Boom! Boom! Boom!! The deafening explosions echoed continuously within the royal palace, and the entire Dawn City trembled violently.
Commoners looked up at the falling meteors in the sky, their eyes filled with terror, completely unaware of what was happening.
However, considering how soldiers had suddenly surged into the palace earlier, it wasn’t hard to imagine that something major had occurred. This only heightened the panic and unrest among the already fearful populace.
In the streets, a petite figure anxiously spoke, “Sister, do you think the Lord might be in danger?”
Tia looked deep into the heart of the palace, her eyes flashing with resolve. “If things go terribly wrong, I’ll bring the Church’s people and charge in to rescue him. No matter what, the Lord cannot be allowed to fall into harm.”
Luca was the backbone of the entire Church. If he were to die, not only would the Church collapse, but all the followers would lose their foundation and scatter like a pile of loose sand. This was something they could never accept.
The high-ranking members of the Church nearby nodded in agreement, without the slightest hesitation about the potentially dire cost of forcing their way into the palace.
Meanwhile, outside the palace, Marcel and other members of the All-Beings Church also saw the scene unfolding. Sensing that familiar aura, Marcel couldn’t help but murmur, “Good thing I ran fast, I knew I was right.”
Krik, unusually quiet and not mocking the shameless man, frowned and said, “Has that Empress awakened? But this aura doesn’t feel the same as before.”
Marcel noticed the anomaly as well but dismissed it with a shrug. “Who cares? Whoever wins, we’ll ally with them. Whether their royal family is getting beaten to a pulp doesn’t concern us.”
Just then—
A brilliant light suddenly shot up from the royal palace!
Within the light, countless stars radiated, glowing with a blinding brilliance!
When Marcel saw the figure within the light, his eyes widened in shock.
He sucked in a cold breath and muttered, “I can’t be seeing things, can I?”
Above the sky, divine power surged, and Luca stood as if he were a god incarnate, floating in the air!
As everyone watched in astonishment, he raised his hand.
In an instant, the stars began to shift!
The dazzling light illuminated the entire Dawn City in the blink of an eye!
Boom!!
A tremendous crash resounded as if the heavens themselves were trembling!
When everyone opened their eyes again, the grand hall within the palace, where the banquet was being held, had completely vanished.
All that remained was a scene of utter devastation.
Amid the ruins, corpses and rubble were intertwined, shattered armor and weapons scattered everywhere. Vivid red blood flowed from the cracks in the stones, eventually pooling into a massive bloodstain.
On the open ground, the severed heads of Leonie, Runne, Isaacs, and several high-ranking nobles were neatly arranged together. Their unblinking eyes, now devoid of focus, still reflected a deep and lingering terror.
Winston, Ziegfried, Evelyn, Augustine, and the others all raised their heads in unison, gazing at the towering figure suspended in the sky, their eyes filled with a mixture of emotions.
All the rebels who had come to the palace to incite the coup were completely powerless against that overwhelming force. In the span of a single breath, nearly all of them had been wiped out.
This time, the entire aristocracy of the Clinton Empire had been cleansed by blood, and the upper echelons were nearly all slaughtered to the last.
At this moment, everyone finally understood the meaning behind Alfred’s final words.
In the face of absolute power, any conspiracy seemed utterly laughable.
“Are you people from the Via Empire so idle, that you come here to meddle in Clinton’s coup?” Luca’s gaze was deep and vast like the universe itself, stars swirling around him.
Before him, a middle-aged, overweight man hung in the air, his limbs broken and dangling. This was Milo, the envoy of the Via Empire.
He was suspended by an invisible force, his bloated face turning a shade of purple from oxygen deprivation, resembling a pig’s head. His body was covered in wounds, and his magical tech suit was in tatters, sparking with eerie blue arcs. Meanwhile, the short-haired youth Ike had already been reduced to a puddle of meat.
Luca spoke calmly: “I’ll ask you one last time. Tell me your purpose, and I’ll spare your life.”
“We… we really have no… other purpose…” Milo’s face turned an ugly shade of purple. At the peak of Superclass strength, he was as powerless as a child in the face of Luca’s might, unable to resist in the slightest.
He struggled to speak, his voice laced with desperation, “Please… please… spare me…”
“Since you want to live so badly…” Luca’s gaze lowered, and his voice was cold. “Then I’ll send you to your death.”
As his words fell, the starlight gathered into the shape of a spear, suspended in the air.
It then turned into a golden flash of lightning, shooting straight toward Milo’s head.
The shadow of death loomed over him, and the desire to survive overcame all else.
Milo gasped, struggling as he screamed, “I… I’ll tell you!”
The starlight spear abruptly halted.
Its tip now mere centimeters from his forehead.
Milo’s soul nearly left his body, cold sweat dripping down his face like a storm.
“If you had been sensible earlier, this wouldn’t have been necessary.” Luca sneered, his voice dripping with disdain. “Now, tell me, what was your purpose in interfering?” Find your next adventure on freewebnovel
The Via Empire had always been a group of opportunists who wouldn’t lift a finger unless there was enough profit at stake. There was no way they would help a worthless individual like Isaacs unless the reward was significant enough.
The only reason Luca spared Milo’s life was because he was curious about what they were after. In his previous life, the Via Empire had rapidly risen to power during this very period.
At first, Luca hadn’t considered Milo as part of the puzzle. But now, with Milo practically offering it up himself, Luca couldn’t help but think there was more to the story.
Faced with Luca’s questioning, Milo, who had just narrowly escaped death, dared not hide anything.
He quickly said, “Our Empire’s expedition team discovered a ruin beneath a glacier, dating back over a hundred thousand years.”
“It was left behind by a god who survived the Divine Cataclysm…”
“A divine ruin?” Luca’s eyes flashed with interest. “Go on.”
Milo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and spilled everything without hesitation. “In that ruin, the expedition team found a mural left by a god named ‘Hector’.”
“The mural recorded the entire history of the Divine Cataclysm, and most importantly, it mentioned the location of a divine artifact.”
“The artifact is called ‘Celestial Pearl’, the treasure of the Divine King!”
Celestial Pearl?!
Hearing that name, Luca’s heart skipped a beat.
The power of this divine artifact had already been proven during the Divine Cataclysm.
Zenobia, using the Celestial Pearl, had nearly wiped out every god in the Divine Court.
At first, Luca had assumed that the artifact had fallen into the Abyssal Demon Realm or the Abyssal Realm along with Zenobia.
But now, to his shock, he heard its name from a fat man sent by the Via Empire.
“Tell me where it is!” Luca seized him by the collar, his gaze icy as he spoke coldly, “If you lie even a single word, I’ll slice the fat off your body, piece by piece, and feed it to the dogs! Guess if I can do it!”
The Celestial Pearl was of immense importance. If Luca could obtain it, he wouldn’t fear even the arrival of monsters or the Ancient Gods.
Even if he couldn’t take it for himself, he would never allow such a world-ending artifact to fall into the hands of the Via Empire.
Milo shuddered and quickly replied, “Don’t worry, everything I’ve said is the truth.”
“The artifact is sealed in the West Sea…”
At this point, he suddenly fell silent, his mouth snapping shut.
Luca initially thought it was out of fear that Milo might be trying to withhold the location to avoid being killed once the secret was out. But soon, he realized that something was off.
Milo’s face suddenly grew even more pale. At the same time, a dark mist began to swirl in his pupils, rapidly expanding, forming a strange rune.
“Save… save me!” Milo’s eyes were filled with terror as he reached out toward Luca, seemingly begging for help.
In the brief moment it took, Luca felt the man’s life force quickly waning, almost as if it would dissipate in the blink of an eye.
Such a domineering restriction! Luca furrowed his brow. There was no time to think. He swiftly waved his hand, channeling the power of the stars into Milo’s body, attempting to sustain his life force.
To Luca’s surprise, the divine power seemed to enter Milo’s body and immediately dissipate, as if it were entering an empty shell. It had no effect whatsoever.
“Wait, something’s wrong with this guy!” Luca’s thoughts snapped into focus. His expression changed as he stared at Milo, the stars in his eyes flashing brightly.
In an instant, Milo was fully exposed before him, every detail laid bare.
Then Luca’s gaze shifted, and a look of astonishment crossed his face.
He discovered that Milo’s bones and internal organs were completely constructed from magical technology.
Even more startling, Luca spotted a tiny, crystal-like gem embedded near Milo’s heart, no larger than a fingernail.
It was unmistakably an Origin Crystal, a rare gem that could only be dropped by the Ancient Gods!
This man was… a synthetic human made from magical technology and shards of the Origin Crystal?!
Moreover, his soul waves and life force were practically identical to those of an ordinary human!
Luca’s mind was in turmoil.
The Via Empire’s technology has reached this level already? How could they possibly have an Origin Crystal from the Ancient Gods?
A hundred questions flooded his mind, but this was clearly not the time to dwell on them.
Despite Luca’s divine power flooding into Milo’s body, there was no sign of life returning.
Milo’s pained, contorted expression froze on his face, and his chubby, struggling arms dropped limply.
His life force vanished completely, and he died.
Luca furrowed his brow tightly.
This synthetic human couldn’t be healed with divine power. His vitality was entirely sustained by that Origin Crystal.
Realization hit him. He quickly raised his hand, and a flash of divine light appeared. The Origin Crystal from within Milo’s body floated into the air.
With Milo’s body losing its hold, it fell rapidly from the sky and crashed with a thud into the rubble, transforming into a pile of bloody flesh. His metallic skeleton and internal organs scattered across the ground.
Luca gazed at the crystal in his hand. The gemstone radiated a rainbow-like glow.
Merely touching it, he could feel an immense repulsion emanating from within.
