The Imperial Capital explodes. The barrier built by hundreds of Sorcerers, the super-grade walls crafted by Dwarves, all crumble under the intense explosion from within, bursting chaotically.
Seeing this, the Empire’s Knights immediately rushed toward the Imperial Capital. The dash of superhumans. The Knight Order arrived in front of the capital in an instant and drew their swords upon seeing a man casually walking out of the burning Imperial Capital.
“You bastard!”
The leader of the Imperial Knights, Aura Master Sir Glamour, recognized the man’s face. It was a face impossible to forget.
Just weeks ago, he was the culprit behind the terrorist attack on the Holy Kingdom—Apostle of the Evil God Cult. Sir Glamour’s memory wasn’t that bad to forget him in such a short time.
“How dare you come here!”
As the Knight Commander unsheathed his sword, a powerful Aura Blade erupted. The surrounding knights also drew their swords, aiming them at the Apostle.
Arrogantly looking down at the scene, Arkade slowly expanded his view, taking in the distant Empire and its territories in one glance.
“This is where my grave shall be.”
Hundreds of knights blocking his path, hundreds of Sorcerers rushing from afar, and thousands, tens of thousands of soldiers gathering beyond.
Even as an Apostle, overcoming such a hopeless disparity in forces was impossible. Especially with the nature of his abilities.
His power only made him slightly stronger than the weak masses. Though he sensed his death, he didn’t retreat easily.
“My Lord, are you watching?”
A requiem offered to God.
He offers his life and the lives of the Imperial Army to God.
This is the greatest blessing a Priest could achieve.
“Your servant stood here.”
With that, Arkade charged toward the army facing him.
* * *
The rumor of the Evil God Cult invading the Empire spread across the continent in no time. It soon reached Kail, who was cozying up with Yuri at home.
The Meyer Clan was the shield guarding the Empire, and Kail, the eldest son of the Meyer Clan, couldn’t just sit around twiddling his thumbs.
Kail immediately grabbed his sword and headed to the Empire’s capital with Yuri. Upon arriving, he tilted his head at the scene before him.
“Hurry up and move it!”
“Don’t pour water on oil! Use sand or wind to put it out! Call the Sorcerers!”
“Send the injured to the Church! They’ll pray for them all at once!”
It was too peaceful for an invasion by the Evil God Cult. It looked more like everything had already calmed down after the battle.
Feeling puzzled, Kail grabbed a random passerby and asked,
“Hey mister, what about the Evil God Cult?”
“Huh? What are you talking about? They’ve been dead for ages!”
“…All of them are dead?”
“Yeah! If you’re not helping, get out of the way, we’re busy!”
Kail blankly watched the citizen push past him. All of the Evil God Cult members were dead?
They were no ordinary foes. They had invaded and devoured the mighty Holy Kingdom.
And now they attacked the Empire but got wiped out after destroying a few buildings?
“Is that even possible…?”
Could the Empire have some hidden secret weapon he didn’t know about? Like a giant robot from novels or manga.
If so, it would make sense how they repelled the Evil God Cult with minimal damage. With a giant robot, who cares about world domination?
“But if that’s not the case, then either there’s no robot or it’s useless…”
Finishing his thoughts, Kail grabbed another passerby and asked again.
“How big was the robot?”
“What? What nonsense is this? What robot?”
“Giant robot…”
“Are you spouting rubbish on purpose?”
Sadly, there was no giant robot. This raised even more questions. No robots, no hidden secret forces. So how did the Empire manage to repel the Evil God Cult?
To uncover the mystery, Kail headed directly to the Imperial Capital. As he approached, the number of destroyed buildings increased noticeably.
The destruction of the outer city seemed like nothing more than the aftershock of what happened at the Imperial Capital.
“This area is currently off-limits…”
“Move aside.”
“Y-Your loyalty!”
Kail showed the soldier blocking his path an Aura Blade. While some might not recognize Kail, no one could miss an Aura Blade.
The soldiers immediately scrambled to call their commander, who fortunately recognized Kail upon arrival.
“Sir Kail Meyer. You’ve arrived.”
“What’s going on?”
“The Apostle of the Evil God Cult attacked the Imperial Capital. Alone.”
“Alone…? What happened?”
“We killed him.”
“Man or woman?”
“A man.”
The Apostle was dead. Unable to believe it, Kail headed toward the epicenter of the battle. Numerous traces on the ground told him of the fierce struggle that had taken place here.
Using the hypersensitivity unique to Aura Masters, Kail stopped suddenly and stared intently at a specific spot.
“This is where it ended, which means…”
This was where the Apostle died.
Here, where Arkade, the Apostle of arrogance, lost his life.
The historic site where the Evil God Cult met its end.
“Why…?”
Kail couldn’t understand Arkade’s actions. Did he lead the remaining followers here for revenge? Was it just emotional vengeance?
Arkade wasn’t that kind of man. Even though Kail wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, his intuition was good enough to guess Arkade’s personality.
Arkade would sacrifice himself for the Evil God Cult, but he wouldn’t throw his life away over pointless emotions.
“There’s something else. But what…?”
“Kail.”
While Kail was deep in thought, Yuri, who had followed him, gently tapped his shoulder and spoke.
Turning his head, Kail finally realized they were at the Imperial Capital and slowly stood up.
After all, the Imperial Capital was where the imperial family resided.
“It’s been a while, Kail Meyer.”
“Your Majesty the Emperor.”
“Your Majesty the Emperor.”
The Emperor appeared before them.
Kail slowly raised his head, meeting the Emperor’s gaze.
“Are you unharmed?”
“Thankfully. My army protected me.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Good? Good…”
The Emperor muttered after hearing Kail’s words. Kail tilted his head, wondering if the Emperor had some worries.
“Defeating the Apostle was good, but our army suffered heavy losses. Sir Glamour, the Aura Master, is bedridden, and the knights and soldiers are injured. From the outside, the Empire looks dangerously unstable.”
“Do you think anyone would dare attack the Empire now?”
“Rulers are the kind of people who do crazy things sometimes.”
After being attacked by the Apostle, the Empire appeared weakened to outsiders, enough to make neighboring kingdoms consider…
What if the kingdoms formed an alliance and invaded the Empire? The Empire would collapse. The Emperor was worried about this.
But Kail didn’t think it would happen.
“If that was the plan, something feels off.”
Could this have been Arkade’s goal? Chaos between the Empire and the kingdoms, leading to the resurgence of the Evil God Cult—a naively optimistic future.
Would that madman really choose such an uncertain future? Kail didn’t think so. There must be something else…
“Therefore, I command you, Kail Meyer, to protect the Empire…”
“Ah, I’ll handle it myself.”
“…You insolent fool. Do you know who you’re speaking to─”
“Your Majesty. Seems you’ve forgotten my face since it’s been a while.”
Kail smirked as the Emperor tried to issue a royal decree.
“I’m not in the position to take orders anymore.”
Even as an Aura Master, Kail hated taking orders. Now that he’d surpassed that level? He definitely didn’t need to.
Especially from those born into power without achieving anything themselves.
“The Empire won’t be invaded. I won’t covet the Empire or anything like that. Those are things people like Your Majesty should worry about.”
“…People like me?”
“All of humanity, excluding me.”
He’d wanted to say that for a while. Kail spoke and then looked at the Emperor.
The Emperor’s face turned red and blue from humiliation. Kail didn’t care.
“You’re arrogant. Extremely arrogant.”
“Your Majesty, honestly, I’m showing a lot of respect right now. Don’t piss me off further when I already have a headache─.”
He needed to uncover Arkade’s plan. That was the priority, so he didn’t have the luxury of caring about whatever the Emperor said.
Until he figured out why Arkade attacked the Empire alone and died, he had no intention of leaving─.
─Listen.
At that moment, something pitch-black smashed through the Imperial Capital with a thunderous BOOM!
“I have arrived.”
A presence that inspired despair just by looking at it.
The Evil God had descended.
“Shit.”
Kail let out a bitter laugh at the sight.
