Raise Joan of Arc to be an empress, then discard her.

"What a crazy plan! I'm afraid only that king in the world could come up with such a plan. He's a madman, an absolutely insane king."

“He…really intends to deploy this weapon on the battlefield,” Joan of Arc said in a trembling voice.

"Although it is absurd for a king to be so determined to destroy his own country, everything makes sense once you accept this premise."

"The reason he preserved the army's strength and ordered everyone not to resist was to ensure that there was enough fuel on the battlefield."

"Why did he insist on choosing Esgard as the battlefield? Because only in Esgard could he fully utilize the Heavenly Fire, and only in a decisive battle of this magnitude could the power of the Heavenly Fire be maximized."

"But even if his plan succeeds, what will he gain? If he succeeds, Asgard will be destroyed, and all his soldiers and subjects will be dead. What will he be then as king? Does he intend to rule over the ashes of Asgard?"

Chapter 94 Attack on the Army

"We must stop him."

"The transaction is complete, and the rest is none of my business."

"I've said everything I needed to say. Now, can you let me go? I don't care about anything else. I just want to see my wife and children."

Joan of Arc said calmly, "I can let you go now and leave you alone in the laboratory. If you're unlucky, you'll be eaten by the monsters outside after I leave. If you're lucky, you'll be blown up by the things you're researching."

Jerome's expression changed, and his weak body regained some strength to stand up: "I'm still useful to you, so let me stay by your side."

"Take your heavenly fire with you; I need you to persuade them."

"I'm a scientist, they all know me. Isn't my scientific reputation enough to guarantee this? Carrying that thing called 'Skyfire' is very dangerous..."

"Take it with you," Joan of Arc repeated coldly.

After a moment of silence, Jerome said, "I don't have any heavenly fire here..."

"No?"

"Stop, stop, stop! I'm telling the truth! I was trying to secretly keep a little as a souvenir! But the king's men found out and took even that little bit! I really don't have any left; they've probably all been sent to the battlefield!"

"Let me think... This thing needs direct contact with spiritual energy, so it needs to be close to the battlefield to be effective! If I plan to use Heavenly Fire, I will transport this thing to the center of the battlefield! So Heavenly Fire must have been transported to the place closest to the battlefield! We can go there to look for it!"

Jerome is right; the most urgent thing now is to find the Heavenly Fire.

"Come with me now, we must act quickly."

*

The Seven Nations Alliance attacked Esgard three hours later.

Everyone was running into the city, whether rich or poor.

The news spread from who knows where, but once the first barrier of Esgard was breached, panic was ignited among the people, and everyone desperately ran into the city.

Only one group of people were an exception. They ran in the opposite direction from the crowd, seemingly trying to reach the city wall. The uninformed people thought they were soldiers and looked at them with admiration. In fact, they were not completely unrelated to the army, but many of them had been driven out by the army.

"Her Highness has ordered us to search everything around the city walls, and not to overlook any suspicious places!"

The person who said this looked extremely loyal, but the fact that they were willing to go in the opposite direction at this time itself demonstrated their loyalty; they were all elites in the gang.

“You’re too late! Someone has already searched there! If you want to help, search somewhere else!” another group of people replied.

Because most of the original inhabitants near the city walls had fled, they encountered virtually no obstacles in their search, giving them a sense of being bandits during a time of great chaos, which made their search highly efficient.

"We didn't make it in time! But we arrived so quickly!" The man was annoyed; he had originally hoped to receive praise from the saintess.

"The Holy Maiden has arrived!" someone shouted.

Upon hearing the sound, everyone turned their heads in unison and saw a black carriage speeding through the street. Pedestrians on the road almost didn't have time to avoid it. Before the carriage had even stopped, the door suddenly opened, and a girl with long golden hair, holding a flag representing Lucerne, leaped down from the speeding carriage like a light bird, the white flag fluttering behind her.

People were stunned for a moment, watching as the girl, as light as a deer, landed on the ground and, instead of stopping, rushed towards the city wall with the flag in her hand.

"Lydia! Lydia!" Joan of Arc shouted towards the front, her heart filled with great anxiety.

“I’m here! Where have you been! We can’t find you anywhere!” Lydia waved to Joan of Arc from the rooftop.

"We'll talk about that later! First, tell me about the progress of your search! Have you found anything strange?"

"No, we've searched almost all the houses near the city wall and found nothing strange, except for one place."

"Where?"

Lydia gestured with her eyes to the entrance of the city wall, where the flag of the Kingdom of Lusset flew. It was a military position with various weapons already transported to the city gate. Professional soldiers were guarding it. They had searched the area around the city wall, but had not searched that desolate area.

Although the residents near the city walls had all fled, they did not dare to directly clash with the soldiers. Moreover, they appeared to be fighting against the enemy outside the city walls and were on the side of defending their homeland. No one dared to provoke them at this time.

But Joan of Arc's eyes were fixed on that position. Yes, if the entire city wall had been searched, then that position was the most likely place.

But should she directly clash with the military defending the city? Even if Joan of Arc was incredibly audacious, she knew the consequences of clashing with the military; they would be treated as traitors. Should she abandon the search? Perhaps the Heavenly Fire was indeed hidden elsewhere? Could they search other places first? But time was of the essence. If they wasted time, the entire city of Asgard would be destroyed!

Joan of Arc was overwhelmed by a fierce internal struggle, feeling immense pressure weighing on her shoulders. What should she choose? Whichever path she chose, she risked utter ruin.

When faced with conflict, people instinctively seek the advice of their role models, and Joan of Arc was no exception. She immediately thought of Aaron. What would her teacher do if he were here? It's obvious, even to a fool, if her teacher were here, he would rush in without hesitation. Her teacher had never been afraid of the Duke or the All-Knowing Sword, let alone the military. While she was hesitating here, her teacher would already have a knife shoved into their mouths.

Thinking of this, Joan of Arc couldn't help but smile. After all, she was her teacher's student, and in the end, she did exactly the same thing as her teacher. Sure enough, two fruits can't grow on the same tree.

“Lydia,” Joan of Arc said suddenly.

"Are you going to forcibly inspect their weapons?"

Joan of Arc looked at Lydia in surprise.

“I can tell from your expression who would suddenly laugh at a time like this. I’ve only ever seen that kind of expression on the faces of psychopaths.” Lydia said, a faint smile appearing on her face.

"Aren't you going to ask me why?" Joan of Arc asked.

She clasped her hands together, her knuckles cracking, and her smile grew wider: "First of all, I believe in you unconditionally, and secondly, I've actually wanted to do this for a long time."

The soldiers were on high alert, and fully armed soldiers were cleaning their weapons or loading guns and cannons. Most of the residents near the city wall had already fled, leaving them in a kind of isolated island. Given their status, almost no one dared to approach them.

But then they saw a group of people slowly walking towards them. Surprised, the soldiers raised their guns: "Military stronghold! If they get any closer, we'll open fire!"

The soldiers had already issued warnings. In fact, they were quite calm. According to wartime laws, they should have already opened fire by now. But almost none of the people who came were afraid of the soldiers' guns. They really didn't need to be afraid. For superhumans like Lydia and Joan of Arc, guns and cannons were meaningless.

The soldiers also realized this, and some of them had already laid down their weapons and unleashed their spiritual power. As a military stronghold, this place was naturally guarded by powerful superhumans.

However, since they were superhumans, they naturally recognized the woman walking towards them. In fact, they might not have known her before, but since she was expelled from the Blazing White Knights, her name was known to everyone among the knights.

“Lydia!” the soldier exclaimed in surprise.

"Alright, now that you know it's me, hurry up and get out of my way! I've already been stripped of my knighthood, so I don't care if I'm accused of a few more crimes."

Faced with Lydia's provocation, the soldiers all fell silent. Just as Lydia was getting impatient, she heard a hoarse, deep voice slowly emerge.

"Lydia, even after being expelled from the Knights, you are still as reckless as ever."

Amidst a sea of ​​black military uniforms, a person clad in dark gold armor and a dark gold cloak slowly emerged from the crowd. Joan of Arc was somewhat surprised, for she recognized the person's attire as belonging to the Blazing White Knights. However, upon seeing the person's face, Joan of Arc suddenly gasped in astonishment.

Yes, how could she not have thought of that? Since the Heavenly Fire was so important to the King, how could the King not send powerful people to protect it?

Even Lydia was stunned when she saw that tall and strong figure, not only because of surprise, but also because of the difference in strength. If she were in front of this man, she would not have the right to be arrogant.

Perhaps few in the entire kingdom could match the power of this man, for he was Aurelion Gerard, the Grand Master of the Blazing White Knights, one of the most powerful knights in the country.

"Have you really fallen, Lydia? I've always felt sorry for you for disobeying orders and being expelled from the Knights, so I can tolerate any unreasonable behavior from you. But if you attack the soldiers guarding the city, even I have to consider you a traitor."

The man's resolute face revealed a serious expression. When he spoke, a powerful aura filled his body. Combined with his dark gold armor and his mountain-like stature, anyone could feel the immense power within him.

“I don’t want to attack you. Just let us in to search, and we’ll leave immediately.” Lydia’s expression also became serious.

"Search? Lydia, you are no longer a knight. You are not even allowed to come near here. Even when you were a knight, I would not allow you to do such a thing."

“Commander Aurelion,” Joan of Arc said suddenly.

“I’m talking to Lydia. Who are you?” Aurelion was still staring at Lydia.

Joan of Arc.

“I know you, the famous saintess of Asgard recently. I’ve heard about your deeds, and out of respect, I don’t want to lay a hand on you.” Aurelion’s cold gaze fell on Joan of Arc’s face.

“I have already demonstrated my loyalty to His Majesty the King through my previous actions. Now I declare with my honor that you are hiding a very terrible weapon here that could destroy the entire Asgard, which is why we have come here.”

"Will it destroy the entire Asgard?"

"That's right, we came here because we found a clue!"

"Where did you come from?"

“The kingdom’s secret research facility. We just returned from there. We have evidence that you may be hiding weapons here that could threaten the entire Asgard,” Jeanne said.

“Young lady, you may find your words original, but I’ve heard the same things at least a hundred times. My ears are practically calloused,” Aurelion said coldly.

“The dark experiments are a secret to you, but not to us. I was the first to know this information, and I know better than you what’s in that experimental base. Since those things have already been developed, we have no reason not to use them. Besides, if I use them, we won’t have to let our brothers die in vain. Even if they are wrong from the root, I’m not opposing them now. On the contrary, it’s right to use them on the battlefield.”

As Aurelion spoke, he exuded a terrifying aura. Lydia felt a chill run down her spine, and the initial passion in her heart dissipated under the pressure. Joan of Arc also felt the terrifying aura emanating from Aurelion, but she kept observing the goods in this military position.

Joan of Arc saw many wagons parked on the battlefield, all covered with tarpaulins, making it impossible to see what was inside. Could the Heavenly Fire be hidden inside? Heavenly Fire is a hundred or a thousand times more dangerous than gunpowder; it will explode if it comes into contact with unstable spiritual energy. The place where the Heavenly Fire is stored must have a very high level of security, otherwise, if the Heavenly Fire explodes midway, it will be all over.

Could it be that Aurelion actually knows everything, and his seemingly righteous demeanor is just a facade? Is he actually on the king's side? Should I launch a direct attack? But even if we can defeat a Grand Master of a knightly order, we will pay a heavy price.

But if the Heavenly Fire is really hidden here, even if they have the courage to fight it, the spiritual energy from their battle might ignite the Heavenly Fire, and they would not accept such an outcome.

What should they do? Joan of Arc's mind raced. From what Aurelion had said, he seemed to know the truth about the Dark Awakening experiment. Of course, that matter had caused quite a stir, and Aurelion couldn't possibly be unaware of it. She didn't know his attitude towards the matter, but he didn't seem to object to using these monsters as weapons.

Thinking about it from the opposite perspective, if I were the king, and I had these irrational but powerful monsters under my command, I would also try to make use of them. However, these monsters cannot distinguish between friend and foe, so if I wanted to use them, I could only treat them as the vanguard of the army.

Joan of Arc did not object to this; during wartime, it was a good thing to be able to make use of these monsters.

Wait a minute, Aurelion thought they came for the monsters awakened by the darkness? Could it be that he doesn't actually know the truth? But how can the king keep it from him?

Chapter 95 Deep into Hell

If he were the king, how would he conceal this secret? Undoubtedly, the best way would be to use a half-truth, half-lies. And upon closer reflection, wouldn't those monsters be the most suitable vessel? Aurelion mistakenly believed that he understood those monsters, didn't want to get close to them, but had to protect them. This contradictory psychology, in turn, became their best protection.

"I have only one request: let me see those monsters, and then we'll leave," Joan of Arc said.

Aurelion's face was as cold as ice: "I'll give you three seconds to leave."

Aurelion exuded a terrifying aura, his cloak billowing with spiritual energy. An unfriendly expression appeared on his face, and his body resembled a volcano about to erupt, with power accumulating beneath. Lydia's expression changed slightly; she knew her captain's strength best and nervously adopted a defensive stance. Only Joan of Arc remained unmoved, confronting Aurelion from afar.

Could it be described as a newborn calf not fearing a tiger? Facing Aurelion, Joan of Arc showed no fear whatsoever. Her expression was so calm that no matter how much spiritual energy blew upon her, it only stirred her golden hair. Even Aurelion narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Weren't you terrified when you were hunted down by the All-Knowing Sword?" Aurelion said softly.

“I did the right thing then, so I wasn’t afraid, and I am not afraid now,” Joan of Arc said.

"So, it seems I'm the one who did wrong? Just like the All-Knowing Sword back then?"

“You have made too many mistakes, which is why the country has become what it is today,” Joan of Arc said softly.