In the skies above Fort Continent, Predica suddenly opened his eyes and walked out of the isolated chamber. He passed through the corridor and onto the deck, where he gazed up at the vast void.
That direction was where the core continents of the major races lay. A light flickered briefly on his staff, the Guardian of Destiny, almost as though an eye had opened up in the darkness.
…
The sky above Lava Castle on Twilight Continent was just as calm as before, distant from all worldly affairs.
Presently, the Demon King was enjoying tea with Habsburg under a gazebo of wisteria. It was a rare sight for him to emerge from his books of late.
The refreshments on the table were a bit different from the norm. They looked somewhat crude, a far cry from the standards of Evernight nobles.
In terms of value, they were several times more expensive than the highest grade tea and pastries. That was because these refreshments were local specialties that the City of Eimer had brought back from the neutral region near the Star Corridor.
The Demon King smiled as he finished a pastry that looked like a maple leaf. “The taste didn’t change. I heard the lady boss is that person’s great great-granddaughter. Meta… ah, Habsburg, what do you think?”
Habsburg put down his fork and said, “It’s pretty nice, but I don’t remember the original taste.”
The Demon King gazed at Habsburg with a smile. “Very well, my stubborn old friend.” After a while, he said, “Will you fall out with me if I break my promise?”
Habsburg glanced at the Demon King in silence. “Why?”
“I can’t guarantee I won’t take action if that child appears in front of me.”
Habsburg said with a frown, “He’s heading to the demonkin continent? How come? You’ve always known his whereabouts, so why would you send the Secret Sword Emissaries?”
“All I can see is the arrowhead of fate,” the Demon King said gently.
“Your Majesty Kane, you’re a supreme of the Sacred Mountain. I don’t think there’s anything you truly fear if you want to do it. In fact, I don’t think you’re that weary of Lilith, either.”
Habsburg said after a momentary daze, “It has always been nature itself for each race to have only one supreme. I’ve never even thought about this before you mentioned it.”
The Demon King asked, “Why did Andruil give up on challenging Lilith back then?”
Habsburg said, “Isn’t it because he’s not strong enough?”
The Demon King only smiled in response. He said after a while, “I’m really looking forward to the curtains falling on the new world. Dear friend, are you not willing to awaken a second time?”
Habsburg stared deeply into his eyes but didn’t say anything. He also made no response to the question about a second awakening.
The Demon King’s expression was just as gentle. He stopped talking and shifted his attention back to the crude but sentimental table of pastries.
…
In the depths of the void, the Martyr’s Palace was swimming forward while moving its long tail like a fish. Qianye was standing atop the Earth Dragon’s head and gazing into the distant void. His thoughts were entirely inside the Book of Darkness, taking note of all the powers at his disposal.
The unexpected truce with the arachne didn’t lessen his pressure by much. The demonkin alone possessed several great dark monarchs and the Demon King himself, let alone the legendary aces they had acc.u.mulated over the millennia.
Qianye glanced at his hands. Simply flexing his fingers produced faint rumbles of thunder. The explosions weren’t from compressed air but void origin power. Qianye’s body had been modified from the inside out by chaos origin power. The strength of his innards was well beyond a grand duke’s.
Gaining a special bloodline power after internal strengthening would make him a prince, and igniting a blood seal at the source of the vampire race’s power would make him a crown prince.
Even without a special bloodline ability, he would see an uplift in his entire being when his physical and spiritual strengthening reached its limit. That was the hallmark of a great dark monarch.
Only at his level of strength did he realize that the prince rank wasn’t a necessary step between the grand duke and great dark monarch levels. Sometimes, the awakening of a special bloodline might delay the ultimate goal, just as not every second-generation primogenitor was a great dark monarch, and similarly, not every great dark monarch was a primogenitor.
Qianye was now a grand duke, but he was already at the doorstep of a great dark monarch. After being strengthened by chaos energy from the inside out, this new body was even strong enough to contend with Noxus, albeit barely. The arachne warlord was known as the strongest great dark monarch in terms of physical strength. When it came to pure strength and constitution, the demonkin great dark monarchs might not be Qianye’s match.
However, he had no intention of relaxing just yet. Although he had learned from Noxus the promise between the Demon King and Habsburg, Qianye wasn’t about to bet his safety on the supreme’s integrity.
Not to mention that promises only worked between experts of the same level, it was easy to see from the current hunt that the Demon King would stop at nothing for the Book of Darkness. As Qianye saw it, the promise itself was fairly odd. He wasn’t too confident that the newly-ascended vampire primogenitor could actually keep the Demon King restrained.
Qianye put down his hand and said thoughtfully, “My strength isn’t enough just yet…”
After some contemplation, he turned the Martyr’s Palace in a different direction.
Western Continent, the Zhao clan manor.
The city-sized manor was bustling with activity—the roads leading in and out of the manor were filled with all kinds of trucks and vehicles, so much so that there were already signs of congestion.
An endless stream of materials was being moved into the crafts manor, where they would pass through different workshops to become warsh.i.p.s, combat vehicles, and main cannons.
The mountain nearby had been leveled to make way for dozens of new workshops. The already large crafts manor had now doubled in surface area.
The Zhao clan’s resources from its two and a half provinces weren’t enough to maintain such a production rate. The expansion could only mean one thing—the Empire was now in a state of war preparation.
The inner residences of the Zhao manor became relatively empty with only servants scuttling about quietly. Most of the main family members weren’t home, so they had little to do. Those who did remain were all in a bad mood because of the rising casualty rates, and any mistake would lead to punishment for the servants.
Qianye appeared outside of the manor gates and looked up at the signboard with a sigh.
His figure flickered as he entered the threshold, reappearing deep inside the manor where he walked along the central path.
Some people passed by in a hurry, but none of them noticed him. Under the guise of his Bloodline Concealment, Qianye was no different from a normal servant at a glance.
Qianye simply stood there and waited for someone to arrive. Actually, it was only natural that he would be discovered because the inner estate of the Zhao manor was almost as well defended as the Imperial Palace. If an outsider could move undetected with Bloodline Concealment alone, the dark races would’ve killed countless important characters already.
An old inner attendant arrived before Qianye and bowed. “What a rare occasion for the fifth young master to return to the manor. The Eldest Princess wishes to see you.”
“Lead the way.”
Moments later, Qianye arrived at Princess Gaoyi’s courtyard and was led to her study. The princess was clad in a loose dress, seated behind a tall pile of doc.u.ments that required her attention.
Seeing Qianye enter, Gaoyi finished noting some things on the current doc.u.ment and put down her brush. “Weihuang cares little about anything besides the army. I didn’t want to get involved in these matters, but there’s no choice considering the special circ.u.mstances.”
“We definitely can’t leave military matters to outsiders.” Qianye nodded.
Gaoyi nodded as well, her unaging face showing some signs of fatigue. “They’re all fighting with their lives on the line out there. Every bit of missing resources might lead to the loss of lives. I couldn’t feel at ease, so I stepped in myself.”
With that, she glanced at Qianye calmly. “It’s definitely a surprise that you've returned, but seeing you alive is the best news these days.”
Qianye said with a smile, “I thought I would die.”
“Set on greater heights.”
“You… have you finally given up on the Empire?”
Qianye said, “It’s not exactly giving up, I still stand for the human race. However, I am working to save some remnant vampires at the moment.”
The princess’ expression didn’t change. “The vampires are a great enemy to the Empire, perhaps even the greatest. Are you still willing to help them?”
“Not every vampire is my enemy, and not every human is my friend. From a certain perspective, I think I have more human enemies,” Qianye replied calmly.
Gaoyi sighed. “The Empire certainly owes you, but…”
Qianye cut her short, “Not everyone. I will exact what is due from those who made an excuse of the greater picture to seek personal gains. As long as I don’t die, I will settle the score with them one by one.”
“You’ve changed…”
“Anyone would change after coming back from the verge of death repeatedly. Or rather, I’m no longer as gullible.”
Gaoyi nodded. “What did you come back for this time?”
Qianye said, “To borrow something.”
