Knight: Becoming King of the World

The spoils of war piled up like small mountains. Gold and silver, unburnt grain from the enemy’s main camp, weapons and armor stripped from captives and corpses—these were the cruel harvest of war.

The wounded soldiers were transported back to the military camp, where they lay in warm tents. Their agony and helplessness were so palpable that anyone who passed by felt a shadow of their pain.

The Medical Masters did their best, but their numbers and skills were limited. In the end, some of the wounded still succumbed to their pain and left this world.

Back in the camp, Henry’s gaze was profound as he turned to Edmund, Calvin, and the other nobles. Though their own eyes were filled with exhaustion, they all watched Henry, gathered around him and awaiting his instructions.

Before, they had merely wanted to use Henry’s strength to secure their own interests. Now, their submission was genuine.

’As for the emperor, their liege Lord under imperial law? That’s a problem for another day.’

The emperor was far away, but Henry was right here.

They needed a leader, one who could guide them out of stagnation and toward victory.

"Quickly sort through these spoils and captives. Treat the wounded. We need to hold a funeral for the dead, and we need to provide food and rest for the living..."

The nobles nodded. They had already sent men to see to these tasks.

A sliver of clarity cut through Henry’s chaotic thoughts.

He recalled the recent celestial phenomenon—the power that had nearly suffocated him, and the interweaving of three divine powers.

’These phenomena weren’t mere illusions, but manifestations of true power.’ He laughed. Despite the unknown, it seemed he still held the upper hand.

’Their powers have manifested so openly, yet they still haven’t made any real difference, have they?’

A hint of dark amusement touched Henry’s expression as he commanded, "Relay my orders! Cut off the heads of all our dead enemies!

Pile 9,999 heads into one mound! Pile 8,888 heads into another! And pile 6,666 heads into a third!

If there aren’t enough heads to complete the three piles, use the captives to make up the difference."

A chill ran down the nobles’ spines at his command, but no one dared to question his decision.

These heads were more than just trophies of war; they were a crushing psychological blow to their foes and a warning to any other potential enemies.

The term for such a display, a ’skull mound,’ did not originally exist in the Caladian Empire. It was a concept learned by desert merchants involved in the silk trade, taught to them by Mysterious Merchants from distant lands.

The emperor was quite fond of the term, and he enjoyed using this method—piling up the heads of his enemies—to flaunt his military might and accomplishments.

What the Emperor liked, his subjects emulated.

Under the emperor’s influence, such displays were not uncommon. However, it was rare to see someone create a spectacle on the same grand scale as Henry.

Receiving the order, the uninjured soldiers moved quickly. They began combing the battlefield for enemy corpses, hacking off the heads that were still relatively intact, now cold and lifeless, and stacking them as Henry had commanded.

When they had finished with all the corpses, they found they were still short. So they selected over six thousand unlucky souls from the crowd of captives and beheaded them in batches to make up the difference.

The heads were piled into three small mounds. Each one had belonged to a living, breathing person, now just another casualty of war.

Those captives who were not chosen could only pray, hoping to receive a shred of mercy.

Henry watched the three skull mounds grow taller, occasionally collapsing due to the soldiers’ clumsy stacking, only to be rebuilt again. He muttered to himself, "It’s a mere twenty-five thousand heads or so. We’ll find them one way or another."

In reality, these heads would become a symbol of his victory, proof of his power, and a stepping stone to even greater triumphs.

A near-feverish gleam shone in Henry’s eyes. He no longer cared about surprises or changes. He wanted... to experiment!

He remembered the last time he had built a skull mound from enemy heads, he had received a gift from Khorne. Although that suit of armor and weapon would allow one to run rampant throughout the Caladian Empire, in reality, it was ’a pile of trash.’

This time, he wanted to go a step further. He wanted to make an offering to Khorne, Slaanesh, and Jianqi simultaneously to see if he could get even more gifts.

’Perhaps this time, I’ll get something more useful.’

In an open space, the three tall skull mounds were arranged in a triangle.

Henry’s family banner stood in the center, and he stood beneath it, his gaze fixed on the sky that had so recently roiled with power, as if sending an invitation to those mysterious forces.

Though the nobles and their soldiers did not understand his intentions, they faithfully carried out Henry’s commands.

"Come on, I’m ready..." Henry glanced at the sky, closed his eyes, and muttered.

"Praise to you, God of Courage and Honor! You make me ever more valiant and powerful on the battlefield! Skulls for the Skull Throne! Blood for the Blood God!"

"Praise to you, God of Hope and Wisdom! You grant me greater wisdom and fill my world with hope! Thought begets the thirst for knowledge, knowledge feeds the hunger for thought. Only through the blessed Jianqi can one be unbound!"

"Praise to you, God of Love and Art! You have shown me the true meaning of the world, the true bliss of life! Embrace the craving, and the world shall bend to me!"

As Henry’s chanting continued, the very air above the battlefield began to tremble. Unseen currents of power flowed between the three skull mounds.

Henry could feel this power. It was like invisible threads connecting him to those inexplicable forces.

Three shadows appeared in the sky once more, but they were not as solid as before. They were merely faint outlines, barely noticeable unless one looked very closely.

The joy, delight, and elation from the three shadows were clearly transmitted into Henry’s mind, as if to say, ’Kid, you’ve finally gotten the hang of it.’

Edmund looked at Calvin, who stood as still and solid as an iron tower, and asked, "What is Baron Henry doing?"

Calvin didn’t look at him. His eyes remained fixed on Henry’s distant figure. "Even if he’s performing a sacrificial rite from one of the exiled churches, we must still obey him, must we not?"

The usually taciturn Boras’s eyes gleamed with a strange light. He stared at the sky, shaking his head violently and muttering to himself, "It’s changed... it’s all changed... You don’t understand. They’re here. They’ve all come... Everything has changed..."

The two Viscounts loyal to Henry looked at the raving Boras and asked in confusion, "Is he always like this?"

Edmund shook his head. "He just likes to watch the sky alone. He’s always been perfectly normal, as far as I can remember. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. He’s been like this ever since that giant, humanoid Black Shadow appeared."

The two Viscounts exchanged a look and shrugged helplessly. ’Henry’s power bordered on madness, and it seemed all these nobles had their own strange quirks.’

High above, the three shadows waited. When it became clear that no golden light or other, rather nauseating, presence was going to appear, three beams of colored light shot down from the sky. One was blood-red; another was pink, shot through with purple and a touch of red; and the third was a dizzying, vibrant blue.

The three beams of light shot straight down toward Henry, engulfing him completely.

Henry felt an unprecedented power flood his body. It was immense and wild, nearly powerful enough to tear apart his body, which he had strengthened with so many accumulated "stats."

When the light faded, Henry remained standing where he was.

Three new items had appeared on his person. One glowed with a blood-red light, another with a mix of pink, purple, and red, and the third with a blue radiance.

The items themselves looked unassuming, but the immense power they contained made Henry’s heart pound with excitement.

Henry smiled. He knew his experiment had succeeded.

He hadn’t just received a gift from Khorne; he had also received gifts from Slaanesh and Jianqi. These gifts would make him stronger, giving him an even greater advantage in this world.