Inside the palace conference room.
Everyone who had attended the previous meeting was present once again, though this time, Ning Busan had brought two more people with him.
Those two Grand Swordsmen brothers—Damon and Drake.
Ning Busan looked at the King and asked, “Are you surprised to see me alive? These two Grand Swordsmen are my men now. Surprised?”
The King's face turned grim. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
He had never expected Damon and Drake to betray him and side with Ning Busan.
“You don't know?” Ning Busan smiled at the King. “Sure, sure. If you say you don't know, then you don't know. It doesn't matter to me anyway.”
“What do you want?” Knowing how vindictive Ning Busan could be, the King felt a dark premonition rising in his chest.
“I went to the Frozen Lake in the Shadow Forest and didn't find any energy crystals that could serve as a magic source, but I do have a piece of good news for everyone,” Ning Busan said.
“The God of Light already knows that Emperor Leo is about to break through the Shackle of the Sacred Remains. He has delivered a divine oracle, revealing to me the way to resolve this crisis.”
It was merely a fabricated oracle, but he believed the God of Light wouldn't blame him over such a trivial matter.
The dukes murmured among themselves, and one of them couldn't help but ask, “What is the method?”
Ning Busan gave a playful smile. “The loosening of the seal is perhaps because Emperor Leo cannot bear to watch his descendants squander his legacy.”
“If His Majesty abdicates, issues a decree of self-reproach, and admits that he is unfit to be emperor, perhaps Emperor Leo will finally rest in peace.”
The King slammed his hand on the table and rose. “Abdicate? Are you staging a rebellion?”
A greatsword was instantly leveled at his throat. Damon barked, “Who do you think you're shouting at? Show some respect!”
The King's face flushed a deep crimson, looking like a boiled lobster.
He was the sovereign of the Dawn Empire, the ruler of the entire Landia Continent. Everyone was supposed to bow and submit to him.
What was his status? And what was Ning Busan's?
Why should he show respect to such a wet-behind-the-ears brat?
The King roared, “Insolent fools!”
“Still not convinced? Did I say something wrong?” Ning Busan's eyes turned cold, his voice laced with suppressed fury.
“Ten thousand years ago, Grand Swordsmen walked every corner of the Landia Continent. Anyone could study magic, and many even chose to pursue both magic and martial arts. It's fair to say that everyone was a warrior.”
“Back then, the xenos were more than a hundred times stronger than they are now. Every single day was a Black Sun, and the xenos invaded endlessly. Yet, through their sheer efforts, they still drove the xenos out of the Landia Continent.”
“But what about now?”
“The Black Sun only comes once a century, yet it takes a young girl standing before everyone, summoning demons just to fend off the xenos.”
“As the King of this empire, you cannot even protect your own subjects. You are nothing but an incompetent, useless waste.”
“What right do you have to sit on that throne?”
The more Ning Busan spoke, the angrier he became. A sense of bitter frustration washed over him, to the point where he wanted to cut the King down right then and there.
He knew very well that he was being influenced by the General Louis card, but he still couldn't suppress the rage boiling inside him.
The King stiffened his neck and demanded, “What right do you have to question this King?”
“What right? Might makes right. The strongest fist holds the authority.” Ning Busan sneered, asking impatiently, “Just say the word. Do you plan to abdicate, or do you plan to die?”
Damon pressed his sword a fraction closer to the King's throat.
Saige was utterly dumbfounded.
In just five short years, Ning Busan had grown from a naive, green magic apprentice into a powerful mage capable of steering the entire empire's destiny.
As his mentor, should he feel proud? Or should he feel proud? Or perhaps, should he feel proud?
The King whipped his head toward Novalia, his eyes blazing with fury. “Did you order him to do this? Novalia, you are usurping the throne!”
Ning Busan also turned to Novalia and arched an eyebrow. “Your Highness, you won't blame me for taking matters into my own hands, will you?”
Novalia's gaze was complex.
The Ning Busan of today felt entirely different from before. But as to what exactly that difference was, she couldn't quite put it into words.
One thing was indisputable, however: Ning Busan had grown even wilder.
No matter why Ning Busan had suddenly turned on the King today, the ultimate beneficiary of the King's abdication would be her.
With Ning Busan paving the way for her, how could she possibly stab him in the back?
Novalia spoke slowly to the King, “Your Majesty, since the Lord Divine Envoy has declared it to be a divine oracle, you should step down and cede the throne to someone more worthy.”
“You... You are all rebels!” The King's face turned from pale to green with rage as he roared, “Elion, kill them!”
However, Elion paid him no heed. Instead, he looked at Ning Busan and asked, “Lord Divine Envoy, do you truly have a way to deal with the loosening of the seal?”
Ning Busan nodded. “Naturally.”
The King was beside himself with rage. “Elion, what is the meaning of this? Your very existence is to protect the royal family! Are even you going to betray me?”
Elion replied, “Your Majesty, protecting the royal family is my duty, but keeping the royal family in check is also my duty.”
Elion had to admit that he had been deeply moved by Ning Busan's words.
He was loyal to the crown, but protecting the citizens of the empire was equally his mission.
Elion performed a knightly salute to Ning Busan. “Once Her Highness ascends the throne, I hope the Lord Divine Envoy will keep his word, resolve the issue with the seal, and spare the empire from this catastrophe.”
Ning Busan replied, “I promise you.”
Suddenly remembering something, he turned his head and scanned the room. “Does anyone else here have any objections?”
The dukes shook their heads in unison. “None at all! Absolutely not!”
With three Grand Swordsmen now backing Ning Busan, they would have to be insane to speak up in opposition.
Ning Busan was highly satisfied. “In that case, let the preparations for the coronation ceremony begin.”
With that, he winked at Novalia, as if to say, ‘I've got high hopes for you.’
Novalia's heart was a tempest of emotions.
She had thought that inheriting the throne would be a grueling, perilous process. Perhaps she would have to make enemies of the entire nobility, or perhaps she would die trying.
Yet now, a single person had cleared every obstacle through his own strength, placing the crown directly into her hands.
Perhaps at the very beginning, she had viewed Ning Busan as a promising junior. Later, she saw him as an ally and a friend. But now...
How should she put it?
She was someone who admired the strong.
...
The King was confined to his own palace.
He swept all the paper and pens off his desk, roaring hysterically, “I will never issue a decree of self-reproach! And I will absolutely never pass the throne to that little bitch!”
A thick, black mist suddenly materialized beside him, and out stepped a handsome, ethereal young man.
Behind the youth was a pair of massive, black wings.
The newcomer was none other than Mammon, who had secretly slipped away from Hell.
Upon seeing him, the King bellowed, “Didn't you say he wouldn't be able to use magic inside the magic-sealing array? I sent two Grand Swordsmen to kill him! Why is he still alive? Is there something wrong with the magic circle you gave me?”
Mammon raised his hand, and a coil of black mist instantly wrapped around the King's neck.
He asked displeasedly, “Are you questioning me?”
The King instantly cowed. “...I wouldn't dare.”
Mammon recalled the scene he had witnessed at the Frozen Lake, his narrow eyes squinting slightly.
This human, Ning Busan, possessed a face similar to Satan's, but the light energy radiating from him was far too dense, and his personality was vastly different from Satan's.
Mammon suspected that this was a conspiracy orchestrated by the God of Light, which was why he had used the magic-sealing array as a test.
If Ning Busan truly were Satan, there was no way he couldn't break the magic-sealing array.
Yet, the magic-sealing array had successfully bound his magic, proving that he was indeed not Satan.
However, even though he couldn't use magic inside the array, he had suddenly manifested a completely different kind of power.
There was still something highly unusual about this human.
The King knelt before Mammon, his eyes burning with hatred. “I don't want to lose my throne. Go kill Ning Busan for me, and I will do anything you ask.”
“Such absolute greed.” Mammon's crimson eyes filled with utter disdain, looking down at the King as if he were an ant he could crush at any moment.
Too much greed in a human was never a good thing; it would only lead to being consumed and controlled by the power of greed.
Mammon sneered, “You no longer have any utility. Why should I help you?”
The King pleaded, “I will do whatever you want, as long as you can help me keep my throne.”
The corners of Mammon's lips curled. “Didn't Ning Busan say he has a way to resolve the seal? How about... I send you to the royal tombs right now, and you can release your ancestor with your own hands?”
The King's face turned deathly pale. “What on earth do you want to do?”
Mammon chuckled softly. “Have you forgotten who I am? I am a demon, after all~”
Instigating wars, spreading plagues, creating chaos, causing disasters...
When demons had nothing better to do, they simply loved to find some amusement.
Ever since that lord departed, the Demon Clan had essentially turned into a pack of lawless maniacs, hadn't they?
Rate on N.U.
