The capital of the Ancient Empire, destroyed thousands of years ago, was bustling despite the desolate atmosphere suggested by its name.

“Pack everything from Cabinet Row A to Row Z!”

“Completely destroy the biological laboratories. Dispose of all test subjects too!”

“We’ve lost contact with Umbora City.”

“The merchant groups in Parmason City aren’t responding either.”

“It’s probably the sandstorms. Move everything with our own manpower for now. As long as we can trigger the mental waves, the corpse armies aren’t a threat.”

Bachelors, Masters, and graduate students of the Hall of Purity hurried back and forth, carrying equipment and stacks of dissertations.

On the terrace of the old imperial palace—

Department Dean Piaget brushed back his black hair and looked down over the city with pale yellow eyes behind metal-rimmed glasses.

“So it’s truly coming to an end.”

A trace of melancholy flickered through his gaze for only a moment.

Step. Step. Step.

“Doctor Jung is dead.”

A blue-haired Doctor approached and bowed his head.

“Doctor Karl?”

“This is your final opportunity, Department Dean. The final defensive line has effectively collapsed. Soon the Elector Princes will storm in and begin worldwide contamination of the literature. And when one considers how much a single department dean can contribute to truth—”

“You talk too much, Karl.”

Piaget cut him off firmly, cold light glinting beyond his lenses.

“What is it you truly wish to say?”

“Jung was my brother. Just as Jung died protecting you, Department Dean, I also wish to remain with you until the finale of this academic conference.”

“You must seek your own truth. You must not subordinate yourself to mine. Are we not both Doctors? If scholarship requires it, you must even be capable of declaring my words wrong.”

“Then I shall speak honestly.”

“Go on.”

“I, too, wish to teach the Elector Princes the truth. I want to show them clearly what the power of the Holy Seats they follow so blindly truly is.”

Karl hesitated briefly before lowering his head.

Piaget turned toward him.

Karl braced himself for a severe reprimand.

“Very well.”

Instead, the reply that came back was almost gentle.

“Once one establishes one’s own truth, it is only natural to wish to spread that truth to everyone else.”

“Department Dean!”

“Many of our brothers and sisters in scholarship have already followed the Dean for the sake of research and experimentation. One more devoting himself to education can hardly hurt.”

Karl bowed deeply, overcome with emotion.

“Then let us refine the script and presentation samples one more time.”

“Yes, sir.”

Together, they entered the imperial palace of the Ancient Empire.

They walked through corridors lined with countless white stone pillars more than twenty meters high as though strolling through their own home.

Saaaa—

Inside the hall floated gigantic illusions created by magic tools.

There was a map of the entire Empire, and above it hovered the illusion of an enormous floating castle.

Another illusion magnified only that castle dozens of times over.

On one side, gigantic glass tubes held mutant demonic beasts and graduate students of various sizes asleep in green liquid. On the other side, enormous glass containers brimmed with liquid shining in brilliant rainbow colors.

The liquid Kyrie and Andromeda called the elixir of sacred radiance.

“I considered the possibility that someone might eventually refine it from mutant demonic beasts, but I never imagined they would truly succeed. Honestly, it seems even I underestimated them too much.”

“Quite a few members of the Hall are blood relatives of the great houses, are they not? We should all take care not to drown in the arrogance of intellectuals.”

“You are correct.”

That liquid was not something Kyrie and Andromeda had “developed.”

Nor were they the first to “discover” it.

“But isn’t it laughable how the Myriad Star Church sanctifies this thing and calls it the ‘elixir of eternity’?”

“It is not entirely incorrect, is it? Aside from the ‘elixir’ part.”

“Indeed. That which is perfect can never become complete.”

After all, how could something that had existed since the era of the Ancient Empire possibly be called a discovery or an invention?

It was merely the secret medicine the twin tyrants had created in order to transform humans into monsters like themselves.

“Come.”

Piaget smiled as he looked outside the imperial palace with those yellow eyes.

“Truth is hungry.”

Hoo— chiiiiik. Hoo— chiiiiik.

Rough breathing echoed from behind the leather masks of the red-haired twins, steam rising every time they exhaled.

“I never thought this would actually work.”

“This young lady feels the same.”

Vicher and Vichera stared toward the white city walls and colorful banners in the east with almost hollow smiles.

Together with Severic, the young lord of Septentrios, the house of ice, they had marched from the northwest.

To the east flew the banners of Astreos and Rikenta. To the southwest flew the banners of Crosel and Stellite.

Soletaraon blocked their view, but messengers had already passed between the armies, so they knew that beyond it stood Kyrie’s banner, Terra’s banner, and the banner of the Myriad Star Church.

As rulers themselves, they knew exactly how difficult it was for massive numbers of people to arrive at the correct place on the correct date.

There’s a reason encirclement campaigns are usually nothing more than fantasies drawn on maps.

Though they had not shown it openly, they had even worried when Kyrie first proposed surrounding Soletaraon.

Yet Kyrie appeared to have succeeded magnificently.

But before someone who can actually accomplish it, probability loses all meaning, does it not?

Once this political marriage ends, we truly ought to bring him to our house. The more I think about it, the better he seems to fit us.

The twins exchanged wolfish grins.

As expected, they were perfectly compatible with him.

Kyrie, too, would surely want to work with them more in the future.

Several dozen kilometers away—

The headquarters of the Myriad Star Church army.

This should have been impossible.

Saint Sirius clenched his fist tightly, trembling.

He had lived a life nearly twice as long as the Flammerios twins combined.

Before becoming a Blue Knight, he had served for over eighty years as commander of the Church’s cathedral knights.

More than anyone else, he knew exactly how absurd Kyrie’s so-called operation had sounded.

Annihilation through encirclement.

An encirclement campaign across the corpse-waste plains, where even supplying an army properly was nearly impossible.

And on top of that, surrounding the plains were suspicious free cities that were highly likely to become enemies at any moment.

If they were lucky, they would simply starve to death. If they were unlucky, they would be stabbed in the back and then starve to death.

Yet because of the Falling-Star Meteoric Iron Demon Sword incident, he had been forced to obey those utterly impossible orders in practice.

And it had succeeded.

?!

Saint Sirius genuinely could not understand why this had worked.

How had armies numbering in the tens of thousands, separated by hundreds or even thousands of kilometers, managed to gather in one place without a single variable disrupting the operation?

Several dozen kilometers away again—

“My younger brother is simply that exceptional.”

“It is because this lady’s husband is superior.”

Inside the joint command headquarters of the Astreos and Rikenta armies—

Andromeda and Erica admired Kyrie’s foresight.

There truly seemed to be something mystical hidden within Kyrie’s right eye.

It almost made them wonder whether he had offered that eye to a Holy Seat and seen the principles of the celestial sphere itself.

Ordinarily this would have collapsed. Supply lines determine marching routes, and supply speed determines marching speed. Every house and every army uses different methods and schedules, so failure should have been inevitable. But because of my younger brother, the Myriad Star Church ended up taking responsibility for all logistics, and that changed everything.

The Myriad Star Church is both a religious institution and an administrative institution. They’re accustomed to cooperating with neighboring dioceses to carry out work, and if squeezed hard enough, they somehow produce results. Of course, under normal circumstances, no great house or faction would ever dare squeeze the Myriad Star Church in the first place.

Kyrie had succeeded in squeezing the Myriad Star Church into assuming responsibility for logistics.

The unification of the supply lines became the unification of the advance routes, and the Elector Prince armies succeeded in moving at roughly the same tempo.

After that, it was merely a matter of grinding through countless courier dragons and messengers.

Little brother. You’re the best. Once this war ends, your big sister will absolutely make you a Guardian of the Realm of the Empire. Understood?

This lady is the Viceroy, while you are merely a Grand Duke, so admittedly this hurts this lady’s pride a little. Once this war ends, Guardian of the Realm—no, you deserve to become at least Grand Prince Regent.

Andromeda and Erica smiled as they looked toward the southern banner where an eyepatch, a sword, lightning, and stars crossed together.

A younger brother they could proudly boast about anywhere.

A deeply satisfying political marriage partner.

“Either those bastards are idiots. Or they’re planning something else.”

My old nemesis mocked me.

“Why not just admit it already? My operation was brilliant.”

“That’s impossible. It’s already been a month since we destroyed the twelve free cities around the corpse-waste plains. There’s no way they still haven’t fled. At the very least, every Doctor-level executive should have escaped already.”

“That’s just your opinion.”

Nereus had come to our encampment.

Originally, before the Elector Princes Conference, he had been tasked with clearing out every bandit group, mutant demonic beast, and demonic beast nest between Andromeda’s main army and Rebellion so that her forces could travel comfortably.

Thus, once the conference ended, he should have returned home.

But then the disaster at Rebellion occurred.

Under those circumstances, a Blue Knight commanding forty thousand troops could not simply return to the main house.

The Senate of the main family ordered him to continue escorting Andromeda’s main force until the suppression campaign concluded, and Nereus obeyed faithfully.

And now, on the eve of the assault—

In order to maximize breakthrough power, the two Blue Knights had decided to charge together.

Which meant that bastard ended up sharing a tent with me.

Tyren clearly looked uncomfortable.

Part of me had hoped he would crush Nereus beneath the dignity of a direct bloodline descendant of a great house.

‘I am Nereus of Tonatio Astreos. I look forward to working with you.’

‘Tyren of Terrarion Terra. And what is your primary authority?’

‘Storm clouds and Heavenly Thunderbolt.’

‘H-Heavenly Thunderbolt?!’

Unfortunately, Nereus’s best authority happened to completely counter Terra’s Black Knights.

Tyren shriveled up like boiled vegetables in an instant, while Nereus sat across from me acting as though he were an Elector Prince himself, criticizing my operation.

“Then you explain it. Do you seriously think the people inside there didn’t notice that armies totaling four hundred thousand men—nearly one hundred thousand of whom are gathered here alone—were approaching?”

There was a reason I simply let him talk.

“……”

Because even I thought this situation made no sense.

Honestly, everything Nereus said was correct.

I never expected us to gather here on time either.

I figured one or two great houses would flee after claiming an Elector Prince’s chronic illness or a Patriarch’s illness, Saint Sirius would run off claiming some critical doctrinal dispute, and in the end only Andromeda, Erica, and I would actually show up.

I thought we’d awkwardly celebrate suppressing the Hall of Purity among ourselves like some miserable New Year’s family gathering, then use that as leverage to negotiate with the Myriad Star Church.

But everyone came.

The Myriad Star Church handled logistics all the way to the end, and not a single great house fled behind ridiculous excuses.

As a result, a combined force of four hundred thousand men moved, with nearly one hundred thousand troops reaching this place alone.

And despite all that, the Hall of Purity bastards still remained in Soletaraon.

Judging from the atmosphere, it was not a situation where the leadership had already fled and only incompetent foot soldiers remained behind.

The confidence in the air of this battlefield was unmistakable—the kind of confidence that could only exist if a supreme commander equivalent to a great house Patriarch remained personally overseeing operations.

Why?

It feels a little awkward saying this myself, but by now I’m fairly strong.

【“But it’s true, isn’t it?”】

“Yes. And Nereus, Tyren, Andromeda, Erica, Saint Sirius, Narji, Severic, Vicher, Vichera, and Valherios are all strong as well. There’s no way those bastards would stay behind instead of running.”

【“How fascinating.”】

“No matter how strong they are, they can’t possibly face the great houses head-on. If they could, they would have risen up openly long ago. But now the six great houses, the Church, and the royal family are all gathered in one place, and those idiots are still sitting in there strengthening their resolve?!”

The Hall of Purity had not fled.

And I simply could not understand why.

“His Highness Prince Narji sends this gift after expressing admiration for Your Highness Kyrie’s foresight.”

“Lord Vicher and Lady Vichera were astonished by Your Highness Kyrie’s operation and present this offering as a sign of respect.”

“Saint Sirius says that even he must acknowledge this achievement, that such an operation could only succeed under the protection of the Myriad Star, and has submitted a recommendation to His Holiness the Pope that Your Highness Kyrie be granted the title of Guardian Star—”

“Her Highness Andromeda and Her Highness Erica request that you determine the date of the assault—”

I faced the endless flood of messengers feeling as though I were wearing clothes far beyond my station.

【“Do your best.”】

“Is that all you have to say?”

【“You’ve done well so far, haven’t you?”】

The dreaming thunderous star spoke to me like that.

Have I really done well so far?

I hoped so.

“We begin the attack four days from now, at two in the afternoon.”

I answered while looking at the words floating above my stigma.

【Hero’s Journey, Stage 12】

【Stage 6: Military Exploit】

【Detailed Objective 3: Conquest】

【Conquer the headquarters of the Hall of Purity, the capital of the Ancient Empire.】

【Reward upon success: Thunderbolt Body +100%】

【Punishment upon failure: Thunderbolt Body -100%】

Right.

At this point, success was the only option left.

Chapter 239

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