been shed."

"As ordered!"

Niecilei felt a little puzzled.

The situation on the battlefield is indeed constantly changing, but the speed at which it has changed has indeed made this Sarkaz god of war feel a little strange.

what's the situation?

"Chief, Victoria's warships are firing on their own people!"

"What do you mean?"

Niecilei was stunned.

To be honest, given his level of expertise, he shouldn't have asked such an unreasonable question in the first place.

The Victorians are shooting themselves in the foot—what else could that statement mean?

As for why they attacked their own people, who knows?

But Niecilei's words were indeed somewhat unbelievable.

Given the current situation, if Nezire doesn't reveal their final trump card, then the opponent is clearly going to win! The Sarkaz have no reinforcements left!

Niezirei was considering whether to directly deploy the Kazdel Super Sorcerer's Bomb, but then the other side started their own civil war. What kind of situation is this?

They started fighting before even entering the city? They're really taking them too lightly!

Hearing the sounds of gunfire around him, the mighty King of Carrion felt a strange sensation: it made his army of carrion seem superfluous.

So what do we do now? Should we immediately set them ablaze and bomb Kazdel with countless bombs? Or should we wait, take this opportunity to gather our remaining troops, reorganize our forces, observe the situation for a while, and wait for them to weaken each other before striking to reap the benefits?

Niecilei didn't have much time to think, but in those few short minutes, something unexpected happened again.

"boom--!"

This was a deafening artillery barrage! So deafening was it that even Niezile, who was used to the sound of artillery fire, had to look up in astonishment!

Lu knew that the sound of artillery fire wasn't coming from the front lines, but from behind!

6 from Lentinium!

"boom--!"

Another cannon shot rang out, and Niezley looked at the huge Victorian flag that was slowly lowered on the walls of Londinium, which should have been destroyed. Suddenly he understood what had happened.

The city garrison has mutinied!

They even embroidered the flags in advance! They must have been prepared for this moment!

How dare that Leto, that Liboli, openly take sides when the external war situation is still unclear?

Niezirei's judgment was correct; if it were the usual Leto, he definitely wouldn't have dared to make that choice.

This Gaul is better than anyone at raising his hands high; he doesn't have the guts, so he'll just pretend to be a Liberi who "knows nothing"!

But Ernst simply did some basic math with him.

"If the battle situation outside the city becomes clear, what use will we have for you?"

Offering help in times of need is better than adding to someone's success. With this one shot, the scavengers will face a pincer attack! When the Victorian Allied Forces win, you can see for yourself who deserves the credit!

With Ernst's endorsement, Leto finally mustered the courage to act. When Talulah contacted him as planned, he was already standing on the city wall.

For no other reason than to cooperate as soon as possible.

As for that oversized Victorian flag that even the carrion eaters would call out as outrageous, yes, that was also prepared by him!

He went back overnight to find Goldin to design it, and mobilized the workers of the Norbert District textile factory under the jurisdiction of the city garrison to work overtime to embroider it!

This thing has no other features except for the Victorian flag. It has only one characteristic—it is big enough that it can be guaranteed that the Allied forces outside the city can see it as soon as they look up!

Upon seeing him, Lieutenant Colonel Leto, Commander of the Royal Guard of Lentinium, Commander of the Royal Guard of Victoria Capital Command, a proud Victorian soldier! An uprising has broken out!

Holding his sword, Leto, who had been feeling stifled for almost a year, unleashed the loudest roar he could muster in his life at the equally stifled Londinium city guards:

"Fire!" (QUN:∠)

"Every shot from now on will cost us our lives! Our future! And our prospects!"

"Let those Sarkaz see what kind of city Lontinim really is, let them know that their research on Lontinim is less than one percent of what it is!"

"Let them taste what our city defense cannons are like!"

"fire!"

"fire!"

"boom--!"

Chapter 868, Grand Duke Victoria, offered even more "surprises".

Victoria, Lentinium, Self-Salvation Army outpost.

Ernst led the deep-sea hunters back to the base, witnessing an airship streaking across the sky along the way.

He has reached an agreement with Theresa: Manfred will return the imprisoned Rhodes Island personnel, and in return, he will allow Manfred to withdraw.

Of course, the airships had to be destroyed.

Ernst wasn't so benevolent as to allow the Sarkaz, with their war crimes convictions, to retain airships. Victoria, too, would never agree to that.

There can be one or two deserters on the battlefield, but there cannot be one or two strategic weapons that flee.

As for Theresa herself...

Ernst let her choose for herself.

Rhodes Island would likely be willing to accept Theresa's return. Amiya greatly respects Theresa, as evidenced by Ernst's previous conversation with Amiya.

Given that Theresa's current status on this land is essentially "dead," Rhodes Island doesn't really need to worry too much about the public opinion impact of Theresa's return.

Many people may not know who Theresa is.

Just like many people don't know that Rhodes Island was originally Babel, and that Kal'tsit was once a lord of Kazdel.

People tend to forget their memories of the past exceptionally quickly.

Of course, she also had a second option—to take Anana and go to Kazdelnia.

The death of Theresis in the Battle of Victoria will undoubtedly have a significant impact on Kazdelnia. After all, few Sarkaz are unaware of Theresis's name, and many of the current Sarkaz in Kazdelnia were once part of the Military Council before switching sides to Kazdelnia.

Theresis was an excellent Sarkaz leader, and he was quite popular among the Sarkaz. However, Sarkaz beliefs cannot be changed overnight, and there must be many among them who still miss Theresis.

His death, and a death that can be described as a heroic sacrifice, will inevitably cause some "stirring" among the Sarkaz.

Ernst did manage to quell the commotion, but it would have been much easier if Theresa had been willing to help.

After all, Theresa has always been known as a dove and a cooperative leader of the Sarkaz, and she is a true Demon Lord. With her official endorsement, the legitimacy of Kazdelnia will be greatly enhanced.

What was Kaz'delnia in the past? It was a puppet state established by the Sarkaz in order to survive, bowing down to the nations of Terra and under the supervision of the World Summit.

Even though Ernst would never describe Kazdelnia in this way—he considered it the beginning of a new Sarkaz history, a sign of the normalization of the Sarkaz people and the state—it doesn't stop many extremist Sarkaz from making such accusations. And this highly inflammatory rhetoric, a mix of eight parts truth and two parts lies, certainly easily garners a large following.

But if Theresa joins, that's a different story.

Was Theresis the rightful heir? He won the civil war and gained recognition from the royal court; it seemed that he was indeed the rightful heir.

But he was never the demon king.

The Sarkaz royal court nobles mostly didn't take the title of Demon Lord seriously, because they knew that the selection of a Demon Lord was largely unpredictable. Therefore, they respected "the strong who could lead Sarkaz," such as Theresis.

But the regular Sarkaz is not like that.

Ordinary Sarkaz fear the Royal Court and respect the Demon King. In their eyes, the Demon King is the chosen one, unique and irreplaceable. The nobles of the Royal Court are at most nobles, but the Demon King, once he puts on that crown, is ordained by Heaven and destined for eternal life!

If Theresa is willing to support the work of the Kazdelnia government, serve as a commissioner, or simply conduct a formal power transfer ceremony to complete the process, then Kazdelnia will officially possess the legitimacy of the Sarkaz side.

Those Sarkaz who acknowledge Kazdelnia no longer need to think, "Enduring some humiliation to survive is no big deal, it's better than your Military Council not surviving, right?" Instead, they can openly say, "Kazdelnia is a country recognized and ruled by the Demon King. What are you to call yourself legitimate?"

However, do you think there's any real difference between this Kazdelnia and the Kazdelnia of the past?

Ernst would answer you: "No."

Aside from the addition of Theresa as a committee member, there is no difference.

Kazdelnia will still be subject to the supervision of the World Summit, the lifeline of Kazdelnia will still be in Ernst's hands, and Kazdelnia will still not possess a very strong military force.

It will not, and is not permitted to, possess the power to challenge the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

But at least within the framework of the World Summit, it will be free. Theoretically, its maximum potential is to reach the level of Shelag and Lateran, which do not possess strong military power but have high prestige and can serve as "rotating chairpersons".

To reach that point, Kazdelnia will have to spend a very, very long time and pay a very, very high price.

After all, the window of opportunity is so short. Unless there is another once-in-a-century change, how many opportunities are there to change the world order and one's own status?

Tracy didn't give an immediate answer; she wanted to think about it first. Ernst agreed, so the two split up at 5 pm.

The sky over Lentinium had returned to its azure color. Although the smell of gunpowder still lingered in the air, the scenery was far more pleasing to the eye than the crimson expanse of the sky not long ago.

Ernst predicted that everyone would be in high spirits when he returned to the base.

After all, look, the Victorian allied forces were launching a full-scale attack on the city from the outside, while the Victorian city defense forces and the self-defense forces cooperated from within and without, cutting off the scavenger army's retreat route and leaving them facing a pincer attack. If they retreated, they couldn't quickly breach the towering walls of Londinium; if they advanced, attempting to break through the Duke's allied forces' high-speed warships was wishful thinking. They could only be trapped between the two armies, slowly annihilated under endless artillery fire.

Ernst could even say, without exaggeration, "Victory is a foregone conclusion, so why rush things?"

How to lose?

The battle force is 300,000 to 50,000, a six-fold advantage in manpower, plus a disparity in firepower! The advantage is on my side!

The dragons are charging in? How can we possibly lose?

Then he met the bitter faces of the self-rescue army members.

Ernst was completely baffled:

"Why do you look like this?"

"Has the carrion eater gone on a rampage?"

Tallulah shook her head.

Ernst thought for a moment and then asked:

"Has the Sarkaz received support from another royal court?"

Aleide shook her head again.

Ernst couldn't understand it. Since there was no change on the side of the Carrion Eaters, and the Sarkaz didn't have any other royal courts that Ernst didn't know about, why would they join the National Army in 49 and come to support them? What changes could there be in the battle situation?

Could it be that the Victorians are up to something again?

That shouldn't be the case. Putting aside any need for them to pull off something now, even if they did do something abstract again, like the transport captain possessing them and feeding a wave of enemies when they were about to win, that shouldn't affect the overall situation on the battlefield, right?

The Sarkaz's retreat was completely cut off by the city defense forces; they couldn't even escape! —5

With an incredulous look on his face, Ernst tentatively asked:

"Are all the Duke's allied high-speed warships out of service?"

This was the only possibility Ernst could think of.

When Anana descended just now, it triggered some unknown chain reaction, causing all of the Victorian high-speed warships to malfunction unpredictably. So now the Victorians can only rely on these broken iron turtles and scavengers to fight pure infantry battles.

Then the Carrion Eaters were greatly enhanced by the Originium, and one by one they transformed into "True Victoria Warriors," charging in and out of the Allied Forces seven times.

This is the only possibility that could make the self-rescue army members show this kind of expression.

But Clovisia shook her head.

"Then what happened?"