Chapter 462

Chapter 462

"In all my life, the only person who dared to slap my cheek was your mother..."

The Emperor, seemingly incredulous, stroked his own cheek.

"Why did you have to inherit this trait from Dustia? It's preposterous. And to even dare to command me..."

"What are you going to do about it?"

I asked with a sly grin, to which the Emperor exhaled lightly.

"What else can I do? I was the one who fathered you, and I was the one who entrusted you with the acting authority."

The rulers of the world are twisted in strange ways and cool in others.

Coolly accepting the current situation, the Emperor listened to my explanation of the situation and quickly grasped what he needed to do.

He commanded the soldiers looking at him.

"Imperial Palace Guard, follow me!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"There is a secret passage of the royal family leading underground. Through it, we will approach the underground magic circle."

The Emperor will take care of destroying and stopping the shutdown protocol.

Quickly rallying the Imperial Palace Guard and leaving, the Emperor gestured to me.

"Ash."

"Your Majesty?"

"Since you dared to use me as a chess piece, make sure you win this game."

The Emperor grinned fiercely, baring his fangs.

"My life is more expensive than anyone else's in this world. If you don't win, the cost demanded will be too much to bear."

"..."

I just smiled back without a word.

Every game is a gamble with the fate of the world.

Lose and lose everything, win and gain everything. As it has always been.

"We will win."

"Expecting it. And... as for the fate of your second brother."

The Emperor turned swiftly,

"...I'll leave it to you."

He left those heavy words behind and disappeared with the Imperial Palace Guard through the underground passage.

Watching them leave, I gestured to the side.

"Junior."

Immediately, my subordinate mage rushed over. I nodded to her.

"Assist Father. I need you to dismantle the shutdown protocol."

"Yes, Your Highness. I am at your command."

"Junior."

To the young mage in the pointed hat, biting her lip nervously, I gave a gentle smile.

"Be safe."

"..."

Junior momentarily had a blank expression, then finally,

"Yes. I will return."

She gave a blurry smile, bowed deeply, and quickly ran after the Emperor, disappearing into the underground passage.

"...Now, then."

I gazed at the central entrance of the Thorn Tree Palace, which had stopped growing.

"Shall we go do what we must?"

***

The proliferation of the thorn tree, which seemed as if it would grow forever, had now stopped.

Of course, it was only a temporary halt. If the shutdown protocol is activated and all the people in the city are sacrificed as fuel, it will start growing endlessly again.

"Planting trees is a good hobby, but when you offer human lives as fertilizer, isn't it too much?"

Approaching the main entrance to the Imperial Palace.

Climbing the stairs covered in thorn trees, I mumbled lengthily.

"Of course, true environmental friendliness is only achieved by eliminating humanity. But even so, I cannot agree with sacrificing innocent lives."

"..."

At the entrance to the main building, a line of troops stood guard.

Fernandez's real henchmen, his direct unit.

Aegis Special Forces.

"Hello, my tiresome friends."

I waved at the special forces members.

"Finally, we get to settle things with you."

"Prince Ash."

The woman in the middle, presumably the leader, spoke in an emotionless voice.

"You cannot proceed beyond here."

"You don't really think I'll just say 'Okay~' and turn around, do you?"

"Of course not."

Ssshh-

Unsheathing her sword from her waist, she recited.

Muttering, I smirked.

"...Did you think I'd say that?"

Immediately after, I snapped my fingers.

"Damien!"

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Upon my signal, Damien drew his magic guns. Precisely, multiple magic guns.

Whoosh-!

The pistol-shaped magic gun [Cerberus], the submachine gun-shaped magic gun [Woodpecker], the rifle-shaped magic gun [Hunter's Retribution], and the rifle-shaped magic gun [Venom Fang].

Damien tossed these magic guns into the air, and at the same time,

"Take them down-!"

The special force members' attack poured down.

Tut-tut-tut-tut-!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Arrows and bolts rained down from the sides and back towards us. At the same time, the beast-transformed special force members charged from the front.

However,

Flash!

Our sniper was faster.

Damien, with his large brown eyes narrowed, activated [Far-Sight], capturing all enemies on the battlefield. And then,

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tak-!

He shot.

Catching the magic guns thrown into the air, he fired in all directions.

Pistol, submachine gun, rifle, he didn't discriminate, pulling the trigger on whatever came to hand, firing in all directions as if dancing.

In an instant, Damien's magic bullets poured down like rain in all directions.

Dozens of magic bullets, each following a miraculous trajectory, flew out, shattering the arrows and bolts that were first fired towards us in mid-air.

And not stopping there, after neutralizing the enemy's volley in the air - the remaining energy targeted the special force members who had fired bows and crossbows at us.

"Cough?!"

"Argh!"

"This is impossible..."

It was over in an instant.

As the enemy's bullets shattered, the special force members who had been aiming bows and crossbows at us fell, spraying blood.

Even amidst this, Damien's magic bullets were precisely targeting areas that inflicted enough damage to subdue, but avoided fatal wounds.

Damien's ultimate technique, [Showdown].

A wide-range skill that attacks all enemy targets and heals all allies captured in the sight.

Truly an insane overpowered skill.

"Full health, but hey, getting healed feels good..."

Having been hit by Damien's healing bullets, I stretched my refreshed neck muscles. Ah, refreshing.

"What is this... how..."

The stunned special force leader murmured in a dazed voice.

The special force members who used the beast transformation were hit by Damien's magic bullets but didn't fall in a single blow.

However, they were momentarily pushed back by the stopping power of the magic bullets.

And the rest of the special force members had all been subdued and collapsed.

All in a single moment.

Just one exchange of fire, and the battle was decided.

"My subordinates,"

I patted Damien's shoulder, who was awkwardly smiling, and said,

"are the elite of the elite, having survived fights with the world's worst monsters, battling day after day where death is always a possibility."

"..."

"They are naturally several times stronger than the likes of you, who've only been concerned with slaughtering defenseless citizens."

I strode forward, and behind me, Damien, the Penal Squad, and the Holy Grail Seekers followed in an orderly manner.

"Come on, Aegis. If you're a discard, act like one. If you're a hunting dog, bark and struggle until the end."

"Ugh...?!"

Despite being several times larger than us in their beast-transformed state, the special force members seemed intimidated and hesitantly stepped back.

"With such lack of spirit, if you dare to involve yourself in matters concerning the fate of the world..."

I spat out.

"Then get lost. We're in a hurry."

"Uaaaah-!"

The beast-transformed special force members let out a final roar of defiance and charged at us-

Thump!

Whoosh-!

Kuilan's fists, Verdandi's sword strikes, and Damien's suppressive fire met them, and they rolled helplessly to the ground.

My subordinates cleared the path ahead of me. I walked calmly through.

"Now, then..."

Standing at the entrance of the main building, now cleared of guard forces.

"Let's have a thorough talk with my troublesome brother."

I energetically pushed the door open.