Chapter 452: The Excessive Demand

"Of course. In fact, there isn't one. There are actually two. Their control over the wind is much worse though. From what I saw, they can't do half the things you did," Arthur answered Lucifer. 

"Also, they've had the powers for a long time. I don't think you were even born when they received their powers which makes it even more strange. In such a short time, you mastered your powers so much," he further added. 

"I think we're getting off-topic," Lucifer let out, realizing that there were more important things to talk about. 

"What was it like before? From what we managed to find about the Divine Empire, only the last ten years of history exist in our database. I'm not sure about the past. What happened there?" he asked. 

"The past, huh. No wonder you don't know about it. Not many people outside this Empire know about it. But it was something which changed the entire landscape of this Continent."

"Entire landscape of the continent? How?" Lucifer took great interest in the topic.

"In the current time, there are only three nations in the Continent of Darkness and one Divine Empire, but that wasn't always the case. This vast continent had many civilizations that lived in different parts of the continent."

"There were twelve nations and five Empires with the monarchy in the Continent of Darkness, but that's when things changed."

Hearing about the history, which remained a secret all this while, even Heath couldn't control himself as he slightly pushed his body ahead on the chair. 

"Was there a War?" Lucifer asked, taking a guess. 

"That's right," Arthur answered. 

"One of the five Empires made an alliance with another powerful Empire to wipe all the Nations so they couldn't threaten the idea of Monarchy. They were worried that the idea of freedom and free thought was dangerous for their Empires."

"And thus, the two Empires waged a War on the Twelve Nations."

"Only two? Why didn't the others support?"

"The other three Empires didn't want to get in on the War. They wanted to wait and watch how everything played out."

"Seeing the two Empires have an advantage in the War, and fearing their revenge for not supporting them, two more Empires started supporting them, jumping in the War."

"Only one Empire stayed out of the historical event, not sending even one of its soldiers to die in the war. They didn't want to support the nations, but they didn't want to support the Empires that were attacking the other for no reason at all," Arthur said, remembering the history as if it happened just yesterday. 

"So they just remained spectators? Not a good decision. The four Empires would certainly be angry at them. Even a blind man could see that coming. Was that last Empire the Divine Empire?" Lucifer asked. 

Arthur nodded. "That's right. The Divine Empire was a spectator in the last great war."

"I'm surprised your Emperor couldn't see it coming. He should've supported the Empire, even if it was to safeguard his Empire in the future."

"Well, even I don't know why he did what he did. We can't go back in time to ask him. So we can only guess. But yeah, what you said did happen," Arthur replied. 

"Did the four Empires attack the Divine Empire?" Lucifer asked. 

"They didn't. They instead sent an Envoy. I still remember the message of that Envoy. It's still printed in all our important history books."

"What was the message?" Lucifer inquired as curiosity filled him up. 

"They accused the Divine Empire of betrayal by not supporting other Empires in their crusade."

"They accused the Divine Empire of being corrupted by sympathy towards the nations. The Emperor said that it was nonsense, and he didn't accept the accusations."

"Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it. The Envoy further stated that the Divine Empire was required to serve the other four Empires. They asked him to do one more thing to prove their loyalty to the other Empires."

"What thing?"

"The Divine Emperor had four daughters... Can you guess where I'm going with that?" Arthur asked. 

"Don't tell me they asked him to marry his daughters to their sons?" Lucifer asked. 

"Worse. They asked him to have his daughters warm the beds of their sons, without ever being married to them," Arthur explained, sighing. "I really can't understand those people."

"Those bastards! They're so evil! What nonsense is this? After levying false accusations on the Divine Empire, they even asked such blasphemous things?" Heath appeared to be most affected by this revelation, unable to believe it. 

Caen, Lucifer, and Salazar were more in control of their emotions, but then they understood how bad it was. They were basically forcing the Divine Emperor to send his daughters to be r*p*d by their sons! No matter how even a person was, this seemed to be crossing the line. 

"I believe the Emperor responded in a similar fashion," Arthur responded. In fact, in his anger, he killed the envoy.

"The death of a messenger was a war crime for the Empires which gave them a good excuse to attack the Divine Empire."

"The Divine Empire was invaded by millions of soldiers. Divine Empire soldiers bravely faced the enemies, but ultimately, they couldn't hold on against the enemy forces which were ten times large in numbers."

"The Divine Empire fell that day, but that wasn't the end. The Emperor stayed behind to delay the enemies while making all four of his daughters run away with his trusted General."

Reaching this part of the story, Arthur took a deep pause.

"Don't stop there! Tell us what happened next? Did the princess manage to escape? Did they survive? We know about Queen Milena; what about the other three? They must've survived too, right?" Heath asked, getting impatient. 

He found himself too invested in the story. Even a single minute of pause was too much for him, especially near the climax. 

"I think the other three died. That's why we didn't see them with Milena," Salazar chimed in. "Why else would she be alone? One question remains though. All four of them ran together. How was it that three died while one survived?"

"Well, actually all four of them were supposed to die because they were betrayed. The Emperor had trusted his General to protect his daughters to save his life, but that wasn't what happened," Arthur replied.

"Instead, the savior became the evil. To save his own skin, he didn't help the Princess escape; instead, he took them straight to the enemy and handed them over while swearing their loyalty to them."