Chapter 253 – The One Who Divides the World (1)

Chapter 253 – The One Who Divides the World (1)

Loud footsteps could be heard throughout the empty hallway.

Opert breathed heavily and looked out the window.

The war was changing more rapidly than he had expected.

Aruntal was on the right side of the Northern Army to confront Pavan Peltere, but Opert had remained in the Dragon Citadel to carry out Juan’s instructions.

Opert saw a dark blue door after taking a few turns around the corner of the hallway. Inside the wall was a space where invisible blood vessels were concentrated.

Fortunately, there was no one guarding the door.

Opert stood with his eyes closed for a moment and placed his hand on the door. Then at one point, he strongly pushed his hand into the door. When he slowly pulled his hand out after a while, it was already drenched in blood.

Opert slowly pulled the door while breaking out into a cold sweat. One of the knights of the Order of Lindwurm behind the door keeled over and fell to the floor. When Opert saw the wound on the knight’s chest, he closed his eyes tightly.

‘Who could have known that the lockpicking magic I often used when I was a burglar would end up being useful here?’

Opert wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead and stepped beyond the door.

A dark red object was beyond the door, and it was moving in a rhythm.

Opert couldn’t help but be curious about how an inanimate object had become an animate creature. However, he couldn’t afford to think of that right now. He had to hurry up and find a way to take control of the heart.

All of a sudden, something grabbed Opert’s head and slammed it against the wall. Opert almost collapsed to the floor. However, the opponent didn’t let him fall. They grabbed Opert’s head tightly and slammed it against the wall once again.

The sharp pain made Opert feel as if his head would shatter. He barely manage to look up at the enemy, who slammed his head against the wall.

“Your name is Opert, right? The Vice Master of the Magic Tower.”

The enemy turned out to be Lenly Loen, the Captain of the Imperial Guards.

Opert barely had any contact with him. In fact, he had never had a proper conversation with Lenly, even after infiltrating Aruntal. It was all because Opert was a greenhorn in Lenly’s eyes, and Lenly was nothing more than a traitor in Opert’s eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Lenly asked.

Lenly had taken the words out of Opert’s mouth. Opert also didn’t expect that Lenly would still be in the Dragon Citadel, as the elite forces were already duking it out on the battlefield.

Opert belatedly noticed that Lenly looked strange. He couldn’t tell what was weird, but Lenly seemed to be nervous and perplexed.

“No, I guess that’s not really important,” Lenly whispered, “I saw you with Sina Solvane earlier. Don’t even think about denying that you’re a traitor because I’ve already searched through your luggage. More than that, what did you say to Sina Solvane?”

“The traitor is... you, Lenly.”

Lenly slammed Opert’s head against the wall once more.

Opert managed to hold onto his consciousness amidst the pain and shock.

“Tell me what you said to Sina,” said Lenly.

However, Opert refused to answer.

Lenly muttered anxiously, “Was it about the emperor?”

“What?”

“Did the emperor send her a message? What did he say? The thought that he was dead never crossed my mind even once. He had to have given Sina Solvane an order. Tell me what he said!”

“I’ll tell you myself, Lenly,” a voice suddenly echoed from behind.

Lenly immediately threw Opert away.

However, something hard collided against his philtrum before Lenly could even unsheathe his sword.

Lenly staggered. He tried to unsheathe his sword, but he was once again punched in the face.

Crack! Crack! Bang!

Powerful punches struck Lenly’s face one after another, and the punches were so strong that Lenly couldn’t even open his eyes.

And Lenly collapsed after a powerful blow to his nape...

***

“Ah!”

The intense pain made Lenly exclaim.

His vision was swimming as if it hadn’t been that long since he lost consciousness. He remembered what happened and was surprised that the other party subdued him in just a few seconds.

Lenly also realized that someone with a familiar back was dragging him across the floor.

Lenly spat out the broken teeth and minced flesh in his mouth.

“Your Majesty.”

“You’re still calling me Your Majesty, Lenly?”

Juan was looking down at Lenly with a smile on his face.

“A Captain of the Imperial Guards serving two emperors, huh? How absurd. To be honest, I’ve never seen such a big liar like you before. I didn’t expect that you would fool me like this. What you’ve done is impressive, considering that you’re just an ordinary human. Why don’t you quit your job in the Imperial Guards and become a swindler?”

Gerard slowly approached Sina. A thin stream of blood was still flowing down from the wound that Juan had left on Gerard’s cheek. Ever since Gerard got the wound, he had been madly obsessed with his work on the Crack.

It occurred to Sina that the order he gave to his subordinates wasn’t to stop the Northern Army but to drive them out so that they wouldn't be able to get in the way of his work.

Sina was startled to see Gerard’s eyes.

His glazed purple eyes were empty.

“I can instantly turn the civilization that humans have raised for thousands of years into a powder. No, it doesn’t even have to be me. A tiny kindling is enough to raze humankind’s effort to the ground. The world almost collapsed once when Qzatquizail made a hole in the world for the first time. Against such a force, I am not sure what humans can do about it.”

Gerard calmly looked down at Sina and slowly raised his hand.

Sina flinched for a moment, but she felt herself being slowly pushed out.

“What is this? What are you doing?! If you’re going to hold me hostage, I—”

“You may leave now, Sina.”

Sina doubted her ears.

Juan would arrive soon, so she couldn’t leave.

“What? Wait. I still haven’t acknowledged you as the emperor yet!”

“I would like to apologize,” Gerard said out of the blue.

Sina was perplexed by Gerard’s unexpected remark.

Gerard lowered his gaze and said,

“I think I saw Elaine Elliot in you—the only woman that my father might have loved. I once thought that she might be my mother. So I thought I would become acknowledged as the emperor if you were to choose me—just as she chose my father.”

Sina felt strange upon hearing Elaine Elliot’s name come out of Gerard’s mouth. All Sina knew about Elaine was that she was one of the Six Apostates.

“But I guess it was absurd to be acknowledged as the emperor. Perhaps I thought I would be able to escape the guilt of killing my own father if someone were to acknowledge me.”

“Gerard...”

“I thought I would be able to justify the vile crime I had committed by being a better being than my father,” Gerard sighed and turned his gaze away from Sina. “But now, it’s meaningless...”

“Meaningless?” Sina asked back.

“Now I see a world too great. All I have left is the compulsion to fill this universe only with humans, but I don’t even know why. I no longer feel like I want to be acknowledged by someone, nor do I want to be better than anyone.”

Sina felt a pang of pain in her heart.

Gerard had no idea, but his life was destined to be a failure after he had abandoned his father, his son, his wife, and everything else. However, Gerard had done all of those for a goal, and right now, he was about to achieve his goal.

Despite that, he seemed indifferent to the upcoming result—he seemed like he wasn’t happy at all. However, there was one person who had known that this would happen from the very beginning.

“It’s inevitable, Gerard.”

Sina turned and saw Juan walking toward Gerard. Juan’s sword was sheathed, and he also didn’t have any subordinates walking with him. He was calmly walking toward Gerard as if he were on a stroll in his own backyard.

“Juan!” Sina exclaimed. She tried to run toward Juan without realizing it. However, she hadn’t even taken a step yet when she suddenly flew into the air.

Sina, seized by Gerard’s mana in the air, was leaving the rocky island and heading toward the edge of the Crack.

Gerard clearly didn’t want to harm Sina because she was slowly flying away.

Juan winked at Sina as a greeting.

“I’m glad you’re alive,” Juan said.

“That’s my line, Juan! I still have many questions for you!” Sina shouted.

‘Did you really try to revive me? If that’s true, why? What do I mean to you?’

However, Juan only smiled briefly at Sina and wordlessly walked away from her.

Juan stared at Gerard and said, “Thanks for making sure that Sina won’t get involved in all this.”

“She’s a necessary witness. She will be the witness to my reign after your death,” said Gerard. However, he suddenly realized that Juan didn’t look like he was injured at all. It was a baffling sight because he expected Juan to be mortally wounded at the very least.

Gerard unknowingly held his cheek and noticed that blood was still running down the wound on his cheek.

‘I haven’t been able to heal this tiny wound, but he’s actually unscathed?’

“Were you resurrected again in the flames? As far as I know, it’s not a common feat,” Gerard said.

“The fact that you’re asking me that question proves that you don’t deserve the crown, Gerard.”

Gerard frowned.

Juan continued with a smile. “However, your words about how everything is meaningless aren’t exactly wrong.”

“You understand me?” Gerard asked back.

“It’s more than just understanding. Most of the universe is ready to kill humans at any time. There’s no air in space, and it is either extremely cold or extremely hot. You know what that means, right? It means that the universe is not interested in humans at all. This tiny patch of land is the only place where humans can live.”

Gerard wordlessly stared at Juan. However, Juan’s eyes weren’t as empty as his eyes. Juan’s eyes were full of heat and light like the blazing sun. Gerard couldn’t understand how anyone who knew such a fact could have such lively eyes.

“So how can there be a meaning to humans in such a vast emptiness?”

With a smile, Joshua responded, “You idiot. Even a dog or a cow can ask such a question. The emperor’s job is to find the meaning. If you’re going to continue saying stupid things like ‘the world is meaningless, and everything is in vain’ despite wearing a powerful crown—how about you just wear a toilet cover and stop being a burden?”