Chapter 390
Infused with the alien energies of the great gods of the Angel and Demon Realms, Aden von Agnus’s greatsword streaked toward Joshua. Everything that stood in the way of Aden’s strike turned into nothing—even space was distorted. Only the gods were at the level of distorting the space itself, as they had the ability to alter the realms.
Aden’s sword darted in and savaged Joshua’s chest. Astonishingly, his single, ordinary, and rather slow swing left dozens of wounds—at least—on Joshua.
“It’s said that at the maximum level in martial arts, secret techniques or formulas don’t matter anymore. Ny surpasses that level, then one can harm another at will… I was going to teach—”
Agnus couldn’t finish speaking because of the sudden stinging pain on his right cheek. Blood dripped from the deep wound. Aden’s eyes turned colder than ever.
“Are you teaching me as my father?”
“…Hmph. Let’s just say I’m just teaching my arrogant son some manners,” Aden answered.
“Neither of us can afford to waste time.” Joshua held up his spear in the air once again and straightened his posture. “It’ll soon be daybreak, so the story about the massacre that took place in the Imperial Palace will be quickly spread throughout the entire Empire by the servants that come in to work.”
“It'll be quite a sight to see my son tried for high treason for assassinating the Emperor.” Aden chuckled.
“But you won’t get to take the throne once the story becomes known.”
“…What?” Aden’s face darkened.
“You talked about teaching your son some manners, but have you already forgotten? The punishment for high treason is the execution of father and son—especially for assassinating the Emperor.”
Aden’s eyes widened as he belatedly realized the reality.
“I unintentionally interfered with your plan, but I’m not sorry at all.” Joshua smirked at him.
“…You’re still arrogant.”
“Then I’ll start first.”
White sparks flew up from Joshua and spread in every direction. Hot flames blazed up the air, shaking the ground and making the wind howl. An enormous amount of mana circulated inside him, and his demonic power was concentrated on his spearhead. Every cell in his body was infused with his divine power—he would put an end to this fight with this one strike. Joshua was going to declare the end of the war and all the other conflicts.
Even the sky shook, unable to handle Joshua’s power. Meanwhile, Joshua forgot about the techniques and his surroundings, eventually even abandoning the desire to kill his opponent.
Right now, Joshua only thought about putting Aden out of existence.
Even the Dark God seemed nervous; he felt a bone-chilling premonition. He didn’t disregard Joshua’s current state and pounced at Joshua right away.
Joshua’s spear moved— the moment Joshua thought he was going to move the spear, he was already thrusting the spear, using the power to wipe anything out of existence if he so desired. He no longer tried to thrust or strike with the spear, nor formulate a certain course of attack. Instead of techniques, Joshua only thought about making his opponent extinct as he launched his attack with the spear.
Magic Spear Art Level 9, Final Origin: Extinction.
“This is…!” Aden came to a halt, wide-eyed; he was only ten meters away and could feel what was coming.
.
In contrast to Aden’s previous attack, the power flying toward him was indefinite and touched nothing in between him and Joshua.
* * *
A man and woman were having a private meeting within Kiser’s palace. Of course, the man was Prince Kiser, the owner of the palace, and the other was the woman he was deeply in love with.
“Are you… really going to be okay?” Charles cautiously asked.
Kiser smiled; the plaintive look stirred something inside Charles for some reason. “I don’t have any reason to delay straightening everything out.”
“Still… once everything is over, all the citizens will lay the blame on the Britten Family,” Charles insisted with a worried voice.
“We Brittens are the cause of everything, so it’s only right for us to take responsibility.”
“Your Highness…”
“By the way,” Kiser interrupted, “I really loved you very much.”
“…I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
“Ah… I wasn’t confessing my love,” Kiser said.
“Uh,” Charles dumbly replied. “That’s…”
“You must love him a lot.”
Charles hesitated to answer Kiser, but it was only for a second; she knew how much one-sided love hurt better than anyone else, so she wanted to make it clear to Kiser, who was in a similar state as her.
“Yes, I love Joshua very much,” Charles said.
“…I see.” Kiser looked rather refreshed and then stood up from his seat. “Then let’s finish everything.”
“That means…?”
“Yo-Your Highness!”
The moment Kiser was about to reply to Charles, the head butler barged in without knocking.
Kiser frowned. “How discourteous—”
“A-A-An incident took place in the council chamber just now,” the head butler interrupted.
“An incident…?” Kiser repeated, baffled.
The head butler’s next remark was truly shocking.
“All the nobles that were gathered in the council chamber have been sl-slaughtered! The safety of Hi-His Majesty is also unclear—”
Kiser’s eyes bulged. “What? What in the world are you talking about?” he shouted before the head butler could finish speaking.
“I-I just received the news from the main palace, a-and… the people who are presumed to be the previous Duke Agnus and His Highness Joshua are fighting—!”
Charles sprang up from her seat. “Whaaaat?”
“Duke Tremblin and the Imperial Knights are already headed there!”
“I’ll go!” Charles was ready to go straight to the main palace.
Kiser stopped her. “Wait here, Lady Charles. It’s too dangerous.”
“No, I have to go!”
“No, you’ll just be a burden to him,” Kiser firmly replied.
“But…!”
With a dark expression, Kiser shook his head once again. “I’ll go instead.”
“Y-you’re going, Your Highness?” Charles froze.
Kiser forced himself to smile. “Didn’t I promise you? Please give me a chance to act cool in front of the woman I was deeply in love with.”
* * *
Time passed, and the day eventually broke in Arcadia; many people pulled an all-nighter. At the same time, an unprecedented event occurred, surprising every citizen in Arcadia.
“Wh-what is this?”
It was the break of dawn, but a great crowd of people were gathered in the great plaza of Arcadia. No one was sure when the big announcement poster was posted, but the poster contained such shocking facts that it was hard for them to even read them out aloud.
“I did see the leaflets telling us to gather in the plaza all over the streets, but what is this…?”
“Due to the assassination attempt last night… His Majesty who had returned has passed away? And the culprit is the former Duke of Agnus…”
“What is this bullshit? I can’t even believe that the people that disappeared three years ago suddenly appeared out of nowhere!”
“Well… that is what the poster says.”
On everyone’s behalf, a middle-aged man was reading down the poster but he couldn’t hide how bewildered he was. The return of the two missing popular figures alone was astounding enough, but an assassination? What in the world did this mean?
“So… it basically means that the previous Duke of Agnus assassinated His Majesty?”
“…Yeah.”
“Son of a bitch!” A young man cursed, making the people nearby flinch from the sheer vitriol. “To be honest, things have been really weird. Rumors of the previous Duke Agnus, who went to the war, actually being alive have spread recently, and His Majesty conveniently went missing right after the news of his death was delivered to the Empire. I think Duke Agnus had already killed His Majesty by then.”
“Hey! The nobles might hear you!”
“It’s the truth. I don’t know how to read, but considering that red seal, it certainly looks like an announcement poster from the Imperial Family.” The young man pointed at the big seal at the lower part of the poster. “I’m saying this because His Majesty was mentioned, but many people liked Emperor Marcus, right? Well, those higher-ups pointed fingers at him and called him a tyrant.”
“Mmm… he did reduce a lot of the taxes we had to pay, in contrast to the other countries…”
“Besides, what was our Empire like before the disappearance of His Majesty? The Empire was powerful enough to be called one of the three most powerful empires in the continent, envied by foreigners!”
“Mmmm… it’s really…”
“Listen to me, people! The man deserved respect, but he was assassinated!” the young man shouted.
The people in the plaza were unsettled, but they soon began condemning the Agnus family as a whole.
“Gosh! Dark God or not…”
“Dark God, my ass. It’s the Hero King now—no, the Martial God, Joshua Sanders. If this is true, then the previous Duke Agnus that hauled ass from the battlefield is just the murderer of His Majesty!”
Everything was going according to Kiser’s plan so far.
“Wait! Then what about the Martial God?”
“What about him?”
“There was an incident in the past, right? You know, someone got in the way of the Second Prince, and his son and father also got executed…”
“Ah, that story is famous.”
“Then what is the punishment for assassinating His Majesty?”
“Well, wouldn’t his entire family get executed?”
“So what would happen to Joshua Sanders, the Martial God and son of the previous Duke Agnus?!” the man that first raised the question asked.
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