The First Magic World War

After Charles's consolation, Anatasiya did indeed feel a bit better. Ever since her mother had betrayed her, and was tortured to death by Lady Southseraph, and her father was plotted against resulting in the total annihilation of his army, she had not experienced any happiness or peace.

At all times, she lived in regret, sorrow, sadness, despair, and helplessness; she even contemplated ending her own life many times, but it was her mother's hatred that had sustained her until now.

Whenever Anatasiya considered dying, she would remember the scene of her mother being tortured and vowed to kill those enemies, which was the only reason that kept her alive.

Seizing the opportunity, Charles extended an invitation, saying, "A great battle is imminent. It is too dangerous for Miss Anatasiya to be alone. I invite you to join the Westwind Knights and fight alongside us."

Knowing about Anastasia's mother's ordeal, Charles was completely reassured that she could not possibly betray him. Her hatred toward Lady Southseraph was deeper than that of any genuine Behemoth.

Anatasiya hesitated briefly but then agreed wholeheartedly. Amongst the people by her side were a portion of defeated Behemoth soldiers and some servants her mother had left behind who were extremely strained due to the lack of logistics, making it very hard for them to carry on.

Charles also gave her a special sense of trust.

Especially since he had reclaimed Silver Pigeon Fort, the city where she had lived since childhood, which held countless wonderful memories.

Lately, Anatasiya had heard many legends about Charles Meklen, especially on the South Ceraph Reclamation Army's side, where Charles was depicted as an evil Demon King and a brutal murderer for killing the leader of the Restoration Army, Jonathan, and for driving back the sacred South Serif who they revered like a god.

However, Charles's reputation was much better among the Behemoth folk.

In terms of prestige, amidst the almost total losses of all Behemoth nobility on the battlefield, many even perishing, Charles was virtually seen as a savior by the people of Behemoth Duchy.

Charles hadn't realized that gathering the fleeing soldiers this time around was much easier than before.

Charles had taken Anatasiya back to the Westwind Knights' camp, where he first picked out around five hundred of the best soldiers from those he had gathered and replenished Anatasiya's troops.

Anatasiya had not anticipated that Charles would be so generous in providing such a large number of troops for her, adding much to her favorable impression of this young, handsome, and legendary Mister Mecklen.

Charles was actually a bit distressed about the gathered fleeing soldiers not being able to quickly form an immediate combat force.

Anatasiya clearly had experience in leading troops; just the fact that she had led more than a hundred people to launch an assault at such a time showed that this lady was talented.

He also didn't forget to simultaneously replenish troops for himself, Dobin, Yellow Bear, The Spotted Deer Gwen, and The Wind Wolf Bankroft, expanding combat squads from fifty to over twenty.

Charles only thought he had experienced a common battle.

But he had no idea that by killing Kalong and that third-order Transcendent knight from South Serif, he had already stirred up a major uproar within the South Serif Reclamation Army.

Several generals of the South Serif Reclamation Army jointly proposed to Cyrus to deploy the Sacred Order to kill Charles.

Of course, Cyrus also wanted to see Charles dead, but after the last ambush failed and the Blood Clan Sacred Order had left to join the decisive battle at Ferlanden, relying solely on the South Serif Sacred Order was simply not enough to overpower Mama Karen.

That Charles also had Sacred Order protection was something Cyrus didn't want to mention since it could demoralize the troops.

The most problematic issue was that Byron kept insisting that the South Serif Sacred Order should also head to Ferlanden and was making very severe threats, putting a lot of pressure on Cyrus.

Without a Sacred Order to lead, would they really bet on Mama Karen's "mercy"?

Cyrus disagreed with deploying the Sacred Order, which infuriated several generals of the South Ceraph Reclamation Army because no one wanted to confront Charles.

Charles had killed Jonathan, so every member of the South Ceraph Reclamation Army clamored for revenge, but also found various reasons not to engage in battle with Charles when they heard his name.

Charles's feat of slaying Jonathan amidst thousands of troops was too shocking.

Especially since everyone in Nansela knew that Cyrus was a High-Level Transcendent and practiced top-tier Knighthood legacies such as Flesh Furnace and Golden Requiem, his immense strength made him seem like a future Sacred Order. Yet, not even he could defeat Charles.

This only increased the fear people of the Behemoth Duchy felt towards their young commander.

Even though all the records indicated he was a Lower-Ranked Supernatural, no one believed it.

Charles didn't know what the Nansela people were thinking; after reorganizing his troops, he sent a letter to Mostar Fort and also expressed condolences to the Duchess, albeit insincerely.

He certainly didn't mention that he had been idling away in Machu Picchu. Instead, he portrayed himself as a warrior who, though relentlessly blocked by Cyrus-led South Ceraph Reclamation Army, fought fiercely to advance toward Interlaken City, only to witness its fall and the Duke Joseph being slain.

As for whether the Duchess believed it...

It didn't really matter.

He also wrote letters to his father and brother. To avoid giving himself away, the letters were kept brief and penned by different subordinates to prevent identification by handwriting.

Each letter included two sentences: The battle is imminent, Nansela people are here again, and I'm unable to say more.

And: Busy in battle, writing on behalf of a certain soldier, unable to pen this letter myself, thus lacking genuine emotion, I feel deeply remorseful.

Unfortunately, no sooner had the letters been dispatched, than the South Ceraph Reclamation Army closed in, leaving no gap. Mostar Fort had not responded so he didn't know the Duchess's stance nor the situation of his family.

The South Ceraph Reclamation Army began its assault on Mostar Fort but because Charles's Westwind Knights were "watching closely," they could not commit all their forces and always had to keep one or two battalions to monitor Charles and prevent a sudden attack.

After five or six days of fighting, Charles showed no intention of joining the battle.

But the arrival of two separate groups made it impossible for Charles to continue lying low.

The first group came from Strasbourg, numbering less than a hundred, mainly to give Charles new orders. Find your next read at empire

The second group was the Knight Order of the Baron Fabolais, more than three thousand strong. This time Baron Fabolais brought neither servants nor convoy, appearing rather "frugal".

Baron Fabolais requested Charles to rally to him and follow his command. Upon receiving this order, Charles engaged a nearby South Ceraph Reclamation Army in battle and requested support from Baron Fabolais, claiming he was nearly overcome.

Indeed, that was very characteristic of Charles.