Relocating the Capital

“Your Majesty! Tobaro Town has fallen! The Silver Twilight Secret Society has been completely destroyed!”

“A massive crisis is upon us.”

The news spread like wildfire.

Yet, unlike when the south was utterly devastated, this time, overwhelming fear and despair did not sweep through the entire central region.

This was because the Great Devourers had not launched indiscriminate attacks as they did during their invasive nesting. Aside from attacking Tobaro Town and the key fortresses and facilities along their path, they had not harmed a single civilian.

While the collapse of the Silver Twilight Secret Society plunged Astaroth’s servants into panic and despair, the vast majority of ordinary citizens remained completely oblivious to what was truly happening.

“Raum, this is where the real challenge begins,” Calian said. “They have indeed kept their promise. But that doesn’t mean everything is over. In the storm to come, I must protect both the royal family and the people.”

The young emperor looked calmly at Raum, who had delivered the urgent report.

Calian’s predictions soon became a reality.

As expected, Schuber and his faction advocated for an immediate relocation of the capital to the lands near the high wall to continue their resistance.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Calian demanded. “Do you intend to abandon millions of citizens who are still in the dark, just so you can flee to the north by yourselves?”

“Your Majesty, this is no time to let emotions rule your judgment!” Schuber replied.

“Silence! You knew this day would come all along, didn't you?”

Confronted by Schuber, Calian could no longer suppress the rage burning inside him.

With eyes wide with fury, he declared in a harsh, severe tone, “If you want to run, run by yourselves. I am staying here with the citizens who have nowhere else to go.”

“Then you should feel honored to become the last glorious emperor of the Empire,” Schuber sneered, no longer bothering to argue with Calian.

He offered a cold, mocking smirk and turned away.

After all, Astaroth’s servants made up the very ruling class and elite faction that sustained the Empire.

Once all these key figures vanished overnight, there was no way this crippled Empire could hold out against the Great Devourers for even a single day.

Diplomacy, the military, and every vital department of the state were under their control. At this moment, Calian did not even have a decent standing army, let alone the Royal Guard.

“Your Majesty...”

“Everyone, trust in me,” Calian said, issuing his first imperial decree of his own free will to Albert and the few remaining loyalists. “Tell everyone who stays behind not to resist the Great Devourers. We are not their target.”

Having finally ascended to the throne as a true emperor with actual authority, Calian gave this command.

For those who chose to stay, they had no other choice but to obey.

They lacked the means to flee, and they had nowhere else to go.

The only sliver of comfort they had was that their emperor had chosen to stand by their side.

“The Great Devourers really didn't harm us! They just flew right over our heads! What His Majesty said was true!”

When the people witnessed the Great Devourers soaring across the sky, completely ignoring the towns and villages below as they headed straight north, and saw the marching swarms on the ground passing by farms and livestock without touching them, those who had stayed behind trembled in utter disbelief.

Lin Miao watched with cold, emotionless eyes as Astaroth's forces, now completely surrounded by the ant colony, were cornered in the north.

Up until now, the history of Lin Miao and the ant colony had been a history of struggle.

To survive and secure what they desired, they had always been forced to fight.

Thus, even as he stood on the verge of wiping out yet another deity's faction, his heart remained perfectly calm.

“I've really changed a lot, haven't I?”

Lin Miao suddenly looked into the mirror, frowning at his reflection, which had barely changed at all from a year ago.

His outward appearance remained identical, but ever since his awakening as a deity, his physical form had ceased to be human.

Yet, the greatest transformation he felt was in his mindset.

“Can I ever go back to the way I was?”

Lin Miao let out an involuntary, self-deprecating chuckle as he reflected on his own evolution.

From his initial resistance, to partial acceptance, and finally to forced compromise, he had now reached a point where he would accept any means necessary to achieve his goals.

The hidden secrets of the universe, the system of the deities, the competition, and the wars.

Having learned about and experienced all of this, he had transformed bit by bit.

“It seems we need more magic stones, but we've already hit the limit of what we can procure right now. Any more, and we risk being discovered by the administration. To expand our supply further, we either need to take on more tasks or acquire more specialized technology and equipment.”

As the ant colony continued to develop and evolve, its demand for magic stones—the miraculous substance that helped them break past the limits of ordinary organisms—grew exponentially.

To address this surging demand, Lin Miao contacted Bai Zhantang.

“More tasks... If we had stronger Awakened, we could do it, right?”

At Bai Zhantang’s words, Lin Miao's eyes lit up.

Currently, the Awakened company under his name was still just a small-to-medium enterprise.

It could only cover one or two districts at most, and the highest-grade rifts it could take on were only Tier 3.

Although he had recently spent a fortune to recruit a promising newcomer, Ye Yunshang, from the Divine Net forum, it was still far from enough.

【Trait Replication】

A daring idea flashed in Lin Miao’s mind, causing his eyes to waver slightly.

If anyone else found out, they would surely decry it as the work of a demon. But the current Lin Miao was no longer the person he used to be.

He was an Evil God.

To the deities of the Divine Net, an Evil God was simply someone who would stop at nothing to achieve their ends.

Although walking this path had never been his original intention, after feeling the crushing weight of destiny on his shoulders, Lin Miao felt that none of it mattered anymore.