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Yet, infighting broke out within humankind at the eastern border for the very first time.

The powerful Austine Empire had descended into civil war at this critical time, resulting in infighting not just on the eastern border but back in its motherland too.

In Noyce Fortress, Lilian stared at a document with a deep furrow on her forehead.

A week ago, in order to save Paul Ackermann, Lilian, who had maintained a low profile for several years now for the sake of her child, suddenly mobilized her troops to Emperor Lukas’ secondary palace under the guise of a negotiation, so as to facilitate Paul’s escape.

Such an action was tantamount to treason, but this was commonplace in the Austine Empire’s noble tradition of ‘survival of the fittest’. There was no doubt she would suffer severe backlash for it, but she was influential enough to bear its brunt.

What she hadn’t expected was for Layton to appear at this juncture and present to her a report of his hundred-year-long investigation. The report had overwhelming evidence of Emperor Lukas’ long-term collusion with the Savior’s worshipers.

This changed Lilian’s mind.

If Lukas were only an ambitious and callous emperor, Lilian wouldn’t have staged a revolt, especially not at this juncture. In fact, there had always been a part of her that had wanted to win Lukas’ acknowledgment and inherit the crown in such a way.

But everything changed after she saw the document.

Lukas was so powerful that his collusion with the evil cultists could threaten humankind’s safety, but even if not for that, Lilian couldn’t forgive Lukas for working with the Fallens in her personal capacity too.

The Fallens were the greatest enemies of the Kingmaker Clan.

She and her lover were descendants of the Kingmaker Clan, and the child inside her was likely going to be an awakener of the Kingmaker Bloodline too.

Back in the Witness State, Astrid had told them that if two individuals who possessed the same bloodline experienced bloodline resonance, there was a high chance that their offspring would awaken to their bloodline too… and Roel and Lilian fulfilled these criteria.

The Fallens would always be a threat to the Kingmaker Clan, evident by how Roel’s life had been fraught with danger from a young age. If she allowed the Fallens to run amok, her child would face constant threats from them too.

Needless to say, she wouldn’t allow that to happen.

To verify the authenticity of the news, Lilian marched toward Lukas’ palace alone, and their confrontation culminated in a battle. Much to her surprise, Lukas’ ability was extremely similar to Paul’s.

Lukas had summoned dozens of magic swords and hurled them toward Lilian.

That was one of the most dangerous situations Lilian had ever been in; the slightest carelessness could have cost her life. It was fortunate she had already reached Origin Level 1.

As thick fortress walls rose from the ground, the trajectory of the world was slowly being set in stone.

…

Ten Fortresses was one of the strongest defensive spells in the world. After reaching Origin Level 1, Lilian could readily summon the fortresses whenever she needed, and that was what rendered Lukas helpless against her.

There was no lack of divine artifacts and magic swords in history that wielded the power to swiftly tear down fortresses, but Lilian’s Ten Fortresses embodied humankind’s greatest hope. Something like that couldn’t be easily torn down.

She fully unleashed Ten Fortresses to signal her army stationed outside the secondary palace to strike, thus marking the Austine Empire’s descent into internal strife.

Under Layton’s leadership, and with assistance from the spies they had planted beforehand, Lilian’s army took only two hours to penetrate into the heart of the secondary palace. To their surprise, Paul had already been saved by Principal Antonio.

Thus, Lilian chose to retreat with her soldiers to Noyce Fortress.

Her decision had come as a disappointment to some, as they thought that Lilian and Layton could have worked together to take down Lukas. However, Lilian herself knew that it wasn’t that simple.

While both Lukas’ and Paul’s abilities involved forging their own equipment to enhance their fighting prowess, Lilian noticed a huge difference in their fighting styles.

Unlike Paul, Lukas was well-versed in spatial spells. He could instantaneously summon his divine artifacts and magic swords to swiftly overwhelm and eliminate his enemy. This was very disadvantageous for a close-quarter fighter like Layton.

Should something happen to Layton, the morale of Lilian’s army would be greatly shaken.

After weighing the pros and cons, Lilian decided to retreat with her soldiers. To her surprise, Lukas didn’t dispatch soldiers after her, as if he wasn’t interested in dealing with her at all.

As news spread, a political upheaval ensued in the Austine Empire. The two filial princes, who had always argued over who should serve their father tea, heard the news and announced that they would join the crusade against Lukas, resulting in chaos spreading across the empire.

In contrast, the eastern border, where Lilian had retreated to, was extremely peaceful, perhaps even boring.

Lilian had chosen to take a defensive stance in this upheaval.

With humankind facing external threats of unprecedented proportions, Lukas’ actions were so damaging that no country could turn a blind eye to them anymore. It would be unwise for the united army to directly interfere in the Austine Empire’s internal war, so they had instead focused their efforts on influencing the Austine Empire’s soldiers to renounce their loyalty to Lukas.

Lukas’ faction would only grow weaker over time, whereas Lilian’s faction would grow stronger.

To win over the enemy’s soldiers without shedding any blood—this was indubitably the correct move for Lilian to make. However, she couldn’t help but be bothered by Lukas’ actions.

Gentle moonlight shrouded Lilian in a layer of ethereality as she browsed through a report with a frown. Her personal maid, Audrey, patiently stood beside her while awaiting her orders, though she couldn’t stop her heart from racing when she glanced at her beautiful liege despite being a woman herself.

“Are there still no movements from Lukas’ side?” Lilian finally asked.

“Yes, Your Highness. There have been no movements from Cato Stronghold from evening till now,” Audrey replied.

“What about the surrendered garrison troops?”

“They are steadily increasing in number, but they don’t seem to know much either.” At this point, Audrey suddenly frowned as she recalled the news they had just received from the united army. “According to the united army, the garrison troops had been guarding the stronghold as per normal. They didn’t receive any special mobilization order despite the outbreak of internal war. In fact, they didn’t even repair the devastated audience room where you clashed with Lukas.”

“…They didn’t even repair the audience room?” Lilian murmured doubtfully.

Audrey nodded affirmatively as she added, “Indeed. It shouldn’t have been difficult to repair the audience room with the spellcasters stationed in the stronghold, but…”

Her words slowly quietened down as she struggled to comprehend what the enemy was up to.

Since the outbreak of internal war, Noyce Fortress had thoroughly prepared itself to face an attack from Lukas, but surprisingly, the armies that were loyal to Lukas remained quiet, not making any moves at all.

This was at odds with how Lukas usually dealt with revolts.

There had been three attempts at revolt since Lukas came to power, and he always moved decisively to quell the rebellion before the situation went out of control. Considering that Lukas was the stronger one now, there was no reason for him to hold still.

Yet, Lukas showed no inclination to make a move. He didn’t even repair the audience room, which symbolized the emperor’s dignity. This was highly abnormal.

“He seems to be waiting for something…” Lilian analyzed.

As for what he was waiting for, she thought about his expression when they last met, and a thought surfaced in her mind. Before she could speak it aloud, she suddenly sensed a powerful mana pulsation from afar.

It first sparked from the depths of Tark Prairie, and it swiftly grew in terms of intensity and area. Soon, it engulfed the area with a roaring ocean of mana.

“This!” Lilian shot to her feet and rushed to the window.

It was not just her; the entire eastern border was shaken awake by this phenomenon.

The unimaginably powerful mana pulsation roused countless soldiers from their sleep. Sentries tightly gripped their weapons in fear. Alarms blared all around. Commotions broke out in all camps almost at the same time.

All of the high transcendents looked eastward at the same time.

They instinctively sensed that something was happening in that direction, but they couldn’t put their finger on it. The mana around them became slightly turbid. This wasn’t a cause of concern for most, but those who knew the inside details were horrified.

In Noyce Fortress, Lilian’s expression turned heavy upon sensing the Fallens’ aura. Over at Brolne’s barracks, Antonio and Astrid stared at the distant east with steely faces.

In Cato Stronghold, a cold-faced man opened his eyes.

“It’s finally begun,” Lukas Ackermann muttered as he stood up and marched toward his final goal.