Chapter 1091: Chapter 571: Radiant Queen of the Desert and Black Friday (Part 2)
"No need to rush and make a move. It’s hard enough to predict how a person usually operates.
But once he’s injured, he’ll definitely retreat to what he believes is his safest, most hidden base camp to lick his wounds.
We’ll use this opportunity to figure out his identity, origins, all forces under his command, the source of his forbidden knowledge, and what exactly drives him to betray humanity.
Plus, the ’Traitor’ and the forces under him are the key support [Capricious Joker] relies on in the Material World.
Killing just him isn’t enough. Ideally, before I set off for the Eastern Continent, I’ll rip this entire faction out by the roots so I can leave with peace of mind."
There was one more thing Byron didn’t say.
His aunt and cousin both hoped he would inherit the throne of the Iris Kingdom.
If Byron claimed he was sparing his relatives’ feelings and didn’t want this fertile land plus twenty million people that could be converted into believers and Power, that would be way too hypocritical.
For an Offshore Nation like the Kingdom of Hightins, born with Innate shortcomings, lacking strategic depth and natural resources, there really is no path besides being a "Troublemaker."
And if you want to become world Overlord, vast, obedient lands and a huge population that won’t rebel are necessary prerequisites.
Only then can you ensure that once new technology appears, you can immediately rely on your enormous domestic market, a complete industrial chain, and a no-short-board industrial structure to turn tech into reality.
You can even dump it at cabbage prices and leave other competitors with no way out.
Otherwise, no matter how you develop, there’s a hard ceiling; you can only watch yourself get replaced by a second, a third "World Factory."
So within the core ruling sphere, the more territory that brings positive returns, the better.
In the narrow sense, the North Sea Empire is just The Five Bay States, but countries along the North Sea Coast also include regional powers Iris and Netherland.
"It’s not that I want to have a foot in several boats at once; I just want to give every country and her people a warm home.
How is that wrong?"
It’s just that Byron absolutely could not, at this juncture, restart a war and use military means to prolong Hightins and Iris’s love-hate entanglement, further draining Humanity’s already meager Power.
But if the ’Traitor’ and Louis XI could "turn love into hate" and start a deathmatch, even die together, he’d be delighted to see it.
As long as Iris had no legitimate heir left, wouldn’t his chance arrive?
As for the family affection between distant relatives?
What’s that supposed to be? Never heard of it.
Back then, the reason he reclaimed the throne without relying on the Valois Royal Family’s external aid was precisely so that, when making major decisions, he could act independently, free from all outside interference.
As for that revolutionary old stronghold’s habit of chopping off kings’ heads?
You think I’d be afraid of being beheaded? Ridiculous!
"I keep feeling that the throne of Iris matches better with the Dream title [Sun King].
Conquering an Empire Where the Sun Never Sets where the Sun never goes down, rightfully assuming [Sun King], that’s the true beginning of ’L’état, c’est moi.’"
Plotting like this in his heart, Byron had already deftly slipped the Crystal High Heels onto his sister and helped her stand up.
He was just about to make an inspection tour of the "Standard Whale Oil Company" production base before heading back, when Byron’s [Divine Sight], which could cover dozens of kilometers in radius, suddenly noticed a commotion on the other side of the island.
He swept his gaze over and took in the scene there at a glance.
A group of Ancient God’s Chosen Races with skin ranging from white to brown to black, clearly a very mixed bunch of Species, shoved a young man who looked like a half-blood to the foot of a spire-like Pyramid.
Every one of these Kin was missing one eye; the remaining eye flickered with pale golden Fire as they locked their gaze on the "Prisoner" and harshly interrogated him:
"Speak. Where did your accomplices take the thing?"
A massive Fourth Order Mythical Creature with a Human face, a lion’s body, eagle wings, but no eyes circled around the young man, as if picking the best place to bite first.
Seeing them clearly, both Byron and Catherine couldn’t help frowning:
"Well, isn’t that convenient—it’s actually...the Blind Eye Church that worships [Hawk-Headed God] and [Lion-Headed Goddess], and their most self-mutilation-happy Kin, [The Sightless Ones]?"
As the Luanyan Epoch drew near, Hidden things were being revealed one after another, and their understanding of each Old God Church grew deeper and deeper.
The Old Gods [The Blind], [Hawk-Headed God] Horus’s core Divine Position is Heavenly God, so his two eyes respectively represent the Sun and the Moon.
And whenever the New Moon appears, he becomes a blind man, taking on the Incarnation of [The Sightless Ones].
In order to express their worship of their God, the Blind Eye Church likes to gouge out their enemies’ eyes after defeating them, or offer up a bloody slaughter as sacrifice to [The Blind], [Hawk-Headed God].
They will dig out all their enemies’ eyeballs as offerings and food, part to sacrifice to their God, part for themselves to enjoy.
They are vicious toward their enemies and just as ruthless toward themselves.
From the moment they join the Church, every believer gouges out one of their own eyes—just like everyone present had only one eye left, the other socket empty.
Upon promotion to the Fourth Order, they even sacrifice their last eye, abandoning the sense of sight entirely in exchange for the ability to pry into the future.
Besides the most common humanoid [The Sightless Ones], there are two main types of Fourth Order Mythical Creatures:
One is the [Sphinx], with a Human face, lion’s body, and eagle wings, usually male;
The other is the [Griffon], with the head, wings, and talons of an eagle and the body of a lion, including both males and females.
