Debuff Master-Chapter 1076

Chapter 1076
That was precisely the reason Baal had chosen Siegfried as his successor. He intended to take on the burden himself—both to fulfill his personal ambition and to protect the Demon Realm at the same time.
If the angels succeeded in descending upon the Middle Realm, then it was only a matter of time before the Demon Realm would be in danger too.
Thus, Baal decided to take down Lucifer in order to stop the invasion of the Middle Realm.
However, what came after that was the problem.
If the Demon King and the Chief Archangel fought with their lives on the line, neither side would walk away unscathed from such a fierce battle.
Even the victor would suffer grievous wounds and be practically reduced to a walking corpse, if they could walk at all after that. There was even the possibility that both would end up falling in the battle.
In the worst case, Baal would lose to Lucifer and fail to stop the invasion of the Middle Realm.
If that were to happen, then the Demon Realm would lose the central figure that united them as one—the Demon King—and chaos would inevitably descend upon the whole realm shortly afterward.
That was the reason Baal needed a successor. He needed someone who could lead the demons in his stead, even in the event that he fell in the battle against Lucifer.
And that successor was none other than Siegfried.
Based on what Baal gathered and what he judged with his own eyes, Siegfried was a capable individual who had established himself as the hero of the Middle Realm.
He was quite a powerful demon lord, too, and he even had the Demon Lord of Vengeance, Metatron, as his subordinate. In other words, Siegfried had the potential to grow into an absolute sovereign—one who could command both the Middle Realm and the Demon Realm.
“Have you... made up your mind?” Michael asked.
“Yes, I have,” Baal replied with a nod. Then, he continued, “Weeds must be uprooted before they grow and set deeper roots. If things are left as they are, then both the Middle Realm and the Demon Realm will eventually fall to the angels.”
“
Hmm...
”
“That’s why I have no choice but to move first. It’s better that I cut off Lucifer’s head than wither away doing nothing, don’t you think so?”
“You’re not wrong, but...”
“Enough of that. If I do manage to defeat Lucifer, then I want you to reclaim your title as the Chief Archangel and rule over the Celestial Realm. There’s no reason you can’t do that once you regain all of your wings, right?”
“But I’ve already been branded as a traitor by my own brothers and sisters. How could someone like me possibly govern the Celestial Realm again as the Chief Archangel?”
“Power.”
“...!”
“You didn’t get ousted because you lacked power, Michael. You lost because your heart was too soft. But with Lucifer gone, who could ever stop you from ruling with your strength?”
“But to rule over my brethren by force is just—”
“Then are you going to just sit back and let those so-called siblings of yours invade the Middle Realm?”
“T-That’s...!”
“Suppress them first with power, and then you can persuade them later if you have to. Also, let’s be honest with ourselves. Why did this whole mess happen in the first place? Wasn’t it because you failed to lead them properly?”
Michael couldn’t respond to Baal's words.
The Demon King was correct, and even Michael himself admitted that his gentle nature had created the opening for Lucifer to exploit and rebel.
“Even if I lose, Lucifer will suffer immense damage and lose much of his strength. Once that happens, it won’t be hard for you to reclaim your rightful place as the Chief Archangel.”
“...Okay.”
“And work closely with my successor, Siegfried. Do whatever it takes to prevent a war between the angels and the demons.”
“I understand what you mean.”
“Then that’s enough,” Baal said with a smile. Then, his smile turned melancholic as he added, “I do feel bad for dumping all this on Siegfried. But what can I do? He’s the only one capable of uniting the two realms.”
“That’s true.”
“It’s a shame, though...”
“Why?”
“They say timing is everything in life. If I had become the Demon King in any other era, then I would have aimed beyond the Middle Realm. Who knows? Perhaps I would be the one invading the Celestial Realm with an army?”
“
Ah...
”
Only then did Michael understand why Baal sounded so.
Baal was a tragic Demon King born in the wrong era. If he had risen to power during the peak of the Demon Realm’s power, then it would be the Celestial Realm trembling in fear and not the other way around.
Unfortunately, that was not possible due to the Demon Realm being in decline for so long, which was the reason Baal believed he had been born in the wrong era.
“Well, what can I do about it? Even if I don’t get to invade and conquer the Celestial Realm, being remembered as the Demon King who severed the Chief Archangel’s head isn’t such a bad legacy.”
“Do you really think you can win, though? You know as well as I do that Lucifer is strong.”
“And you think I’m not? I’m the only one in the history of the Demon Realm to have risen from the lowest of the low to the throne of the Demon King. I fear no one—not even you at your prime.”
“I’ll admit that you’re strong, but—”
“I, Baal, am confident that I can win against anyone,” Baal said confidently.
“Then what about the Elder? Can you win against him?” Michael asked.
“Look at the time. It’s time for me to go,” Baal said and walked away.
The moment Michael brought up Deus, the Demon King shook his head as if he had heard a name that he did not wish to hear. He was confident that he could defeat Lucifer, but it was evident that he had zero confidence when it came to fighting Deus.
***
The Holy Alliance locked their gates and braced themselves for a siege after seeing the Allied Forces marching in the distance.
It was a bitterly cold winter. Heavy snow had fallen not long ago, and more was sure to come in a while.
With the weather proving to be favorable to them, the Holy Alliance chose to hold out until more fallen angels came as reinforcements. They had plenty of provisions stored up anyway, so they decided to wait out until snowfall and for their enemies to give up on their own.
However, the Allied Forces understood their intentions all too well, so their goal was to capture the fortress quickly.
Thus, the siege turned into a clash between spear and shield.
“We will probably have to siege the fortress down... and we are expecting considerable casualties, sire,” Hansen said.
“Are there any alternatives?” Siegfried asked.
“I am afraid there are none, sire,” Hansen replied, shaking his head.
There were often situations where no clever plan or tactics could help, no matter how brilliant the strategist was. In siege warfare like this, brute strength was the only thing that mattered.
“Hmm... Okay, let’s siege it down,” Siegfried said after pondering for a moment.
“There will be losses, sire.”
“We will minimize them.”
“But reducing our casualties in a siege is nearly impossible—”
“It’s possible. Just leave it to me,” Siegfried said before leaving the tent. Then, he called for someone.
“Scribe Gringore.”
“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“You like to sing, right?”
“...Huh?!”
Gringore started sweating profusely at the abrupt and random question. He knew from experience that whenever Siegfried asked something weird out of nowhere, he was without a doubt scheming something.
“I... I suppose I do enjoy singing, but—”
“Then do it.”
“Pardon?”
“Sing all you want.”
“I apologize, but... what do you mean by—”
It was then.
Siegfried gave a signal to the Proatine Force members nearby.
“Please, this way.”
“Come with us for a moment.”
The Proatine Force members suddenly seized Gringore and started dragging him away.
“W-Wait! What’s going on all of a sudden?!”
Gringore shouted in protest as he was being hauled off, but Siegfried completely ignored him.
“Y-Your Imperial Majesty! Sire!”
“You’ll find out soon enough, so don’t worry too much!” Siegfried yelled in response, waving his hand at him.
One hour later, Gringore finally realized why the Proatine Force members had brought him here. He was tied to a log at the very front of the army, and he was staring directly at the fortress where the Holy Alliance troops were stationed.
Siegfried stood beside him and activated Discharge before asking, “Now then, let’s hear a nice loud song, shall we?”
“...”
“I think they want to hear you sing, after all.”
“...” Gringore was too dumbfounded to even reply.
He was basically nothing more than a human megaphone right now. Siegfried intended to weaponize Gringore’s abilities and unleash an all-out assault on the fortress.
“It’s nighttime now, sire. Shall we go with a lullaby?”
“Yes, as you command, sire...”
With no other choice, Gringore began singing a lullaby for the enemy troops inside the fortress.
It was a song named the Song of Nightmares, a melody dedicated to disrupting and disturbing the listener's sleep.
“S-Stop!”
“Please, just stop already!”
“Let us sleep, please!”
The soldiers of the Holy Alliance stationed inside the fortress couldn’t sleep a wink thanks to the Song of Nightmares.
It sounded like fingernails scraping down a chalkboard, sending unbearable shivers down their spine. Whenever someone was about to drift to sleep, the sound would grate their nerves and jolt them away again.
What if someone actually managed to sleep? Well, their sleep wouldn't last long.
They would be tormented by vivid, horrible nightmares, which would never fail to jolt them awake after not even an hour.
“
Hohoho!
Good night, you bastards,” Siegfried said sheepishly.
He gazed toward the fortress in the distance and flashed a wicked grin. His plan was to exhaust the Holy Alliance soldiers by not letting them sleep, and once they were too tired, that was the moment he would start the siege.
***
Gringore’s sonic onslaught did not let up.
He kept singing for four full days, and on the fourth day...
“Just kill me... Please... Just let me die...”
“
Ugha...”
The soldiers of the Holy Alliance were no longer capable of thinking straight. Discipline had already collapsed among their ranks, as they lay scattered across their barracks, wallowing in their misery.
They had not slept a single whole hour in the past four days, so the constant stress and sleep deprivation had reduced them to nothing but empty shells.
Gringore’s sonic onslaught was
that
devastating.. As the Phantom Singer, his voice that carried mana couldn’t be blocked with magic or shields.
Trying to plug one’s ears with cotton or cloth was also futile, as even though their ears were completely covered, the sound waves would still travel through their skin, muscle, and bones, shaking the eardrums from the inside.
In other words, those on the receiving end of Gringore’s sonic onslaught had no choice but to suffer for days on end.
Thus, the soldiers inside the fortress started committing suicide one by one. After four full days of suffering constant nightmares, paranoia, and fatigue, some of the soldiers couldn’t bear it any longer and killed themselves.
One by one, the Holy Alliance soldiers began taking their own lives.
“
Kekeke!
Good, good!” Siegfried hovered in the sky, observing the fortress where the Holy Alliance was holed up. “They’re almost done. Just one more day of this and the whole place will fall like a house of cards.”
With that in mind, Siegfried decided to keep the pressure on for just one more day.
On that night...
‘
He must be suffering so much right now. I should go and give him a little encouragement.’
Siegfried went to see Gringore.
“Hey, Gringore.”
“...Y-Your Imperial Majesty.”
Gringore’s voice was completely hoarse and sounded like metal scraping against each other.
It was no surprise, as he, too, hadn't had a wink of sleep in the past four days and had been singing nonstop. If it had not been for Chae Hyung-Seok’s buffs, Gringore would have collapsed from exhaustion days ago.
“Just a little longer. Thanks to you, our allies have avoided massive casualties. Your suffering is saving tens of thousands of lives, and I’m not exaggerating,” Siegfried said.
Gringore’s sacrifice completely incapacitated the enemy, so the number of casualties his allies would suffer from the siege would without a doubt be much lower.
The Phantom Singer’s abilities might not deal massive damage to enemies, but he still pulled off a tremendous feat nonetheless.
“...I understand, Your Imperial Majesty. It is an honor to be of service to the empire, and I will continue to do so,” Gringore replied.
It was then.
“Your Imperial Majesty! Sire!”
A messenger ran up and shouted urgently.
“The Holy Alliance is preparing to retreat!”
“Huh? What?” Siegfried muttered in confusion.
“They have given up on holding the fortress!”
“Oh!”
“Congratulations on your victory, sire!”
Immediately, every soldier nearby dropped to one knee and bowed their heads, congratulating Siegfried.
“Congratulations on your victory, sire!”
“Congratulations on your victory, sire!”
“Congratulations on your victory, sire!”
Thanks to Gringore’s spectacular efforts, the Allied Forces succeeded in taking the fortress without shedding a single drop of blood.