After a prolonged silence, the Imperial soldiers erupted in fanatical cheers, while the garrison defending Eisengard felt their ears ringing, gripped by utter terror.
"Gods..."
"Amaunator above... h-how is this possible?"
"Count Hein was devoured? He... he was blessed by the Sun God! How could this happen?!"
"Could that evil dragon be—the Cinder Emperor? Gods, I've seen that recording! It's really him!"
They looked up at the colossal dragon that blotted out the sun, at the sky that had abruptly darkened, and felt a despair unlike anything they had ever known.
The armies of the Cinder Empire might be overwhelmingly powerful, yet they were still foes mortals could overcome—so long as they had enough courage and paid a great enough price in sacrifice.
But what of the dragon in the sky?
In a single bite, he had swallowed Count Hein—who bore Amaunator's divine blessing—swallowed their shared sun, and consumed their last shred of hope!
Monstrous despair and dread washed over the soldiers' hearts. It felt like standing before a tidal wave, an earthquake, or some unstoppable cataclysm; aside from fleeing, there was no course of action left.
Beneath the gaze of tens of thousands of eyes, the red dragon high in the sky carelessly spat out the angelic godblood's corpse, then casually licked his chops.
—After all, Cassius had no appetite for humanoids; he had merely wanted to devour the divine core before it could detonate.
Hein slammed violently into the ground, embedding several feet deep. A gaping cavity yawned in his chest, and his entire body had grown dull and riddled with cracks, like a shattered stone statue.
Though already dead, his face still bore an expression of horror and disbelief.
—The godblood count had never imagined in his wildest dreams that in his bid to perish alongside the Imperials, he would instead be swallowed whole by a gaping maw appearing out of nowhere.
High above, the red dragon beat his wings, peering down at the cast-iron wall spanning the gorge with deep, golden vertical pupils. He slowly opened his mouth, speaking in an even, dispassionate tone.
There was no trace of threat in it; he seemed merely to be stating an inconsequential fact.
"Greetings, remnants of Fadlan, worshippers of the Sun God.
"Perhaps you have heard my name. I am the Master of Anzeta, Emperor of the Cinder Empire—Cassius.
"The Cinder Empire will thoroughly deliver you from the cruel exploitation and reign of terror of the Kingdom of Thrace, bestowing upon you true salvation."
His thunderous voice rolled across Eisengard, echoing through the majestic city, striking utter terror into the people while leaving them completely baffled and confused.
In their eyes, the red dragon was a tyrant of supreme cruelty. His sole purpose in capturing Eisengard was to plunder its wealth and enslave its people, and his legions of monsters would even feast upon human souls as delicacies.
Yet when the evil dragon actually appeared in the skies above their city, he spoke of this so-called "salvation" with earnest solemnity—a spectacle as bizarre as it was surreal.
"What... what is he trying to do?"
"What is he saying?"
"What does the Cinder Empire even want? They're claiming they've come to save us?"
Cassius's voice continued, growing increasingly cadence-rich and commanding: "Wilhelm, King of Thrace, has colluded with devils of Hell, seeking to steal the power of the sun by sacrificing the lives of his people, and has earned the revulsion of the gods.
"You should see him for who he truly is and recognize this truth—the Cinder Empire is the true successor to Holy Fadlan! The true sun!"
Amidst the astonished stares of the populace, the red dragon spread his wings wide. The dragon crystal at his chest flared to life, blazing as brilliantly as a scorching sun and bursting with boundless radiance.
Blazing Sun Phantom.
Driven by the combined might of his Fire Elemental Authority, his Celestial Origin, and the divine power of the sun, the radiance the red dragon unleashed was far more dazzling than Hein's—and far more sacred, carrying an aura of solemn majesty.
Beneath that light, rivers began to boil away, and for a hundred li around, the air turned dry and blistering, as though midday in the peak of summer had suddenly arrived.
"How is this possible?"
"Yet... that truly is the power of Lord Amaunator..."
"That familiar radiance... could it be... could he be telling the truth? Did King Wilhelm truly turn his back on the gods?"
Murmurs spread among the crowd. Everyone felt the worldview they had held for so long on the verge of collapsing. Had everything they bled and died to protect been nothing more than a devil's deception?
Clearly, their convictions were beginning to waver.
Seeing the intense reaction of Eisengard's people, Cassius added more fuel to the fire: "I trust many of you fought in the holy wars. That was an unimaginably cruel conflict, where former kin slaughtered one another..."
Hearing this struck a chord deep within many of the soldiers below; nods of grim agreement rippled through their ranks.
"Yet those high-and-mighty kings never upheld the church's commandments, never treated you as true subjects, but viewed you only as cheap, disposable pawns!
"In their lust for power and wealth, they did not hesitate to strike pacts with devils—and even demons—selling your very souls! They have no right to call themselves successors to Holy Fadlan! Even those so-called godbloods... are nothing more than thieves who stole their power!"
Silver Tongue took effect. The red dragon's reality-bending charisma easily warped the minds of the people, making them subconsciously yearn to believe his words.
"Vile dragon! You speak madness!"
"Do not think you can beguile our warriors with honeyed words!"
Furious roars erupted from the battlements of Eisengard.
The surviving angelic godbloods flapped their wings and rose into the air above the cast-iron wall. Glaring fiercely at the red dragon, they raised their silver swords in unison, golden light radiating from the blades.
Those beams of golden light interlaced, coalescing in the sky into a massive Solar Disc. As the disc rotated, its sacred light formed a barrier keeping everything outside Eisengard.
The foremost angelic godblood gritted his teeth and barked, "Dragon! I know not where you stole this power, but so long as we draw breath, you will not set a single foot upon the soil of Thrace!
"Brothers, join me in fighting this evil dragon to the death! Even if we fall, we will show him the wrath of the godblood!"
"Kill—!"
"For Thrace!"
"For Holy Fadlan!"
All nine angelic godbloods channeled their strength into a Solar Disc hundreds of meters across, sheltering the ramparts. Even against a demigod, it could hold for a time—long enough to endure until Thracian reinforcements arrived.
Yet these surviving godbloods overlooked one vital truth: their enemy was no ordinary creature, but the dragon who had brought down the Lord of the Heavens and dispersed divine avatars—the Cinder Emperor, Cassius.
Looking upon the angelic godbloods arrayed before him, Cassius flapped his broad wings and snorted coldly. "Ignorant fools, overestimating their strength...
"Even the true Lord of the Heavens could not bar my path. What right do bird-men like you, calling yourselves angelic godbloods, have to stand before me?"
A cruel, sinister smirk spread across the red dragon's maw. "In that case, I will show you... what the true sun looks like!"
Cassius drew a deep breath. The solar divine power brimming within his dragon crystal flooded into his fundus vessels, surging alongside his scalding dragon blood to converge in his gullet as a blinding orb of fire.
He possessed countless ways to extinguish these angelic godbloods without breaking a sweat, yet he chose the most humiliating method possible.
Solar Breath.
Cassius was going to shatter them with the very power they claimed as their own—crushing them not just in body, but in spirit!
Boom—!
With a deafening crack that shattered the air, a dazzling beam of light surged across the sky, piercing thousands of meters of open space and slamming straight into the golden disc.
The wrath of the sun was enough to destroy anything—even itself!
Facing the incoming beam of light, despite all their preparations, the angelic godbloods' faces twisted in sheer horror and despair as their entire world was swallowed by blinding radiance.
How could this be a dragon's breath? This was nothing less than divine retribution cast down by the Sun God himself!
Could that red dragon truly be an emissary of doom sent by Lord Amaunator—commanded to deliver judgment and obliterate them, the guilty?
That was the final thought to cross their minds.
In the very next instant, the dazzling beam pierced clean through their Solar Disc.
The immense divine radiance engulfed every godblood, utterly destroying their physical forms, plundering their divine cores, and reducing these winged beings to ash.
Immediately following, the beam struck the supposedly indestructible cast-iron wall behind them.
"No—!"
"Run! Quick, run! It's collapsing!"
The whole of Eisengard shook violently. The outer wall melted in an instant, turning into bubbling rivers of molten iron, while the inner wall abruptly crumbled as colossal chunks of steel and rubble came crashing down in frenzy.
Under a breath infused with the divine power of the sun, even ramparts inscribed with runes to withstand magical bombardment were completely useless.
In the terrified eyes of every soldier, the blinding light was reflected, followed by choking clouds of dust and falling debris, and finally an earth-shattering crash.
In just a few seconds, a magnificent section of wall a hundred meters long and over twenty meters high completely collapsed, plunging thousands to their deaths or burying them beneath the rubble.
"Amaunator above..."
"Is this truly divine punishment? How could an enemy like this... ever be defeated?"
At this point, whether the dragon was the Sun God's emissary or whether the Cinder Empire was the legitimate heir to Fadlan no longer mattered.
Cassius had proven to the people of Eisengard that he could wipe this city from the face of the earth in mere moments.
Flapping his sun-blotting wings, the red dragon descended slowly from the sky, perching over Eisengard and gripping the ramparts with his massive talons.
Buzz—!
A shrill screech of groaning metal rang out as the cast-iron wall buckled beneath the crushing weight of his talons.
Yet the soldiers atop the wall trembled from head to toe, rooted to the spot and not daring to twitch a muscle; some even fainted under the nearly tangible pressure of his dragon fear.
"G-gods..."
"Amaunator above..."
The red dragon stared down at them with golden eyes larger than a man, his tone aloof as he uttered those familiar words, syllable by syllable: "Surrender, or die."
Clang!
The sound of dropping weapons rang out across the battlements, a scattering of clatters at first, then more and more, until it became a relentless chorus.
...
The banner of the sun and wings was slowly lowered from the keep's summit, while the Imperial standard bearing the flame and slitted pupil rose in its place, snapping proudly in the wind.
Clusters of airships hovered above the city, casting vast, dappled shadows that seemed to engulf the entire urban sprawl—a scene surreal and imposing.
Giant mechs marched through the city streets, their colossal frames moving like walking mountains, shaking the ground with every stride.
They strode between low-slung houses and buildings, their heavy metal plating gleaming cold and menacing, drawing countless fearful yet curious gazes.
Imperial infantry marched in orderly formations through the city, moving swiftly under the direction of their officers to secure arsenals, banks, and other vital locations.
Rumble—
Armored vehicles mounted with machine guns rolled slowly down the avenues, loudspeakers on their roofs blaring: "Imperial forces have occupied the city. Remain in your homes, stay calm, and do not wander the streets—"
"Mommy, I'm scared... Will those Imperials... d-do they really eat children's souls?"
"Don't be afraid, darling. Those are only rumors."
"B-but I heard..."
Such whispers passed between families inside countless homes. In the face of the Imperial occupation, the citizens of Eisengard were overcome with dread, cowering behind locked doors and shivering with fear.
After all, Thracian official propaganda had always painted the Cinder Empire's soldiers as greedy, barbaric monsters.
Though situated on the border between Thrace and North Aethel, Eisengard was functionally the heartland of the Kingdom of Thrace; it had known no external enemies and had enjoyed decades of peace.
Even the wars to the south and rebellions to the north had done nothing more than increase their taxes; the flames of war had never directly touched this fortress city.
Now, the coming of the Cinder Empire had overturned everything.
Boom—!
The earth let out a dull rumble.
Outside Eisengard, steam tanks roared across the landscape, wyverns soared through the heavens, and imperial legions surged through Elbert Pass like floodwaters bursting through a broken dam, pouring into Thrace in an unstoppable deluge.
Eisengard had fallen. Total war between the Cinder Empire and the Kingdom of Thrace had officially begun.
...
Auguste, Kingdom of Thrace.
"Extra! Extra! The Cinder Empire has declared war on the Kingdom of Thrace! Eisengard has fallen!"
"What? Eisengard fell?"
"Amaunator above!"
"That was our only northern gateway! An indestructible bastion—breached just like that?!"
The Cinder Empire's armies drove straight in, sweeping through Thracian territory with lightning speed, while the city of Auguste erupted into uproar and plunged into overwhelming panic.
The Cinder Empire hung over every citizen's head like an enormous blade.
For the first time in nearly a century—aside from the civil wars between the three orthodox kingdoms—a true "foreign invader" had forced its way into Fadlan.
Chapter 696