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Having initially passed through the most dangerous phase of his advancement, Hobert, separated by the barrier of the "Crystal of Order" and the previously constructed "Wall of Spirituality," gazed at the four archangels outside while diligently gathering his spirituality.
It was akin to being watched by four old men while taking a bath, yet Hobert wasn't afraid of being seen.
During this advancement, his consciousness was exceptionally clear, but his body lay on the ground like a pile of mud.
After slightly gathering his spirituality, Hobert understood that he needed to use his spirituality to "mold" his body back together.
At this moment, Tamara, looking like a wax statue, and Trunsoest, with his bronze-colored hair, were very close to the barrier, both studying the black barrier in front of them from different directions.
Meanwhile, William I, appearing quite dignified, and Philip I, with a very amiable appearance, were at a distance, quietly observing from two different directions.
Hobert began to concentrate on "molding" his body, gaining a new understanding of the "Prince of Abolition."
Although his physical body had undergone qualitative changes after advancing to Sequence 2, "Duke of Entropy," it still hadn't escaped the category of living beings.
After advancing to "Prince of Abolition," Hobert would be able to perform many operations on the aspect of order, and natural order would basically have no way to affect him.
It could also be said that he had basically escaped the category of "living beings" at this time, and was no longer bound by the universe and nature's constraints on living beings most of the time.
Consequently, Hobert's body lost all order and turned into a pile of mud.
The process of using spirituality to "mold" himself back together was equivalent to distinguishing himself from living beings in the natural world, completing the process of "disordering" himself first.
Soon, Hobert first molded his internal organs, then his head, torso, and limbs gradually took shape.
With a wave of his hand, he "tampered" with the air in front of him into crystals, forming a full-length mirror.
Hobert carefully looked at his reflection, and in terms of appearance, he looked exactly the same as before his advancement.
Then, he sat down cross-legged and began to diligently gather his spirituality.
During this advancement, his spirituality was particularly exuberant, requiring him to gradually categorize and gather it.
As time passed, after about two minutes, Tamara shook her head and quickly left the area.
Among the four archangels, she was the most dangerous. If Hobert basically controlled his spirituality, he was likely to risk killing her.
About half a minute later, Trunsoest, who also hadn't found a way to open the black barrier, also left.
He also knew very well that as soon as Hobert had a chance, he would definitely try to kill him.
And at this moment, if Hobert made a move, William I and Philip I, who were observing and wary of each other, would definitely temporarily abandon their confrontation and immediately attack.
After another half a minute or so, Hobert basically gathered his spirituality. He took a deep breath and smiled at William I and Philip I through the barrier of the "Crystal of Order."
William I forced a smile: "Congratulations on your successful advancement. I will send someone to deliver a gift later."
With that, he lifted his foot and left the area in one step.
Philip I smiled and said: "I'll chat with you again when you have time."
After speaking, he also left.
On this deserted island, only Hobert remained.
He didn't immediately remove the barrier formed by the "Crystal of Order," but first used his spirituality to feel the abilities he had gained after his advancement.
First of all, Hobert finally had an ability that could quickly subdue enemies and quickly "break defenses": the Sword of Disorder!
All along, the advantage of the "Lawyer" pathway lay in its unexpectedness, in its "best assist," and in its unique defensive means.
But even as an angel, he lacked the means to quickly harm targets of the same level.
Now that he had such means, he could use abstract order to form a weapon with the appearance of a long sword. Of course, it could also be other shapes.
This weapon could almost ignore any laws, or more specifically, it could ignore the target's defense and harm the opponent.
It could even pierce the armor of a "Warrior"!
Of course, this didn't mean that Hobert was invincible. The Twilight Greatsword in the hands of a Sequence 1 "Warrior" and the rusty and bloodstained longsword of a "Conqueror" were both weapons of the same level and could withstand the "Sword of Disorder."
But Hobert was already very satisfied. After all, before this, let alone a "Conqueror," even when encountering a longsword forged from the Beyonder abilities of a "Weather Warlock," he had to use abilities such as "Distortion" or "Tampering" to avoid it.
Now there was no need for that. He also had a similar weapon.
Other abilities had been strengthened. For example, "Tampering" could now tamper with mathematics in a short period of time.
Just like Hobert's previous operation when he first obtained the "Prince of Abolition" Beyonder characteristic, he tampered with the number of his arms from 2 to 4, so he had four arms.
But currently, he couldn't tamper with "1" or other numbers to "0," that is, tampering from existence to non-existence, or from non-existence to existence. At least, he would have to accommodate the Uniqueness before he could do this.
Not only mathematics, but he could also manipulate physical laws. For example, before, if Hobert wanted to trap an enemy with ice, he needed to "tamper" with the freezing point, "distort" the temperature, and so on to achieve his goal.
Now there was no need to be so troublesome. He could directly "distort" the temperature of a large area to minus 100 degrees Celsius, and he could reach that temperature instantly without using a constantly accumulating method.
And he could "distort" solids into liquids or gases. In short, the effects that previously required constant accumulation to achieve could now be achieved instantly.
This was a change to natural laws. After becoming the "Prince of Abolition," Hobert could also perform more operations on the abstract social order of mankind.
For example, "exploiting" the status that the Loen royal family had always held in the hearts of the people, he could make all the people of Loen believe that Hobert was their king for a certain period of time.
Or he could make the people betray their king for a certain period of time.
Finally, Hobert even discovered that he could already perform some operations on the laws of Beyonder characteristics to a certain extent.
For example, causing the opponent's Beyonder power to fall into "Disorder." The target clearly wanted to attack the enemy, but instead, they raised their hand and threw a flower at the enemy.
This made Hobert sigh: Unexpectedness is the true nature of a "Lawyer."
Immediately afterwards, Hobert realized that he had already digested a portion of his "Prince of Abolition" potion in advance.
Using his spiritual perception, Hobert suddenly understood: This was the benefit he had gained from killing George III before.
After all, at that time, Hobert was still the Duke of Loen, and as a duke, he had assassinated the king, which was very much in line with the nature of the "Black Emperor" pathway.
Following this line of thought, Hobert began to consider how to digest the remaining majority of the potion as soon as possible. In this era of transition, only by accommodating the Uniqueness could Hobert feel a little at ease.
He first thought that if the Duchy of Southern Balam became independent, it would definitely digest a large portion of the potion!
However, this point required strategic consideration. After all, he could currently only influence the world situation, but he could not deviate from the world's pattern.
Especially in terms of developing the Duchy of Southern Balam, strategy was important.
However, there were also some other means to digest the potion. For example, Hobert could promote Eastern architectural styles and Eastern ideologies.
The reason why he hadn't implemented these policies in the Duchy of Southern Balam before was because he realized that these things could not only prepare for the advancement to "Black Emperor," but also digest the "Prince of Abolition" potion!
In addition, Hobert realized that with his current abilities, he could already play the role of "Prince of Abolition" by "tampering" and "distorting" natural states or climates!
To this end, Hobert planned to make a try first.
At this time, he had completely gathered his spirituality. After removing the barrier formed by the "Crystal of Order," Hobert quickly came to the beach by "distorting" space.
Then, he stretched one hand into the water and said in a very dramatic tone: "Ice Age!"
Whoosh ~
A cold wind suddenly swept across the sea, and the seawater within sight immediately turned into white ice!
The previous sea breeze became icy and biting, and because the temperature dropped instantly, a layer of white mist formed on the ice.
On the distant sea, many freighters and passenger ships were frozen on the sea. They thought they were dreaming. Originally, it was a blue sea and sky with bright sunshine, so how did the sea suddenly freeze?
At the same time, many seabirds on the sea swooped down to hunt as usual, but instead crashed hard on the ice!
Hobert pulled his palm out of the ice. Sure enough, he felt his spirituality become lively and his state more stable.
He made the tropical sea freeze, which was "disorder!"
Then, he stood on the beach, observing the power and duration of his ability.
The low temperature of the ice lasted for two or three minutes before the tropical warm wind blew again, but even in the tropics, melting such a large area of ice would take a lot of time.
In other words, the emergence of a large area of ice was a process of "disorder," but allowing the consequences of this process to return to normal order completely followed the laws of nature.
In order to understand his abilities, Hobert didn't leave, standing on the beach watching the ice melt little by little.
By the next day, the ice on the sea had thinned, and the ships could break the ice and continue to move forward.
But immediately afterwards, these ships encountered bad weather. This wasn't Hobert experimenting with Beyonder abilities again, but the impact on the local climate caused by the melting of a large amount of ice.
It wasn't until the third day that the ice on the sea completely melted, but the impact on the local climate might take a week or even ten days to completely recover.
This made Hobert sigh: Fortunately, the gods are currently in the astral world. If they were always in the real world, miracles would probably happen every day.
Returning to Angel's palace, Hobert first went to the "Nation of Disorder" to see the changes that had occurred within it.
As soon as he sat on the "Iron Throne," the "Bell of Order" in the Clock Tower suddenly rang on its own. Hobert immediately felt that he could further use the power of the "Bell of Order."
If he were to encounter the phantom formed under the influence of the "Monarch of Decay" at this time, there would be no need to use the "Spiritual Barrier." Perhaps a few strikes of the "Bell of Order" could directly dispel it!
At the same time, he realized that if he were to ring the bell while Klein was advancing to become The Fool in the future, he could greatly help Klein stabilize his state.
And if he were to accommodate the Uniqueness and then ring the bell at that time, Klein should be able to face Amon's attack in a very good state after advancing.
However, Hobert did not gain any new abilities from this advancement.
This was also expected. After all, when Hobert advanced to "Duke of Entropy," he had completely controlled the power of the "Nation of Disorder."
In other words, before accommodating this Sefirah, the "blessing" of the "Nation of Disorder" on Hobert had reached its limit at Sequence 2.
After this advancement, Hobert only had an increased control over the "Bell of Order."
Hobert was already very satisfied with this, after all, the effect brought by the "Bell of Order" was not something any ability could compare to.
Returning to the real world, Hobert took a deep breath. Just as he was about to send someone to invite Medici, the palace steward knocked on the door outside and said, "Your Grace, is it convenient to come in?"
Since Hobert had told everyone not to disturb him three days ago, the guards outside had not let anyone in.
The steward, who had not been working for long, was afraid that something might happen to the Grand Duke in the room, so he reported the matter to Fors and Audrey.
Fors opened a "door" on the wall and, after confirming that Hobert had left for something, told everyone not to disturb the Grand Duke.
But yesterday, the special envoy of the King of Loen came and wanted to report this matter to the Grand Duke as soon as possible.
The steward's shout was actually asking if Grand Duke Hobert had returned.
Hobert said coldly, "Come in."
Only then did the guard open the door and let the steward in.
The steward was about to report the matter of the King's special envoy, but suddenly froze. This profession required a keen ability to observe words and expressions. He felt that the Duke in front of him seemed different from three days ago, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was different.
However, the steward quickly recovered and reported the matter of the King's special envoy.
Hobert then asked the steward to invite the special envoy to his office for a meeting.
The steward was slightly stunned: "Your Grace, this doesn't seem to be in accordance with etiquette. You should..."
From the point of view of etiquette, Hobert should lead all the important officials of Angel City in the hall for receiving foreign guests to welcome the special envoy.
Even if the special envoy had already stayed in Angel for one night, there should still be a welcoming ceremony.
Hobert frowned impatiently and said, "I told you to invite her, so go invite her!"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
The King's special envoy was still the outstanding Alice. Alice had no objection to Hobert's actions that did not conform to normal etiquette.
After all, Hobert's political status was there, and the strength of the Duchy of Southern Balam was there.
When she entered the door with a smile, she was also slightly stunned.
Hobert's face was cold, giving people a very unfamiliar feeling.
Alice quickly adjusted her state and also put on a businesslike appearance.
She had two things to do this time. The first was to represent the King in granting some of the industries and rights of the Eastern Balam Company to Hobert.
Without exception, those industries were all located in the Salto region in the south of the Duchy of Southern Balam. In fact, this was equivalent to granting this colony to Hobert.
The Loen agent in the Salto region was a Balam Empire noble. Now that the rights and interests of the Eastern Balam Company had been given to the Duchy of Southern Balam, it was equivalent to that place being a colony of the Duchy of Southern Balam.
After obtaining that colony, the territory of the Duchy reached the southernmost tip of the Southern Continent.
If the colony of the Intis Republic, which was also located at the southern end, was also seized, then the entire southern part of the Southern Continent would belong to the Duchy of Southern Balam.
The second thing Alice was here to do was to grant Hobert the title of "Prince."
Currently, Loen only had two princes, both of whom were high-level Beyonders from the Loen royal family.
At this time, Loen giving Hobert the title of "Prince" had a bit of a feeling of "nothing more to grant."
However, Hobert knew that this was actually the "bestow" of advancement that William I had mentioned before.
Hobert accepted those industries and privileges of the Eastern Balam Company, but did not accept the title of "Prince."
He said with a serious face: "If I become a prince, the nobles of Backlund will definitely object. Let's just be a Grand Duke."
In fact, he was considering that if he was named "Prince," the effect of digesting the potion might not be so good when the Duchy of Southern Balam became independent in the future.
Although Alice felt that Hobert's reason was very far-fetched, she did not continue to insist because the other party's tone was unquestionable.
That night, Hobert held a grand banquet to entertain the King's special envoy, but Alice could not feel any enthusiasm.
Audrey, who attended the party, immediately understood after seeing Hobert's expression that he had completed his advancement.
Audrey quickly asked the maid Annie to inform Fors of this matter.
Before this, they had discussed that during the period from Hobert's advancement to the wedding, they would take turns staying by Hobert's side to avoid him doing anything out of line.
The next day, during the formal talks between the Duchy of Southern Balam and the King's special envoy, Alice proposed the request that the Duchy of Southern Balam support the western front of Loen. Unsurprisingly, Hobert refused on the grounds that the current Beyonder forces were all in the Highlands County and Karen County.
Alice also proposed to visit the industrial area of the Duchy of Southern Balam, but Hobert also refused on the grounds that "it is too snowy and transportation is inconvenient."
After seeing off the King's special envoy, Hobert immediately asked someone to invite Medici to his office.
Medici, with a young face with Southern Continent characteristics, quickly followed the waiter in. He glanced at Hobert and said, "Your two wives are so beautiful, but I didn't expect you to be in such a bad state."
He thought that Hobert was in a bad state, so his divinity had gained the upper hand.
"It's none of your business." Hobert frowned and said, "I have something else to ask you today."
Medici smiled and said, "Help me advance to become an angel again?"
"Yes." Hobert said, "This is a reward for your previous war."
He paused and added: "But I have one request, you must join the 'Creator's' faction."
"I know that with your qualifications, no one is qualified to lead you, so I specially applied to the 'Creator' for you to have the same status as me, but our permissions are different.
"I have no other requirements, I only ask that you act in accordance with my strategic intentions!"
Medici joked: "Do you think I'm a fool? This is the position the 'Creator' gave me, right? How did it become something you applied for?"
His smile was just right, making his words and deeds look very annoying!
"You..." Hobert took a deep breath before saying, "You should pay attention to the timing and target of 'provocation'!"
Medici said: "You should also pay attention to who you are talking to and whether you have basic morals of respecting the old and loving the young."
Hobert was immediately amused: "Okay, child, I will 'love the young'."
"In terms of seniority, Lilith has helped you a lot." Medici had been hovering around the periphery of the angelic battlefield, so he already knew that Hobert was Lilith's child: "But I am still very curious, why would Lilith have a child at this time?
"But this should be her nature, after all, her profession is having children!"
If Medici had used "She" instead of "she," Hobert wouldn't have bothered with Medici, but Medici was obviously very clear about how to poke Hobert's trachea, causing him to suddenly release the pressure of an angel: "You..."
"Okay, okay," Medici said quickly when he saw that Hobert was about to get serious, "Let's talk about business."
Hobert also understood Medici's intentions. He took a deep breath, put away the pressure of the angel level, and felt that his humanity had recovered a lot.
That's right, Medici had deliberately provoked him continuously just now to try to help Hobert restore his humanity.
When having dinner that day, Audrey was surprised to find: "Hobert, you... you seem to have overcome the divinity after the advancement yourself?"
Hobert said with emotion: "I feel much better indeed."
Fors on the other side asked: "How did you do it?"
Hobert smiled wryly: "If you have a colleague who is very good at annoying people, you can easily do this."
...
Backlund is now in chaos. A large number of people have lost their jobs and sources of income. The number of homeless people and streetwalkers on the streets has increased several times compared to usual!
And the large amount of grain that the "Duke's Grain" had previously sold in Backlund has been purchased by the military in a way that is almost "forced buying."
The speed of the collapse of the western front is faster than expected. Loen didn't have time to transport too much grain.
The loss of this large granary, coupled with the fleets of the Feysac Empire and the Intis Republic harassing Pritz Harbor in turn, has led to a shortage of military supplies.
In order to raise enough military grain, the Loen military had to "purchase" grain in this way.
At this time, the new season's grain from the Rorsted Archipelago was still about a month away from harvest, and the Loen colonial army in the Southern Continent had lost another world-class granary, the Paz River Valley, and all of its territory.
This meant that the "Duke's Grain" also didn't have much grain to sell, so the price of grain rose three times a day. Even the middle class who hadn't lost their jobs were finding it hard to afford bread.
As a result, robbery and theft became commonplace in Backlund. People not only had to find ways to get bread, but also had to be able to get the bread to their families.
At this time, scenes of people fighting violently over a loaf of bread, leaving one side seriously injured, were frequently staged on the streets of Backlund.
The police were too lazy to care, and pedestrians were already used to it.
It was under such circumstances that Hobert and Audrey's wedding was held as scheduled.
In this war, the lives of the nobles had not been greatly affected so far. They had already stockpiled enough grain to last for two or three years. They also had many manors that could continuously produce food, and the military would not "purchase" the grain in their hands.
Therefore, the nobles basically pretended not to see the current chaos in Backlund.
A few nobles did advocate that everyone donate a portion of their grain to ordinary people to prevent them from taking risks, but there was no way to fundamentally solve the current problem.
In Hobert's view, the best way now was to provide work as a form of relief, to find things for these people to do.
Hobert even had his agent in the House of Lords, Lord Bradley, propose such a bill in Parliament. The bill was passed, but the government departments did not implement it.
This was because all government departments were now serving the war effort and had no time to implement these bills.
They planned to issue guns to the police to disperse the crowds when things became uncontrollable in the future.
They believed that after dispersing them a few times, no one would dare to cause trouble again.
Hobert stopped interfering and focused on getting married.
Although it was under the shadow of war, and the wedding was held in a relatively rushed time for the nobles, the wedding was still very grand.
The wedding was held at the Saint Samuel Cathedral of the Church of the Evernight Goddess. Preparations for the venue had to begin two days in advance, and the carpets, candlesticks, and decorations were almost completely changed.
Because of the political status of Hobert, Christian, and Earl Hall, almost all the nobles of Loen and the high-ranking officers of the military would attend this wedding.
On the day of the wedding, around seven o'clock in the morning, as soon as the doors of the cathedral hall opened, nobles in full dress arrived one after another.
There were so many nobles attending the wedding today that the earliest batch of nobles were basically not qualified to sit.
They could only be arranged to stand behind the seats or by the windows.
Gradually, more and more nobles and military officers came to the church, and Hobert's butler, Corris, and others were extremely busy.
It was not until after eight o'clock that important guests arrived at the church. They were either holding important positions or were some earl or duke.
In short, as soon as they came in, some of the guests who had already sat down had to stand up and greet them honestly.
Around nine o'clock, Georgina, Alice, and other members of the royal family arrived.
Immediately afterward, Hobert, dressed in a black formal suit, entered from the back door and came to the altar at the front of the church.
At this time, the Empress Dowager, the King, and the Queen arrived one after another. Everyone present stood up to greet them, and Hobert at the altar also expressed his gratitude to the King and the other two for attending his wedding.
At this time, the entire church was already full. The last time the Loen nobles gathered so completely was at the ceremony where Christian was conferred the title of Duke.
The orchestra began to play music. Hobert heard the music mixed with the chaotic chatter of everyone and suddenly felt that getting married was really troublesome!
The sound of horses neighing rang out again outside. The bride Audrey, dressed in a white wedding dress, elegantly stretched out a hand from the carriage. Earl Hall, who had already gotten out of the carriage, held his daughter's hand and helped her out of the carriage.
Audrey's golden hair was covered by a white veil, and her stunning face was faintly visible under the thin wedding dress, adding a layer of mystery to her beauty.
Seeing Audrey walking towards him on the carpet, Hobert took a deep breath: A little trouble is fine, I guess.
Behind Audrey were the flower girls, also dressed in white dresses, and the ring bearer in a black tuxedo, followed by several bridesmaids also dressed in white dresses.
Earl Hall led Audrey to the altar and solemnly placed Audrey's hand in Hobert's hand.
The Earl's eyes were slightly red as he said, "My most beloved daughter, I will leave her to you from now on."
Hobert took Audrey's hand: "Don't worry, I will definitely live up to our feelings."
At this moment, He suddenly felt that his humanity had once again suppressed his divinity.
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