"What on earth is Szayelaporro doing? And what are two high-ranking officials from Impel Down even doing here?"
Austin stared at the two women standing before him, one clad in bright orange and the other in striking yellow. There was no mistaking them—they were Domino, the Vice Chief Guard of Impel Down, and Chief Guard Sadi-chan.
How exactly did Szayelaporro manage to abduct them?
"Your Majesty, please allow your humble servant to explain..."
Noticing Austin's bizarre expression, Szayelaporro immediately spoke up to clarify the situation.
Listening to his explanation, the pieces finally fell into place for Austin. It turned out that when Szayelaporro caught wind of the chaotic battle between the Straw Hat Pirates and Magellan, he saw a golden opportunity.
Taking Aaroniero, the Ninth Espada, along for the ride, he had infiltrated the great underwater prison under the guise of "research." Not only did he raid Level 6, the Eternal Hell, and bring a significant number of notorious pirates back to Las Noches, but he also crossed paths with these two beautiful Impel Down guards on his way out.
In Szayelaporro's mind, Austin was a supreme king. How could a king not have powerful bodyguards or elegant ladies-in-waiting by his side? And when it came to a ruler's retinue, the more, the merrier.
Determined to please his lord, Szayelaporro took the initiative. He figured that helping the king assemble a court of beautiful, capable maids would earn him a bit more leniency in the future.
Hearing this, Austin breathed a sigh of relief internally. Having a subordinate like this was honestly both a headache and a bizarre comfort. Though Szayelaporro had clearly overstepped his bounds, Austin had to admit it was done out of genuine loyalty.
"Well done. I will remember this," Austin said, reaching out to give Szayelaporro a light pat on the shoulder.
"Yes! To serve the King is my ultimate honor!" Szayelaporro cried out, dropping to one knee with overwhelming excitement.
*The King actually praised me!* he rejoiced internally. *Fantastic! Once the King leaves, I can use this to brag to the others! This is the first time His Majesty has praised me directly!*
"Austin~"
Esdeath pouted. She slid closer, wrapping her arms around Austin's right arm and pressing it tightly against her bountiful chest. She looked up at him with a gaze that was uncharacteristically soft, sweet, and longing.
How could Austin look at other women for so long when she was right beside him? She wanted her King to look only at her and spoil her a little.
"Alright, alright, there's a good girl," Austin said helplessly, looking down at the beautiful Queen and gently stroking her hair.
"Ah! Nel wants that too!"
Nelliel, who was resting on Austin's shoulder, let out a soft whine. With a smug little grin, she pulled Austin's other hand and placed it firmly on top of her own head.
Seeing this play out, the rest of the Espadas remained completely silent, keeping their mouths shut tight to avoid saying the wrong thing. Lilinette even shivered slightly, leaning closer to Starrk and tugging at his hand.
Opposite them, Domino and Sadi-chan were trembling. Neither dared to utter a single word.
After all, the man standing before them was a terrifying demon king who had thrown the entire world into chaos. Even though they were isolated in Impel Down, they frequently read the newspapers and were well aware of the state of the world.
What they didn't expect, however, was for this fearsome Demon King to suddenly turn toward them and flash a warm, gentle smile.
Turning back to Szayelaporro, Austin instructed, "Make sure they are fed well, have everything they need, and can live comfortably. Treat them gently and await further orders."
As Austin and his entourage slowly walked away, Sadi-chan suddenly gasped. She clutched her chest, her delicate body trembling violently. Her face flushed with a mixture of breathless ecstasy and a sudden, sharp ache.
Beside her, Domino's breath hitched as she snapped out of her daze, a deep blush creeping onto her fair cheeks. Both women recalled Austin's incredibly charming, gentle smile, and a wave of numbness washed over their bodies.
"Hey, Sadi-chan... what's wrong with you?" Domino asked, forcing her own trembling legs to move as she looked at her friend in concern.
Having worked together in Impel Down for years, the two were incredibly close. Seeing Sadi-chan react this way deeply unsettled Domino. Given their current predicament, they would likely spend the rest of their lives trapped here; there was zero chance the Marine Headquarters would be able to rescue them.
Right now, they only had each other for comfort and support. Domino didn't want anything bad happening to her dearest sister.
"Um... Sadi-chan needs to change her panties..." Sadi-chan whispered. She tilted her head, brushing her hair aside to reveal her beautiful, glazed eyes as she spoke in a breathless, trembling, and utterly coquettish voice.
Domino didn't catch on at first, but when she glanced down at the floor, she finally understood.
*She's a total masochist queen!* Domino thought, completely flabbergasted by Sadi-chan's words. *Are you serious right now?!*
Meanwhile, after inspecting the state of the pocket "Hueco Mundo," Austin smiled with immense satisfaction.
Hueco Mundo had grown exponentially. It now housed over 60,000 low-level Hollows, more than 20,000 powerful Hollows, and 10,000 giant Hollow variants. There were even over a hundred Gillian-class Menos!
Furthermore, there were countless souls floating around that had yet to fully take shape. Austin was confident that given a little more time, the population of Hueco Mundo would easily double or triple. He couldn't help but look forward to it.
Without wasting any more time, Austin took Esdeath and returned to the Nova Kingdom.
Inside the grand Throne Room of the Nova Kingdom, Austin sat upon his throne. Flanked by Esdeath, Nelliel, Rem, Ram, Starrk, and Grimmjow, he looked down at his gathered subjects with a slight smile.
"Summon Admiral Virgil," he commanded.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Outside the main hall, two hulking, heavily armored guards heard the command, their spirits instantly soaring. *That is the King's voice! His Majesty has returned!*
The two guards entered, knelt in deep reverence before Austin, and immediately set off to fulfill the order.
It was time to bring absolute order to the Nova Kingdom. Once everything within the realm was perfectly organized and stabilized, it would be time to journey to a brand-new world! But first, he was going to officially declare Esdeath as the Grand Marshal of the kingdom.
Time flew by, and before long, Admiral Virgil entered the palace.
The moment he stepped into the hall, he was stunned. The massive room was packed to the brim with powerful figures lined up in two orderly rows.
From the Espada Corps, there was the First Sword Starrk, the Second Baraggan, the Third Harribel, the Fourth Ulquiorra, and every other Espada down the line. Beside them stood the elite members of Night Raid, Yun Yun, and various other powerful summoned entities.
Faced with such an overwhelmingly powerful gathering, the elderly Virgil felt a wave of self-consciousness. *How embarrassing,* he thought, coughing slightly to clear his throat as he quietly shuffled to the very back of the lines.
Though he wanted a spot near the front, he simply didn't have the nerve to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with these monstrously strong individuals. He contentedly took his place among the other ministers. At his advanced age, he wasn't looking to make a fortune anymore; his only desire was to train and cultivate the army.
"Very well. Now that the prominent ministers and generals of our kingdom have gathered, let us discuss the future development of the Nova Kingdom," Austin said, looking over the crowd and nodding slightly as he saw the elderly Virgil take his place.
"First and foremost, our primary directive is to bolster our military strength and increase our numbers. I want to see a standing army of 300,000 men within the next six months."
Austin paused, looking toward the back. "General Virgil, what is the current troop count of the Nova Kingdom?"
"Reporting to the King," Virgil stepped forward respectfully. "The Nova Army currently stands at 150,000 active soldiers! Additionally, we have over 250,000 troops stationed across our conquered territories."
"Among them," Virgil continued, his eyes gleaming with awe, "the 50,000 elite soldiers of the Nova Kingdom who were administered the serum developed by Minister Mars of the Alchemy Department have shown staggering results."
"According to the Doriki testing equipment we seized from the Marines, the average power level of a soldier who received the basic enhancement serum sits at roughly 370 Doriki!"
"As for the rest of our standard forces who have not yet received the serum, their average Doriki value is approximately 150!"
As an ex-Marine Headquarters Captain, Virgil knew exactly what those numbers meant. If a person's Doriki reached 500, they were classified as a superhuman! A 500-Doriki warrior could shatter boulders with a single punch, lift thousands of kilograms with ease, rip tigers and leopards apart barehanded, and duel massive beasts over ten meters tall.
The Nova Kingdom's army was already knocking on the door of that terrifying tier. Once Minister Mars successfully mass-produced the intermediate enhancement serum and administered it to those 50,000 elite soldiers, they would birth a terrifying army where every single soldier possessed a Doriki value well over 1,000!
To put that into perspective, most operatives within the World Government's renowned CP organizations operated at that level. And in the near future, the Nova Kingdom would possess hundreds of thousands of such monstrous soldiers. How could any nation on earth possibly stand against them?
*Wait, the average Doriki of an unenhanced soldier is already 150?* Austin was briefly taken aback by the military's baseline strength. Then, he suddenly remembered the Kingdom's very first baseline buff:
> **[Tiger's Might Passives]:** Every soldier in your kingdom will possess the ferocious momentum of a tiger. Physical Strength +50, Endurance +50.
>
How could a mere Tier 1 Kingdom buff provide such a massive leap in power? Actually, relying on that buff alone would make these numbers difficult to achieve.
But as it happened, the Nova Kingdom had just upgraded into a Super-Tier Kingdom. Austin hadn't checked the two newest Kingdom buffs yet, so he quickly opened his system prompt logs.
> *[Ding! Your kingdom's National Might has exceeded 2,000 points. Automatically upgrading to a Tier 2 Kingdom!]*
> *[Nova Kingdom Buff ② Activated: Valor in Battle!]*
> *Effect: Every soldier in your kingdom will become a fearless, battle-hardened warrior. Strength +80, Mental Fortitude +20, Endurance +80.*
>
> *[Ding! Your kingdom's National Might has exceeded 3,000 points. Automatically upgrading to a Super-Tier Kingdom!]*
> *[Nova Kingdom Buff ③ Activated: Bloodstained Crusade!]*
> *Effect: Every soldier in your kingdom will possess an unyielding will to fight to the bitter end. Strength +100, Vitality +100, Agility +100, Willpower +100.*
> *[Please continue to work hard to elevate your kingdom's tier. The higher the tier, the more advanced and powerful your Kingdom Buffs will become!]*
>
Austin was utterly stunned as he read through the descriptions of the two new buffs.
Military recruitment had been halted for over a month to put the entire army into a rigorous training cycle, and they hadn't run a military inspection since. In other words, with these compounding buffs, the actual Doriki value of his 150,000-man army had likely skyrocketed past the 1,000 mark already!
He knew that one point of physical stat attributes roughly translated to two Doriki points.
(50 + 80 + 100) \times 2 = 460 baseline Doriki points from the attributes alone!
Furthermore, the basic enhancement serum developed by Mars more than doubled the base physical traits.
In an instant, he realized he didn't just have an army; he had 50,000 absolute supermen. The 50,000 soldiers who had taken the basic serum—who previously averaged 370 Doriki before these new buffs kicked in—were likely sitting closer to a staggering 1,500 Doriki right now!
Austin rubbed his chin, a smirk playing on his lips. Even without deploying his top-tier powerhouses, sending this army onto the battlefield in a single wave would make the World Government and the Marine Headquarters cough up blood. This was the equivalent of having 50,000 elite Marine officers at his beck and call.
"Mars, double your efforts," Austin said, turning his gaze toward the wizard. "Coordinate with the Minister of Finance for any materials you need. I want the intermediate serum finalized as soon as possible."
"By your command, Your Majesty!" Mars replied, mentally resolving to finalize the intermediate serum's formula without delay.
After issuing a flurry of other administrative orders, Austin slowly stood up, his voice echoing through the grand hall.
"Finally, there is one last major announcement this King must make."
"From this day forward, Esdeath shall assume total command of the Nova Kingdom's military forces. She is officially appointed as our Grand Marshal!"