Outside the palace, countless people had already gathered. They were watching what was happening inside the palace, yet for certain reasons Prince Geller had strictly forbidden anyone else from entering. All the same, Prince Geller kept looking towards the banquet hall with deep worry on his face.
He and the old emperor had been plotting for a long time. The guards inside the palace, members of the royal family, and certain ministers who might move about within the grounds had all been arranged accordingly. No one should have been able to disturb the old emperor and Elisa. However, Prince Geller had still missed one possibility. Ye Chui and Debbie had relied on one of Ye Chui’s strange magical creations to crash straight through the window.
Half an hour had now passed. Heaven only knew what had happened inside. Would the old emperor still be able to follow the original plan and create the false impression that Elisa had killed him? Ye Chui and Debbie were the unpredictable factors. Even if the old emperor died, Elisa could still shift the blame onto Ye Chui and Debbie, claiming the two of them had murdered the emperor.
While tormented by such worries, Prince Geller never imagined that Elisa would walk in so calmly and immediately say something that shocked everyone present.
“From this day forward, the Church declares war on the Star Empire. The Emperor has been killed! I will seize power over the Star Empire!”
The scene fell silent. Believers, black-armoured guards, gold-robed men, and the watching crowd were all stunned.
Although the Star Empire had always been hostile towards the Church, that hostility had remained beneath the surface. As the most powerful force on the continent, no one had ever dared to openly defy the Church’s authority. Countless empires that had tried in the past had left behind bloody lessons. Although the Church acted domineeringly, it very rarely launched direct wars against empires. Its usual method was quiet infiltration, using missionary work to erode the will of the people and eventually destroy the empire from within.
For a figure like Elisa, the head of the Church, to openly declare war and kill the emperor of the empire was unprecedented in history. After a brief moment of shock and doubt, many people at the scene could not help becoming furious.
They acknowledged the Church’s strength, but they were, after all, people of the empire. The Church had actually killed their emperor! This instinctively ignited the anger in their hearts.
The Church had gone too far!
“Lord Elisa, you, what are you saying? How can you do this!?” One of the bishop’s followers, overjoyed at first to see Elisa still alive, was shocked by his words and hurriedly stepped forward.
The Church controlled other kingdoms, but it never did so this blatantly. That went against its principles. Although some within the Church had grumbled about the Star Empire’s resistance and a few had suggested violent measures, they were a minority. Elisa himself had firmly chosen gentle manipulation of the imperial family. Yet today, what had happened to him?
His words would directly provoke the anger of every person in the empire!
“Lord Elisa, please stop talking!” The bishop rushed in front of Elisa and continued urgently.
Elisa merely glanced coldly at the bishop and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Lost sinner, God will forgive you.”
As those words left his mouth, shock and confusion appeared on the bishop’s face. He opened his mouth in a great scream, yet no sound came out, because in the next instant a translucent soul was pulled from his body and rose into the air. The bishop’s body collapsed to the ground with a thud. Elisa had, without warning, sent the soul of this bishop who had always served and revered him to its final rest!
Prince Geller’s expression changed dramatically. He hastily retreated. The black-armoured guards and gold-robed men quickly moved to protect him. The power of a Red Archbishop stood at the very peak of the empire. If he decided to strike, no one could escape his holy word attacks.
“Lord Elisa!”
“Bishop!”
The believers were utterly dumbfounded. They had never expected their beloved Lord Elisa to attack one of his own subordinates. Yet their awe of the Red Archbishop still made them surge instinctively towards Elisa. No matter what, the guidance of God could not be wrong, and among them Elisa was undoubtedly the one closest to God. His words represented God’s will.
If he said they must go to war, then they would go to war!
At that moment several black-armoured guards suddenly attacked the Red Archbishop.
“Stop!” One of the bishop’s followers immediately shouted and stepped forward to block the black-armoured guards.
Elisa’s gaze turned towards them. He spoke coldly. “Ignorant sinners, you dare attack my faithful followers!”
The black-armoured guards were all high-level swordsmen whose sword skills had been honed through rigorous training. When they fought together their power multiplied. This particular group was an elite assassination squad personally trained by Prince Geller; their complementary sword techniques made them exceptionally strong. Although the follower managed to hold them off, he was clearly struggling. When he heard Elisa’s words, joy lit up his face. The merciful Lord Elisa would never abandon his loyal followers.
Then Elisa directly blasted him with a “Holy Word Punishment”. Accompanied by a scream, the follower was sent flying far away by the immense power of the holy word.
“Bishop?”
“Lord Elisa? You, why…”
The other believers were all shocked.
“You are all sinners!”
Elisa suddenly pointed at the believers. Bathed in holy light, his voice rang out majestically.
“No, Lord Bishop, I serve the gods faithfully…” The believers hurriedly tried to defend themselves.
“Lies! You cannot deceive my eyes.”
Elisa shouted and continued unleashing holy words, attacking the believers while crying out frantically. “Those who betray the faith of God deserve divine punishment. From this day forward the Star Empire will be mine. All of you must die!”
The fury of the Red Archbishop was vented upon his most loyal followers. The scene felt strange, but above all it was terrifying, because a crazed Red Archbishop inspired bone-deep fear.
The watching crowd began to retreat in panic, their cries merging into one. At that moment no one considered that the Red Archbishop might be under someone’s control; after all, manipulating the will of a Red Archbishop was simply too outrageous. They only thought that Elisa had killed the old emperor in accordance with the Church’s will and now intended to execute any believers who disobeyed him. The Church was clearly planning to subjugate the Star Empire through iron and thunder!
The presidents of the Magic Guilds and the leaders of the mercenary groups all wore extremely ugly expressions. This world did not overflowily proclaim patriotism everywhere, yet everyone who had grown up on this land carried a sense of honour in their hearts. The Church had gone too far. They had no choice but to feel anger. They had no choice but to resist!
…
Amidst the growing chaos, Prince Geller was the first to calm down. Something was wrong with Elisa. He seemed only to attack the believers while completely ignoring assaults from the black-armoured guards, gold-robed men, mercenaries, and members of the Magic Guilds.
This was very strange. Could it be because…
“Was this done by little brother?” Leisha had already come to Prince Geller’s side and asked him.
Prince Geller shook his head in confusion, indicating he did not know. He then instructed several black-armoured guard commanders to control the situation before rushing into the palace. Leisha, Celc, Guni, Jacob, Dani, and Green, who had just arrived, all followed closely behind.
…
When Prince Geller and the members of the随意 Magic Guild hurriedly reached the banquet hall, they saw the old emperor lying on the ground covered in blood, while Debbie and Ye Chui sat exhausted beside him, their own bodies also stained with blood, as though they had just survived a battle to the death.
The room was in complete disarray. The flying magical war machine and the Crimson Witch had already been recalled by Ye Chui. The huge hole in the window showed just how terrible the fighting had been.
“Father!”
“Fourth Brother!”
“Your Majesty!”
Seeing the old emperor apparently brutally killed, everyone cried out in alarm and gathered around.
They also looked at Ye Chui and Debbie with great concern.
Yet the old emperor suddenly sat up with a slurp and said with disgust, “Did you really have to smear all this blood on me? Did it need to look this miserable…”
“It has to look tragic enough. Let me tell you, this is Chaos Giant Turtle blood, extremely precious, and it tastes especially good…” Only on closer inspection did they notice Debbie holding a small basin and cheerfully smearing more blood onto the old emperor.
Although she and Ye Chui were covered in blood, it seemed… all of it was just turtle blood disguise?
Everyone froze.
“What, what on earth is going on?” Prince Geller asked, his voice filled with bewilderment. “Elisa, what happened to Elisa?”
“Oh, I drove Elisa mad. Now in his eyes believers are imperial soldiers, and imperial soldiers are believers, and he’s frantically trying to kill all imperial soldiers,” Ye Chui explained. “Don’t worry, the old emperor isn’t hurt, but from today he’ll probably have to play dead.”
This was Ye Chui’s plan: let the old emperor fake his death, fool Elisa, make Elisa publicly admit he had killed the emperor, and ignite war between the Church and the empire. On one hand it would fully arouse the anger of the entire population according to the original plan of the old emperor and Prince Geller, and on the other it would force the pro-Church faction among the imperial ministers to choose a side once and for all.
Of course, from this day forward the old emperor would also go completely into hiding, allowing Jacob to ascend the throne.
The most brilliant part of Ye Chui’s plan was that it would consume the power of the believers in the capital while conveniently dealing with Elisa. Elisa had now gone mad and was attacking his own followers. If Ye Chui killed him, the Church would have no grounds to blame him and should even thank him, at least on the surface.
“You take care of things here. Leave the next part with Elisa to me,” Ye Chui said, standing up. “I will fight him to the death in the name of avenging the old emperor and completely eliminate him!”
“Wait, Elisa isn’t someone you can handle…” Prince Geller hurriedly tried to dissuade him.
“Perhaps normally I wouldn’t be his match, but now, not necessarily,” Ye Chui said confidently.
