Dawn Cliff.
Inside the Cleaners' secret testing facility.
On the metal table, an unconscious 18-year-old girl lay placed upon it.
The girl's eyes were tightly closed, her breathing faint.
Upon closer inspection, her eyebrows, nose bridge, and even the curve of her lips bore a seventy-percent resemblance to Caenis, only appearing more youthful.
"How is it?"
Caenis was in contact with her subordinate.
"The two haven't come out since returning."
"Lady Caenis, Knight Commander Hyselins just arrived and is currently chatting and laughing with that March 7th inside the house. The distance is too far to hear the content clearly, and we don't dare get too close."
The subordinate reported in a low voice.
"It seems Hyselins has every intention of staying the night."
Staying the night?
Caenis let out a contemptuous laugh. Who would have thought that bloodthirsty demon could also have her spring awakening?
Before her words even finished, another encrypted signal abruptly cut in, urgent electrical static crackling through.
"Lady Caenis, the Tyrant has left the Cloud Marble Palace with only twenty personal guards. Hyselins is not seen accompanying her."
"Her movements are suspicious, seemingly rushing toward the sewers where Aglaea is located."
"..."
After a brief silence, Caenis suddenly threw her head back and laughed maniacally.
"Good! Excellent! The Titan aids me!"
"However... there's a strange dwarf beside the Tyrant whom we've never seen before, with an odd appearance and an eerie aura."
"A dwarf?"
"Pay it no mind. Dispatch the Holy City Cleaners—at any cost, assassinate the Tyrant!"
Caenis's eyes flashed coldly, her smile instantly turning into a chilling frost.
A dwarf or whatever?
Wasn't Cerydra herself just a little shorty?
"Yes!"
...
The sewer's location was extremely remote.
Overgrown with weeds, damp fishy air slowly rose from underground, mixed with the smell of rust and rotting mud, making one nauseous.
Just as the group was about to enter the entrance.
The long-ambushed Cleaners burst forth from the shadows like phantoms.
Each moved swift as lightning, with combat and assassination techniques honed over countless reincarnations, launching a frenzied assault.
Their footsteps silent, every strike aimed directly at vital points.
Battle erupted instantaneously.
Blade light and armor collided with ear-piercing sparks.
Though few in number, the personal guards wore full heavy armor that blades couldn't penetrate in a short time.
However, their target from start to finish was only one person—'Empress' Cerydra.
Two hundred Cleaners charged forward fearlessly, using their flesh and blood to forcibly split the guard formation, while the rest pounced like hungry wolves, all focusing on killing Cerydra.
Even with Cerydra's formidable strength, she ultimately couldn't withstand the overwhelming numbers.
A cold gleam flashed from a blind spot as a dagger precisely stabbed into her lower abdomen, blood instantly splattering.
(Well, actually paint stored in an inner pocket beneath her clothes.)
Cerydra clutched her stomach and fell to the ground.
"Ahahahaha—It's my turn now!"
"Through my calculations... there's only one result: you will lose."
Ryuga sneered coldly.
His hands suddenly flipped, and an RPG cannon materialized.
Hextech micro-missiles swept across the battlefield.
At the same time, grenades were thrown.
Concussion grenades bounced continuously, releasing powerful shockwaves that made the Cleaners bleed from their seven orifices.
Electromagnetic grenades detonated directly amid the crowd, electricity dancing like silver serpents, instantly turning the Cleaners into charcoal.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The earth trembled. In the explosion's firelight, severed limbs and weapon fragments scattered in all directions.
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of Cleaners were annihilated under the savage firepower coverage.
The personal guards had long since withdrawn from the battlefield, conveniently capturing several alive.
These were all evidence.
"..."
Ryuga gave a look.
The guard captain understood and immediately used the greatest vocal volume of his life: "Empress Cerydra has been assassinated, lock down the scene!!"
Soon, large numbers of the Cerydra Legion arrived.
In the square, rows of Cerydra Legion soldiers stood in formation with iron armor gleaming, shields like a forest, spears like thorns, their gazes cold beneath metal visors.
The sound of war boots striking the ground was uniform.
In the solemn atmosphere, a stretcher carried by several personal guards swiftly passed by.
Cerydra lay upon it, golden 'bloodstains' seeping from the white bandages on her lower abdomen like blooming golden lotuses.
The crowd instantly erupted.
A furious roar ignited the long-suppressed powder keg.
"Damn it!"
"How can this be? The Empress... has been assassinated?!"
"Did you see those people wearing golden blood masks? Those are Cleaners! The executioners raised by the Council of Elders!"
An old man pointed tremblingly at several figures being escorted away by soldiers.
The crowd gasped in shock.
"The Council of Elders?!"
"Have they gone mad? Empress Cerydra is the one who saved us, who saved the Holy City!"
"Without her, Lycaea's iron hooves would have already trampled our walls, Icaria's fire arrows would have burned the entire city to ashes, and Corinth's slave traders would have dragged our children into the gladiatorial arena!"
A middle-aged man clenched his fists, his eyes bloodshot.
"It was Her Majesty's legions that tore through the encirclement, it was her war banner that was planted atop the city walls, it was she who restored glory to the Holy City!"
"Now, the Council of Elders wants to use a hidden blade to erase her achievements?!"
"Murderous criminals!"
"Punish the murderous criminals!"
"Punish the murderous criminals!"
People raised their arms, shouting hoarsely.
More and more people joined, the sound surging like tidal waves, spreading from one corner of the square throughout the entire city district.
Layer upon layer, shaking the roof tiles.
Lying on the stretcher, Cerydra slowly opened her eyes. On her feigned pale face, a hint of smile appeared, then she playfully winked at Ryuga.
Naturally, there were planted supporters in the crowd.
The actors fanned the flames of anger ever more vigorously.
...
Those without propriety, wisdom, or trust—the Solar Knight kills, kills, kills!
What did the story of "Seliose" tell us about the tyrant's ultimate fate?
Cerydra had killed no fewer than her.
One was an absolutely powerful warrior, the other an absolutely powerful ruler.
But look at their respective endings?
Aglaea wasn't wrong either—Cerydra needed prestige and the people's hearts.
Originally, she only had prestige.
But the Council of Elders' assassination was enough to allow Cerydra, who had just achieved military merits, to harvest the full hearts of the Holy City's citizens.
This was also what Ryuga arranged for her.
In Aglaea's IF route, she had the capability to annihilate the Council of Elders.
But if humanity would be exhausted and she launched a purge against the Council of Elders, after divinity took over the body... what would happen then?
As the Iron-Blooded Queen, Cerydra, like the Solar Knight, killed, killed, killed, erasing any opposing voices, using forceful methods to crush the Council of Elders into the bottom layer.
Then, after the first Flame-Chase failed, they were counterattacked by the opportunists.
The Council of Elders regained power, and the Chrysos Heirs' prestige was utterly destroyed, losing the people's hearts.
Afterward, Aglaea relied on her methods to maintain a thousand-year balance, recovering the Chrysos Heirs' prestige.
Only then did she initiate the second Flame-Chase.
Just as later, Aglaea told Tribbie that she could easily annihilate the Council of Elders, but to stabilize the people's hearts, she couldn't act rashly.
This was also learning from the experiences of Seliose and Cerydra.
...
"Augustin, Count of the Holy City Guard, responsible for protecting the security of the Holy City and the Council of Elders."
"Caenis's loyal lapdog."
When Cerydra's voice rang out, in a large house, Augustin was clutching a small notebook.
Some names seemed to be recorded in it?
Hearing the familiar voice, Augustin quickly tucked away the small notebook, lifted his head, and the moment he saw Ryuga and Cerydra, his eyes widened like saucers.
"Cerydra, weren't you...?"
"Damn it!"
"This is a tra—"
BOOM~
Before he could finish speaking, Shadow Flame erupted, burning through his chest.
Looking at the chest cavity with a circular hole as large as Lygus's, Augustin stared wide-eyed and collapsed to the ground, dead.
"Heh, so it was a bribery ledger? What an unexpected harvest."
"Take it."
"We'll search through them one by one later."
"By the way, in front of the Okhema people, behead a few corrupt officials and return some of the bribe money to the Okhema people—we can harvest another batch of popular support."
After tossing the small notebook to Cerydra, Ryuga princess-carried her up.
"Continue. Next one."
To be continued…