Mystical Journey

While the four people, both politically and physically powerful, took their seats up there, the First Princess arrived fashionably late as well, curtsying at everyone before getting seated.

There was also a handsome copper-skinned man, wearing the signature white-silver colors of royalty, who walked up to the platform and sat together with everyone else. This was obviously the legendary Fourth Prince.

The Fourth Prince looked utterly confident, exchanging a glance with Grand Duke Cody, smiling composedly as he sat down. At the same time, he nodded politely towards the others.

Garen sat towards the left near the curtain, the next two seats beside him completely unoccupied.

He was glad for the quiet too, leaning on the chair back, lacing his fingers together with an expression as though ready to watch the drama unfold.

The seats beneath him were mostly filled in now as well. The theatre's doors fell to a gradual close.

Bam!

A circle of silver ripples spread across the large arching marbled-white doors, expanding quickly along the surrounding walls, covering all the walls inside the theatre.

In an instant, all the forces within the theatre became a single entity.

The middle-level nobles below made a slight commotion, but they quickly settled down.

"The Second Kovitan Conference! Has officially begun!!" The herald shouted loudly.

As his voice sounded, the whole theatre slowly fell quiet.

Benoc smiled slightly, tapping the long white table with his finger.

Tap-tap!

"Silence, everyone. Silence!"

Instantly, everyone inside the theatre fell completely silent, and everyone's attention focused on Benoc.

"Yesterday, our Kovitan's great ruler, His Majesty Avic, passed away due to unfortunate circumstance, and the royal bell of mourning was sounded throughout the Empire. But the dead are gone, and we the living need to consider the serious matters at hand." He spoke slowly and clearly, trying hard to make sure everyone present could understand what he meant.

"The people seated here, are all those who haven't abandoned the Empire even at the most crucial moment. Right here, representing Her Highness the First Princess, I sincerely thank all of you."

Benoc stood, and solemnly bowed slightly towards those seated below.

Whoa…!!

There was instantly thunderous applause from below.

It took several whole minutes before Benoc straightened up.

"Right here, we are gathered together, and everyone's aim, is to help the Empire through this crisis. The Three…"

Brrr!!!

The ground started vibrating all of a sudden, as though there was an earthquake, the entire theatre shaking constantly.

Benoc steadied himself, and even though he was just interrupted, his expression was one of joyful surprise.

"It's here!!"

Grand Duke Cody stood up. Turned his head up to look at the sky.

The center of the whole theatre's ceiling began to swirl and open, like a blooming flower, a huge circle hole appearing in the middle to reveal the afternoon sky outside.

The sky was golden-red.

The setting sun had dyed the white clouds outside red, and amidst the red clouds, a pillar of silver-white light, straight as an arrow, pierced into the sky.

Whoosh!!

The light pillar broke apart the clouds, leaving behind a clear straight white line, flying into the distance.

Countless clouds surrounded the traces left behind by the pillar of light, twining around it, as some of the sparkles of white light scattered down like raindrops.

"God bless the Empire!!!"(1) Benoc was the first to yell loudly.

"God bless the Empire!!" Cody shouted as well.

"God bless the Empire!!!!!" Suddenly the First Princess, the Fourth Prince, all the attending nobles, everyone all stood up, and yelled passionately.

They weren't really sure what happened, but this shot of white light was flying towards the West Farm's defense lines.

Before, the Wall of the Empire, General Georbas had led an army to resist the monsters and eventually self-destructed, temporarily slowing the attack of the sea of monsters. Plus there were many monsters, impeding their speed, which was why the Kingdom was spared from attack.

But everyone was also worried because of this, and half of the people had fled the Kingdom even before the sea of monsters arrived.

And now with this sudden pillar of white light shooting into the sky, the reactions of Benoc and the others were enough to tell everyone that this was very likely the Empire's final trump card.

Garen stood along with the crowd but didn't shout, simply lip-syncing with them.

He looked up and watched that pillar of light, even the traces of forces it had left behind could linger in the sky for so long without scattering, and it even permeated through the sky above the entire Kingdom, ending up several tens of kilometers long!

Such power had indeed far exceeded that of a single Form Four peak-level fighter.

After the crowd vented their passions for a while, Benoc finally began calming everyone down again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our Kovitan's final shield, Lord Caeserton, has finally been truly activated. "The Ultimate Shelter Caeserton had actually merged fully with the previous emperor, Hanison, but when His Majesty Avic was on his deathbed, he used his life as the price to fully activate Caeserton's true power as an Original Heirloom. As for the situation here, I invite Her Highness the First Princess who understands it best to explain."

The First Princess stood up on cue, her expression solemn. She wore wholly white, black crepe tied onto her hand to look like a pure black rose.

"Caeserton is Kovitan's biggest secret, and was also the most integral core that Father had been studying his whole life. This Original Heirloom isn't like what others assumed, with a simple activation maneuver and huge power."

She paused and glanced beneath her, vaguely seeing some greedy gazes among them.

"Every time Caeserton is activated, it requires all of the inheritor's life force. This time, the price was Father!"

As soon as she said that, the whole audience beneath her gave a jolt.

Even Garen, sitting at the side, was shaken, he never thought that the price for using Caeserton's power would be so high! At the same time, he also understood why Benoc and the First Princess would choose to openly announce this secret.

Obviously, this was to cut off the ambitions of Obscuro and the masterminds behind them. An Heirloom that required all of the inheritor's life before it could be used, what was the point no matter how strong it was?

Besides, Caeserton had already been merged into the previous emperor of Kovitan, and it was hard to say what it had become inside. Rather than trying to get this thing, they might as well set their sights elsewhere.

"That pillar of light just now was the previous emperor hearing His Majesty Avic's plea, officially activating Caeserton's power and throwing it all at the sea of monsters near the West Farm defense line." Cody's deep voice began explaining. He evidently didn't want the First Princess to keep stealing the show.

The Fourth Prince stood up hurriedly.

"Father mentioned before that Caeserton's power is enough to cover the entire Kingdom of Kovitan, as well as the surrounding area of about five hundred meters in radius. And it can last for thirty years. Therefore, we are now completely safe!"

"May I ask, can Caeserton's power truly fight the endless army coming from the nest of monsters?" A bulky middle-aged man from below stood up and asked.

This man's forces around his body had actually reached Form Four, he was a Form Four elite fighter!

He was obviously the representative of that Little Alliance formed by the many different guilds. They didn't have any peak-level fighters like the Grand Dukes and Garen, and couldn't get much say through their status, so naturally they didn't have the right to sit at the very top. But quite a few of the middle-level nobles down there were among their ranks.

"Of course, this is for certain. Caeserton had fought against the snowstorm disaster from the North for up to ten years, this was recorded in history." The Fourth Prince replied calmly.

"They're all Original Heirlooms, so why aren't the other powers' Original Heirlooms as powerful as Kovitan's?" A child stood up, wearing a black cape, and asked like a little adult.

Sitting at the side, Garen was drinking some fruit juice to moisten his throat, but when he saw this child, he nearly sprayed out that mouthful of juice.

That child was evidently a member of his Crimson Team, Kid.

He was still the same as ever, completely wrapped up in black clothes, only revealing his black eyes, a strange air still winding around his entire person.

How did this guy get in here! Hadn't he left with the Secret Service?

Garen was speechless, he wouldn't forget that this guy could actually kill without hesitation just because Kid was friendly towards him.

After that large strawberry, he realized that strange things would always show up around Kid.

Hurriedly swallowing his juice, Garen waved at Kid.

"About that, the price to be paid is directly proportional to the rewards." The Fourth Prince was in the middle of answering Kid's question. But suddenly he saw the boy retreat into the crowd, and vanished as though he had gone invisible.

At the same time, a small head popped out from behind Garen's seat, it was Kid who had just been beneath the stage.

The crowd beneath the stage began to rumble again.

A hint of surprise flashed past the eyes of the other three strong fighters on stage, but none of them showed anything strange.

The Fourth Prince and the First Princess were also people who had seen all sorts of strange powers, so they paused for just a moment before continuing to answer questions from beneath the stage.

"Why didn't you leave?"

Garen said quietly to Kid behind him.

"You haven't left, and you still owe me money." Kid said matter-of-factly. "Of course, the main reason is that I realized that compared to the others, you are more…" Suddenly his voice went silent. As though he was a duck whose throat had gotten abruptly stuck, he went completely quiet.

Garen turned back to look at him in confusion.

He saw Kid's mouth hanging open, his black eyes like dark deep bottomless black holes, staring hard at Grand Duke Cody's direction.

Following Kid's gaze, Garen paused slightly.

Behind Grand Duke Cody's seat, just like his, there was a little girl in a red dress who wasn't even as tall as the chair.

The little girl was completely wrapped in a red cloak, revealing only a pair of blood-red eyes, dressed extremely similar to Kid.

The little white legs sticking out from under the little girl's dress looked completely bloodless, barefoot, and gave off the strange feeling as though they were swollen and about to rot.

Just like Kid, the girl was staring hard this way as well.

Suddenly, thick blood began to flow slowly down the girl's inner right thigh, flowing down her thigh to her calf, all the way down to her foot, but as it was about to touch the floor, Garen's eyes blurred suddenly.

He blinked, and realized that the blood had somehow disappeared.

Garen looked at the girl's head instead.

She suddenly pulled up her mask, revealing a fair, delicate chin and a small blood-red mouth.

Bleh!

The girl suddenly stuck her little tongue out at Garen.

It was supposed to be a mischievous and adorable action, but after she stuck out her tongue, she didn't pull it back in, instead making it longer and longer, longer and longer.

The previously pink tongue had somehow become blood-red, and kept going down, falling to her chest, stomach, groin, legs, and like a snake, began to twine and crawl up the little girl's right shoulder, poking the tip over her shoulder.

"Lu-lu-lu…"

The girl seemed to be making a cute face, but Garen didn't find it cute in the slightest. He just felt a terrifying feeling surge over to him endlessly.

Suddenly, a tiny figure in a black cloak stood in front of him. Blocking away all of that terrible air.

It was Kid!

Translator's notes:

天佑帝国, lit. Heaven bless the Empire