**Chapter 5: Harpist Academy (24)**
==============================
No! This is impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
The history of the Harpist Academy is as ancient as the Empire itself.
Unless the Empire faces total annihilation, the academy will remain unaffected.
Thus, Sani firmly believed that everything she saw was just an illusion, a product of the negative emotions conjured by that foreign girl’s harp skills.
Lin Nan aimed to completely crush her as the vice dean to cement her winning position in the competition.
Despicable, too despicable!
If she could escape this place, she would definitely not let Lin Nan off the hook.
To dare use the scene of the academy’s destruction to manipulate her? Such outrageous behavior cannot be forgiven by a mere apology!
Having come to this conclusion, Sani finally calmed down.
Before escaping the illusion entirely, perhaps she could explore a bit more for evidence to use against Lin Nan.
After leaving the academy’s ruins, what greeted her was still an endless expanse of devastation.
She could even spot the bones of her demon kin underfoot, but most of the skulls were missing their twin horns, as if they had been ruthlessly severed as part of some grim punishment. This made Sani instinctively touch her own horns, sending a chill down her spine.
Everything here felt so real,
A dreadful thought slowly crept into her mind: could this be the fate awaiting the Empire in the future?
Just then, she suddenly heard a scream from a demon girl in the distance.
But the swirling yellow sand obscured her view, making it impossible to see what was happening.
At this moment, hesitation would mean losing the chance to uncover the truth—and it would vanish in the blink of an eye.
Gritting her teeth, Sani summoned her four-stringed harp and dashed towards the direction of the sound.
As she got closer, she fought through the thin, swirling sand, and her eyes widened at the sight of a golden-armored soldier stomping a demon girl beneath his foot.
Then, with a swift motion, he brought down his kn*fe and brutally severed her delicate twin horns.
The girl let out a heart-wrenching scream before fainting on the spot.
The twin horns were a demon’s emblem, their lifeblood, as vital as any other organ.
Without them, even nobles would lose their bloodline power and become ordinary people.
Witnessing this scene, Sani’s bl**d ran cold as she momentarily forgot she was in the so-called illusion. She immediately began to play a battle tune.
Dozens of wind blades shot towards the golden-armored soldier—“Crack! Crack!”
The soldier fell, lifeless.
Sani rushed over to support the dying girl, and seeing her kin in such a wretched state, even the hardest heart couldn’t bear the sorrow of the fate befalling the rabbit after the fox’s d*ath.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Ding ding dong!”
A healing melody resonated, infusing a spark of life back into the fainted girl.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw a harpist holding a four-stringed harp before her, leading her to cry out,
“Harpist Lord, save me!”
Feeling the warmth of the girl in her arms and recalling everything she had just witnessed, Sani couldn’t believe the illusion could feel this real.
“What happened here? Why has the Imperial Capital turned to ruins?”
The girl, managing a faint smile, replied, “You must have just returned from afar, right? Cough cough…”
“Yes.” Sani couldn’t explain her background and could only nod along.
The girl, stripped of her twin horns, was losing her vitality.
She understood her time was short, and a hint of color returned to her pale face.
“A month ago, an unprecedented sandstorm hit the Imperial Capital and has persisted until today.
And along with the sandstorm came those golden-armored soldiers—powerful and countless—causing all military forces of the Empire to perish in the struggle against them.
Cough cough…”
Sani’s heart trembled as she whispered, “Child, take your time.”
“The rest of us fled in hiding, but the enemy unleashed a massive bombardment, turning all of the Imperial Capital’s buildings into ruins…
My family and I were hiding in a cave, narrowly escaping danger.
But soon, we ran out of food and water, and we could only wait, facing d*ath.
So, I carried my family out to find food, but we were discovered by the enemy… cough cough…
Harpist Lord, do you think the Empire will regain its former glory? Will His Majesty the Emperor come to save us?”
As she spoke, the girl’s breath gradually faded.
Sani hugged her tightly, tears streaming down her face as she repeated, “Yes, it will, it definitely will! The Empire will not perish!”
“Please don’t tell my parents I’m dead. I don’t want to worry them.”
After uttering these words, the girl’s head slumped, and she departed from this world entirely.
Although Sani had experienced lifetimes of partings and loss, this overwhelming surge of emotion triggered by the girl was a first for her.
b*stard! b*stard!
Was what had transpired right before her eyes real or not!
How could the Empire have sunk to such a tragic state? What on earth was the enemy?
How could an Empire that had lasted for thousands of years be so easily shattered!
Gently laying the girl down, Sani decided she needed answers.
But just then, through the endless sandstorm, five or six golden-armored soldiers silently surrounded her.
They raised their blades and, wordlessly, lunged toward their target.
Sani hurriedly strummed her harp, hoping to gain the upper hand at this critical moment.
Unfortunately, having been too engrossed in her power-building endeavors, she had neglected her harpist skills. In her rush, she could only muster three sound waves, sending three of the golden-armored soldiers flying. However, the other two blades pierced her from behind, plunging deep into her lower back. The plump vice dean spat out bl**d and fell to the ground.
In a daze, she saw those two golden-armored soldiers appear before her, raising their blades high, then thrusting them fiercely towards her chest.
With a sharp pain, her consciousness slipped into a deep, eternal darkness.
“Ugh…”
How long had it been? Suddenly, she jolted awake from the darkness, gasping for air like a drowning person surfacing.
She opened her eyes, finding herself still standing in the testing area as if everything that had just happened was an incredibly vivid dream, blurring the line between reality.
Not just her; nearly everyone in the testing area jolted awake with exaggerated expressions.
Faces pale and drenched in sweat, they exchanged glances and hushed whispers, realizing they had all shared the same nightmarish vision, where the vast Imperial Capital was reduced to endless ruins, with golden-armored soldiers ruthlessly slaughtering civilians. Regardless of whether they fled in panic or attempted to intervene, they ultimately couldn’t escape the encirclement of the golden-armored soldiers, perishing beneath their blades.
The sensation felt far too real, and even now, the memory of being pierced lingered sharply, refusing to fade away easily.
“Ding ding dong…”
The harp music suddenly stopped.
Lin Nan slowly stood up, her gaze sweeping across the crowd. “So, how was it? Did you all see the future of the Imperial Capital?”
