Four Split Personalities

"All Zijing Guards, heed my command," the First to the Ninth Squads immediately protect His Majesty; the Tenth to the Thirteenth Squads use ’True Imaging’ to conduct wide-area reconnaissance in my vicinity; Squads Fourteen, Sixteen, and Nineteen, form a horizontal saber formation and advance steadily to both sides; the entire Second Battalion enter Stealth and hurry to the location corresponding to Emergency Plan Three; the Third Battalion secure the evacuation route as quickly as possible, ensure the stability of the Royal Guards’ condition; Squads Fifteen, Seventeen, and Eighteen, come to my support immediately!"

Clearly, Purple Mirror wasn’t just powerful personally, but also highly skilled in commanding and adapting on the fly, however...

"The orders were ignored... No, was my voice cut off?"

After issuing five commands in one breath, Purple Mirror realized that apart from his colleagues nearby who began to hastily meet the attackers, there was no response whatsoever from the main forces behind him.

"Damn it..."

He reacted swiftly, leaping backwards and hiding his figure among dozens of Zijing Guards who rushed out instinctively while hurriedly instructing, "You must die blocking these assailants, I will go to the rear to ensure the Emperor’s safety..."

Crack!

Before he finished speaking, two chains flashing with dark golden magic patterns had already wrapped around Purple Mirror’s hands. At the same time, several people who suddenly took action next to those two Zijing Guards crowded in. They forcefully tore open the armor on their wrists and pressed down on the Violet patterns near their wrists with expressions of resigned desperation.

"You!"

Even with Purple Mirror’s strong mental fortitude, he felt a chill run through his body. He hesitated not a moment to conjure a blade of ice from the air to sever his left arm, and in an instant, activated Bloodthirsty Frenzy. With an overwhelming force, he threw another Zijing Guard, who had bound him with some alchemy prop, away and then forced the activation of Blend Shadow. Out of thin air, he created a dense covering of dark elements over his body, attempting to escape the tight hold of those traitors around him...

However, although his speed was already very fast, it was far slower than the suicide explosion speed of those Zijing Guards. The Violet patterns on the wrists of those men instantly glowed brightly, and before Purple Mirror could fully sink into the shadows, he was swept up in a series of loud, deafening bursts of light.

On the other hand, those ten or so Zijing Guards who seemed to be battling the attackers, but had actually already put down their weapons, collectively shouted, "The flanks are under attack by unknown assailants, the Commander has ordered all personnel, other than us, to scatter and defend; Squads Fourteen, Fifteen, and Sixteen, hold your ground and protect His Majesty!"

As they spoke, they covertly cleared a path, efficiently letting the attackers ’slip’ through.

Five minutes later, in the midst of chaos, the remaining seventy-plus assailants finally reached the throat of the Violet War Hawk, less than three hundred meters away from Clive’s carriage.

While the Zijing Guards and Royal Guards had been pushed far away by those traitors who falsely transmitted Purple Mirror’s orders, as for the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Squads that were assigned the task of ’steadfastly protecting His Majesty,’ they actually had about a quarter of double agents mixed within, who although still loyal to the Violet Royal Family, had long since been under the command of Rebo Bresen.

Thus, as inconceivable as it might seem, if the situation continued to develop as it was, with the attackers charging forward and the double agents turning on them in the midst of battle, Clive Bresen’s circumstances would become extremely perilous, and as for those defensive measures on him, they had almost all been leaked already.

To sum up, although the Emperor still felt secure at the moment, in reality, he was already engulfed in an extremely malicious crisis.

Simply put, if something unexpected didn’t happen, it was about time for his demise...

And then, just as you all have guessed by reading up to this point, the unexpected occurred.

A very small one.

Truly small, because the one blocking the path of the assailants and the traitors, including the comically small helmet on their head, stood only a bit over a meter-tall.

"Move aside!"

One of the assailants, a spellcaster with a gloomy voice, whose height was above average, shouted, waving his hand to release a door-sized aggregate of negative energy, hurtling straight towards that notably short figure in front of them. At the same time, two high-level thieves languidly charged in, brandishing their daggers and stabbing out.

In the past five minutes, they had resolved many such obstacles in this manner.

But this time, they didn’t succeed.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Accompanied by a series of soft sounds, the negative energy aggregate, powerful enough to kill at least ten intermediate professionals, vanished into smoke, and those two thieves also strangely came to a halt, their arms still trembling slightly as they held their daggers.

And that diminutive figure simply remained standing there, as if he had done nothing out of the ordinary. The only difference from a moment ago was that a shield had appeared on his right arm, a pitch-black, square shield.

After excluding all impossibilities, the only plausible explanation that remained was...

That about 0.5 seconds earlier, this person had used that shield to block a blast of negative energy and two separate thrusts coming from different directions.

"Stop for now, we have plenty of time!"

A giant of at least 2.1 meters tall emerged from behind. Donning a bull-horned silver helmet atop his head and sporting muscle-bound arms, each hand gripping a bloodstained battle-axe, his dark skin emanating a fierce aura, he stared intently at the ’unexpected’ face before him and coldly demanded, "Who are you?"

Although this man bore quite a distinctive appearance, he was not well-known because he was the leader of the first slave-hunting group under the Marshall Family and typically kept a low profile.

But neither his strength nor his way of fighting could be described as subdued; after all, this burly man was, after all, an epic-level powerhouse.

A Berserker of advanced-stage profession—Bloodthirsty Fury!

And the person opposite him was, to some extent, quite well-known.

The figure one meter twenty in height casually removed the rather comical semi-circular helmet from his head, revealing a pale face with mediocre features and thin, sparse hair. He hung his head in dejection and let out a long sigh, "I am Mercury Core Fernan."

"Mercury Core... Mercury Core Fernan?!"

The other party first looked perplexed, then his eyebrows furrowed deeply as he asked in a grave tone, "You are the Duke Fernan?"

"Yes, sir."

Dressed in a suit of gray heavy armor of unknown material and draped in a black cloak of about fifty square centimeters, his left hand empty, his right arm sporting a rectangular shield, Duke Fernan sighed and said in a self-deprecating tone, "I am that timid, weathercock Duke Fernan with no firm commitment."

The tall Bovine Demi-human Berserker paused before sneering, "Timid and fearful? I don’t think so."

"If you don’t intend to kill the nominal leader of the Violet Empire, I assure you I am exactly as I just described," Mercury Core said, scratching his bald head with a troubled expression and a forced smile, "Or you can turn around and leave now, and I assure you I will continue being cowardly and won’t dare to follow."

Breil Blackhoof snorted and lifted his twin battle-axes, giving the Dwarf Duke that seemed easy to negotiate with a menacing look, "What if I don’t leave?"

The latter shrugged, "If you don’t leave, we can stay here and chat, maybe talk about the weather or something."

"Cut the crap, Dwarf. I don’t believe for a second that you’re some duke."

Blackhoof, who had heard plenty of rumors about Mercury Core, maintained his caution. Although he did not truly doubt Fernan’s identity, he still put on an intimidating front as if he were a muscle-headed thug, "We need to pass through here to pay a visit to our Emperor. If you know what’s good for you, scram, and I’ll pretend I never saw you."

Truth be told, he was trying to be considerate in his own way, otherwise, he wouldn’t deceive the other party into believing that he didn’t trust his identity, hinting that if they had to fight, he would go all out.

So as long as this Duke knew to...

"Alright, if that’s the case."

The Dwarf did not seem to take the hint at all. Instead, he slouched his shoulders and breathed a deep sigh. When he lifted his head again, the face that was once plain and even somewhat comical had now tightened into a mask of cold determination and frost-filled eyes...

A gentle breeze passed, and Mercury Core Fernan put his helmet back on.

Chapter 534: End