The First Knight question added to the amount of stress the captain was feeling at that moment. After all, they were so far apart in rank that, in normal times, he would've never been able to meet Rollyet personally.

Short of breath and with his chest tightened, the guard captain frantically said, "Knights from the Empire are right outside the city, and they demand His Majesty go and meet them."

It took everything the captain had to say those words, and as soon as he did, he could finally catch his breath, heaving and bending to his knees.

Those words seemed to have sunk into nothingness, as neither Avaro nor Rollyet reacted for several minutes, until the former said, "Knights? How many?"

Having caught his breath, the guard captain answered "Your Majesty, there are several thousand of them!"

Avaro seemed to have been struck by lightning before he shot up to his feet and muttered, "This must be a mistake. Why would an army of knights from the Empire come here? I'm keeping contact with the Crown Prince, and he didn't mention anything like this."

Rollyet, now standing up, said, "Your Majesty, maybe we should—"

Avaro's gaze sharpened and he said, "I'm going to meet whoever is leading the army and find out what's going on." He looked at the guard and ordered, "Lead the way."

With a deep bow, the captain quickly led Avaro toward the outskirts of the city, and following the two was Rollyet, who couldn't let the King go without him.

When Avaro saw hundreds, if not thousands, of tents lining up in front of his city, he almost fainted from anger.

They are taking this too far. I'm still a King; how dare they disrespect me right in front of my citizens? Avaro's hands clenched tightly, but shortly after, he let out a long breath and his usual sharpness returned.

Beside him, Rollyet saw everything and nodded, his jaw clenched.

Avaro asked, staring at the camp in front of him, "Where's the one in charge?"

"Your Majesty, I'll go and find out. Give me a moment, please," the captain said, rushing to talk to the Empire's knights to find out where Nova was. It didn't take him long to learn of his whereabouts.

Rushing back to the King and the First Knight, the guard captain said, "Please follow me."

Avaro nodded and, with heavy steps, followed the captain, with Rollyet walking a step right behind him.

Soon, the trio reached the middle of the camp, where Nova was calmly standing to the side, along with thousands of soldiers who took this time to gather and relax before the eventual war they were prepared to face.

When the captain, along with Avaro and Rollyet, was about to reach Nova, the latter's head swivelled toward them.

Looking at Avaro, Nova had a playful smile on his face for the briefest of moments, catching the former off guard, before he turned serious. He raised Senna's token, and said, "King Avaro of Blackridge, under the Empire's order you will surrender control of your army to me now, or you will be judged as a traitor right this instant. Do you comply?"

Disbelief and terror flashed across Avaro and Rollyet's faces.

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In the same way Wulfric had cowered silently under the token, they too reacted just as strongly. The fact that the Empire had a figure such as Senna wasn't widely known across the kingdoms, and even if it were, what would it change? Every knight from the Empire was feared equally by the kingdom's citizens and ordinary knights.

What they didn't know was that Senna was one of the strongest, if not the strongest, commanders in the Empire and he could bring a kingdom to ruin on his own if he so wished.

It took all of Avaro's willpower to snap out of it. He quickly hid his trembling hands behind his back and quietly said, "I comply with the Empire's order, and I'm glad I can be of any help. Starting from now, the Blackridge's army will follow your orders without question, and I'll have my First Knight aid you in managing it."

Rollyet stood still in place as he listened to his King's words. He knew this was the only choice they had, but it was a tough pill to swallow to see a token bring down the ruler of a land to his knees while he, the First Knight of that supposed land, could do nothing but watch as it happened.

Nova happily accepted having Rollyet manage Blackridge's army. 'Having him take control of the army will both make it easier but also more dangerous, as he could order a revolt. Exactly what I need at the moment to create chaos.'

"You can hang around in the camp while we wait for your army to arrive," Nova said to Rollyet before he looked at Avaro and continued, "As for the king, it's best if your majesty goes back to the royal palace. I would hate it if something bad were to happen to you."

Although Nova's words seemed nice and polite, there was no respect behind them, and right after he was done speaking, he took his leave before Avaro could even open his mouth.

The First Knight frowned as he looked at Nova's back. Only when he couldn't see him anymore did he look around himself and at the sea of knights in sight before turning to Avaro. "Your Majesty—"

"Follow his orders," the King said, staring deeply into Rollyet's eyes before adding, "I trust your judgment." He turned and left.

Rollyet silently watched his King leave, his face solemn.

Hours later, another cloud of dust formed on the horizon, and the earth trembled even more than before, alerting the guards standing on the capital city's walls as they all stared at the new arrivals.

When it dispersed, another army came into view, this time larger than before. But, to those with keen eyes, they could see something strange: a relatively small portion of the soldiers was perfectly fine, while the majority had bruises and cuts on their bodies, their hands tied together.

The guard captain, who had just settled back into his post, couldn't help but lament, "Did something like this have to happen right when I'm on shift?"

In the camp, Nova looked at the large army about to flood in and thought, 'Everyone is here. I'll let them rest for today. Tomorrow, we'll head to the border and wait for the two kingdoms.'

He summoned a knight and instructed him to deliver a message to the various fourth-stage knights before retiring to his tent. As soon as he entered, wind mana silently swirled around him, and he muttered, "With so many knights around, I can barely get any training done." Settling down on the ground, he slowly immersed himself in his practice and his breathing slowed down.

The next time he opened his eyes, sunlight streamed through the tent's entrance, making its way inside.

'It felt like only minutes had passed, but it's already the next day and I barely managed to make any progress. Is this what the mages here feel like?' he thought with a sigh. If those mages, who went sleepless for days and nights just to make the slightest progress that took Nova only a few hours, had heard his words, they would have collectively spat on him.

Nova stepped out of his tent to just in time to see the knights finish packing the tents. He turned his head to see how the others were doing but then he noticed a clear separation between the Empire's knights and Blackridge's as Rollyet and his knights, who had greatly recovered during the past day, stood meters away from the camp.

'Is that fear or a sort of personal disdain toward the empire? Whatever it is won't change the fact that you'll charge first.' Nova smiled lightly and shouted "Make your final preparation, we're departing in three hours!"

The army answered with an unison "Yes!"

Three hours later the Empire's knights neatly lined up with Nova and the fourth stage knights at the front. Meters away from them stood Rollyet along with his army, waiting for their next orders, although their mood wasn't the greatest.

Nova nodded and meaningfully said "From now on, don't let your guard down as we'll be travelling with outsiders." His head clearly turned slightly toward the Blackridge's army before he looked back at his army who had grins on their faces.

"Let's go and meet the scum who is daring enough to rebel against the empire."

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