What if you are reborn as a demon after a funeral?.

"I'm sorry, but my magic is just right to bypass your swarm tactics."

"Despicable scoundrel...!" The familiar voice from beside the bed made her turn her head instantly to glare at him, her face filled with humiliation and resentment.

Although she knew that she would still lose even if the situation were repeated, she would still feel better if she cursed him first.

Moreover, she was genuinely unwilling to accept it.

Faced with this duel after 500 years, although he had expected an overwhelming situation, it was actually even more overwhelming than he had imagined. However... he was the one who was overwhelmed.

...To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that she still had some pride, such a sudden and complete defeat would make her want to cry right now.

Even though she held back her tears, she was so filled with remorse that she unconsciously started tearing at her blanket on the bed, while glaring at Ash with fierce eyes. The torn blanket in her mouth seemed to be a substitute for him.

This put considerable pressure on Ash, who even worried that he might be bitten. He slightly distanced himself from her before shaking his head with a sigh:

"Are you some kind of spoiled child? Don't you even know the principle of accepting the consequences of a bet?"

"Despicable scoundrel—!!"

"Fine, fine, I am a despicable person." She gritted her teeth and gave a low growl of resentment, just like before, but Ash shrugged indifferently: "Say what you will, but don't forget what you said."

"...What do you want to do?" Although she was very unwilling, she also realized the difference in their strength and was forced to compromise after a long period of contemplation, just like she had done five hundred years ago.

However, even now, she doesn't forget to warn: "Let me make this clear beforehand! If you want to bully me like before, I won't just obediently let you do whatever you want!"

"What kind of person do you take me for?"

"A despicable person."

"Isn't that enough? Besides, wasn't that a fair fight? Where was it despicable?" she retorted casually. To prevent her from arguing back, he slapped her across the face to silence her. "Right now, instead of this, you should come with me first."

“...What is this compared to this!” Aura complained, pushing his hand away, but then sighed deeply as she lay on her side: “I didn’t make things clear before, but let’s make it clearer now.”

"what?"

"Although I also want to be the Demon King, the real troublesome guys aren't just the Demon Kings. The Omniscient Shurahat and the Golden City Mahat are both very troublesome. Even if the two of us go up against each other, we might not be able to win. Do you really think we'll have a chance?"

"...Let's leave Shurahat aside for now. Mahat from the Golden City probably has no interest in these things anyway."

"Really? But besides these, there are quite a few troublesome guys."

"Let's leave that aside for now. We need to make the necessary preparations before things happen."

The demon race is small in number, but its hidden power is vast, and a powerful demon will occasionally emerge. No one knows how many powerful demons are hidden in this world.

Those guys are good at hiding, they're hard to find, even the Demon King might not know where they are.

Moreover, it would be much more convenient and efficient for Aura to directly control the high-ranking humans than to let Aura control the Great Demon Clan.

"Leave your men here, and don't even take the Undead Legion with you to the Empire."

"Empire? Why?"

There is only one empire in this world, and the empire is not only the strongest among the northern nations... but also the strongest nation in the world.

Because that empire was the surviving successor of the great empire that had occupied most of the world a thousand years ago.

Even in this attack by the demons, they were the toughest nut to crack on the front lines.

"...The Empire is a real pain. In fact, if it weren't for the Empire, the Central Continent would have been taken over long ago. You don't mean for me to control that emperor, do you? Don't even think about it. If it were that easy, it would have been taken over long ago." Just thinking about that troublesome Empire made Aura look like she was tired of the idea.

But Ash understood what she meant, even better than she did. Sitting at the desk in the room, he poured himself a glass of water and casually said:

"Indeed, it would be very troublesome if we went in and got surrounded... After all, the Empire inherited too much of Vlame's legacy and developed for a thousand years after that."

"Volameh? Ah~ the progenitor of human magic from the books you read before?"

"...So apart from those great demons, the most troublesome one is the Empire."

Although he hadn't intended to directly confront the Empire, but only planned to do some things first, just thinking about the Empire gave him a headache.

Although it was only a part that survived the siege of other countries around the Great Empire, it was the strongest part, with the capital city at its head, and neither the demons nor the humans could conquer it.

Vlame, with a beautiful vision, spread magic to human society, primarily within the Empire, hoping to make it a beacon of light for humanity... However, the actual situation is somewhat similar, yet also somewhat different.

He was indeed a mainstay in resisting the demons, but it seemed somewhat inappropriate for him to be considered the light of humanity.

According to Ash's knowledge of the future, after the Demon King's death and the Demon race descending into chaos, the Empire, having lost its greatest threat, was prepared to be eliminated, making it the greatest contributor to the world's largest magical civilization and strongest human nation.

Their admirers included Vlamé—whose master was Celia, and his apprentice was Frilian.

Even at that time, Celia emerged after hearing Volame's will. She had been teaching magic to humans for over half a century, and Frilian was one of the heroes who helped them eliminate the Demon King, their greatest threat.

...

...

(P.S.: To avoid being considered out of character, I'd like to clarify that the Empire's assassination operation is the latest plot development in the manga.)

Chapter Forty-Seven: Deterrence on the Nations

The Empire alone could not possibly kill the Demon King, and even they alone could not defeat the Demon Race, because in the future on the main battlefield, if they wanted to reclaim their positions and lost territories, they would still need the Southern Warriors to break into the heart of the Demon Race and cut off their supplies.

Without the emergence of other human nations and a large number of brave warriors, the empire would probably have no future. But the threats of the past are no longer threats, and those who once helped them are now the new threats.

Even though Frilian and her companions saved the world (humanity) back then, Celia also followed Volamé's will and came out to teach human magic, continuing Volamé's previous work.

Is the consequence of killing demons simply a case of "the rabbit dies and the fox grieves," or "the bow is put away when the birds are all gone"? Indeed, the kind of meritorious officials are... only those who die young truly retire with honor. Living too long inevitably leads to some unpleasant things. Thinking of that tragic future, Ash couldn't help but feel sorry for them, probably the only two remaining elves in the world who were about to be betrayed.

However, in a world that, both in the past and present, likes to use its own country's children as cannon fodder, he wasn't actually that surprised that this happened.

Moreover, the longer one lives, the higher the probability of encountering unpleasant things... After all, one cannot expect every emperor to be normal or to remember the contributions others have made to their people.

But this was only one of the reasons he wanted to take action against the Empire. It was something Shurahat mentioned casually when explaining the future situation to him. The main reason was that... before coming to Aura, he had passed through the battlefields of the two countries where the conflict was taking place.

...........................

The empire has always harbored ambitions to restore its former glory, and therefore it is highly aggressive towards other countries.

This also led to other countries harboring great hatred towards the empire, and they did not hesitate to launch attacks from the rear when the empire was under attack.

From a high vantage point, the two armies were already entangled in a fierce and evenly matched battle.

Various arrows and spells flew across the battlefield, creating a spectacular scene.

But it's worth mentioning that... on the snowy grounds of this northern continent, one can still see the main battlefield where the fighting is taking place, surrounded by a large number of frozen limbs and severed bodies.

What is even more striking is that among the remains were a considerable number of young children.

"I never expected this. They were fighting us at first, but then they turned around and started fighting their own people? Humans are both interesting and barbaric."

As Aura watched the scene of human civil war from mid-air, her gaze involuntarily fell on the corpses of children still clutching weapons, and she asked in bewilderment:

"Ash, if I remember correctly, human children shouldn't have any fighting ability, right?"

"No."

"Then why are so many children armed?"

"They probably exploit people's sympathy, thinking that the other side wouldn't harm children, right? Besides, these are war orphans and orphans from other causes, so consuming them can also alleviate the food pressure in the country...probably."

"I see, I've learned something." Aura nodded in sudden understanding, but still didn't quite understand why he had brought her to this battlefield, so she couldn't help but ask, "So what are you planning to do?"

"Because what I hate most is that kind of meaningless waste of life, and now... I'm going to completely stop that kind of behavior."

Gazing at the center where the two were intersecting, Ash muttered words she couldn't understand, and after telling her to wait there and not move, he fell towards the ground in freefall.

The speed was getting faster and faster.

At first, the people on the battlefield did not notice the two people's presence, but as the color of the sky changed, the soldiers subconsciously glanced upwards, and their expressions immediately froze.

Because... a blazing meteorite was tearing through the sky, carrying purple lightning, and falling toward the ground—in their direction.

"—A meteorite! It's a meteorite!!"

"Take it down! Take it down now!"

"—Run! Run!!"

......

The already chaotic battlefield descended into utter chaos.

Many people who were afraid of the "celestial phenomenon" were only concerned with screaming and running away, resulting in a chaotic scene with no discipline whatsoever.

All the magic that attempted to intercept it, just like the magic of the undead legion and the demons before it, was completely distorted and disintegrated.

And then, the next moment...

—BOOM!!!

With that deafening roar that seemed to tear space apart, time seemed to freeze at that moment.

The ground at the very center of the battlefield was suddenly swallowed up by a meteorite that seemed to carry destructive power. Dust, flames, and lightning swirled together, creating a chaotic apocalyptic scene.

The soldiers in the center of the battlefield appeared so small and powerless in the face of this sudden disaster.

Their armor and weapons were rendered useless by the strange "meteorite" impact; their bodies were easily torn apart, turning into streaks of blood that scattered all around, like withered leaves swept up by a gale in autumn, desolate and hopeless.

The firelight illuminated everyone's faces, vividly portraying their fear and despair.

The soldiers who were knocked down by the shockwave further away only realized when the dust settled and they could see the meteorite clearly that it was a man wearing a black cloak and a mask.

Before they could figure out what was going on, several deep purple orbs of light appeared beside the man.

"Murderous magic!" He slowly raised his hand, and the ball of light instantly transformed into a purple beam of light, sweeping towards the remaining soldiers around him.

Whether soldiers of the kingdom or the empire, before that speed of light, their armor, shields, and bodies were as fragile as paper.

Hundreds of soldiers were almost easily torn apart by this killing magic, and the blood scattered everywhere was like blooming flowers, staining the surrounding air red.

On the entire battlefield, no one could stop the ever-moving humanoid catastrophe.

What was originally a battlefield of hell on earth turned into a free-for-all in the blink of an eye.

The wails, screams, and roars of flames intertwined, creating a tragic symphony of the apocalypse.

The armies of both sides, who were attempting to provide assistance from afar, were forced to halt their fighting and temporarily retreat under the intimidation of this unexpected intervention and the overwhelming power it possessed.

...It is unnecessary to send powerless people into battle no matter how you look at it—in order to uphold this principle, he decided to use this incident to deter the other nations, letting them know that such behavior would be punished and would only be counterproductive.

Chapter Forty-Eight: The Grand Strategy Beforehand - Controlling the Kingdom

Ash temporarily halted his attacks only after inflicting devastating blows on the warring forces of the Empire and the Kingdom, forcing both sides to abandon their conflict and retreat.