The Magic Council's final resistance could almost be used as a phone wallpaper. They cast a barrier spell, creating a sturdy transparent blue dome over the first-level territory. From a distance, it looked a lot like a legendary monster called "Wanbo Laomu" making its appearance.

Instead of marveling at the power of magic when I first saw such a massive barrier, I felt skeptical. Why didn't the old men of the Magic Council come out to fight us? Since they had the ability to create such a large barrier, they should also have the ability to fight us on equal grounds. What reasons made them use all their power for self-preservation?

I tried to speculate on the process of the kingdom's internal situation and gradually came up with some reasonable explanations.

Firstly, the defeat was exaggerated, causing panic to spread. Witnessing one's own country's army abandoning their armor and fleeing, the impact was terrifying. People naturally thought we must be incredibly strong if our regular army and elite magic users couldn't confront the enemy. In reality, we were not that strong; it was merely the influence of what people saw and heard that led them to think so.

Secondly, the Magic Council's position. With the kingdom on the brink of collapse, they had to make a choice. Either protect the king, protect the nobles, and protect themselves, or abandon those burdens and fight to the death for the faith in the God of Light. Clearly, they chose self-preservation. This also reflected that the so-called God of Light is just a mental shackle imposed on the people during peacetime. When it comes to critical moments, they would mercilessly choose to save their own lives.

Lastly, there were incorrect predictions and a lack of accurate information. When the kingdom decided to send troops, they never thought they would end up defeated like this, so they didn't plan for proper countermeasures. They only knew we possessed a weapon capable of killing enemies from several kilometers away, but they didn't know if it was a cannon or magic, nor did they know how many of these weapons we had.

However, I felt that the old men of the Magic Council were more like a group of cats who had tasted blood. Their long period of privilege prevented them from having the confidence to engage us in direct combat; they only dared to choose passive defense. Perhaps that intermittent blue arc of light was their most confident magic...

"Just fire at that barrier," I ordered simply.

"Raul, but..."

"Just fire. I understand what you want to say."

"But..."

"Gray, in this war, only I know how it will end."

As the giant cannon appeared, and the army scattered, we all breathed a sigh of relief. We weren't worried about facing the miraculous magic in the end because it was already the last desperate measure. It was just that Gray was afraid the artillery fire might mistakenly harm innocent civilians in the kingdom. He had often engaged in clandestine trading in the kingdom before, so he had some sympathy for them.

But I needed to make him understand that unless the fear of death was imposed on those civilians, they would not remember this war.

From now on, every cannon blast would be the funeral bell for the Magic Council.

Sasa and I sat in a place far from the cannon, eating the groundhog jerky that we used to look down upon. Her tail rested on my thigh, and we discussed the future, but this time, our conversation was very practical.

"We only need one car, right?"

"Can't we do without a car?"

"We have a lot of things to bring, like food, water, clothes, materials for making fire..."

"What about horses? Are you still going to ride?"

"Well... how about using two sheep to pull the cart? You can sit in the cart, and I'll ride the horse. What do you think?"

“I can't control those sheep.”

“I'll teach you~”

“Alright.”

“Then we need to find a place with forests and the sea.”

“What is the sea?”

“The sea is a lot of water.”

“Oh, so we won't run out of water then, right?”

“Yes, my clever wife.”

“Honey, that's not a nice thing to say~”

I admit that she can now tell whether I'm really teasing her or not.

“Wife, there's something I suddenly want to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Have you ever thought... that one day I won't want you anymore?”

“Haha, why would you not want me anymore?”

“For example, if I don't think you're beautiful anymore, or if I think you're not enthusiastic enough towards me...”

“Well, I think, honey, if you didn't have me, you wouldn't be able to survive.”

“Oh... you dare to say that.”

“What's wrong with that? Whether you admit it or not, it's the truth.”

“Alright, alright, you're a monster and I'm a human. How could I dare to resist you~”

“What are you saying?”

“What?”

“What what?”

“What what what...”

I kept repeating the word "what" to my wife over and over again. Every time I said it, I would tap her tail on my thigh, and she would poke my back with the tip of her tail. We both laughed nonstop.

After playing around for a while, my hand pressed on the black scar on the front of her tail.

“It must have been painful back then...”

“Haha... wanna try it yourself?”

“If you were the one blocking the entrance that day, I would definitely try.”

I grabbed her waist with my hand and pulled her closer. She gently held my neck with both hands, applying pressure with her knuckles on my throat, and shot me a sharp gaze that used to belong to her brown eyes - a unique Medusa stare.

“You can never leave me!”

“Oh, you too.”

My wife only has one flaw, and that is her innate possessiveness, but this small desire has already been filled by me. Maybe it's because I'm looking forward to the imminent end of the war, I felt excited when she choked me. Sasa tightened her grip, and I slid my hand into the gap in her clothes on her waist. Then, we kissed in a rough manner, colliding our teeth together.

We didn't even notice that the sound of cannons had stopped.

"Um... wait, this isn't right."

"Oh, oh."

My wife also noticed the gazes around us and reluctantly let go of my neck.

"Raul, um, we've fired a hundred shells already. Should we continue?"

"Um... let everyone rest, send more people for patrol tonight, and continue the attack tomorrow morning."

"But we're running out of shells."

"How many are left?"

"About a hundred and twenty."

"It's okay, when the shells are gone, we'll charge into their kingdom and use the explosives they've mined. Anyway, they must understand that this war needs a clean ending."

"Okay."

Holding Sasa, I gave Park instructions for tomorrow's arrangements.

The final stage of this war didn't turn out to be like I had anticipated, with magicians and monsters fighting in the midst of artillery fire. Instead, it was a one-sided attack from us, with the opponent solely on the defense. To be honest, it was a bit boring, especially when we kept hearing the booming sound of cannons.

Because the kingdom was not within our designated area, initially a few shells fell into the secondary territory, causing a fire. However, Park quickly adjusted the angle, and every shell landed accurately on the barrier, exploding upon impact.

That night, we ceased firing and everyone took turns patrolling, with the frequency tripled. I told Sasa to rest assured and walked with Wolfrang's team in the nearby forest towards the third territory.

Under the starry night, Wolfrang and I had many discussions, from our plans for tomorrow and our plans for a month later, to the future changes in the kingdom and the entire southern plain. I wasn't originally planning to share so much with Wolfrang until he said to me, "The thoughts of you and your wife have already begun to affect Leya and me."

"In any case, we will have to uncover that piece of cloth," I pointed to the shimmering light blue barrier in the distance.

"Let's go together tomorrow, Kingdom Inslay."

"Yes, tomorrow we will see the most beautiful view."

Wolfrang and I continued walking for a while, agreeing that tomorrow he and Leya would each lead fifty people, while I would lead Medusa into the royal city, welcoming everything we have built. Of course, I don't know why I firmly believed that the cannon would definitely shatter the barrier tomorrow, there was just a feeling inside me, a feeling that everything would come to an end tomorrow.

When I woke up the next morning, my wife was already awake, showing off her beautifully curved back. I used my index finger to count the vertebrae on her spine, and as I counted, my hand couldn't resist moving towards her chest.

"Aren't you getting up?"

"Just wait a bit longer."

"You're becoming more and more like me." My wife turned around and smiled.

"Hehe, you're becoming more and more like me too."

"I mean, you've been touching me for over a year, don't you think it's enough?"

"Not enough."

"You're silly."

"Hmph, do you think it's enough?"

Suddenly, I hugged her from behind, pressing my chest against her back. Maybe we had exchanged body heat too many times, I couldn't feel her coldness anymore. Maybe in that moment, our warmth balanced each other out.

"Is it enough? If you think it's enough, I won't hug you anymore."

"...Not enough."

"And then?"

"Continue holding me, continue..."

"Boom!"

Just when we were about to cuddle for a while, Sasa and I were both startled by a loud cannon blast. In my typical response when startled, I exclaimed, "Fuck, I thought it was the anti-porn squad!"

"Park, can't you let us know when you're going to fire?"

I shouted from inside the tent while my wife hurriedly put on clothes.

"I already informed everyone, didn't you hear?"

"I didn't hear. What time is it now?"

"It's past eight. Don't you want to come out and appreciate it?"

"Appreciate what?"

"The beauty of destruction."

Park's choice of words wasn't any better than mine. Sasa and I put on our formal attire again and went outside to join everyone in admiring the two colors that emerged when the shells hit the barrier. The massive blue ripples and the orange fireballs created a striking contrast, although the orange fireballs left behind black smoke, while the blue ripples simply dissipated into the air.

Everyone stood, waiting for the final page of the old era to be turned, even though the new page was still blank, we all held onto hope. Leya neatly pinned her hair behind her head, Nephila rested her head on the crossed pair of hind limbs, Wolfrang held a cigar, Park had a pipe in his mouth, and Gray habitually tucked his notebook under his arm.

"Twenty-seven... Twenty-eight... Twenty-nine......"

I'm not sure who started first, but we began shouting the number of times we fired, just like counting down to the new year.