章節 403: Chapter 403: The Saint's Plot
"Emperor Alphax, please go to your death."
At the pinnacle of the Flame Light Tower, Emperor Alphax stood tall, his gaze sweeping over the once flourishing but now battered and wounded imperial capital, his expression somber and gloomy.
Below.
Voices of the supreme fire mages reached Emperor Alphax's ears.
As the ruler of the Alphatia Empire, revered by thousands, when had he ever been subjected to such treatment?
However, Emperor Alphax, now besieged, felt no anger.
After all, he had brought this upon himself through his own choices.
But when exactly did things begin to spiral out of his control?
Perhaps it was when he thought the academic disputes were harmless and, stepping in personally as the emperor, made an unfair decision. Emperor Alphax couldn't help but ponder and reflect on his mistakes.
As the monarch of a glorious empire.
Not striving for merit, but avoiding faults was the best management approach.
Even just maintaining the status quo would have been enough given the empire's formidable strength.
Yet under his leadership, the empire was on the verge of collapse, shattered and fragmented, with satellite worlds and the main star in turmoil, countless citizens dead in the internal strife between wind and fire.
Looking up at the satellite worlds outside the sky that had lost their order.
And surveying all the land of the main star around him, hardly a spot remained intact, his vision filled with traces swept by wind and fire magic.
For this, Emperor Alphax felt immense heartache and regret.
He loved his country and his people deep in his heart.
If he could do it over.
Emperor Alphax swore he wouldn't be blinded by rage, repeatedly signing foolish decrees that angered the wind mages and led to full-scale civil war.
"Your Majesty, please go to your death."
"To quench the flames of hatred among the wind mages and to pull the empire back from the brink of ruin, this is now the only chance."
Those fire mages who once staunchly stood by Emperor Alphax's side advised him again.
Whether they were unwilling to die in this strife or genuinely wished to save the empire from ruin, they now needed Emperor Alphax's life as a bargaining chip to negotiate peace with the wind mages.
Emperor Alphax cast his gaze over the faces of the supreme mages, seeing their restless expressions.
If he refused, these former subordinates might well resort to force.
Yet, Emperor Alphax was not afraid.
He was an immortal, protected by the realm of the Flame Light Tower, able to stand independently against several demi-god supreme mages, not to mention, he had the royal guardians who were loyal to the imperial family under any circumstances.
Ironically,
The only demi-god royals he could now trust were primarily wind mages.
Because the wind mage legacy was ancient and all previous emperors were wind mages. Only in the time of Emperor Alphax, because he had captured the saint of the blazing flame and extracted extraordinary divine fire power from him to strengthen himself and achieve immortality, did he choose the path of fire magic and greatly promoted the newly developed fire magic.
"Perhaps, setting up an ambush to encircle the saint of the blazing flame was a mistake."
"My initial choice was wrong."
"This has led to today's outcome."
Emperor Alphax couldn't help but imagine if, like his predecessors, he had followed the path of wind magic, whether the situation would have been entirely different.
It likely would have been.
Without the emperor's support, it would have taken much longer for fire magic to develop.
If that were the case, over a longer period, the empire might have found a suitable way to balance the conflict between wind and fire, rather than evolving into this apocalyptic civil war.
"What about you, how do you view the current situation?"
Emperor Alphax spoke softly.
At the same time.
In the shadows behind him, six royal demi-gods shrouded in the aura of wind elements quietly said, "Where your heart points, our bodies will follow."
The royal demi-gods were raised from a young age.
Their loyalty to the royal family surpassed even their own lives.
Even now, despite the major crisis the empire faced due to Emperor Alphax's choices, these wind-aligned royal demi-gods remained loyal only to the emperor, indifferent to everything else.
There were originally more than these six royal demi-gods.
In total, there were twelve royal demi-gods, four of whom died in the initial encirclement of the saint of the blazing flame at the hands of the powerful saint, and two more who died in the recent civil war, perishing together with two wind demi-gods.
Emperor Alphax scoffed.
"Blind loyalty."
He remarked.
The royal demi-gods did not respond, merely standing like statues, waiting for the emperor to command.
At the
same time.
In the tense atmosphere, the river of time in the imperial capital's airspace suddenly stirred, rippling lightly, as two colossal figures that obscured the sun and sky solidified from it, drawing the gaze of Emperor Alphax and many supreme mages.
It was indeed the time dragon and the iridescent dragon arriving.
"Director Isaac, and Garon from another world."
"You managed to break through the wind locks to reach here, it seems I underestimated the power of true dragons."
Emperor Alphax looked at the two true dragons and spoke.
The imperial capital was surrounded by wind locks, which even demi-god level spatial teleportation couldn't breach.
But what did that have to do with Garon's time teleportation?
Since it was mediated by the river of time, its nature was completely different from ordinary spatial teleportation techniques, and the wind locks had no limiting effect on time teleportation.
"Director Isaac, have you come here, like them, to force this emperor to his death?"
Hearing Emperor Alphax's words, Garon looked around, understanding the emperor's intent upon seeing the fire mages led by the supreme mages below.
The only way to end the civil war now was to negotiate peace with the wind mages, who held the advantage.
Since Emperor Alphax was seen as the root cause of the civil war, his death was the most potent means to quell the anger of the wind mages and bring an end to the fighting.
"It's a misunderstanding, I am not a native citizen of the Alphatia Empire, I have decided to withdraw from the Alphatia Empire and also resign from my positions as the head of the magic college and as a supreme mage."
Isaac stated.
Looking at the iridescent dragon in the sky, Emperor Alphax gave a faint smile and said, "Withdrawing from the empire at a critical moment, I could have charged you with treason."
"But now, besides the royal guardians, no one else is willing to follow my orders."
He paused, then continued, "Since you are no longer a citizen of the empire, then, what brings you two true dragons here?"
Garon calmly stated, "The fall of a super magical empire should have its witnesses and recorders."
Isaac nodded, adding, "The empire's fortunes have declined, and it may soon be completely destroyed."
Hearing Garon's words, Emperor Alphax did not rage but smiled slightly, saying, "Well then, at least being recorded in the annals of immortals, the name of the Alphatia Empire will not vanish with the passage of time."
Then.
Under the watchful eyes of the two dragons hovering in the sky, Emperor Alphax looked towards the fire mages surrounding the Flame Light Tower.
Feeling the emperor's gaze, the fire mages grew tense.
Emperor Alphax's influence was fading along with the empire's fortunes, but his remaining authority was still formidable.
With Emperor Alphax's strength, plus the royal demi-gods loyal only to the emperor, and the surrounding royal guards, forcefully taking down Emperor Alphax would cost them dearly.
Those left standing here afterward would likely be few.
But they had no choice.
A besieged emperor, valuing his dignity, they had anticipated Alphax's fury.
However, what the fire mages did not expect was that after looking around at the ruined city, Emperor Alphax, gazing down at the fire mages, said solemnly, "Using my life to quench the anger of the wind mages is indeed the only way to save the nation."
"Today's situation arose because of me."
"Now, it should also end because of me."
Emperor Alphax was prepared to sacrifice himself for the empire.
He did not want the Alphatia Empire he cherished to be completely destroyed in the internal strife between wind and fire.
If his death could quell the flames of civil war, he was willing to give up his hard-won immortality to save the empire.
"Fearless of death. That does show some of the spirit befitting an emperor."
Garon thought silently as he watched Emperor Alphax.
In Garon's view, for an emperor to directly face and acknowledge his mistakes was rarer and more commendable than stubbornly fighting to the death.
"But with such a statement, Emperor Alphax's willingness to die might indeed quell the anger of the wind mages."
"Although the Alphatia Empire has suffered severe damage, its foundations remain. If the main material world isn't destroyed, rebuilding is not impossible."
"The wind mages' insistence on erasing all traces of the empire shouldn't be the way this goes."
As this question surfaced in Garon's mind.
A voice rang out.
"Your Majesty, do not let the words of these traitors sway your mind."
"As an emperor, how can you voluntarily go to your death at the be
hest of some rebels?"
"These wind mages, disregarding the glory of the empire and forsaking their pride as imperial citizens, seek to overthrow everything the empire takes pride in."
"Moreover, even if you volunteer for death, given their deep-rooted hatred for fire mages, they will not simply cease their efforts."
"As an emperor and also a demi-god spellcaster, you should not choose to die by your own hand but should die fighting alongside the empire—that is the destiny you and we all should embrace."
"We must not compromise with them!"
When this voice was heard, Garon and Isaac looked in its direction.
In their view, Camus, disguised as the saint of the blazing flame, was earnestly speaking to Emperor Alphax among a group of fire mages.
The saint of the blazing flame wanted more than just Emperor Alphax's death.
Like Isaac, he wanted to see the magical empire completely fall.
Then, when Emperor Alphax was about to die, he would reveal all the truths to him, letting him watch in agony as the empire he cherished fell apart, giving the saint of the blazing flame the pleasure of revenge fulfilled.
During the conversation.
The saint of the blazing flame began to fully exert his influence on Emperor Alphax, causing the previously calm and rational emperor to become infuriated.
Indeed, as an emperor, how could I negotiate with a group of rebels? This would be an insult to the dignity of all past emperors and to the glory of the empire.
I am not wrong.
The wrong ones are those wind mage rebels who have challenged the imperial authority. They deserve to die!
Even if death is inevitable, an emperor should die in battle, not by ignominiously taking his own life.
Under the influence of the saint of the blazing flame, Emperor Alphax felt agitated and increasingly irritable, his thoughts clouded, beginning to doubt his initial ideas.
At the same time.
The sun-like fireball at the very top of the Flame Light Tower began to flicker and tremble.
The saint of the blazing flame cast a subtle glance upwards before looking back at the emperor.
"Your Majesty, with the power of the Flame Light Tower and our combined strength, we can create a portal to the realm of fire elements."
"I have a spell that can continuously draw elemental power from the realm of fire elements, covering the material world with a domain of fire, increasing our combat power as fire mages and giving us an endless supply of magic."
"With this, we can turn defeat into victory and completely purge those wind mages."
"In the future, the Alphatia Empire will follow only the orthodox path of fire magic, without the strife between wind and fire, and can move towards an even more glorious future."
Camus said gravely.
The surrounding fire mages looked intrigued and asked, "Camus, do you really have such a spell?"
Camus nodded, "Of course, I proposed connecting to the realm of fire elements during the last supreme council because I had just created a spell that utilizes the power of the realm of fire elements."
"Why didn't you mention this spell then?"
A supreme mage looked suspicious.
"At that time, the fire elemental barrier domain had just been created, and the effects were still unstable. I thought about waiting for the spell to be perfected before formally proposing it at the next supreme council."
Camus provided a plausible answer.
Hearing this.
The fire mages were invigorated.
Since there was confidence and a possibility of turning the tide against the wind mages in a decisive battle, they were unwilling to humbly seek peace, unsure if the other side would agree to negotiations.
As Camus said, the enmity was deep-rooted.
Even if they offered the life of Emperor Alphax, the outcome would likely not change.
"Your Majesty, Director Camus's proposal makes sense."
"Backed by the realm of fire elements, we still have the strength to fight the wind mages. This time, please make the right choice."
The fire mages, seemingly forgetting they had just been pressing the emperor to die, earnestly advised him.
On top of the Flame Light Tower.
Emperor Alphax appeared thoughtful.
Opening a portal to the realm of fire elements could give the fire mages a chance to turn defeat into victory.
On the other hand, having previously made enemies with the saint of the blazing flame, Emperor Alphax was also unclear about the outcome if the portal to the realm of fire elements was opened; this might invite the saint's formidable power.
Could Camus be linked to the saint of the blazing flame?
Emperor Alphax scrutinized Camus.
Under his gaze, Camus remained unfazed, still appearing earnestly concerned for the empire and for Emperor Alphax.
"Opening the portal to the realm of fire elements and covering the main material world with the domain of fire, the saint of the blazing flame, might be able to exert strength beyond the limits of the main
material world."
Garon's heart chilled.
Isaac also noticed the subtleties and whispered, "Should we stop the saint of the blazing flame? If his power increases, he might turn his attention to us."
Garon's gaze narrowed, murmuring softly, "No matter, let's observe the developments for now."
On the other side, after a moment of careful consideration, due to the crisis and the subtle psychological influence of the saint of the blazing flame, Emperor Alphax finally said solemnly, "Very well!"
"Let's proceed with Director Camus's suggestion, let those rebels witness the fury of the flames, witness the power of this emperor!"
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