Naturally, we could not launch a “stealthy” attack.

A great army approaching one hundred thousand in total would be crashing in from every direction. If they had any intelligence at all, they would respond like a disturbed hornet’s nest.

And after combining Bio-radar scans with the scouts’ reports, the city had been maintained so well it was hard to believe it had been abandoned for thousands of years.

All the wooden buildings had rotted away, but the stone and brick buildings still stood firm.

One wrong move, and we would end up fighting the same horrific urban warfare that had repeated itself in Rebellion, Cophion, and countless other cities.

“……Therefore, we have to crush them all at once. By using numbers they cannot answer and quality they cannot answer.”

I had no intention of letting that happen.

“According to the combined results of Bio-radar and the reconnaissance reports from each house, Soletaraon has four main gates and twenty-one posterns. We will use all twenty-five gates.”

Under the pretext of preventing operational leaks, I relayed the plan only through Telephone Conversation while everyone remained in their own encampments.

This had the significant advantage of shutting the mouths of the other great houses, the royal family, and the Church’s Elector Princes—who might have argued if we had met face-to-face—while letting me say whatever I wanted.

Connecting to eight people at once was a heavy burden, but since I sat still in the middle of the encampment, closed my eyes, and focused only on the conversation, I somehow managed.

“When the operation begins, everyone will wear cloaks of the same color. From Elector Princes to superhuman knights, knights, squires, attendants, and soldiers. Everyone.”

Which meant I could demand such tyranny.

‘Duke Kyrie!’

‘How can you make such an outrageous demand!’

I pressed down those perfectly reasonable reactions and continued.

“Here, every human is an ally, and every monster is an enemy. As long as we can distinguish human from nonhuman, friend from foe, that is enough.”

‘How are we supposed to command without banners or heraldry?’

“What is the purpose of command?”

‘Pardon?’

“Now that we’ve come this far, the victory condition is clear. If we break through the outer wall, the inner wall, the main castle—in other words, the imperial palace of the Ancient Empire—and kill every Hall of Purity bastard inside, we win. If they escape, we lose. Given unfamiliar terrain and the nature of urban warfare, systematic tactical command was impossible from the start.”

That was not exactly a lie.

‘Then—’

“The operation is simple. We create a situation where the Hall of Purity bastards don’t know which house is coming from where, forcing them to disperse their forces, then we rush in all at once and break through to the imperial palace while they’re still confused.”

‘This is unbelievable.’

‘But…… he is right.’

“That is the one and only operation available to us.”

So even the Elector Princes could no longer object.

If we had all been gathered in the same place, they might have watched one another’s reactions and resisted, but right now everyone was separated, so even that was impossible.

‘Still, a minimum degree of communication will be necessary.’

“Once you, Elector Princes, have broken through to the imperial palace, raise your banners and send messengers as you please. Before that, I will handle it.”

‘Pardon?’

‘Hm?’

‘Surely not?’

“If I climb onto the outer wall, my Bio-radar can cover the entire city. When a particular front is being pushed back, I will instruct nearby commanders where to go and whom to support.”

Add to that an authority of mine they did not know well, and everything was perfect.

‘Y-you can even do such a thing?’

‘Astonishing. Truly the care of the Myriad Star.’

‘Duke Kyrie’s authority is comparable to the gaze of the many Holy Seats!’

‘This lady had no idea you could do such a thing.’

For some reason, bright emotions of shock, admiration, and gratitude came pouring in.

I had no idea why they were not emotions of wariness, anxiety, and concern.

Were they not worried I might grind down their core forces?

The Church and the royal family in particular should have been going insane with anxiety.

It was probably because the positive emotions Andromeda and Erica were sending were too strong.

Emotional links had always been imprecise to begin with.

On top of that, I was connecting to several people at once, so who was sending which exact emotion became a complete unknown.

Yes. That had to be it.

“The operation is excellent.”

The conference ended.

Inside his encampment tent, Saint Sirius let out a deep sigh.

“Too excellent.”

Even in the eyes of a man who had commanded the cathedral knights for eighty years, it was a truly excellent operation.

As one of the highest-ranking officials of the Myriad Star Church, which was effectively an administrative institution, Saint Sirius had always felt one thing.

A systematic structure did not function properly unless the average educational level of its members reached a certain standard.

But the Empire’s territory was far too vast, its population far too large, and there were only a handful of superhumans capable of controlling that population.

The Myriad Star Church’s dream of universal education was far too distant.

The great houses had ultimately abandoned the task of building such a system.

More precisely, they had shoved the duty and authority to build that system onto the Church.

Even Peleus, Patriarch of Astreos, always treated Saint Deimos, Archbishop of Astreos, with mercy, even if he crossed blades with the Papal See.

‘On the day the apostles of our Papal See failed in their attempt to assassinate him, the first thing Peleus did was summon Saint Deimos and declare before the house’s chief retainers that this incident was not Saint Deimos’s responsibility.’

He had known that if the archbishop were removed and a massacre occurred in the grand cathedral, Astreos’s administration would end.

At the same time, the great houses honed their authorities and attempted to stand as systems unto themselves.

Peleus could serve as a good example this time as well.

By his existence alone, he erased the corruption of every elder, noble, and governor.

Considering the amount of social cost the Church endured for inspections, mutual evaluations, rotational appointments, and the like, it was an authority Saint Sirius truly envied.

‘Kyrie has become such an existence as well.’

In Saint Sirius’s view, the most valuable of Kyrie’s authorities was neither Lightning Strike nor Railgun, but Bio-radar and Telephone Conversation.

The Church did what could be done through systems, and the great houses did what systems could not do.

And war was an act that tried harder than anything to be systematic while destroying all those systems five minutes after it began.

Thus, every time Saint Sirius had commanded a war, he had been forced to feel as if the castle he had spent hundreds of years building with all his life was actually nothing more than a sandcastle that would collapse with a single wave.

‘Today, I may live to see the rare sight of a war unfolding according to plan.’

Today was different.

A superhuman blessed by the stars through bloodline had struck his sandcastle with lightning and transformed it into a beautiful glass castle.

Saint Sirius felt an extremely, extremely pure faith toward Kyrie.

Longing.

There were no splendid vestments, no solemn precepts.

No need to recite scripture to receive grace, no need to feel pride at being chosen by the Myriad Star every time grace manifested, and no need to feel anxious that someday, if one failed to please the Myriad Star, that grace might be withdrawn.

A blood relative of a great house who had simply inherited all rights through a contract of blood.

That was not to say Kyrie was one.

Everyone knew he had come from the pleasure district.

Thus, it meant that even in Saint Sirius’s eyes, Kyrie had reached such a realm.

The realm of a saint.

“If only he were a little more faithful and a little more incompetent, I would have persuaded him.”

Deep sorrow filled Saint Sirius’s fresh green eyes.

“Myriad Star. Countless nameless stars.”

He murmured it again and again.

“Why did you cause Kyrie to be born in Astreos rather than the Myriad Star Church? Why must you make my hands be stained with his blood?”

There was no need to run in every direction across this empty wilderness to suddenly procure one hundred thousand cloaks.

It was enough to distribute the tent cloth we had stockpiled to the first ten to thirty thousand men who would charge.

Thus, four days later, at one-thirty in the afternoon.

“You’re late.”

“Hmph. I came out five minutes early.”

“I’m the Imperator, so if I say you’re late, you’re late.”

“The Imperator is a supreme commander established by the support of his members. A supreme commander who changes the time however he wants is worth less than a pebble.”

“Kyrikyrie, Nerineri. Are you nervous?”

Nereus, Frey, and I were able to leave our army’s encampment as planned.

After bickering over nothing, Frey’s words made us awkwardly shut our mouths.

“Quite.”

I admitted it readily.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

If we won here, the possibility of rendering that nightmare meaningless would rise sharply.

I would gain a peerless standing among the Elector Princes, and my path toward the imperial throne would become smooth.

Conversely, if we lost here, everything I had built so far would collapse.

I was not talking about armies or gold coins.

The sibling bond with Andromeda, forged through mutual salvation; the lord-and-retainer relationship with Joi, who had followed me while carrying secrets and ambition; the comradeship with Erica, with whom I had endured a world of harsh winds; even the Hero’s Journey, now approaching its halfway point—all of it might end.

Anxiety suddenly raised its head.

What if the Hall of Purity was waiting inside with its strongest forces fully prepared?

What if I was now preparing for a suicidal charge?

“Substantially.”

The words that cut through that anxiety came from Nereus.

“Hm?”

“What?”

Frey and I glared at Nereus at the same time.

“What?”

Nereus arrogantly lifted his chin.

“Who wouldn’t be anxious in this situation? I’m just less anxious than you bastards, at least. You cowards. The thunderous star must be shouting at you.”

【“No. Even I am anxious right now. This is a moment worthy of anxiety.”】

For a moment, I nearly fainted.

I wondered whether to relay those words or not, then simply laughed.

“Ha.”

“What? Why are you laughing?”

Right.

Even if I was anxious, I had to do it.

No.

Because I was anxious, I had to do it.

Because after verifying it as a realist, I had concluded that the only way to shake off anxiety was to act first.

“My lord. I’ll be seeing you alive later, sir.”

Joi saluted me.

“May the gaze of the stars be upon Your Highness Kyrie!”

The soldiers saluted me.

“Kyrie! Kyrie! Kyrie!”

Vane, Paisen, Epicus, Augusta, Xian, and countless other knights, squires, attendants, and soldiers wearing the same cloaks shouted my name.

Step. Step. Step.

Leaving them behind, I headed toward the south gate of Soletaraon’s outer wall.

The wall, standing seventy meters high, was tremendously majestic.

The gate itself rose over thirty meters, so high I had to crane my neck to look up at it.

“Getting up is your own responsibility.”

I reached toward a metal structure on the command tower atop the wall, one that had not rusted at all.

“No. Kyrikyrie, lift me up.”

“Hmph. Obviously.”

I activated the pulling force of my magnetism arts and yanked my body upward with all my strength.

Whoosh!

With dizzying inertia, my body rose into the sky.

The feeling of wind brushing my cheeks was cool.

In less than a few seconds, I was standing atop Soletaraon’s wall.

“You’ve only gotten better at grabbing things.”

“Ah, damn it. My sword is heavy.”

Nereus and Frey ran up the wall with Thunderstep.

The wall was old and full of gouges, and it was not perfectly vertical, so it was manageable enough.

Boom!

Nereus detonated Heavenly Thunderbolt beneath his feet and shot upward thirty meters at a time, while Frey simply moved his feet very quickly.

When I used pulling force on Frey’s armor and tugged him up, he laughed, hehe.

Together with the two of them, I looked over the city.

The capital said to have once been ruled by the Dragon Emperor thousands of years ago was grander and more splendid than any city I had ever seen.

Contrary to the legend that it had burned beneath the wrath of the stars, there seemed to be no burned areas, and more than a few towers and stone structures stood even higher than this wall.

In its heyday, it must have been far more beautiful than even Rebellion.

Though now, only hideous monsters remained here.

“Shall I begin?”

“Go ahead. Everyone should be waiting for you.”

“Leave it to me. I won’t let anyone lay a finger on you.”

First, I drew up lightning reinforcement.

Saaaaaaa!

I concentrated reinforcement on the nerves throughout my body.

In that state, I activated Neural Acceleration and raised the speed of my thoughts to the limit, then expanded Bio-radar.

Wooooong!

Powerful electromagnetic waves surged outward as if to envelop the entire city.

Wooooong! Wooooong! Wooooong!

My electromagnetic waves reached beyond Soletaraon’s northern gate.

Beyond it, the faces of Vicher and Vichera preparing to charge, Severic’s face, and both their armies appeared vividly in my three-dimensional virtual sight.

Naturally, I could also see Saint Sirius, Narji, and Valherios in the west, as well as Andromeda and Erica in the east.

Was this how the ground looked when one gazed down from the night sky?

Had there ever been a Blue Knight with Bio-radar like mine?

Ordinary Blue Knights were considered excellent if they could see several hundred meters away.

Perhaps even my sky-like father, Peleus, might not be able to deploy Bio-radar over this kind of radius.

“This is Kyrie. As of two o’clock today, the operation begins.”

Drunk on a sensation close to omnipotence, I sent out the Telephone Conversation.

The siege of Soletaraon had begun.

Chapter 240

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