Volume 6 Chapter 325: The Great Chaos Of Chapman City
The barracks of the temporary camp that housed the visiting students from Olsylvia Academy in Chapman City, a guardian city of the Manasvir Empire’s capital, Macnadix City. Although it was already day, the skies remained the color of the night. Bella felt a little unnerved by these sudden changes as she went out.
“Could it be the magic around… those alien demonic beings are advancing way too quickly. That ray of light…”
Like Bella, many of the girls who were outside looked curiously up at the skies. Earlier on, some of the other girls had already noticed that something was wrong with the sky as they made their way outside. Fortunately, there were many within the group who were student priests from St. Louis Church Academy. With President Maria taking the lead, those students conjured a ring of golden protective light that covered the entire temporary barracks.
This was the large-scale holy magic, “Sacred Heaven”. The size and power of this particular move was almost at the same level as the other forbidden magics. However, as this was a collaborative effort between many individuals, it would not end in tragedy where the caster would drop dead once their magic had been used up. The barrier set up by the “Sacred Heaven” would also affect and suppress the powers of any dark ent.i.ties captured within it as well.
The only problem was, to sustain the “Sacred Heaven”, it would require an immense amount of magical energy. This meant that those who aided in the casting of this particular move would not be able to partic.i.p.ate in the following battle. Although President Maria did not know if this mutation had occurred because of demonic beings, she did not take any chances and made the necessary preparations.
“Bella… you’re up. Bishop Stanley was looking for you…”
“Kriss, do you have to be so nervous? I’m here, it’s fine.”
Princess Kriss finally managed to pinpoint Bella’s location. She had changed into light armor and stood as though she was preparing for battle. Bella and Kriss arrived at the general’s tent where Bishop Stanley waited, dressed in a pure white set of priest’s robes. At the moment, he was engaged in an intense argument with the Manasvir Empire’s Imperial First Cla.s.s Officer McAdam. They were so loud that Bella and Kriss could hear them, even before they got close to the tent.
“Bishop Stanley, this… this is a normal night. No need to kick up a fuss. Once the empire is done with the arrangements for food and lodging, we will immediately arrange to transport all the teachers and students there! We have already prepared the teleportation array.”
“Officer McAdam, what is the meaning of this? Where is Grand Duke Gould? I am responsible for the safety of all these students and teachers. What are you plotting? Why are you not telling us the truth?”
“Nothing… all I need you to do is to wait for a while…”
Guilt was written all over Officer McAdam’s face as he tried to a.s.sert his authority with Bishop Stanley. In the end, he managed to slip away while the other man was distracted, leaving an enraged Bishop Stanley inside the tent. Bella and Kriss had hidden behind the door and did not enter until the officer had left.
“Ah… this time… Er, Grand d.u.c.h.ess Bellina, you…”
“Grandfather Stanley, call me Bella! No need to address me as Grand d.u.c.h.ess or whatever. Haven’t we known each other long enough?”
“How expected. Back then, you were just a pirate, now… oh, Princess Kriss, you’re here too. Come, sit down and we’ll talk!”
“You’re too kind, Bishop Stanley.”
Bishop Stanley immediately fell silent when he saw Bella. He had met Bella for the first time on a wars.h.i.+p in the middle of the sea. During that time, she was merely a pirate. However, in the span of a few months, she had climbed her way up to her current position as Grand d.u.c.h.ess. This swift rise in power and social standing was unprecedented within the five empires. For a moment, Bishop Stanley was overwhelmed with emotion.
Actually, before night fell, the Chapman City guards as well as large groups of imperial guards had sealed off all entrances to this camp under the pretext of protecting the students. Right now, none of the students were allowed to leave without official permission. Every single transportation array that led to Macnadix City, the capital of Manasvir Empire, was now under Grand Duke Gould’s control.
Currently, the leaders of Olsylvia Academy were split into two camps. One side was led by the First Cla.s.s Clerical Officer McAdam and the Great Magister Orlando, who advocated for the students to remain where they were to wait for the notice from the Manasvir Empire. On the other hand, the group led by Bishop Stanley advocated to leave the barracks and travel towards Macnadix City.
“That old man’s alone. He will not be able to stand up against them for too long. Now we’re in trouble. For some reason, Ingrid and the others are still in bed.”
“Well… Grandfather Stanley, you should stay here for now to comfort the students. Kriss and I have other matters to take care of and will take our leave now. Don’t worry, Older Sister Ingrid… I mean, Teacher Ingrid will be fine.”
The main reason why Bishop Stanley invited Bella was to ask about the three beautiful teacher’s conditions. It seemed like she did not have a normal relations.h.i.+p with them and it had already developed to the point where she could call them as her older sisters without any hesitation. An affectionate look appeared on Bella’s face. She quickly placated Bishop Stanley with a few words and left hurriedly with Princess Kriss in tow.
The night before, Bella had forced herself upon the gorgeous Dragon Knight Ingrid, who was a teacher of the Knight’s faculty, as well as the two teachers of the magical faculty – the chaos type Supreme Magic Mentor Melvira and the interdimensional type Supreme Magic Mentor Catalina. They had been engaging in all sorts of amorous activities until the wee hours of the morning and were probably still recuperating. Bella doubted that they would be able to get out of bed anytime soon.
Of course, this was not something that Bella could say out loud. Without the support of the three teachers, Bishop Stanley could not stand his ground against the conservative camp led by the psychological type Great Magister Orlando. After all, this was partially her fault.
“Bella, what do you plan to do? Lisha and the others await your instructions.”
“Let me think about it… By the way, where are the boys? I didn’t see any of them on the way here!”
“Teacher Orlando has taken the boys away to some unknown location. He had intended to take many of the girls along too. However, President Lucia and the others refused to follow him. Right now, Grandfather Stanley is the only male inside these barracks.”
Her opponent had moved much faster than Bella had expected. In fact, it was so fast that it was ridiculous. The Great Magister Orlando had “hoodwinked” every single boy from Olsylvia Academy into following him. However, his methods remained a mystery. At the moment, the barracks was left with only female students. While Bella was having fun, reveling in her debauchery, that fellow had already made his first move.
The other person in charge, Officer McAdam, had already snuck out of the temporary camp. By the looks of it, he would not return again. Bella had no idea when that fellow, Teacher Orlando, and the Grand Duke Gould had begun to be in cahoots with each other.
The Great Magister Orlando had initially planned to take many beautiful girls along with him. However, his plans were foiled by the combined efforts of the various student union presidents. Chief President Angelia, President Isaman and the presidents from the four other campuses, along with the Dragon Knight Natasha, who was the Chief of the Disciplinary Committee, had presented a united front to reject Orlando’s arrangements.
Other than President Isaman, the rest of the student union presidents already shared intimate relations.h.i.+ps with Bella. Naturally, they would subconsciously wish to seek Bella’s advice before making any decision. Although the Great Magister Orlando was a teacher, his authority could not override any decisions made by the combined decisions of the student council presidents. In the end, he had no choice but to leave quietly.
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“That hypocrite, how dare he even think about taking my women… I mean, get any funny ideas about my close friends? If he was right here, I would definitely break both his legs… Kriss, head back to meet with Lisha and the others. Then, inform a.s.sa.s.sin Noreya to look for me.”
“Bella, I… can’t I do it? I can partic.i.p.ate in this mission as well.”
“Kriss, it would be better for you to stay here. Also, tell President Maria and the others to maintain the magical defensive barrier. If you were to come with me, President Isaman and Elaine might want to come along as well. After all, she is a princess of this region. With them around, it might make things more difficult for me.”
Nearly twenty thousand imperial guards stood guard outside the temporary camp. Right now, there were only a few thousand female students left within the camp and their orders were to guard these students with their lives. Although they felt a little suspicious about this strange order, their military training had conditioned them to follow every order. Going against their commander’s orders was practically an impossible task.
Suddenly, a few imperial guards who were stationed at the back doors of the temporary camp were met with an attack. Their attackers were extremely well-coordinated. Even though the guards reacted extremely quickly, they were killed by a barrage of arrows when they tried to put up their defences. The archer was extremely cunning and aimed straight for the guards’ eyes, killing those guards clad in golden armor with a single headshot.
Bella only emerged after the deed was done. This time, the a.s.sa.s.sins involved in this operation were her dorm mates – Princess Noreya, President Ivy of the Olivia Wizard Academy, and Lola, who was her younger sister Lisha’s close friend and part of her troops.
“Bella, the target has been taken care of. The next batch of patrolling guards is estimated to arrive in around ten minutes…”
“Mmm, good job. President Ivy, go with Lola and check on the teleportation arrays inside the city. Remember, safety first. Noreya and I will move on to execute the secret mission.”
“I get it, Bella. We will keep in contact using our communication crystals.”
Although Bella’s Rose Society included many highly influential girls within Olsylvia Academy, it was still no easy feat to command all the female students from the academy. They were being monitored by imperial guards under the legitimate reason of protecting them, at least in name. This meant that it was extremely difficult for Bella to recruit these girls to create trouble and she was left with no choice but to use her own magical methods to take care of this matter.
For this mission, the only ones among her close friends who could be of any help were a.s.sa.s.sins like Princess Noreya. Due to their occupational habit, they would kill their own kind without even batting an eyelid. Furthermore, none of them were from the Manasvir Empire and they would not have any considerations when it came to killing these imperial guards.
Only half the imperial guards were actually tasked to keep an eye on the camp. The rest were responsible for locking down the Red Pavillion District on the other side, as well as to prevent any of the lecherous guests or ladies in the nightclubs from being too “talkative”. If anything were to leak out, these rumors would immediately spread like wildfire as their gossip mongering abilities were comparable to the hawkers on the streets. At this point, no one had noticed that Bella and the others had snuck out. By the time the second batch of patrolling guards arrived at the scene, they were only met with the mangled b.l.o.o.d.y mess of their comrades’ bodies.
Bella and Noreya moved swiftly and soundlessly along the empty streets. The remaining darkness provided some cover for them. This time, their target was the only church within Chapman City – the Valentine Cathedral. The Grand Duke Gould must have sent out a city-wide lockdown order, which was probably the reason why the usually bustling Weaponry Business District was practically a ghost town. Even the residents hid within their stores, afraid to take a single step outside.
The food storage center of Chapman City was located next to Valentine Cathedral. The food supplies for both guards and residents came from this very place. Usually, this place would be guarded by at least twenty thousand guards all year round. However, Grand Duke Gould had mobilized most of them to guard the barracks and there were only around two thousand imperial guards left here. This was the perfect opportunity to create trouble.
The Valentine Cathedral had been abandoned for some time. The last priest who had been holding on to the place had died of sickness around five years ago. Since then, the City Lord, Grand Duke Gould, had not applied for a replacement from the Radiant Church. As Bella and Noreya walked into the Valentine Cathedral, they found that everything inside was covered with at least an inch of dust and it was immediately evident that no one had cleaned this place in a very long time.
“Bella, are you going to…”
“President Isaman and the others are here as well, I can’t possibly go on a killing spree with them around. Noreya, lend me your dagger. I will simply use these adorable little things here to help us out…”
“Bella, I think you… forget it, President Maria and the others seem to be really close with you anyway. I’ll just be a spectator and if anyone asks, I had no idea what you had in mind.”
Bella and Noreya walked into the cemetery located behind the Valentine Cathedral. Although the church was abandoned, it was not the case for this cemetery. Since the resistance against the invasion of the Twelve Demon Kings began more than ten thousand years ago, the people of this Other World firmly believed that being buried in a cemetery under the Radiant Church would bring relief to the dead person’s soul.
Bella stood at the edge of the cemetery and used Noreya’s dagger to gently p.r.i.c.k her right pointer finger. A single drop of blood, tinged with the scent of a Demon King, flew into the air. This drop of blood seemed to be controlled by some unknown force and changed its trajectory in midair in an extremely creepy manner. It then dropped into the tomb with the most tightly packed soil in the cemetery.
A Demon King’s blood would automatically locate the most powerful demonic being in its vicinity. The tomb that Bella’s blood had fallen into belonged to the deceased who had the most anguish inside this entire cemetery. With the addition of a Demon King’s blood, it would quickly transform into a Corpse King.
Once the ritual was complete, Bella quickly retreated. The entire cemetery seemed to bubble with signs of resurrection. With the Corpse King’s tomb as the core, the dead surrounding it had been awakened as well. Countless rotting hands began to emerge from the ground as they shot out of the dirt. Bella did not know how many deceased had been buried here in this cemetery. However, she did not intend to awaken all of them. She had only chosen to awaken those that had not completely decomposed to form her Corpse Army. Those that had been reduced to skeletons were left to their eternal slumber.
According to the requirements of this ritual, Bella would need to give a few more drops of Demon King’s blood to awaken the Skeletons. Furthermore, she would need to recite a much longer mantra as well. Bella had not used the full ritual on purpose. There were at least twenty thousand corpses in this cemetery. If she were to awaken the Skeletons as well, the ten thousand imperial guards would not stand a chance against them at all.
The imperial guards at the granary across from Valentine Cathedral stared in horror as countless zombies swarmed out into the open streets with no end in sight. Those zombies immediately made a beeline for the food storage facility.
“Oh my G.o.d… the walking dead are coming out of the Valentine Cathedral. Quick, send out a flare signal. d.a.m.n it, we are outnumbered.”
“You… Why are you running away? Remain at your post…”
“If you wish to die, do it on your own! Grand Duke Gould, that a.s.shole, only pays us once every few months. Also, it isn’t even the full amount. I quit…”
In the face of the horde of zombies, the imperial guards at the granary descended into chaos. They had the same fault as every other Human army. They would be as ferocious as tigers in large numbers, but turn into whimpering cowardly dogs when outnumbered. To hold off an attack from more than ten thousand zombies, it would require the effort of every single guard and soldier in the city. Right now, there were only slightly more than a thousand of them. There was no way they could fight them off at all.
With the signal flare, the entire city soon found out about the emergency at the granary. The imperial guards who were responsible for monitoring the temporary camp now had no choice but to retreat to provide reinforcements for their comrades at the granary. In total, there were only around one hundred thousand imperial guards in the city. However, among them, sixty thousand guards were unable to be mobilized as they were the ones stationed at the city walls. If they were to leave, the city would be left unguarded and vulnerable to attacks.
The remaining forty thousand were mainly responsible for guarding the central region of Chapman City, with twenty thousand guarding the granary and the remaining twenty thousand guarding the city lord’s mansion. Once they lost control of the granary, the Grand Duke Gould would have no choice but to send out part of the guards at his mansion. Bella had now successfully created enough trouble to disrupt their plans to maintain peace in the city. When Bella and Noreya were about to retreat, they received a magical message on their communication crystals from President Ivy.
“Bella, the teleportation array has been seriously damaged. Right now, it can only teleport less than twenty people at one time and it will take at least an hour before we can send another group. I suggest that we find another way out of the city.”
“Bella, Junior Lola has scouted the city walls and reported that there were no signs of them being transferred at all. Should we change our tactics and act on the offensive instead? After all, many of the female students have influential statuses and I highly doubt they would detain all of us.”
“President Ivy, the rest of you will be on standby here to await further instructions. Noreya and I will make the necessary arrangements for everyone to leave the city. It’s not nice to let all these girls engage in such violence too!”
Once she had given all her instructions, Bella and Noreya took advantage of the chaos in Chapman City’s central region and made their way back to Grand Duke Gould’s mansion. Bella did not care if the boys from Olsylvia Academy had made it out of the city. Right now, she simply needed to make sure that the girls would make it out safely.
There were three or four Saviors among the male students, which meant that Bella did not need to worry too much about them. No matter how powerful that Great Magister Orlando was, it would not be enough to overcome the combined efforts of the male Saviors. Since the original teleportation array would not work, Bella planned to set up her own array to take the girls out of the city.
There were many girls on Bella’s side who were skilled in interdimensional magic, which meant that it would not be too difficult to create a teleportation array of her own. If all else failed, she still had that erotic loli, the Interdimensional Illusion Demon Noesha, to hold down the fort. Right now, even the remaining teachers were on Bella’s side and were now the “hidden leaders” of the female students of Olsylvia Academy.