Volume 9 Chapter 471: Change of Hands in the Control of the Kerclav Academy and Austin City
Translator: The Light
Edits by Kenny
South of the Coristel Human Continent, within the borders of the Gabriel Empire, in the important southern Austin City, down in the dark dungeons of the dark s.p.a.ce underneath the Kerklav Academy campus. The infiltrated Demon King Bella encountered the people from the Darkness Church here. Since Bella was a Demon King, and with the camouflage of the darkness, the Darkness Church’s Dark Nuns did not discover her presence.
The history of the Darkness Church came later than the Radiant Church. They were initially split from the Radiant Church, which happened more than eight thousand years ago. The Radiant Church was divided into three major factions due to their differing philosophies, and the Darkness Church was similar. They were secretly split into two factions, the G.o.ddess faction and the Demon King faction. The G.o.ddess faction was made up of believers of the G.o.ddess of Darkness, so they were considered the old faction.
The G.o.ddess of Darkness was said to be the main G.o.d, just like the G.o.ddess of Light. Since it was a legend, whether the G.o.ddess of Darkness truly existed was still an unsolved mystery. Bella also did not pry the G.o.ddess of Darkness’s information from the G.o.ddesses she conquered.
The Demon King faction was made up of believers of the Demon Kings. After witnessing the power of the Ancient Twelve Demon Kings, they felt that the Demon Kings were the true rulers of the darkness. This Demon King faction was the newer faction, and it also accounted for half of the Darkness Church. The two Holy Maidens from the Darkness Church that Bella had taken in, “Dark Holy Maiden” Liz and “Netherworld Holy Maiden” Livina, belonged to the Demon King faction. They wors.h.i.+ped the old Demon Kings, that was to say, the Twelve Demon Kings, but they began wors.h.i.+ping the New Demon Kings after meeting Bella.
The reason “Dark Holy Maiden” Liz and “Netherworld Holy Maiden” Livina surrendered and submitted to Bella so easily had a lot to do with their faith. As Holy Maidens from the Demon King faction, it didn’t matter who they wors.h.i.+pped. As long as they were a Demon King, there was no problem. On the other end, the remaining Holy Maidens, Demonic Swordsmen, as well as the papal heir of the Darkness Church were all in the G.o.ddess faction, revering the G.o.ddess of Darkness.
The members of the Darkness Church who a.s.sisted Prince Brad in controlling Kerklav Academy were all from the G.o.ddess faction. After getting close with Bella, “Dark Holy Maiden” Liz and “Netherworld Holy Maiden” Livina of the Demon King faction concentrated their manpower nearby the Sarnia Duchy, at the outer region of the Darkness Sacred Region, where they built many Darkness Temples and made pilgrimages to the Darkness Sacred Region as a true religious holy place.
Bella felt that the Demon King faction was not as strong as the G.o.ddess faction because the papal heir of the Darkness Church was from the G.o.ddess faction. The home base of the Radiant Church had miraculous buildings such as the holy city, and the like were all located in the northern Nation of the Knight in the human continent, within the territory of the Octavia Empire. The main base of the Darkness Church and their sphere of influence was located in the western part of the human continent, the Nation of Archers and a.s.sa.s.sins, Kristoff Empire. So, receiving the help of the Darkness Church was equivalent to Prince Brad receiving the support of the Kristoff Empire.
The swordswoman in front of Bella should be one of the Demonic Swordsmen of the Darkness Church. She was wearing a heavy and conservative set of swordsman armor and was wrapped completely in it. Bella couldn’t get a single glimpse of her face at all. This get-up looked particularly special in this dark s.p.a.ce’s dark dungeon, so it was hard for Bella not to notice her. The other beauties were either not wearing anything at all, or wearing a black cloak while being completely nude underneath.
Bella believed that she was a Demonic Swordsman because she could see four demonic swords on her back, and the style of her armor and the Holy Swordsman of the Radiant Church was quite similar. Holy Swordsman Cynthia only carried three holy swords on her back, while this Demonic Swordsman carried four, one more than the Holy Swordsmen of the Radiant Church.
In terms of strength, Bella predicted that this Demonic Swordsman was about equally matched with Holy Swordsman Cynthia. Her only complaint was that the Demonic Swordsman’s armor was too much, as she couldn’t even get a bit of eye candy. Other than seeing her long flowing hair was black in color, she couldn’t see any other details. Her hair color seemed a little unnatural, so there was a possibility that this Demonic Swordsman had used some magical tool to disguise her hair. Her real hair color was likely not black.
However, this won’t affect Bella’s ability to track the Demonic Swordsman. Based on the conversation between the Demonic Swordsman and her underlings, the Dark Nuns, she was just about to leave to speak with the Dark Holy Maidens when she lost contact with the traitorous soldiers under Prince Brad’s command that were stationed at the Kerklav Academy. To make matters worse, the Undead Scourge she summoned was originally intended to be used to attack the Sarnia Duchy’s armed forces and the Grim Airs.h.i.+p Fleet that were confronting the troops outside of Austin City.
The Undead Scourge was successful this time, but it encountered a troop of sky demons on the way that had rushed over from the Darkness Sacred Region as well as a group of Armored Demonic Bears that were waiting around nearby. After falling into this dark v. dark situation, the Darkness Church summoned three or four waves of Demonic Beings through the Undead Scourge, but they were no match for Bella’s top-level Demonic Beings from the Darkness Sacred Region. Even though they had strength in numbers, they were quickly suppressed by the demons of the Darkness Sacred Region, so there was no chance for them to even fight outside of Austin City.
Bella silently trailed behind the Demonic Swordsman and was able to see the confined girls all the way through in the cells. If the people confined here in this dark s.p.a.ce did not have a dark attribute, they would be suppressed and become just like normal people. The average strength of the Kerklav Academy’s swordsman beauties was quite high, so they had been trapped here simply because they had fallen for their ploy.
The Dark Nuns watching over them would enter the cells from time to time and feed the girls a special potion similar to a nutrient solution that could keep them from starving to death. The prisoners would only remain in a semi-starvation state, so they would have no strength to fight. The imprisoned girls could not move and could only be humiliated at the mercy of the Dark Nuns. Bella was quite curious. This type of potion seemed to only be available from a slave-trading organization like the Horrorshow Group and was specifically used to raise slaves, so how did it end up in the hands of the Darkness Church?
As she trailed her, Bella was preparing to summon her own subordinates. She summoned several Abyss Demonic Insect Beings like Spiritual Insect Larvae. As soon as these insects came out, they quickly flew and inserted themselves into the few patrolling demons. The Darkness Church had summoned some Goatmen to patrol the s.p.a.ce. These beings had no gender and were some cool-looking goat demons that could walk upright. They had quite a bit of strength and were relatively easy to control.
An Abyss Spiritual Insect had already lodged itself into the nearest Goatman to Bella and froze instantly. After being parasitized, many Abyss Demonic Insects crawled out of it later. The best hosts for Abyss Spiritual Insects were humans, but since they were all pretty girls here, Bella changed the target and chose a lower grade Dark Demonic Being as the host.
While Bella was still wandering around in the dark s.p.a.ce, the Kerklav Academy above had already entered a state of chaos. The Sarnia Duchy guards outside of Austin City had suddenly attacked the imperial soldiers defending the city. Under the bombardment of their cannons, the city gates were broken down. Many Sarnia Duchy guardsmen and the Grim Airs.h.i.+p Fleet in the skies began coming towards the Kerklav Academy.
The several tens of thousands of Prince Brad’s army defending the city were not weak in battle, but they were still helpless against the Sarnia Duchy’s combination of firearms and airs.h.i.+ps that quickly broke through their defense line. And, with their commander nowhere to be seen, Prince Brad’s army was in a state of disarray and quickly abandoned the city, fleeing, leaving Austin under the control of Sarnia Duchy’s twelve-thousand-strong guard.
In the office of the Kerklav Academy’s student union president, Princess Khalifa and Princess Kliveny met with Prince Brad’s third legion’s seventh detachment sergeant major, General Stilwell. When he saw the two princesses coming in, an evil smile spread across this middle-aged man’s face as if something terrible was going to happen.
“Your Highness Grand Princess Kliveny and Princess Khalifa, I am…”
“Skip the funny business. I seriously don’t understand the humans. Your taste in poisons is so cla.s.sless. How dare you use those weakening potions?!”
“You’re not poisoned? Impossible! The women before were clearly… Argh, my arm…”
Princess Khalifa and Princess Kliveny were disguised by two demons. As soon as the Succubus Queen Aisha and Demon Empress Samith entered the student union president’s office, they found the special colorless and odorless mist in the air, which could paralyze any girls who accidentally sniffed it.
These things were useless against demons. Their races were different, to begin with. Succubus Queen Aisha smashed the source where the potion was coming out from as a large lamp fell from above the ceiling. She expressed her disdain for these little tricks. When he realized that things weren’t right, General Stilwell was just about to reach for the sword at his waist when Demon Empress Samith had instantly flashed in front of him and cleaved her hands straight down.
In a splash of blood, General Stilmell’s arms had been chopped off by Demon Empress Samith’s “hand knives” and were shaved into a stick. Even without weapons, a demon could easily tear apart the body of an average human soldier with their bare hands. General Stilwell was also unlucky to have met with the Demon Empress directly and received her attack.
Demon Empress Samith withdrew her left hand and reached out with her right hand to grab General Stilwell’s face. Then, the st.u.r.dy imperial army general was lifted up with only a single hand. General Stilwell let out a painful scream. Other than his head, his entire body began burning up, as he was quickly burned alive until only his head was left. His entire body had already turned into black ash and had fallen to the ground.
“b.l.o.o.d.y as usual, Samith. That’s no good; you’re a girl. You can just leave this to those blockhead demon lords. How do you think this is going to affect your image?”
“Aisha, this man just looked at us with a profane look in his eyes. Dying is the best ending for him. This is just how I do things, so no need to talk me out of it.”
“Is that so? But the mistress didn’t seem to like such rough and savage girls. Samith, if you like to do things this way, then you might be disliked and alienated by the Demon King!”
“Wait, Aisha! Then… tell me how to change! I… I don’t know what human girls are generally like.”
The Kerklav Academy aboveground was quickly suppressed by Succubus Queen Aisha and Demon Empress Samith. The more than five thousand soldiers from the imperial army who were controlling the campus were all expelled. After all, since this was an academy, they followed Bella’s orders and kept the bloodshed down. The two demonesses then directly threw the soldiers out to the undead battlefield with magic, leaving them to fend for themselves. Outside of the city, as soon as they saw the humans appear, the undead on both sides split them up into pieces without a second thought.
The Kerklav Academy’s periphery was under the control of the Sarnia Duchy’s guards, who had descended from the Grim Airs.h.i.+p Fleet who took over the security work outside of the Kerklav Academy. As for inside the campus, they would not enter unless Bella commanded them.
Bella had already found out about the general situation on the outside. She was currently sneaking behind the Demonic Swordsman and finally found the core of the dark prison in the deepest depths of the dungeon. She met the last Holy Maiden of the Darkness Church over here. The Dark Maiden was dressed similarly to the Dark Swordsman, belonging to the “ruthless” style. Her entire body was covered conservatively with a black cloak. Other than being able to judge that she was a top-level beauty with a great body through the shape of her body, the rest of the details were concealed by the cloak.
Even worse was that even her hair was hidden underneath the black cloak, revealing even less than the Demonic Swordsman. She was wearing a demonic mask on her face, the type that covered even the eyes, which made it impossible for Bella to see them. Compared with the previous two Dark Holy Maidens, this third Dark Holy Maiden was taller than the first two.
In addition to the third Dark Holy Maiden, some Kerklav Academy’s more special beauties were also imprisoned here in the deepest part of the dungeon. Ten tall and beautiful swordswomen were imprisoned around this round hall, and their clothes had long been corroded away by the dark energy in the s.p.a.ce.
They were bound at their legs with black chains, naked, and were hung upside down with their hands locked firmly in shackles behind their backs. There were iron rings stuffed into the mouths of the girls, forcing their mouths open before they were hung upside down. From the looks of their age, these should be the female mentors staying at the Kerklav Academy. They were all senior mentors from the swordsman department.
The female teachers of Kerklav Academy all had beautiful faces that could reach a certain level of beauty. They belonged to the beautiful older sister type, which was much better than the students in Bella’s Olsylvia Academy’s magic department. Other than one or two beautiful big sisters whose faces were acceptable, the rest were old men. If she had known this would be the case, Bella would have investigated the faculty before choosing the academy, checking and seeing how many beautiful female teachers there were.
During this attack, they were also imprisoned. Since they were hung upside down, their faces were in a flushed state, but she was unsure whether it was out of excitement or embarra.s.sment. Since their eyes were not covered, they could all see each other’s shameful appearances. It was hard not to even imagine it. Right below where they were hung were wine barrels filled with fine wine. From time to time, the captive ladies would be dunk into the barrels, intoxicating them so that they’d remain in a constant half-drunk state.
This play was truly too high-end. Even a “super dirty girl” like Bella had to give them props for thinking of this idea. Even though they had only been shut here for a short time, the wills of these strong-willed swordsman mentors were already close to collapsing. Bella could tell just from the look on their eyes. It was filled with helplessness and pleading, as not even a trace of strength remained.
In addition to the beautiful mentors from the swordsman department, two of the Gabriel Empire’s princesses were also confined here in the underground plaza. So far, there were a total of five unmarried princesses in the Gabriel Empire. Since they were all swordswomen, they were known as the “Five Royal Swordmaidens.” They were originally the “Four Swordmaidens,” Kriss was only ranked up later. When Kriss had not been taken over by a transmigrator, she did not have a pretty face, so she couldn’t be put up there.
Bella had already seen three of them. Grand Princess Kliveny (Moonlight Swordsman), Third Princess Kriss (Sword Heroine), Fourth Princess Khalifa (Stardust Swordsman). Before this, when President Kliveny led her team to partic.i.p.ate in the Twelve Academy Summer Exchange Tournament, she arranged for the second and fifth princesses to stay behind at the Kerklav Academy to maintain order at the campus when the elites were away.
Bella had not seen the two princesses since entering this place and had basically judged that they had been defeated. It was highly likely they lost to the Demonic Swordsman of the Darkness Church and were then confined here. Bella saw a secret door to a cell behind the Dark Holy Maiden. You could tell just by looking that the second and fifth princesses should be locked in there.
“My Lady Dark Holy Maiden, have our demons not come in yet? Those Sarnia Duchy guards were all bandits, and they all stormed the city directly without even talking to them. They don’t even care if the hostages die as they attacked the city before even determining the safety of their princesses.”
“Your Excellency Demonic Swordsman, the demons we summoned have all been blocked outside of the city by demons of unknown sources and are unable to come. Things are going to be troublesome. Moreover, the Sarnia Duchy’s guards… They seem to have been recruited criminals. Their lord, Grand Duke Bellina, chose all the outlaws when she formed the duchy’s guard. None of them are good people.”
“I really can’t understand why those villains would willingly follow a female Grand Duke… By the way, prepare to retreat. I’ll use dark magic to transport this underground prison back to the Kristoff Empire’s palace… Let’s bring those two princesses back first. Who’s there?! Stop right there!”
“My Lady Dark Holy Maiden, what are you bringing them back to the palace for? I think you two should stay and be investigated. I suspect you are trafficking young girls! I… I’m that bad Grand Duke you were just talking about.”