Ermengarde had emerged from the blood stand walls with a murderous aura.

“Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill” she roared. “My beautiful face. My beautiful face. Do you dare hurt the face that the demon king called cute? You lowly creature. I will have your head. I will have your life. Kill Him! Kill Them All!”

The demons obeyed this command and advanced.

“All forced deploy…” Edwin commanded.

From the sky, the spirit planes appeared. Knight after knight jumped down to the ground.

A majority joined Edwin on the front lines. A few made a boundary between the alliance army and the elven army which had stopped their attack.

The members of ghosting also made an appearance as they faced the monsters in the west. No… To be more accurate a single member faced them as the others feared to approach her in this state.

“This is my chance to earn massive rewards by butchering everything in front of me Nya.” She uttered scarily.

“Do you feel that?” General David asked 

“Yah… Each one of those Highland Knights is emitting magical energy of a level I have never felt from a human.” General Kith answered

“How can something like this be possible?” Bishop Martin cried

As if to make them even more shocked the Knights began to attack using magic.

<Fire Ball>

<Earth Spikes>

<Thunder Strike>

Their swords and spears launched magical attack after magical attack upon the demons.

“Oi Oi… What the hell are they doing? Are those magical attacks?” General Kith shouted in shock

“I have heard of some knights being able to do this among the empires but that is limited to 10 to 15 people out of 1000. For Highland to have every single knight capable of doing the same thing, what a terrifying power they have.” General David

Bishop Martin couldn’t speak about the destructive power the knights of Highland were displaying.

“Louise.” A voice weakly called out.

“Euphemia…” she replied

Euphemia had returned to her comrades as Edwin instructed. It wasn’t that long of a walk but for Euphemia, it felt like a lifetime. Hans’s transformation and betrayal. Edwin saving her from Demise. All these things filled her mind to the point that she could hardly pay attention to what was happening around her.

‘So… this is the power that saved Vidfamne. No wonder my mother bowed to it.’ Euphemia thought as she turned her head towards the battle in the front.

“Is everyone alright?” a man shouted

It was the temporary master of all the guilds, Felix and he was not alone. Next to him, was an out place maid.

“You are the maid who accompanied Edwin to the Holyland,” Louise uttered in surprise.

“I am honored that Princess Louise remembers me. I am Eve, maid of his majesty and Commander of the Spirit planes.”

Everyone fell silent at the out-of-place introduction. 

‘A maid and commander? What an odd combination.’ General David thought, however, the fact that she was wearing a maid outfit and Princess Louise also called her a maid, meant that she wasn't joking around.

Felix was the one who broke the silence, “Highland has cleared our escape route and is offering aid in getting our forces out of here. I say we take it.”

General David and Kith frowned at what he had just uttered. Having the hero turn enemy, losing to the demons, and then having Highland save them. This would be the mother of all humiliations an army had ever suffered.

Furthermore, this would give Highland the right to claim Saifuddien as their own should they be victorious here. General David didn’t want to return to the empires and report such a thing, however, the elves' attack had greatly affected his forces and the expression on Felix’s face told him that the guilds had already made up their minds to retreat. The only other option would be…

“Excuse me… umm… Commander Eve. I would like to offer my troupes support.” General Kith uttered. 

About two-thirds of the Jarodor forces were still capable of offering support in battle. General Kith like General David didn’t want to leave a situation where Highland took all the glory.

General David was about to voice his support for the idea when Eve spoke with a smile, “Apologizes, but should the situation turn bad we have plans to launch a full magical bombardment of the area. Our knights are well trained and equipped to handle such a situation. The same can’t be said about your knights.”

“That’s… Umm…”

“Furthermore, can you prove that there are no more traitors like the hero among your ranks?”

“That’s…”

“And lastly… We may have forgiven, but we haven’t forgotten about the knights who died in your kingdom.” She uttered with a glare, which sent a chill down General Kith's spine.

Princess Louise too felt uneasy after hearing that. When the demons first arrived and threatened the kingdom of Jarodor. Highland under Edwins' father had sent knights to its defense, however, when the civil war broke out, the nobles of Jarodor who bordered Highland refused them passage to return home.

Those knights eventually were reported as dead by the kingdom of Jarodor. The official cause of death was an attack by demons but some in Highland thought otherwise.

Eve, bringing up that matter made it clear that Highland couldn’t trust Jarodor. General Kith simply lowered his head, unable to reply to her words.

“General Kith.” Princess Louise spoke, “Let's accept aid and retreat from the front lines. We can’t be of help here.”

“But!”

“There is no point in arguing. I will take full responsibility for it.”

“Princess Louise! That’s!”

“I'm glad you understand the situation. Please be safe on your journey back.” Eve uttered before taking her to leave with Felix following.

“Louise” a worried Euphemia called.

Taking responsibility for that decision was basically throwing your life away. Even if she was royalty, there was going to be a hash punishment waiting for when she returned home.

“It’s okay Euphemia. I will think of something before we arrive back. Right now, not suffering any more losses should be our priority. The alliance will need to regroup and restructure, plus…” she uttered before looking at where Edwin stood. “There is no guarantee that Highland will be successful.” 

Highland was indeed strong, but the demons have also proven themselves strong and cunning. 

The battle was 50-50 in her mind. They might as well make use of Highlands greed to claim Saifuddien for themselves to retreat and regroup.

This is the conclusion Princess Louise came to, or rather, that is what she wanted everyone to believe. In truth she had already accepted defeat.

' Highland could have waited until the demons killed us all before attacking, but they didn't. While there are many benefit in saving us, allowing us to die would not be bad either. Getting in their way will make us look pitiful.' she thought before pausing. She wondered if those thoughts were directed at the alliance or herself.

General David, who was probably the only person present who could have objected to her decision, had no reason to argue because she was willing to take responsibility for the alliance failure.

The alliance, therefore, withdrew from the battlefield, leaving Highland to face the demons and elves.