The dual monarchs in the air were watching with analyzing gazes as they looked down at the area being bombarded, the roars of the magi-cannons and the explosions that followed after, filling the sights and hearings of the two monarchs. They had wanted to see this despite telling their trio of subordinates earlier to not kill, as a means to test the magi-cannons on non-monster targets. The initial barrage had wiped out the entire force chasing them in the first volley, the explosions reducing the S-Rank demonkin soldiers into ash and chunks of unrecognizable much when they exploded at their feet or in front of them. 

The two monarchs knew that despite the magi-cannons immense power, it was only effective on targets below or at its firepower, with the firepower of the magi-cannon being affected by what rank the magic crystal primer was being used to store magical energy and fire the projectile. The smallest of the magi-cannons, the 8-pounder magi-cannons were created with easily harvested B or C-Class monster crystals, while not enough to kill a demonkin in a single shot, or even a leviathan of all things, it was the easiest to fill with magic and use for rapid-fire volleys which was the prime purpose of the 8-pounder, but it was still strong enough to sink enemy ships and eventually kill demonkin with successive shots. Then there were the larger 16-pounder guns that had the further refined by the A-Class monster crystals slapped onto them, the 32-pounders with S-Class monster crystals, and the 42-pounder made with high-end and refined S-Class crystals as they had not found and it was not feasible to repeatedly harvest SS-Class crystals, unlike everything below it. But to augment the smaller caliber guns, the shells had extra inscriptions on them that did passive damage if one got hit by the shockwave that stacked overtime. 

The dual monarchs watched as the guns aboard the ships continuously roared, watching as explosions blossomed across the port area and the residential homes above it, the sounds of the explosions and the guns roaring were drowning out the shouts and screams of the soldiers fleeing all across the city to try and escape the slaughter before them. 

"It really is something else no?" Amelia commented as she looked down at the carnage unfolding below them

"Indeed. Although the sloops are good for destroying stuff and killing low-level monsters and enemies, the Man O War is truly living up to its name, with this, we have more than enough to lay down our demands" Ophelia added with a nod

They continued to watch as the HNS Amelia continued its barrage, the 42-pounder guns roaring like dragons and spitting out shells that vaporized anything in its vicinity, turning rows of buildings into smoldering craters and the soldiers into nothing due to them being in the blast radius. The sight of fires forming around the port area did not give the dual monarchs any reason to stop the barrage, they wanted their enemy to see the price of attacking them, and they wanted them to sink deeper into their fear and uncertainty as they knew none of the demonkin soldiers would be willing to put up any resistance after this display, as it was a logical thing to assume that if the ships had this type of firepower, wouldn't the soldiers be equipped with the same thing as well?

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

Meanwhile, currently coughing and groaning on the ground after an 8-pounder shell had detonated in the room next to him, General Trochious was very much in a lot of pain while his ears were ringing. The blast had not killed him thankfully and it seems that only his outfit was torn by the pieces of shrapnel and wooden splinters but his body had been hit by the shockwave and it had done a number on him. As he got up, he saw through a hole in the wall the ships in the bay, what he dismissed as weapons were spitting forth destruction accompanied by a flash from each weapon and a roar that terrified him. With each roar of the enemies' weapons, there was an accompanying explosion along the port that followed. 

"What the fuck is that?" He mumbled under his ragged breath, his breathing heavy as he leaned on what remained of the wall to keep steady 

His gaze then turned to the rest of the port and the upper levels of the city, with explosions erupting across them as the ships continued their unimpeded assault, the magi-cannons firing away and destroying buildings that contained his soldiers hiding, he did not know how they knew where his men were, but it was very clear to him that his plan had not only failed spectacularly, it had backfired so hard that his heart sank as he knew there was no way he was going to get out of this mess without losing a limb or two. 

"Fuckin Hell" He grunted as he made his way out, beginning to limp up the road to the castle

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

In the castle, King Alfonsis and Crown Prince Viktor were stunned into silence as they were witnessing everything going down below in the city from their balcony. King Alfonsis was shaking as he witnessed the firepower of a few ships anchored in the harbor, he had never seen this type of destruction unleashed upon his land, flinching with every roar of the magi-cannons and explosion that followed, his lips trembling as he used his amazing eyesight to focus on the two women with wings hovering near the ships, with one of them staring back at him with an unreadable expression. He tried multiple times to read their stats but each attempt was met with resistance that would force him to flinch with pain and stop him in his tracks

"What the fuck is happening" He muttered as his grip on the balcony railings

His eyes then turned to Viktor who was absolutely terrified by what was happening before him, he had also seen the two women hovering above the ships and like his father, tried to read their stats to no avail.

'This was not how today was supposed to go' He thought as he and his father watched the destruction continue down below

With each explosion, buildings were destroyed and the soldiers hiding in them were either wiped from existence or badly mauled by the explosions and the shockwaves from said explosions. The sights and screams coming from below startled the two royals who were finally brought back to their senses when a maid from the group that was supposed to lead the foreign delegation to the castle barged into the balcony, her breathing ragged and her body showing signs of damage as he had been near one of the 8-pounder explosions, the explosion had torn apart her maid attire and one of her horns as she was near the blast when it went off. 

"Your Highness...Trochius, Trochius is a traitO-" But before the maid could say anything else, she collapsed onto the floor

{!} 

The sight of one of their own servants had finally brought the two back from their stunned silence and a small hint of rage was building up inside Alfonsis. 

"Viktor! Help the maid then get down there ASAP, I will  get everything under control and will be hunting a certain bastard who caused this fiasco" Alfonsis ordered as he spread his wings and jumped off the balcony

"Yes Father!" Viktor replied as he watched his father glide away before moving to help the maid who had collapsed 

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

"Hmm, seems that the royals are now in the fray" Ophelia commented as she turned her gaze from the balcony of the castle,

"Oh? I thought you were watching the bombardment" Amelia stated with a hint of surprise 

"I was, but I turned away a few minutes ago. Anyways, I will order them to stop shooting for now" 

[Admiral] Ophelia tapped into her telepathy 

{Your Majesty?} The admiral replied as she glanced up at her monarch

[Cease the bombardment. They have had enough, tell the Black Guard to get ready to move out] 

{Understood Your Majesty and thank you for the fire directory} 

[ Don't mention it and thank you] 

With the bombardment stopped, the gunners and sailors aboard the ships looked at the smoldering ruins of the city on this side of the island. The smoke pillars stretched into the sky and partially obscured the castle that rested atop the mound of earth it was resting on. There was a noticeable silence that followed when the cannons stopped, with only the sound of the waves interrupting it from time to time. There was also a sense of awe in the expressions of the sailors and gunners, never before had they seen such devastation unleashed upon a city that was not monster-made, the broken buildings that were still burning, the sight of the smoke, all of it was something else to them, to tribals and exiles who had pledged their support for the cause of the empire. 

Back on the HNS Amelia, the contingent of Black Guards was now on the top deck, numbering about 290 soldiers all in all, with armor ready and weapons in hand. The commander of the unit was a siren named Aerin and she was much older than the rest of the soldiers under her command, her silver hair was short but stylish and her blue eyes were a pretty sight to look at. She wielded a common tower shield and a bastard sword as her main weapons and she was currently leaning on her tower shield while awaiting her orders. 

When the dual monarchs landed on the top deck, all of them straightened up at their sight, all of them at the ready for whatever their monarchs were to command them to. 

"All right everyone, get ready" Amelia stated as she looked at the soldiers

"You were picked to be part of this mission as all of you are A-Rank in power, so work together to fight the enemy soldiers who are one power level above you, although they are S-Rank, they can still be killed by overwhelming odds. So keep your heads on a swivel and kill anyone who dares attack us, we do not attack first. Understood?" Ophelia added 

"Understood Your Majesties!" The Black Guard answered swiftly 

"Good. Let's go" 

Ophelia and Amelia quickly soared back into the air, escorted by several dragonkin and harpy Black Guard soldiers who followed behind them. The rest simply walked over the railing onto a platform made of water made by Aerin, Chief Persephone and Val, when all of the soldiers and Irly were on, the platform moved like the waves and easily brought the soldiers to the lone standing boardwalk of the port, with the dual monarchs and their escorts also landing in front of them shore party. 

The sight before them was a grim one, with the smoldering wreckage seen from the ships now in front of their eyes, the Black Guard soldiers saw the grim sight of dead bodies near craters in the ground. Some of the corpses were half-vaporized, with them missing limbs or chunks of flesh and armor. They also saw just limbs laying about, with the rest of the body vaporized from existence, the bombardment had really done a number on the demonkin soldiers. 

As the party advanced back up what remained of the road leading out of the port, they saw more and more carnage littering the streets, with bodies, limbs and craters filling their sights. Some of the Black Guard soldiers gulped while others held down some puke passing by the mangled and blown-up corpses that were splayed on the smoldering ruins, with some of them even missing the upper half of their faces. 

"The bombardment really did it's job" Amelia commented as she glanced at a half-vaporized corpse on the ground next to her, the lower half missing and the head similarly gone 

"Indeed. It worked a bit too well though. I was expecting there to be survivors, but there seems to be none. At least not here where the Amelia was primarily targeting" Ophelia nodded in agreement as she also glanced at the numerous darkened corpses splayed around 

{!} 

When they reached the same intersection that led out, they saw a trembling line of soldiers, all of them beaten and bloodied from surviving the bombardment, their silver plate armor chipped and damaged, with some demonkin soldiers missing some plates of their armor most likely knocked off during the blasts. 

"Oh? Still going to put up some kind of resistance?" Ophelia asked as she stepped forward, with the demonkin soldiers reeling and stepping back in response 

"Please lower your weapons, we did not come here to start a fight" Amelia added 

"Yeah but you killed our fellow soldiers! our friends!" One of the demonkin soldiers shouted in response 

"It was unfortunate sure. But need I remind you lot, it was you who attacked us first. We just retaliated in defense" Ophelia replied as she stood in front of her lover, her eyes shifting to pure black and sending a pang of fear and pain down the spines of the soldiers, causing them to reel and some to even fall to the ground

"Anyways, where is your commander or even your king? I am sure he is now alerted to everything happening so far considering the shockwaves and explosions" Amelia asked as she looked at the shaken group of soldiers 

"Indeed I am" A voice came from above, causing the group to turn their heads up and see a pair of demonkin, one was holding the other by the neck and was struggling to break free 

Dropping in front of the party and slamming the demonkin into the ground, he first turned to the soldiers still holding up their weapons before gesturing for them to be lowered before turning back to the dual monarchs and their party. He had some damage on him in the form of a gash on his chest made by a sword that was slowly healing, his white long-sleeved shirt was torn and the horns atop his head were missing while his white hair was ruffled, with traces of them being slashed off. Meanwhile, the demonkin groaning on the ground was missing his right arm and both of his arms, his body had several open wounds visible through torn clothes that were also slowly healing, his black hair was also ruffled but on his face, there was a set of claw marks that scarred the left side. 

"I am King Alfonsis. The king of Amma" Alfonsis greeted with a small head bow in respect 

"I am Empress Ophelia Erstad of the Halkare Empire" Ophelia stated with a similar head bow 

"And I am her wife, Empress Amelia Erstad of the Halkare Empire" Amelia added as she stood beside her beloved, locking arms with her 

{!} 

"Empresses? Really? I was told otherwise by my agents that the empire across the sea was ruled by a sole woman" Alfonsis remarked with a shocked and surprised expression 

"Yes, Empresses. Something I believe your intelligence agents missed out on in these past few months" Ophelia said 

"I see. We shall talk more about this later in the castle, for now, I will ask what you wish to do with this traitor general who was the one who ordered the soldiers to attack you. His name is Trochious" The demonkin king asked as he gestured to the injured demonkin general on the ground looking up at them 

"Hmm, I will tell you are answer later, for now, just leave him with us" 

{!} 

With a snap of Ophelia's fingers, General Trochious disappeared as the shadow underneath him expanded into a massive black hole that ate him before disappearing into nothing. Leaving the demonkin king and the soldiers behind them shocked and perturbed. 

"So shall we get going?" Amelia asked, snapping the demonkin out of their trance 

"Ahem. Right...right, follow me please" Alfonsis said as he gestured for them to follow him 

As the group began to follow him, the dual monarchs noticed Alfonsis glancing at the soldiers. Said soldiers then laid down their weapons and began to follow behind the Black Guard, with both monarchs sharing a glance and a subtle impressed nod with how Alfonsis handled everything so far. The walk up to the castle was uneventful much to the relief of Alfonsis who was in the process of having an immense headache with everything that was happening so far, from the fact that his best general betrayed him to the firepower unleashed by the visiting party he did not expect, he was in a very precarious situation as he could not get a read on the stats of the party following him, giving him an even greater sense of uneasiness as he was trying to find out ways to turn this situation around and get back on track of acquiring their hands in marriage to his son if it was even possible at this point. 

Along the way up, the dual monarchs looked out into the bay and enjoyed the sight of the glistening azure waters that shone in the bay and on the horizon, despite the pillars of smoke obscuring some of the glistening waters, they could still see the rest that wasn't blocked by it and both of them enjoyed taking it all in. Even the advisors they had brought along were enjoying the beautiful sight of the bay and the vast expanse of the ocean before them, it was calming to them, even more so to the two sirens who were smiling at the entire sight before shifting back to their unmoving expression as the group came to a stop. 

"Right. Here we are" Alfonsis said while turning to the group as they stopped before a large iron gate that led into a massive garden 

"Ooo, a pretty sight to be sure" Amelia commented as she looked past the demonkin king and admired the lovely garden behind the iron gate 

"Thank you for the kind words, this was my wife's garden. She loved to take care of it" Alfonsis stated, a hint of pain and sadness in his voice that the dual monarchs were able to pick up on

"Ahem, sorry for the reminiscing. Let us head inside so we can talk about the main reason you arrived. But I request that your soldiers stay out here" The demonkin king stated as he turned back towards the castle,

"It shall be done, so lead the way" Ophelia replied, beginning to follow behind with Amelia and the trio they brought along 

The iron gate then opened thanks to a pair of servants pulling it back to open it, the group then followed behind Alfonsis and saw the gardens flanking the walkway, they were a beautiful assortment of roses, dandelions, and other beautiful flowers that all shimmered in the sunlight. There were even some fountains surrounded by rings of rose bushes, with each fountain having a sculpture of a former king and queen, with some more splendor than others, such as one king dressed in what could only be described as standard regal attire riding a horse and striking a pose, while another was just a queen sitting on a chair. 

When the group finally entered the castle, they saw a red carpet ready for them that led into the main chamber of the castle. The carpet was also flanked with soldiers from both sides, each of them standing at attention and rhythmically tapping the pommels of their lances onto the ground as Alfonsis passed by followed by them. It was an impressive sight for the delegation and a good show on Alfonsis to flex some regal authority and his soldiers, at least those loyal to him and not the bastard traitors loyal to Trochious. 

Entering the main chamber, a fresh-looking Viktor was waiting and standing beside the throne, dressed in a black regal outfit and with a nervous look on him that he quickly switched with a stoic one to try and his true feelings. 

"Greetings ladies" Viktor stated as he walked over to them, offering his hand

"This is my son and the crown prince, Viktor" Alfonsis said as he dressed into a black coat given to him by one of the butlers 

"I see, a pleasure to meet you" Amelia stated as she shook his hand

"Indeed, a pleasure to meet you" Ophelia added as she did the same 

"Uhhh, of course, the pleasure is all mine" Viktor responded, caught off guard by the actions of the dual monarchs before him 

"Right, onto why you are here. I invited you both here to discuss a potential partnership between our nations" Alfonsis began as he and Viktor walked back to the throne, with him sitting on it while Viktor stood at his side 

"I see. So what is this potential partnership you have for us?" Ophelia asked as she and Amelia stepped closer, with the black-haired empress being in front of her beloved, giving her a glance and receiving a nod from Amelia in reply 

"Well, it is quite simple really" Alfonsis began, a hint of uneasiness in his voice 

"Since your two women and I have a son, I was thinking of uniting our two kingdoms in marria-" 

"No" Ophelia cut him off, a hint of anger in her voice while her brows furrowed 

"No? Heh, I believe you are misunderstanding me Empre-" 

"I don't think I am King Alfonsis. You are hoping to link your dying nation to ours with a marriage on the basis of us needing your son in order to produce an heir" Ophelia spat as she straightened up and a bitter cold could be felt encompassing the room 

"aH, UHg, uhh" Alfonsis stuttered as he tried to fire back anything to turn the situation around 

"Before you say anything, I will tell you what me and my beloved wish to do as an act of retaliation to your supposed "traitor" who attacked us" Ophelia added 

"And that would be?" Alfonsis asked, nervousness clear in his voice

"Simple" Ophelia stated as she looked at her beloved who then stood beside her 

"We declare war on the kingdom" Amelia added, her stern expression surprising the two royals 

"What!?" 

A/N: And here we go! The final chapter for the 'Delegation' set of the arc, in the next, we have some ships doing some destruction and sending other ships sinkin and I was finally able to finalize the continent map that I hope will help with reference down the line hehe. I am finally on break and have at least two weeks to pump out chapters hehehe. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter like I had writing it and if you got reactions or questions, leave them below. And as always, Stay Safe and Enjoy Your Day!