Chapter 318
"Prime Minister, what do you think...?"
"Your Majesty, absolutely not!"
Honest immediately raised his voice.
"Anyone who suggests retreat at a time like this is a traitor to the Empire and should be executed on the spot!"
"We are standing in the Imperial Palace, at the very heart of the Empire. This place carries meaning far beyond a simple building."
"If we retreat before a handful of rebels here, what kind of message will that send? Every insurgent and separatist across the Empire will rise up at once. When that happens, the entire nation could collapse!"
Honest spoke with such grief and indignation that anyone unaware of his true nature might have mistaken him for the most loyal statesman in the Empire.
Of course, his actual reasoning was far simpler.
They still had one final trump card.
If the Emperor abandoned that trump card and fled, who knew what would happen afterward?
Honest didn’t know whether everyone else would die.
He only knew that he almost certainly would.
Rather than accept that possibility, he would much rather encourage the Emperor to gamble everything on one final fight.
Honest believed absolutely in the power of that last card.
His words immediately shocked everyone in the hall.
"You’re the traitor!"
A middle-aged official with a narrow mustache angrily pointed at Honest.
"The enemy is already approaching the great hall, and Great General Budo is dead! Are you seriously suggesting that His Majesty remain here and place himself in danger?"
"Exactly."
The white-bearded elder from earlier stepped forward as well.
"His Majesty is the Empire. As long as His Majesty remains safe, we can wait for loyalist armies to arrive and then eliminate the rebels afterward."
He knelt before the throne.
"Your Majesty, Honest harbors malicious intentions and seeks to place you in mortal danger. This minister requests that Prime Minister Honest be executed immediately to set the record straight!"
"Hmph."
Honest looked coldly at the wavering officials.
"Behind us stands the throne inherited from every Emperor before His Majesty. We have nowhere to retreat."
Then he turned toward the young Emperor.
"Besides, who said we need to wait for loyalist armies?"
His voice rose with growing intensity.
"Your Majesty, have you forgotten?"
"You already possess the strongest power in this entire world."
The Emperor’s eyes suddenly brightened.
"Prime Minister... you mean that?"
"Exactly!"
Honest spread his arms dramatically.
"Why were the Emperors of old able to suppress every corner of this vast Empire? It was not merely because of elite armies and Imperial Arms."
"Every Emperor also possessed the ultimate power capable of suppressing the entire world!"
His voice became almost intoxicating.
"Your Majesty, you are a direct descendant of the Imperial bloodline. You alone possess the right to command that power."
"Use it."
Honest’s eyes gleamed.
"Use the Empire’s ultimate weapon and annihilate every traitor who refuses to submit!"
"That’s right..."
The young Emperor slowly calmed.
"I still have that."
His gaze passed through the great hall toward the distant figures steadily approaching.
"Rebels must be eliminated."
The moment those words left his mouth, the entire palace began violently shaking.
Something enormous seemed to be stirring beneath the earth.
RUMBLE—!
The great hall collapsed.
Massive slabs of stone and shattered masonry came crashing down from above.
Fortunately, the elite guards stationed nearby were all highly capable.
They immediately carried the elderly ministers and officials to safety.
Otherwise, given the age and physical condition of most of the Imperial court, half of them would probably have ended up buried beneath the rubble.
The disturbance inside the palace naturally drew the attention of the entire Imperial Capital.
Even though it was the middle of the night, countless people turned toward the palace.
Then—their mouths fell open.
For a long time, no one could speak.
"What... what the hell is that?"
A gigantic armored figure, several hundred meters tall, rose above the Imperial Palace.
A vast cloak spread behind it, large enough to obscure part of the night sky, while a crown modeled after that of the founding Emperor rested atop its head.
There was only one word that truly captured its appearance—dominating.
It possessed the absolute authority of an emperor and the overwhelming majesty of a god.
Anyone who saw it instinctively felt the urge to fall to their knees and worship.
"That’s... Shikoutazer?"
From one corner of the Imperial Capital, Najenda stared at the colossal shadow beneath the moonlight, completely dumbfounded.
"So the legends were true..."
"Boss, what the hell is that thing?"
Lubbock looked as though he was barely maintaining control of his bladder.
His legs were tightly pressed together as he stared up at the godlike machine.
The others around Najenda were in much the same state, torn between curiosity and awe.
Najenda drew a deep breath.
"That is the Empire’s first—and strongest—Imperial Arms."
"Guardian Deity of the Nation: Shikoutazer."
"It is the ultimate national weapon passed down through generations of the Imperial Family, a weapon that can only be controlled by someone of Imperial blood."
Her expression grew grave.
"Its power is great enough to change the outcome of an entire war by itself."
"Holy shit..."
Lubbock could not stop himself from swearing.
Then again, after thinking about it, the claim hardly sounded exaggerated.
Something that enormous could probably crush hundreds or thousands of people simply by walking around.
If it possessed any genuine finishing attacks on top of that, calling it capable of changing the course of a war was entirely reasonable.
"But something’s wrong."
Najenda frowned.
"Shikoutazer is supposed to be the Imperial Family’s final trump card. It should never be activated lightly."
Her gaze remained fixed on the palace.
"What happened in there that forced the Emperor to use something like this?"
Earlier, an intense white light had erupted from the elevated palace grounds, followed by an enormous explosion.
And now the Emperor had activated Shikoutazer.
Just who possessed enough power to force the Imperial Family this far?
Najenda immediately remembered the group who had killed Honest’s son earlier that day.
’Could it really be them?’
"Boss, forget about that for now."
Lubbock raised his voice.
"What are we supposed to do next? You need to make the call."
Najenda’s expression hardened.
"We’re going to the palace."
Despite everything she had seen wrong with the Empire, she was still one of its generals.
Loyalty to the Emperor had always been part of her beliefs.
Whatever was happening, supporting the Emperor now seemed like the obvious course of action.
None of the others objected.
They mounted their horses and immediately galloped toward the Imperial Palace.
They had not traveled far when Shikoutazer’s head suddenly lit up with crimson light.
A beam tore across the night sky.
It struck a residential district barely a kilometer behind them.
BOOOOOOM—!
A deafening explosion shook the Imperial Capital.
Najenda and the others stiffly turned around.
A gigantic mushroom cloud rose into the sky, illuminated from within by ominous crimson light.
They immediately leaped to higher ground and looked toward the point of impact.
The once-thriving neighborhood was gone.
In its place lay an enormous crater surrounded by endless ruins.
With a single beam—at least several thousand civilians had been vaporized.
"What..."
Najenda’s fists clenched so tightly that her nails pierced her palms.
Blood ran freely between her fingers, but she did not even notice.
"What the hell are they doing?"
Eliminating enemies was something she could understand.
But why attack defenseless civilians?
What had those people done?
Lubbock and the others clenched their teeth so hard they tasted blood.
They were soldiers of the Empire.
They were supposed to protect its citizens.
Yet now.. their own Emperor was slaughtering those very citizens!
Human lives were being harvested as casually as weeds by the roadside.
"We..."
Najenda had barely begun speaking when another crimson beam descended.
This one struck another district several kilometers away.
The result was exactly the same.
Buildings vanished into scorched earth.
Thousands upon thousands of lives disappeared in an instant.
Then came a third beam.
A fourth.
Panic spread through the Imperial Capital like a plague.
People screamed and fled.
Crowds trampled one another.
Looting broke out.
Violence erupted.
The once-prosperous city was rapidly transforming into hell.
"Boss!"
Lubbock seized Najenda by the shoulders.
His voice had become unbearably hoarse.
"This isn’t right."
"This isn’t supposed to be like this!"
𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
The others looked at Najenda with bloodshot eyes.
Instinctively, they turned toward the commander they trusted most, desperate for an answer—for an order that could make sense of what they were witnessing.
Najenda’s voice came out dry and rough, like rusted metal grinding against itself.
"Everyone."
"Head straight for the palace."
She stared at the distant giant.
"We stop the Emperor."
Their strength might have been insignificant compared with Shikoutazer.
But they had to do something.
Otherwise, none of them would ever be able to live with themselves.
Their decision made, the group accelerated toward the palace.
They had not gone far when another enormous change occurred.
A colossal figure rose from the ground.
It was no smaller than Shikoutazer.
Its entire body burned with brilliant crimson-gold light, radiating sacred majesty as though a god itself had descended into the mortal world.
"What... is that?"
For a moment—everyone could only stare in stunned silence.