"An offer to fight me; one on one!"

General Hans Harrington could feel the arrogance in Gilbert Gottfried's tone. 

"A one on one fight? With you?" the General stared at Gilbert Gottfried as he asked.

"That's right! I'm asking you to fight with me in a one on one match. If you win, my army will leave your country alone, stopping the conquest," Gilbert Gottfried icily stated.

The General stepped out and a surge of violent spiritual aura abruptly flowed in Gottfried's direction. His eyes were akin to the edges of sharp blades and overflowing with killing intent, riveting upon Gilbert Gottfried as he stated coldly, "And if I lose?"

Gilbert Gottfried's expression turned incomparably malevolent, shifting his gaze onto the General as he replied with a smile, "Then you die alongside everyone else! My army will destroy everything that your country has built, and in the end, nothing shall remain!"

He said it so calmly, and yet his calm words caused the hearts of the Capenean soldiers to pound violently. 

Whoosh!

A cold wind whistled through the air, and everyone's eyes were completely focused on General Hans Harrington, who's eyes flashed coldly.

An offer? To save my country?

Honestly, the General wanted to laugh at Gilbert Gottfried's words. He knew about the history of his country. He knew how much of an influential past his ancestors had, their control spanning over countless territories, and how the rulers of large countries and emperors of ancient empires treated them with respect. The fate of such a glorious and influential country now rested in his hands. As a part of a simple offer. How could he not find that hilarious? 

But he couldn't laugh. He couldn't find the urge to laugh. 

'I wonder how our ancestors would react to the state of our country?' General Hans Harrington let out a hollow laugh.

Over the years, he had seen many arrogant men, but there wasn't anyone who dared to be so brazen in front of him. The majority would at least try to speak politely in respect to his county's past. But today, this person was actually treating his country like a bargaining chip.

This wasn't merely just not giving him face, but rather a harsh slap on the face. It was simply too humiliating! With his pride, how could the General even think of enduring this? 

You want a fight? Then I'll give you a fight!

"Fine! I'll take you up on your offer," General Hans Harrington icily spat. 

Step!

The guards surrounding Gilbert Gottfried took a few steps forward when they saw that, causing Gottfried to furrow his eyebrows.

"Are you thinking of disobeying me! Stand back immediately!," Gottfried imperiously commanded, and the soldiers, sensing the killing intent of their master pressing down on them, immediately fell back in response.

"So, are you ready?" Gilbert Gottfried stepped out and looked at General Harrington with a calm and carefree expression before coldly stating, "Make your move!"

Boom!

Before the sound of his voice even faded, General Hans Harrington had already rushed towards his opponent, as countless sword beams whistled through the air, instantly enveloping everything. One could clearly feel a terrible destructive pressure emanating from them, as they shot towards Gottfried, who still had a calm expression on his face.

"Is this all you have to offer? You better step up your game and take this seriously. The fate of your country rests in your hands!" Gilbert Gottfried's eyes were narrowed as he calmly spoke, and his tone didn't have any fluctuations to it as he raised his right hand.

Whoosh!

A blinding light exploded from his hands, as an incomparably terrifying gigantic axe containing boundless might appeared out of thin air.

"If you think that's going to be enough, then I'm afraid you aren't worthy enough to be my opponent!" Gilbert Gottfried's voice resounded through the skies, and as soon as his voice faded, a strong wind arose as the skies turned bright red, and a destructive pressure enveloped the entire area.

BOOM!

Gottfried's figure moved with blinding speed, heading towards the General, facing the blade lights head on!

"Don't even think I'm going easy on you!" General Hans Harrington howled as he blasted his hands out, and the palm strike swept forward as it expanded, blasting towards the fast approaching Gilbert Gottfried.

"Is this all that you can muster? Pathetic! Looks like I have to show you what real power looks like!" Gottfried spoke with cold arrogance, his eyes flickering with an incomparable sharpness.

Swish!

The giant axe in his hands slashed forward like a streak of lightning as terrifying spatial fluctuations rocked the surroundings, and General Hans Harrington felt his entire body shivering from a chill in his heart and his countenance turned pale.

BOOM!

A terrifying whirlpool of runic light radiated from the axe, and shot through the air with annihilative force as a monumental pressure descended on the General.

BLAST!

The beam of light collided with the blade lights and the palm strike, as the light permeated everything, eating away General Harrington's attacks and continued blasting forward.

"NO!" General Hans Harrington's eyes turned red and he roared in terror, but he was unable to do anything.

BOOM!

With a cataclysmic explosion, the beam of light slammed down on the General with no mercy, blasting through his defenses as if it was nothing special, and his eyes filled with nothing but despair.

"I can't lose!" General Harrington's expression was incomparably wretched, his face was painted with reluctance as his life faded away. 

"Nobody wants to lose. Unfortunately for you, you weren't strong enough." Gottfried emotionlessly spoke, as he looked at the corpse of General Hans Harrington with disdain.

"Commander Helvig," Gilbert Gottfried waved his hands and a moment later, a black clothed figure appeared next to him. "Yes, your majesty?"

"My opponent lost. You know what to do," Gottfried spoke coldly, and cast a deep glance at his Commander.

"Of course your majesty. I'll continue with the conquest, so you can take a rest. Trust me," Commander Helvig smiled, as he replied. "When I'm done, there'll be nothing left of this country to even remember!"

********************************

Inside the Royal Palace. A silhouette stood before a pavilion. He stood there quietly, yet he exuded an unexcelled and exceptional presence.

"Prince Bancroft!" All of a sudden, a voice drifted over, as a person wearing black clothes arrived, and upon seeing Prince Blake Bancroft standing before him, he instantly knelt down. "Your Majesty, we have received the message from the informant in Copenea!"

"And? What information did the informant send us?" The Prince turned his head and stared at the person who was kneeling and asked in a gentle voice.

The person's eyes flashed with a trace of reluctance before he spoke in a low voice, "The message states that the Gottfried's Army has already conquered Copenea and is moving on to their next target. I'm afraid they're moving faster than we initially predicted, your majesty!"

What?

Right now, Prince Blake Bancroft appeared to be calmly standing in front of the messenger, but his heart was filled with boundless shock.

"Are you sure that the information is true? Did you check to see if there were any mishaps?" The Prince asked in a faint voice, and the messenger shook his head. "We checked the message thoroughly, Prince. We always do. We had it inspected by countless people as well. I can assure you, there was no mishap!"

"... I see," The Prince nodded his head, trying to regain his calmness. But he knew that time was ticking away, faster than he could even imagine. 

'It seems as though moving up the coronation ceremony and the information dump was a good decision..' 

According to the earlier plans, the coronation and the information dump about the King and the Queen was supposed to have had at least a one month interval between them. However, the Prince and his advisors had pushed for the dates to be moved earlier, in order to compensate for any miscalculations.

Now that his decision had paid off, the Prince was glad that he had pushed for the dates to be moved, but he still couldn't believe that Gottfried was moving so quickly. This was putting a lot of pressure on him.

"Did you inform the Royal Council about this?" The Prince asked after a brief period of silence.

"No, not yet your majesty. I wanted to let you know first and was planning on informing them afterwards," the messenger shook his head as he spoke, and the Prince nodded.

"That's good. Inform them after you leave this place. I want them to know that we're on a deadline here, and we're losing time as we speak!" The Prince commanded and the messenger nodded furiously. "You can leave now!"

The messenger immediately left his room, leaving Prince alone once again. 

Sigh..

The Prince let out a heavy sigh as he looked outside from the balcony. 

'I need to make sure nothing unexpected happens… or else the whole of Argria might be in danger!'