The villainous prince who bullied Feng Aotian was actually myself.

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"What about the second one?"

González's tone remained arrogant.

"Second, die now."

"Leon said."

“Hahaha, funny.”

Gangzarez laughed loudly.

"You choose."

"Leon said."

"That Faceless guy is still alive?"

"Gangzares asked."

"Yes, he had the same two choices as you, but you chose to withdraw from the battle."

Leon answered.

"Heh, that kid Wumian, he's still such a coward. With Hetan City fallen, how can I have the face to continue living? You don't need to lift a finger, I'll do it myself."

Gangsales turned to look at the unstoppable soldiers of the Duchy of Ariel who had already stormed into the city, as well as the vampire warriors who had turned into ghosts and were rushing into the city from other places. He knew that the situation was hopeless.

"Lord Naden... I'll take my leave now."

Gangzares forcefully tore the thorny vines off his body, drew his sword, and decisively committed suicide.

Blood gushed out, and Gonzalez collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

A short while later, he stopped breathing.

Leon simply watched him die with indifference.

"Don't you value talent? Why don't you keep this one?"

Leticia asked curiously.

"He chose to die himself. I was destined to be unable to subdue such a loyal person. There's no need to try to keep him. He's dead, so be it. In the end, perhaps only one of me and Naden can survive."

"Leon said."

Chapter Forty-Eight: We Can No Longer Let These Gods Be Ignored

"What?! Gonzalez is dead!"

Naden never expected that not only would Rivertown be lost, but his trusted subordinate, Gonzalez, would also be gone.

"I left thirty defensive cannons by the river. Even if there are 100,000 troops on the other side, they can't possibly break into the city so easily!"

Naden simply couldn't believe it.

"Lord Naden, the enemy is far too cunning..."

Tom, who had escaped, told Naden what had happened.

"Leon?"

Nadeen asked doubtfully, "Are you sure you saw Leon?"

"Yes, I'm absolutely certain."

Tom replied.

"This is weird!"

In the morning, while Naden was still facing off against the enemy, he had a verbal battle with Leon on the front lines. At that time, Seth was right next to Leon, along with the royal dragon princess of the dragon race.

Why did Leon go to Rivertan again?

This is impossible!

How could Leon possibly travel so freely and quickly between Rivertown and Marshtown?

This only proves one thing: one of the Leon in Hetan City and the Leon in Maxi City is fake.

Now, Naden is in a completely passive situation.

It would be very difficult to win the Battle of Maxi Plains quickly against Seth, but if it drags on, he is now surrounded from two sides, and the situation is very unfavorable. Moreover, his food supply is far less fast and sufficient than that of Leon.

To make matters worse, Faceless, who had been providing Nadeen with intelligence, suddenly lost all contact with him, as if he had died.

"Mr. Armani, what should I do in this situation?"

Naden looked at an old man sitting not far away.

The old man wore a linen cloak, his hair was unkempt, and his face was not handsome; his nose was upturned like a fishhook, like that of a witch in a fairy tale. However, his deep blue eyes were incredibly profound and piercing.

He is an unparalleled sage with the powerful ability to see through a person's mind, and is Naden's chief strategist.

"There is now an aggressive strategy and a conservative strategy."

Armani said.

"The first option is to immediately launch a decisive battle. Currently, we have sufficient food supplies and the morale of our soldiers has not waned. The sooner we launch the decisive battle, the easier it will be to achieve victory, but it is also easy to suffer a complete defeat."

Armani continued, "Secondly, we will retreat at full speed back to Rivertan City, capture Leon there, and then establish a protracted war with Leon across the Misi River, while continuing to win over Caesar's former troops in the Coral Sea who are maintaining neutrality."

"Having captured Leon of Riverton, do you believe that the Leon of Riverton is the real Leon?"

"Nedden said."

"Most likely yes."

Armani replied.

"Lord Neden."

Just as Naden was pondering this.

Phoebe suddenly burst into the tent.

"what happened?"

Seeing Phoebe's hurried manner, Naden suddenly sensed something was wrong.

"Seth's knights are leaving the city in full force. It seems they intend to abandon the defensive battle and go out to fight us directly."

"Ferby said."

"Why are they the ones who can't sit still first?"

Naden sensed that things had suddenly become strange. Why had the opponent suddenly abandoned the optimal combat strategy and instead chosen a method that was more disadvantageous to him?

"Sir, what do you think?"

Naden looked at Armani.

"Since they want war, then let them fight."

Armani said, "We didn't fight before because they were hiding in the city. Now that they've come out of the city to fight, are we afraid to fight now?"

"Row."

Naden nodded, then turned to Fawkes, "Pass down the order: prepare the entire army for a decisive battle with Seth!"

"Yes!"

Phoebe quickly ran out of the camp to fight Seth; he couldn't wait for this day.

……

Below the city gate of Maxi.

“Your Majesty Leon, what we are doing is far too risky. Naden has an army of over 200,000, and his knights are no less formidable than ours.”

"Seth said."

"Of course I know, just do as I say."

Helena, transformed into Leon, said this.

"Row."

Seth frowned. On Helena's first day in Marsh City, Seth realized that this Leon was an imposter. Helena also knew that she couldn't hide it from Seth, so she directly confessed to Seth that all the plans she was currently making were explained to her by Leon before he left.

Once it is confirmed that River City has been occupied, immediately leave the city and make it appear as if a decisive battle is imminent. If Naden retreats, pursue and attack; if he engages in battle, immediately flee back into the city.

Before long, Naden's army was seen charging in, clearly preparing for battle.

"Return to the city immediately."

Helena said.

"Yes."

Seth led his knights back into the city one after another.

This puzzled Naden and the others. They had clearly made a show of being ready to fight, but when they came to the front lines to meet the enemy, the enemy didn't even say a word and just turned around and ran away.

What kind of play is this?

"They might just be playing us for fools; they don't actually dare to fight back."

"These cowards!" Foby said angrily.

"Since they're not fighting, let's retreat and go to Mache City to wipe out the enemy."

"Nedden said."

He felt it was better to play it safe and chose to temporarily confront Leon across the river.

So Naden's army began a massive retreat.

However, after retreating not far, Seth's knights marched out of the city in a grand procession and charged towards Naden's troops.

Their attack was so sudden that it caught Naden completely off guard. Naden's side quickly retaliated, but at that moment, Seth immediately turned and fled.

“They’re wasting our time trying to keep us on Marsh Plains.”

Armani said.

"So what should we do?"

"Nedden asked."

"Ignore them. Let Foby cover the rear and hold off the enemy while the rest of the army continues to advance. Seth's Knights will suffer far greater losses than we will from this roundabout route."

Armani said.

……

Hetan City.

Leon sat in Tom's once bustling palace, filled with worry.

Naden's army, as well as his own, consisted of elite troops directly controlled by the royal family. If a large-scale, decisive battle were to take place, it would inevitably result in mutual destruction, with the victor paying a heavy price—a situation strikingly similar to the Battle of Xiangji Temple during the An Lushan Rebellion.

If they were to force a confrontation, it could very well lead to the decline of the Fchester Empire, which would soon perish.

However, if the throne were to be passed to Naden, given Naden's personality, he would definitely try to find a way to kill me in order to consolidate his power.

Therefore, although Leon didn't really care about the throne, he had to fight this battle for the throne because it concerned his life.

"So what if the country is destroyed? This war is unavoidable."

Leticia, who was standing to the side, suddenly spoke up, as if she knew what Leon was struggling with.

“If your country is gone, you can come to the vampire clan. I can take care of you. Even if you become the king of a fallen kingdom, the three of us—you, me, and Philippa—can still live a good life.”

Leticia said with a grin, emphasizing the three of us, as if to stress that it wasn't just Leon and Philippa's private time, but that Leticia herself was also joining in.

"..."

Leon was speechless.

He was quite envious of Leticia's optimism; even at a time like this, she could still think about such things.

"Leticia, you can go out now. I need to be alone for a while."

Leon suddenly thought of someone.

The empire's civil war led to the demise of this populous nation, where over 70% of the population worshipped the goddess of justice. It's likely that, besides herself, the only one who would least want to see this happen was her.