On the way to the Empire's most proud Arena, there was an inconspicuous carriage carrying the Empire's Blood Emperor, Jierunifu, and his two great generals, Lightning Bajed and Gale Ningbul.
As for Heavy Strike Renas, she was left behind in the Imperial City, and the reason for that is obvious to everyone.
Why Jierunifu went to the Arena was, of course, not to watch the excitement, but to meet with the envoy from the Slane Theocracy.
Earlier, after realizing that the anomaly in the Dragon Kingdom might be related to Elizabeth, Jierunifu had been restless, constantly hesitating whether to warn the Theocracy to be wary of Elizabeth, but then thinking of Elizabeth's terrifying strength and wisdom, he worried about being seen through by her, which would lead to the Magic Kingdom directly attacking the Empire.
It was at this time that the Theocracy took the initiative to express their desire for a secret meeting with the Empire. Initially, Jierunifu wanted to refuse, fearing that this meeting might be a trap set by Elizabeth.
But after learning that one of the Theocracy's Six 'Color' Chief Priests would be meeting him, Jierunifu finally relaxed and agreed.
After all… no matter how resourceful Elizabeth was, it would be impossible for her to infiltrate the Theocracy's core power circle in such a short time!
Moreover, the Empire truly needed the Theocracy's help now; if it were them, they should have methods to deal with the Undead!
Otherwise… the Empire would truly have no hope of seeing tomorrow, or rather… was it the correct choice to quickly submit to the Magic Kingdom?
Jierunifu recalled the casualty report from the Kaz Plains battle. Yes… in the Kaz Plains battle, the Imperial Army, who had been watching the entire time, also had casualty reports. Approximately over a hundred people died or were injured, all due to their own 'disorganized' actions leading to their demise.
Not only that, after the battle, more than three thousand people submitted their resignations, wanting to leave the Imperial Knights. Besides that… thousands more warriors experienced psychological symptoms such as inner unease and anxiety.
Even that would have been acceptable, although training a qualified warrior was indeed not easy, requiring large amounts of money and manpower. But what happened next was truly serious: the petitions submitted by the Imperial Knights.
Those petitions were jointly submitted by the high-ranking officers of various knight orders, but the content was surprisingly consistent: all hoped to avoid conflict with the Magic Kingdom, meaning… the entire Imperial Knights had lost the courage to fight the Magic Kingdom.
However, they didn't need to teach him this! After witnessing the absolute power that easily defeated two hundred thousand troops with just one spell, anyone who still dared to cause trouble was either a fool or a madman!
But even so, the Knights had already submitted a petition, which indicated… the Knights no longer trusted their Blood Emperor.
If only he had ignored that bitch Elizabeth and directly submitted to the Magic Kingdom back then, at least that way the Empire could have seen a glimmer of hope. Now, it was basically checkmated. As Jierunifu thought of this, his stomach began to ache faintly, and his expression gradually twisted.
"Your Majesty, are you alright? You look a bit pale," Bajed asked with concern.
"No… I'm fine. Are we almost there?" Jierunifu said, trying to hide his weakness.
He was the Blood Emperor… he couldn't appear so incompetent in front of his subordinates. At least after contacting the Theocracy… the Empire might see hope.
"Yes, we're almost there. So, Your Majesty, the arrangement at the Arena is to first meet with the Silver Thread Bird members, and then move to the designated location, correct?" Bajed reconfirmed with his Blood Emperor.
Jierunifu silently nodded. Regarding this matter, Jierunifu felt a slight guilt. If Fulda hadn't betrayed them, he wouldn't have needed to hire the Empire's Steel Rank Adventurers team, Silver Thread Bird, at a high price for security.
This made it seem like he didn't trust his generals, but it was a necessary measure. Without Fulda's magical support, these two generals were completely unable to handle magical emergencies.
"Your Majesty, Steel Rank Adventurers are indeed the strongest human combatants, but that is only from a human perspective, so please, Your Majesty, do not be careless," Ningbul said. He had, after all, personally witnessed that great massacre and seen the monsters standing side by side in front of the throne.
"Of course, I also understand what kind of monsters our opponents are, so I can only hope that our nation's strongest combatants can play a role," Jierunifu showed a bitter smile and replied.
After a long silence, Jierunifu spoke again…
"If, even they can't…"
As Jierunifu uttered these words, both generals showed extremely bitter expressions. Jierunifu was actually just like them, having lost his usual vitality, he also had a very disheartened expression.
"Ah… I'm sorry! I haven't been feeling well lately," Jierunifu also understood that speaking disheartened words in front of his trusted generals would indeed affect his image.
"It is we who should apologize for not being able to alleviate Your Majesty's worries," Bajed replied.
"No, as the Blood Emperor of the Empire, it is indeed my fault for letting you see such a shameful side," Jierunifu paused, adjusted his emotions, and continued.
"Now that only the two of you are here, would you mind listening to me complain a bit more?" Jierunifu said.
The two loyal knights in front of him nodded in unison.
"What should the Empire do? How can the Empire's situation be reversed? How can that monster be defeated? Now, even the Empire's strongest trump card has betrayed us. To be honest… I really feel like giving up," Jierunifu said, holding his forehead.
Originally, he didn't want to lose face in front of his generals again, but these complaints had been cooped up in his heart with no way to vent, and he felt extremely suffocated.
The two generals looked at their Blood Emperor's disheartened appearance and nodded in understanding.
"I made that guy use magic, I made that guy show off a little. If I didn't do that, how would we know the true strength of that monster? I didn't expect the result to be like this," Jierunifu frantically grabbed his hair. He knew very well that complaining to his generals was merely a one-sided emotional release for himself.
"Sorry! I lost control again," Jierunifu sat up straight, then noticed that quite a bit of hair was stuck to his hand again.
It seemed that he might become the first bald Blood Emperor in the Empire's history. He had seen portraits of his ancestors before, and none of them had thinning hair. Thinking of this, Jierunifu, while the two generals weren't paying attention, brushed off the hair from his hand.
"Letting you see my shameful appearance and hear my complaints might make you feel helpless… But don't worry, the Empire will not let that monster do as it pleases. There must be some countermeasure. This time, we are going to meet with the Theocracy's high-ranking officials… Ah…" Jierunifu realized he had almost misspoken.
Although he had his trusted apprentice cast anti-eavesdropping magic before departure, and the carriage compartment had also been treated for anti-eavesdropping, considering the opponent he was facing… he still had to be careful.
"Rest assured, as long as I am here, the Magic Kingdom will not be allowed to do as it pleases with the Empire," Jierunifu forced himself to squeeze out a confident smile that looked as if he had everything under control.
The two generals' somber expressions softened slightly, though only a little. They understood that their Blood Emperor was merely putting on a brave front; no matter how much they thought about it… they couldn't conceive of a way to deal with that monster.
Thus, the carriage slowly drove towards the Empire's Arena in this awkward atmosphere. They had no idea what awaited them there… was it a glimmer of hope brought by the Theocracy? Or even greater despair?
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