Defying the Fate of Beheading-Chapter 467 - 262: The Emperor’s Cocooning, The Destructive Black Sun (Seeking Monthly Tickets)_2
The war was a subject of much controversy.
Because the outbreak of this war was so sudden, the death toll so immense, the subsequent impact directly changed the situation on the continent.
Since most of the participants died in this war, the Ense Empire Legion had massive vacancies in its ranks.
Over the next 100 years, 99% of the new forces from Ense’s civilian population joined the legion, pledging allegiance to the empire.
This situation even affected a continent-wide organization, that is, the Adventurer Guild.
Hans, president of the Ense branch, couldn’t promote any new Titled Strongman for a long time after coming to the empire to take office.
It’s because the strongmen within Ense were still not enough to fill the royal family’s needs.
Thus, he cherished the genius Alice once he learned of her.
He almost unconditionally compromised to Caesar after learning he was the Sword Saint.
Louis not only recalled the first major incident he was involved in after his rebirth.
In the National Waste Disposal Plant incident, he had the Secret Guard investigate some data.
He presented it like this:
"Since the capital moved to Tino, over 74 years, the plant typically had an annual resignation rate of 4% to 6%..."
In other words, Tino City had only established the waste disposal plant 74 years ago.
As an empire with thousands of years of history, the Imperial Capital Waste Disposal Plant has only a 74-year history because the Imperial Capital is new, hence the redevelopment of the waste disposal plant. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
It means that to settle the affected populace of the "Ense Cataclysm," just the relocation of the population took the empire over 26 years.
Because nearly everyone who participated died, even intelligence personnel from foreign forces couldn’t figure out exactly what happened.
When he took over the prince’s related business, during a data compilation, he saw descriptions of the war.
"The rapidly rising empire, halted abruptly by this battle."
"Most of the Iron Guard perished in this war."
"The remaining few fled in terror."
"In the end, the Iron Guard, once representing the empire’s strongest forces, became history."
"If the main battlefield of this war had not been in the half-plane, the empire wouldn’t have needed to move its capital."
"Because ordinary people there, even breathing is a mistake."
"Even so, the residual shockwaves from the half-plane still destroyed the Imperial Capital, causing the extremely grievous Ense Cataclysm."
His mind buzzed.
This scale of demonic threat, with the empire’s forces as he understood them, had no chance of resisting.
Even if the Emperor was strong, no one could suppress them alone.
As long as a tiny bit of demon broke free.
Even just one percent, even one-thousandth, would be enough to destroy a non-first-tier great nation.
Hmm... probably enough to level East Monet or West Monet.
He frowned.
How did the Emperor manage to stop so many demons?
The rumble resounded once more.
Thunderbolts slightly inferior to the Emperor’s intertwined in the sky one after another.
Louis saw a team successfully merging in the sky, led by the Emperor.
They wore armor Louis was intimately familiar with and bore great swords he had seen many times.
"This attire... is the Iron Guard?"
In an instant, the Iron Guard surrounding the Emperor scattered.
If the Emperor was the thundercloud obscuring the sky, then these Iron Guards turned into his limbs.
Only... these limbs seemed excessive.
"No, no, what’s up with these Iron Guards?"
Louis noticed something amiss.
Initially, it was simply because these Iron Guards were too strong.
Even with the empire’s resources, it couldn’t produce so many strongmen.
The Iron Guard surrounding the Emperor numbered about 3000.
The power fluctuations emanating from each person neared demigod level.
And due to their consistent aura, just two Iron Guard working together could directly exert demigod prowess.
In other words, it was equivalent to having 1500 demigod combat powers on site at once.
This was outrageous.
He didn’t know if there were this many concealed demigods across the continent.
This absolutely isn’t a number of strongmen that could be cultivated by the strength of a single nation.
Thus, now he sensed big issues with these Iron Guards.
So his attention naturally shifted to the nature of these Iron Guards.
From his perception, he almost didn’t sense the existence of the Iron Guards.
"The aura of these three thousand people... why do they all feel the same."
All strongmen, yet the aura between strongmen is entirely different.
Like the LSP using twin beauties, even identical twins feel different in actual experience.
So it is with the aura of strongmen.
But in Louis’s perception, the battlefield frantically attacked by this group of Iron Guards maintained only one aura throughout—
The Emperor’s aura.
"Damn it, did these Iron Guards borrow the Emperor’s power?"
This is the most likely explanation.
But Louis quickly reacted.
"No, if borrowing the Emperor’s power, then the Emperor’s power would temporarily decline."
"In such a war, concentrated power is more effective than dispersed power."
"So who... could the Iron Guard wield the Emperor’s power without affecting the Emperor’s own strength?"
His heart suddenly raced.
He had a feeling this could very well be the truth.
In hindsight, almost everyone who knew or interacted with the Iron Guard feared their power immensely.
Even Sapphire Dragon Sean shrieked to flee upon seeing William.
This seemed less like a joke and more like a bone-deep fear.
If each Iron Guard could be viewed as a projection of the Emperor’s power, then it’s understandable why others fear the Iron Guard so.
This means they would directly face the one they fear most.
Louis’s body instinctively paused.
A trace of horror flashed in his eyes.
All the Iron Guards released slightly different power fluctuations.
Observing for a while, he noticed Iron Guards whose power reached demigod level.
Perhaps this was related to the Iron Guards’ own strength?
The stronger their strength, the more terrifying the Emperor’s power they could wield?
In his trance, he thought of Rudolph.
During the Battle of the Shadow Country, the Emperor rose and engaged in combat.
Rudolph held the gate until he succumbed.
As William’s grandfather, Rudolph was probably the strongest among the existing Iron Guards.
If following his earlier conjecture, the stronger the strength, the stronger the Emperor’s power they could use.
—Even if using this power had a huge cost, at least in a short time, it could potentially unleash power akin to the Emperor’s.
Thus, the Emperor could intervene in the Shadow Country.
Yet despite this, within this half-plane, the Iron Guards ultimately met their sunset.
Imitations are ultimately imitators.
Though having the functions of the authentic, they fell one by one.
Not because they were weak.
But because they were exhausted.
The lightning spreading through the half-plane gradually receding.
The only comforting thought was, with countless Iron Guards sacrificed, they actually suppressed the Demon Legion Louis found unimaginable.
When everything returned to calm.
Louis saw a shattered cocoon appear in the sky.
That cocoon enveloped the Emperor within.
Even the Emperor couldn’t escape instantly.
Suddenly.
A brilliant arc slashed through the sky, striking the cocoon.
Louis watched in shock as Princess Consort Diana raised her Magic Staff, delivering a strike beyond the ninth-level magic.
The strike precisely tore a hole in the cocoon.
The Emperor’s lightning spread forth once more.
The cocoon vanished.
A malign, corrupt force absorbed by that cocoon transformed into a Black Sun sinking into shadow.
Louis stared blankly at the scene.
Suddenly, his mind lit with a realization.
The Black Sun seen in Master Rogen’s memories was at the time of the Old Imperial Capital’s destruction, roughly 100 years ago.
But Fox saw the destructive Black Sun just over a decade ago.
"The Black Sun of a hundred years ago was the Black Sun that cocoon became, which destroyed the Fallen Shadow Nether Realm’s native life?"
"The Black Sun of over a decade ago was the Emperor Lao Deng’s controlled Black Sun, truly Emperor Old Deng?"
His gaze shifted to Xilin protected by the magic barrier.
Unexpectedly, he glimpsed the truth of that disaster years ago through her.
