96: speculation

It had been a full six months since the fall of Gongmu City.

The army of Monsters was like an uncontrollable tide, crashing against the order of this world wave after wave.

Over a dozen cities had been reduced to ruins under the claws and fangs of the Monsters, and countless living beings had perished in desperate wails.

By all logic, a righteous force like the Sacred Hall Heaven should have long ago dispatched The Strong Ones to completely eradicate this disaster.

However, the reality was not so.

The Sacred Hall Heaven did indeed take action; they summoned tens of thousands of Magical Girls, organizing them into an army to engage in battle against the army of Monsters.

This was the part that left Xiang Yan puzzled. If the Sacred Hall Heaven were a small faction, it might be understandable, but it was a massive organization that dominated the entire world. It certainly had ulterior motives for doing this.

Furthermore, this arrangement gave Xiang Yan the feeling that they were training troops.

Of course, whether it was truly training troops, he still needed to observe carefully to be certain.

After another half year of observation, Xiang Yan had completely confirmed that the Sacred Hall Heaven was training troops.

This was because, during these six months of observation, Xiang Yan discovered that whenever a Magical Girl became powerful enough to threaten the Monster King through this high-intensity warfare, she would be transferred away immediately for various reasons.

Then, at that moment, an equal number of rookie, weak Magical Girls would be brought in as replacements.

If such things happened once or twice, it would be fine, but if it happened every single time, it was obvious that there was a problem.

Furthermore, whenever the Monster King went to replenish his troops nearby, the stationed Magical Girls would always be absent for one reason or another.

With this kind of behavior, who would believe there wasn't something fishy going on?

After confirming that they were training troops, another question arose for Xiang Yan.

In this world, the Sacred Hall Heaven was the undisputed absolute hegemon; it was impossible for any entity to exist that could compete with it.

Excluding the possibility of internal strife, the only remaining option was an external enemy.

Moreover, this external enemy was extremely powerful—so powerful that this force, where everyone strove toward truth, goodness, and beauty, had to make the decision to sacrifice ordinary people to force themselves to become stronger.

Thinking to this point, Xiang Yan suddenly realized something.

This world was facing an extremely terrifying external enemy, and in order to counter it, the internal strength of the world would inevitably be depleted.

When that time came, an opportunity would inevitably arise—a chance for him to successfully escape back to the Main Universe and stir up trouble.

Furthermore, according to the truth that "peace must first be established internally before resisting external aggression," since the Sacred Hall Heaven still allowed internal turmoil, it proved that war had not yet broken out.

Therefore, this period was the golden age for him to stir up trouble. If war were to actually break out, the first thing they would likely do was to wipe out all internal conflicts.

Thus, he had to seize this time to increase his bargaining chips, so he wouldn't miss the opportunity when it arrived.

Thinking of this, Xiang Yan glanced at the two sides currently fighting fiercely.

He immediately decided to return to the Country of Monsters and incite Mizuno Hiroshi to send troops to disrupt the Sacred Hall Heaven's line of sight, allowing him to make his preparations.

...

A year later, Xiang Yan returned to Nelson's territory, but he didn't go to find Mizuno Hiroshi immediately. Instead, he returned to his own island and woke up Nelson.

Soon, Nelson was awakened once again.

"Long time no see. I offer you my highest respects, my Lord."

Looking at Nelson before him, Xiang Yan instructed, "Nelson, use your authority to see if there is anything unusual about this world."

"Yes, my Lord."

As the words fell, a terrifying gaze was cast across the entire world. Accompanying the descent of this gaze, the various The Strong Ones of the world sensed it, and following this gaze, they locked back onto its source.

Upon realizing that the owner of this gaze was that "Evil" Your Highness, many entities withdrew their gazes, but a select few continued to watch, wanting to see what this "Evil" Your Highness intended to do.

Soon, Nelson withdrew his gaze, but the observers did not stop. Although their gazes were blocked by the barrier Nelson had set up, they were still watching the perimeter.

"My Lord, I just discovered something special."

"Speak!"

"My Lord, through this investigation, I discovered that there are many more The Strong Ones in this world than when I last checked."

"Are these The Strong Ones part of the Magical Girl system?"

"Yes, my Lord. Furthermore, at the very highest point of the world, I sensed a special energy structure being assembled; it appears to be a defensive fortification."

Hearing this, the corners of Xiang Yan's mouth curled up slightly, thoroughly confirming his conjecture.

Then, Xiang Yan slowly asked Nelson, "Nelson, are you able to detach from your current state?"

"At any time, my Lord."

"How long will it take?"

"With preparation, ten minutes is sufficient."

"What preparations are needed?"

Nelson remained silent for a moment before saying, "My Lord, preparations can be made or not."

"What do you mean?"

"My Lord, because of your grace, my form of existence is extremely unique. Severing the connection with this world does not require the complexity that others face."

"I only need to divide my own authority, and I can automatically return by relying on my connection with you. However, this will create a problem: if I do this, this world will suffer damage to a certain extent."

"If I really do that, the world will would come looking for trouble."

Hearing this, Xiang Yan simply waved his hand and said, "You don't need to worry about this matter. Once I call for your return, just do it directly. I will handle the rest."

"I follow your command, my Lord."

Following this, Xiang Yan sent Nelson back to sleep again, and he himself hurried to the capital of the Country of Monsters to meet with Mizuno Hiroshi.

Soon, Xiang Yan successfully met Mizuno Hiroshi again.

Seeing that Xiang Yan had returned from the outside so quickly, Mizuno Hiroshi hurriedly asked, "Senior, did something happen? Why are you back so soon?"

"Your Majesty! I have a major discovery," Xiang Yan said excitedly.

"Senior, what exactly happened? Why are you so excited?"

"Your Majesty! A heaven-sent opportunity! A heaven-sent opportunity! During this year I spent outside, through continuous and tireless investigation, I discovered an important piece of news."

"Currently, the Magical Girls are facing a huge problem. Their top-tier combat power is overwhelmed and has no time to attend to other matters."

"This is a once-in-a-millennium opportunity for us! As long as we take this opportunity to march south, we will definitely be able to conquer a vast territory!"

Hearing this, Mizuno Hiroshi couldn't help but become serious: "Oh? Senior, is this true?"

"Your Majesty, do you not trust me?"

"Good! Good! Good!" Mizuno Hiroshi said "good" three times in a row, his face full of smiles.

"Since that is the case, I will immediately mobilize the troops and generals to go and open up that earth-shattering great cause."

"Senior, the position of Grand Marshal of the Army belongs to no one but you!"

"Your Majesty, I am terrified! I..."

"Senior, do not decline. This time..."

In short, after some further bickering, declining, and even Xiang Yan using the mark to influence Mizuno Hiroshi, he finally got Mizuno Hiroshi to let him off the hook.

Furthermore, he was given the right to act freely. Thus, Xiang Yan threw a simple large-scale Monster conversion device to Mizuno Hiroshi, and then he ran off to handle his own affairs with peace of mind.

And so, Mizuno Hiroshi's army set out.