Towering pillars of anti-magic steel stretched toward the ceiling, the intricate runes etched upon them flickering faintly in the dim light. Beneath the anti-magic steel, the Poet of Great Love sat on his knees before Pranay with a focused expression.
Inside this sealed cell, their conversation felt like a quiet, profound ritual, with the surrounding cold and silence listening to every word.
"So please, give up, New King. The Protos Empire is beyond saving—unless you can make Luoqi McCarthy put his complete faith in us..."
Pranay lowered his voice, saying, "Yet that is clearly impossible. Even if he were willing to sell his soul to us, we could never truly entrust our lives to him and gamble on a dead end with less than a ten percent chance of winning."
The evolutionary direction of his innate magic was Clairvoyance. Although it was still only in its rudimentary form and difficult for him to control, over all these years spent deep beneath Herrom Prison, he had intermittently and unstably caught real-time glimpses of the situation aboveground—sometimes near, sometimes far.
"..."
Flanking them, Antanas and Sinora exchanged glances continuously, showing no sign of speaking.
As Pranay's longtime friends, they were inclined to trust the accuracy of his judgment, for the two of them combined and multiplied by Talia still wouldn't be as clever as Pranay.
Yet immediately afterward, both Antanas and Sinora turned their gazes solely toward the black-haired, green-eyed figure, waiting for their king to make a decision.
Having sworn their oaths, they would follow whichever path the king chose.
"So why, Pranay, do you consider our chances so low?"
The Poet of Great Love paused briefly before asking again.
He considered it and decided not to waste his breath telling these three great demons who Luoqi McCarthy actually was.
Earlier on the fourth basement level, even after he repeatedly insisted to Antanas that he was male, she had refused to believe him.
Without seeing his true body, none of the three great demons would ever believe that the black-haired, green-eyed Poet of Great Love before them was merely an avatar.
Once they left Herrom Prison shortly, he could simply invite the three of them to the Redmond Building's Headmaster's Office at the Protos Royal Magic Academy to see his true form. That would be worth more than any explanation.
"Once we choose Luoqi McCarthy, we will be plunged into danger right along with him."
Pranay believed the New King had understood his words. The odds the New King had asked about were predicated on the assumption that they could convince Luoqi McCarthy to sell his soul to them, demons.
"With the various factions of the Protos Empire harboring their own hidden motives, I am trapped underground, unable to discern the causes and effects behind the churning undercurrents, or how many powerhouses remain hidden behind the unrest in the Protos Empire. Relying solely on our demon faction's combat strength, even if we seized the initiative in intelligence, we wouldn't necessarily secure the final victory."
Pranay looked into the New King's eyes. He believed that without further elaboration, the New King would grasp his meaning.
Unless the New King reached Tier 9 and possessed the ability to face two or three Cardinals of the Resurrection Church alone, only then would their military power be comfortably assured.
From what Pranay could see at present, even if all the combat strength on the demon side were pooled together and targeted the right enemy, they might not be able to contend with either faction.
"New King, can you defeat Imperial Great Sage Isis on your own?" Pranay asked instead.
He had heard from his sister Sinora that the New King was very strong. If the New King was stronger than those generals who stood at the peak below Tier 9 in the Demon Realm back in the day, perhaps there was still a glimmer of hope.
"I can't," the Poet of Great Love said, shaking his head.
That was far beyond the scope of a Tier 4.
Pranay was not surprised to hear this, but he averted his gaze, his eyes seemingly saying:
*Then hope is exceedingly slim; it will be very difficult for us to become the ultimate victors.*
"Could you share your thoughts with me, Pranay?"
The Poet of Great Love picked up the wine bottle, poured half a cup more for Pranay, and gestured for Pranay to take his time and explain.
Watching the New King pour wine for him, Pranay suddenly grew nervous. This clearly defied Demon Realm etiquette, but there was nothing he could do except wait until the New King finished pouring, then offer a toast in return.
Pranay picked up the glass in a daze and took a sip of the snowfield liquor. As a rational demon, what Pranay truly wanted was indeed a Demon King willing to listen to his thoughts, not a tyrant who relied on brute force to coerce him into reckless action.
It was just something he had never dared dream of.
Only when Pranay silently set down the empty glass did he speak again.
"The entry ticket to achieving victory in the Protos Empire is at least two general-tier combatants. The rest comes down to an intelligence war. We cannot be certain whether the enemy possesses three or four general-tier powerhouses. What is more, Herrom operates by Herrom's own rules; sometimes combat strength isn't what decides victory or defeat, and military assurance is merely our last resort."
His voice carried a slight rise and fall, and his expression grew somewhat more solemn.
The three of them, as former civil officials of the Demon Realm, could only take on a single Demon Realm army general when fighting together—at a disadvantage against physical-type generals, and at an advantage against magic-type generals.
"General-tier?"
The Poet of Great Love felt like the units of measurement were multiplying.
"Roughly equivalent to the Cardinals of the Resurrection Church today—the very strongest among Tier 8," Pranay explained.
For instance, one known nation-toppling faction possessed at least two Cardinal-level combatants, meaning they required at least two general-tier combatants to contend with them.
Based on the battle on the northern border's snowfield that he had observed that day, the gray-robed Tier 8 sealer was, in all likelihood, the Bishop of Extinction, Askesan.
As for the mysterious black-robed figure, even Pranay could not deduce their origin.
Worse yet, if not handled properly, even the neutral Imperial Great Sage Isis and Duke Bernhard within Herrom might temporarily aid the opposing camp.
Yet this was only the intelligence currently known; there were clearly far more unknowns lurking behind the scenes in the Protos Empire.
To Pranay, the Protos Empire right now was a round table of grand powers, where factions with diverging motives each held a slice of the pie. Until the day the critical point was truly reached, no one knew how much of the pie they held and could only make estimates.
The larger the slice of the pie, the greater the odds of victory.
Ideally, Pranay naturally hoped their demon faction could hold more than half the pie. In that case, not only would they have a guaranteed win and sweep the board, but even if accidents occurred, they would still retain the right to flip the table.
However, to flip the table, even a Tier 9 plus the three of them would probably not be enough.
Because once one chose to flip the table, one had to challenge all the other factions at once.
Thus, Pranay could only settle for the next best thing, hoping that their demon faction could command as large a slice of the pie as possible.
The reality was that even if the demon faction entered the game right now, the slice they held would be far too small, perhaps not even sufficient to prevent the true potential enemy from flipping the table.
"..."
The Poet of Great Love understood. The generals of the Demon Realm back then were roughly on par with Cardinals.
Right now, Sigrid was sealed, and the three great demons combined could only match the sole general-tier combatant on their side. At best, they would possess only a single general-tier combatant three days from now. Pranay probably still mistook the Poet of Great Love for a general-tier combatant as well—when in truth, this fellow was genuinely Tier 1, with no suppressed magic whatsoever.
However, Lanqi felt that the situation wasn't quite as dire as Pranay thought.
Because Askesan and the black-robed figure weren't at full strength...
As long as he could deal with his old friend Askesan first, Sigrid would not only break free from her seal but also become stronger. With one side waxing as the other waned, a difference of two general-tier combatants would open up in an instant.
Chapter 446