Traveler of the River of Time and Space-Chapter 568 - 44: Puppet Emperor

The capital of the Empire was later relocated and established underground.

After docking the spacecraft near a secluded bay, Empress Isabella piloted a fighter jet, taking the group towards the Imperial Capital.

The spacecraft was too large to be completely concealed.

This fighter, named "Thunderbird," was equipped with top-tier optical invisibility devices, enough to allow them to safely enter the Imperial Capital's range. On the way, Empress Isabella briefly explained some matters about the Mechanical Pantheon to Su Ziyu and Shire. In brief, it was an organization that could not be eliminated easily. When the Spiritual Ascension failed, the Emperor of the Empire needed to harness the power of religion to soothe the people's minds. That's when the Mechanical Pantheon rose to power. They inherited part of the doctrines and technology from the Ancient Lost Empire ruins and rapidly developed a massive following during the Empire's darkest times, once completely controlling civilian power.

If it was just that, the Mechanical Pantheon wasn't a major problem, since the core strength of the Empire lay with the upper echelons.

However, later on, they somehow discovered a wealth of mechanical technology from an ancient ruin, and their core leadership developed an extremely dangerous ideology, which was the main reason for their tense relationship with successive Emperors of the Empire.

The Mechanical Pantheon wanted to establish a theocratic Empire.

This was something no Emperor of the Empire could accept. Empress Isabella similarly rejected many of the Pantheon's doctrines, as the blood of the Imperial Family held a trace of madness, freedom, and bloodlust deep within.

Thus.

In this crisis, when Empress Isabella's life was uncertain, and the strength of the Imperial Knight Order was severely damaged, the Mechanical Pantheon decisively initiated a coup to seize power.

Of course, they supported a puppet emperor in name.

That was Empress Isabella's nephew, Prince William, a guy who ordinarily enjoyed a free and easy life.

"William simply has no ability to resist them," Empress Isabella shook her head and said, "Now, the entire Imperial Capital is likely under the Mechanical Church's control."

As Empress Isabella was speaking, her expression suddenly showed a trace of pain.

Upon sensing the instability in Empress Isabella's mind waves, Su Ziyu decisively extended his hand to the back of her head and quickly activated the mind connection ability, using his spiritual will to help calm her mind.

At this moment, Empress Isabella could not afford any mishap.

There was a momentary lapse of spirit.

Then came a bone-piercing pain transmitted through the mind connection to Su Ziyu, but this sting did not originate from Empress Isabella, as she was also a passive connection.

"Help... Help me... Save me!..."

"Aunt Isabella!..."

"Save me!... I'm in such agony!..."

An extremely painful mind consciousness, almost lost to crying out, was transmitted over. Su Ziyu's vision blurred for a moment, then he shared the senses of everything Empress Isabella could see.

There was an extremely magnificent Golden Palace.

Hundreds of steps like white jade stones led upwards, and in the grand hall ahead were marble columns several meters in diameter, resembling a divine hall where ancient Divine Spirits resided. In front of the vast hall was a meticulously carved Golden Throne, every pattern filled with unique rhythm, akin to a masterpiece by some grandmaster.

But at this moment, there was no one on the massive Golden Throne.

Su Ziyu's vision penetrated the thick walls and entered a special sealed chamber at the back of the hall.

A crystalline chamber over five meters in diameter appeared before them, surrounded by more than a dozen people wearing metal masks, constantly busy with various instruments. Silver-white metal tubes connected to the crystals in front, with numerous wave-like patterns projected by the instruments.

"His Majesty the Emperor's mind waves are unstable."

"Quickly inject the sedative!..."

"Doctor ready."

"If the mind waves remain unstable, directly implant an artificial brain!..."

"Mind Suppression Barrier's power at 65%!..."

"Increase the frequency of mind synchronization!..."

Amidst a cacophony of voices, Su Ziyu's vision pierced through the crystal chamber, and he saw a naked young man completely submerged in pale blue liquid, sealed within it.

His appearance was rather handsome, bearing some resemblance to Empress Isabella.

Around thirty silver-white metal tubes inserted into various parts of his body, and near the brain, a small incision adjacent to the cervical vertebrae revealed a glimpse of the white brain structure. Around this shallow incision, healed through nano-repair technology, the shaved hair had not yet grown back. On both sides, an extremely sophisticated chip was implanted, and a device like a nano-neural bundle directly pierced into the brain's interior, emitting a very weak electromagnetic signal.

"William..." Empress Isabella let out a painful howl.

Without a doubt.

The young man sealed within the chamber was her nephew, Prince William, or rather, the current Emperor of the Empire.

The bloodline of Imperial Family members possessed significant Spiritual Talent.

Prince William, seemingly under extreme pain, had a surge of Spiritual Energy, transmitting his mind waves outward.

"What is that?"

"What are they doing?" After the hallucination faded, Su Ziyu asked in a deep voice.

This was truly a puppet emperor.

The extreme pain from the mind waves made Su Ziyu somewhat sympathetic, giving him a slight understanding of what the Mechanical Pantheon had done to this current Emperor of the Empire, just observing the exterior wounds indicated Prince William's brain had likely been studied.

"Those damned rebels!" Empress Isabella's emotions were near breaking point, her pupils showing traces of blood. With a bit of mental calming provided by Su Ziyu, she slowly said, "It's a Mind Synchronization Device."

"William's Spiritual Energy cannot fully activate the Spiritual Synchronization Device."

"They want to transform William into a human-shaped mind stabilizing wave emitter!..."

Real *Mind Emitter*, Fake *Emperor of the Empire*.

The aftermath of the failed Spiritual Ascension still plagued the people of the Empire; thus, the Mechanical Pantheon had been biding their time, unable to replace members of the Imperial Family to activate the Mind Synchronization Device to soothe the spirits of the entire Empire.

The Mind Suppression Barrier was merely the outermost layer of the Mind Synchronization Device. Without the soothing of the Mind Synchronization Device, all the people of the Empire would quickly fall into a frenzy.

During Empress Isabella's reign, the Mechanical Pantheon dared not act.

But now, with Empress Isabella's life uncertain and even her corpse missing from the battlefield, this gave the Mechanical Pantheon an opportunity—a chance to completely control the members of the Imperial Family and seize control of the Mind Synchronization Device. They quickly initiated a coup and controlled Prince William, then dispatched people to take over the Mind Synchronization Center beneath the Golden Palace, and subsequently began researching a device capable of sending stable, continuous mind-soothing waves.

And the core of this device was Prince William.

The current Emperor of the Empire.

"They will implant an Anlisi Chip into William." Empress Isabella's voice was slightly downcast and angry, muttering, "Replacing his brain with an artificial brain, simplifying his thoughts, to become a device that continually emits joyful mind waves."

"Damn it!"

"We are already too late!..."

.........