- Discord

Winning wars was not only about having more soldiers or having better weapons. It is more about having the better and more effective overall power after considering all the factors.

Most wars in history have been written down as having a difference in numbers, the advantages of terrain, the cunning in the employed strategies and tactics, and the gap in technology and skill.

However, they do not write down the other underlying factors in fear that they may tarnish the name of the winners while committing overkill on the losers.

One of these factors... is politics.

Not everyone was happy with King Galian taking the throne. This was especially so for the Entolo family. They were utterly disappointed that Edge was allowed to use merit to prolong his life. It did not matter if Barazi committed atrocious acts, a commoner still killed a noble! It was a disgrace to their family not being able to deliver justice to the perpetrator.

As one of the four vineyard families, they held great power and had a lot of nobles on their side. After all, no matter how bad a family's reputation is, those who have eyes on business will still seek to cooperate with them, especially those who have something to offer that cannot be refused.

For years, the Entolo family sought out methods to take revenge on Edge and even his daughter. Unfortunately, Drago, who was close to Edge, was also the head of one of the four vineyard families and he prepared the best guards to watch over her.

Drago's importance to the royals was also shown when the previous king went back on his declaration and when the current king considered his request.

If they made a mistake, Drago would not remain silent, not to mention that the nobles who sought after his life for more than 2 decades have failed time and time again.

When Drago took to the battlefield, it was rare for nobles to be called to arms. Therefore, as Edge was always by Drago's side after the incident, they had no chance to move against him.

However, this war was different.

Even with the three kingdoms pooling their manpower, Drago still requested reinforcements.

With the churches deeming the demon threat as something that should be eliminated as soon as possible under the guise of the preservation of life and the persecution of evil, the kings called the nobles and the reserve forces to action.

This was finally their chance to move.

Of course, Drago, Edge, and Arissef knew about all this.

However, to win this war, they needed to take the risk. While undoubtedly anyone in the right mind would prefer a formidable opponent over a piglike teammate, they had no choice as they needed more manpower to have a chance of winning this war. Moreover, they had no way of knowing who was aiming for their heads. Therefore, the only thing they could do was stay on guard for any foul play.

Overall, the three kingdoms sent a total of 1.5 million troops as reinforcements. The churches even sent 400,000 paladins and priests to aid in the battle.

Spread throughout the three fortresses, more than 2 million soldiers marched towards the demon castle.

They cleared out outpost after outpost and finally managed to have their sights on the castle in only 7 days.

Many demon commanders, gigantic demons, and flying beasts tried to halt their advance but eventually fell in battle. However, these monsters also brought down more than 500,000 coalition soldiers with them to the grave, along with them were many famous names from the three kingdoms and reputable mercenaries hired by the nobles.

This was the reality of war.

Anyone, no matter how strong or smart they are, there is no telling if they would be able to survive in the end and go home to their families.

However, if none stood up to fight, then there would have been a chance that the territory that was being attacked right now, was not that of the demons... but theirs.

These were the thoughts that drove these soldiers to put their lives on the line of battle. At least that was the propaganda that the kingdoms and the church spread to the people.

While others had noble reasons for joining the battle, some had... less noble ones.

When Drago received the reports at the end of each day, he had to go through the overall rearrangement of formations and assignments himself as suggested by his assistants and other Grimley detachment commanders.

He noticed a reoccurring trend the past days wherever Edge was assigned.

His unit had the most losses compared to the rest on Grimley's front.

When he asked the detachment commanders, they said that they had no idea why but rumors were floating around that Edge was killing his allies during battle. They also said that whenever someone approaches him, they end up getting cut down without explanation.

As a result, a lot of the troops assigned to him begged to be transferred but we did not approve them as most of the troops from other posts did not want to be reassigned to his unit.

After hearing all these, Drago's eyes narrowed and sent for Edge to meet him in the war tent that night.

When he saw Edge's expression, he knew something was off.

"Is this about the death energy?" Drago asked outright.

Edge took a deep breath. "So the rumors finally reached you, huh?"

"Well? Is it?" Drago raised a brow.

"Yes... And no." Edge answered with a straight face. His eye-bags were massive and his complexion was pale as if he has not slept for days.

Drago slammed the war table in irritation. "Be straight with me! Are you fit to be on the battlefield or not?"

Edge's eyes narrowed and were filled with scorn. For a moment, he could not control the death energy that was oozing out of his body.

In response, Drago released his own pressure by instinct as they locked eyes with each other.

"You do not need to worry about me on the battlefield. I am expendable." Edge closed his eyes and retracted his aura.

Drago controlled his aura as he maintained a cold face. "Is that what you think about your troops as well?"

When these words were said, Zex, who was watching all these, was surprised at their conversation. He knew that just like him, Drago had no idea about Edge's situation. However, he was disappointed at Drago for being too direct.

'Is Drago fearing Edge's power?' Zex thought. He felt Drago intentionally ignoring the thought, which caught his attention in the previous days. However, the outburst of Drago's emotions caught him off-guard.

In fairness, compared to Zex who lived to the age of 92, Drago was still too young and had always been the one in charge. He had little to no experience when it came to the emotions of other people.

"It will be better if I move alone from now on." Edge said as he turned around to leave. "Leave me to handle my matters and go focus on YOUR war."

"WAIT! WE ARE NOT DONE HERE!" Drago raised his voice, face red from anger.

Edge paused as he lowered the curtain he raised with his hand. "If you want to know more about the death energy, give it up. I can't tell you." He tilted his head to look over his shoulder before continuing to say: "If there is nothing else, may I leave, commander?"

"Can't? Or won't?" Drago's brows were furrowed and he was gritting his teeth in anger.

"I said if there is nothing else, may I leave... Commander?" Edge repeated his words with more force. Zex could see Edge's eye turning cold and deadly as the temperature in the room lowered a couple of degrees.

For a few seconds, they maintained eye contact and stayed silent as their auras clashed violently.

Drago was the first to retract his aura as he closed his eyes and sighed.

"Yes. You may leave." He said while maintaining a frown.

As Edge finally left the tent, Drago's rage was filling up to the brim. They say that the more important something is to someone, the easier their emotions get swayed by anything related to it. Zex understood this with all his heart... But Drago did not. He could not.

Drago did not even notice that Arissef was listening in on them to which Zex sighed inwardly. 'This is not a good sign.'

Something was triggering all of this and Zex could not pinpoint it just yet with the little information that Drago managed to gather. 'Were they not able to fix this before we fought?'

...

Days passed and they were not able to penetrate through the demon forces. It felt like there was a never-ending number to them while many have fallen from the coalition's side.

Fatigue was building up within the armies as helplessness crept towards their hearts when they saw the tides of demons seemingly of the same number each day while there were fewer and fewer of them in their formations. Familiar faces could no longer be seen, familiar voices could no longer be heard, tents turning vacant, flags waving through the air becoming scarce...

Deserters in the army started growing at an alarming rate.

To make things worse, news reached Drago that troops in the left-wing were getting massacred...

By Edge.