In the Polant Empire, at the capital of Hersalem.
Inside the Parliament Building, a vast, grand hall stretched out beyond doors several meters high.
Members of parliament whispered in seated clusters, their faces etched with a complex blend of tension, confusion, and curiosity.
Beneath the dim lighting, the air seemed frozen, with only dull grey specks of dust dancing through the interplay of light and shadow.
When the Prime Minister stepped into the hall, the atmosphere inside the assembly reached an abrupt peak of urgency.
Behind him followed his political allies and several trusted confidants. Their expressions were equally grave, yet deep within their eyes lay boundless trust and support for him.
The Prime Minister cut a resolute, decisive figure, clad in a formal black suit. Departing from his usual attire, a golden holy cross—or perhaps a church stigmata—now adorned his collar.
He strode through the crowd, heading toward the podium.
Even as he stood before the lectern, the low rumble of noise in the hall refused to dissipate.
He waited for a long moment.
"Though we have suffered a defeat in this campaign, we shall never surrender. We shall never yield. We shall fight to the end."
Prime Minister Wilfort looked around, drew a deep breath, and began his opening remarks.
"In this campaign, our armed forces suffered thirty thousand casualties, lost nearly a thousand magic cannons, and the ports on both sides of the strait have fallen into the hands of the Horning Empire. That the Horning Empire will launch a new offensive against our country or our neighbors has become an established fact. The fall of our neighbor, the Kingdom of Bliss, is a matter of profound and lasting sorrow. The strength of the Kingdom of Fukelo has been undermined, and the armies of Bliss have been annihilated. In comparison, our own forces remain comparatively strong.
"The time has arrived to test the direct combat strength of our allies against the Horning Empire. Our soldiers who experienced that first battle all believe our army has not yet realized its true potential—that reserve and power remain within us! In the days ahead, we may well endure even greater trials and heavier losses. Much of the northern continental defensive line, in which we placed our unshakeable faith, has been breached, and many valuable industrial mines have been seized by the enemy. From this moment forth, we must make full preparation to bear the brunt of a brutal and savage war."
His calm, steady voice cut through all the murmurings in the House of Commons.
Faced with such harrowing facts, the members tightened their jaws, none daring to venture careless chatter.
"The northern continental strait is our natural trench, our bulwark—a body of water more vast than any those honored guests from the southern continent of the Horning Empire have ever beheld. We possess the advantages of both experience and geography. Not even the Blood Clan would dare engage us in open battle at sea; were it not for the fact that on land, once daylight arrives, those creatures who shy from the sun no longer enjoy absolute security.
"The objective of the Horning Empire is to make naval combat impossible for us and to blockade us from all directions. Beyond this, can you conceive of any greater purpose they might harbor? Beyond this, in terms of the overarching purpose of the entire war, what greater military significance or strategic value remains? They once staked everything upon it, but now it is fundamentally impossible for them to achieve. For the Demon Realm and the beastman city-states now stand with us!"
Lanqi's voice was measured at first, but as his address unfolded, it grew increasingly forceful and impassioned.
Journalists diligently recorded his every word. The parliament members reacted across a wide spectrum: some appeared astonished, while others remained lost in deep contemplation.
This was the Prime Minister's second nationwide address since taking office.
Yet, as impassioned as Lanqi's speech was, it failed to move the conservatives. Many among them swallowed hard from time to time, casting glances toward the motionless Duke Moretti.
More than half the seats in the parliamentary chamber remained eerily silent.
Duke Moretti was the leader of the conservative faction. Only if he withdrew the handkerchief from his breast pocket signaling approval would the others follow suit. Yet they all knew that no matter what sweeping changes the Prime Minister brought to the Polant Empire this time, Duke Moretti would never draw that handkerchief.
The Prime Minister and Duke Moretti had completely broken ties.
Even so, the conservatives noticed that the members of the outer cabinet were visibly moved. Every doubt and fear seemed to melt away before the Prime Minister's ringing words!
This began to make even the conservative members waver.
"I know fear lingers in your hearts, that you hesitate, unable to foresee how every step taken today will alter the course of history. But I must tell you: the Horning Empire is by no means an invincible enemy!
"No doubt many of our compatriots present have heard of our Polant Empire's 'Salem Plan'—the very operation enemy spies have striven relentlessly to investigate. Yet to this day, the Horning Empire has failed to uncover the core of that design.
"And now, I can finally disclose its reality to you—"
Lanqi swept his hand, projecting an audiovisual recording of events unfolding at that very moment upon another land through magic-engineering equipment.
It was a northern border city-state of the Horning Empire, garrisoned by its most elite vanguard army group.
The perspective belonged to a demon general shimmering with lightning, charging alone into the borders of the Horning Empire atop a Demon Realm wyvern.
As the wyvern streaked overhead, he hurled down a magic-engineering sphere. It plummeted through the sky, rapidly shrinking until it became imperceptible, reducing to a mere speck. Immediately thereafter, the wyvern banked sharply and sped away.
Before the powerhouses of the Horning Empire could even react—
Upon the distant horizon, a tiny pinpoint of light appeared, expanding at terrifying speed accompanied by blinding white radiance.
Then, a deafening roar surged skyward, staining the clouds crimson like the fury of a god!
City walls and rolling ridges twisted and shattered before the rampaging shockwave. Staggering energy churned up the earth, buildings blew apart like confetti, and trees and vegetation were swallowed whole by the white light.
As time seemed to stretch into eternity, the white brilliance swelled and ascended until it occluded the entirety of the heavens!
Whether Tier 7 or Tier 8 powerhouses of the Horning Empire, before these world-ending flames, all were reduced to ash—irresistible, unstoppable.
The people in the chamber stood with mouths agape, unable to utter a single sound.
Never had they witnessed such a horrific catastrophe. With the dropping of that single tiny sphere, a heatwave had devoured an entire province of the Horning Empire along with its garrisoned army!
Soon, even the Parliament Building far away on the northern continent felt a brief, violent tremor, prompting members to instinctively shield their heads!
With lingering dread, the politicians stared at the bizarre, multicolored sky displayed in the projection.
Was this a destroyer, or a creator?
They could not tell. All they knew was that they had just borne witness to a forbidden weapon capable of annihilating gods!
Lanqi stood at the rostrum, his eyes sweeping over the gathered assembly.
A bomb forged from the Nuclear Fusion Wolf he had left for the Demon Realm, combined with the Fourth Progenitor Eduardo, who had been refashioned into a summoned entity by the demon race, had already been delivered over the skies of the Horning Empire.
To put it simply, he had detonated the Fourth Progenitor Eduardo as a disposable munition.
Against the might of a Tier 9 epic-grade spark, no nation could hope to endure.
"Meow, meow, meow?!"
Inside Lanqi's shadow, Boss Cat stared outward in utter disbelief.
Could it be...
That button it had just pressed...
Had wiped out an entire province of the Horning Empire?!
Meowwww! I don't want to be a war criminal cat!!
Boss Cat instantly understood the price of a high-tier epic card—it had just become the world's most heinous, most ruthless executioner!
Tears welled in its eyes. While it didn't dread running up karmic debt quite like Hubao did, the karmic deficit it had just accumulated might not be paid off in three or four hundred lifetimes!!
The parliamentary hall remained sunk in silence for a long time.
Lanqi spoke once more.
"To every living being upon this earth, death must come at last. Yet no death can be more noble than facing fearful odds, dying for the ashes of one's fathers and the temples of one's gods.
"The armed forces we currently possess within the homeland of the Polant Empire and behind us in the alliance of the Land of Evernight are many times more formidable than at any point during this great war!
"This fact is unquestionably favorable to resisting invasion and defending our homeland, but we cannot rest content with this. We cannot be satisfied merely with fighting a defensive war. We owe obligations to our allies. We must reorganize and deploy a Polant Expeditionary Force under the command of our valiant Commander-in-Chief. All of this is already underway. Yet during this interval, we must bring our home defenses to such a high pitch of organization that only a very small number of troops is required to effectively secure our homeland, while unleashing the greatest potential for offensive action. Such are the deployments we are currently executing.
"I shall demand the unconditional surrender of the Horning Empire! Should they refuse, one month from now, we shall drop another Progenitor bomb upon them! We shall bomb them until they surrender!
"Though in the long campaigns ahead we may suffer defeat once, twice, thrice, or many times over, we shall never surrender!"
When Lanqi uttered the words "we shall never surrender," his voice was filled with absolute resolve, reverberating throughout the entire assembly hall.
Those words were not merely a declaration of war against external enemies; they were a judgment pronounced upon every waverer at home.
"We shall fight to the end. We shall fight on the northern continent, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence in the air!
"We shall defend our island home, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!
"Even if this island, or a large part of it, were subjugated and starving, our forces overseas, armed and guarded by the Polant Fleet, would carry on the struggle!!"
Having spoken, he stepped down from the podium.
"Never must a defensive war be regarded as the final goal! We must rebuild our expeditionary forces; we must strengthen national defense. We must reduce domestic garrisons to swell our overseas strike forces. In this great war, the northern continent shall serve as our stoutest bulwark, with the Polant Empire united alongside the Demon Realm and the beastman city-states of the Land of Evernight—"
With his back turned to the crowd, he walked forward alone down the aisle, raising both arms in an expansive gesture, like a virtuoso bringing a rousing, impassioned symphony to a triumphant close.
"We shall never yield! We shall never surrender! Long live Polant!"
The hall hung silent for dozens of seconds.
Then, thunderous applause erupted.
The ovation roared on without pause.
Men and women pumped their fists and cheered, their burning gazes following the Prime Minister's retreating silhouette.
Even the conservative members threw all regard for Duke Moretti to the wind, rising unbidden to their feet and showering the Prime Minister with fervent cheers!
In the corridor, he put on his hat and overcoat and departed the venue.
Never give up, never yield, never compromise!
The members chanted at the top of their lungs, hurling documents into the air until sheets of paper fluttered down like rain.
That solitary figure walking toward the light resembled an upright, gleaming blade, piercing the darkness with the golden glow of the setting sun.
...
In the mortal realm, inside the Old Bailey Inquest Court.
The entire gallery was struck dumb.
Spectators looked at one another, emitting trembling gasps of speechless shock.
Loren's student seemed to have gone a bit too far. The core of his speech hadn't merely rallied the people not to submit; he had also demanded the unconditional surrender of the Horning Empire, declaring that the Polant Empire would sweep across the south in a sacred war of reconquest.
Those outside the Shadow World could no longer tell who was supposed to be invading whom.
They watched as every metric surged frantically upward.
The win rate swiftly shattered the one percent threshold.
This Tier 7 Shadow World would undoubtedly be cleared successfully.
On the inquest panel, several judges broke into cold sweats, dark lines practically etched onto their foreheads.
A minute later, thunderous applause shook the Old Bailey Inquest Court.
"High Priest Loren! Wise and valiant!!"
"So it was us who failed to keep pace with your grand vision!"
"You taught Lanqi all of this, didn't you!"
Unable to contain themselves any longer, people surged forward, swarming around Loren in adoration.
Loren: "???"
He was still in a daze.
Plunged from hell into heaven in a split second, he found he could feel nothing at all.
If he had to describe it, he was thoroughly numb.
At last, he covered his face and offered a wan, bittersweet smile.
A thousand words could not match that faint smile.
"..."
That sensation of having no one to confide in, of being forced to bear everything alone—those surrounding Loren finally began to comprehend it in this moment.
Indeed, carved behind every glory was a deep swath of solitude.
In the citizen gallery, the audience stood up as one, clapping with heartfelt admiration for Loren.
"A person's life passes through three stages: doubting Loren, understanding Loren, and witnessing High Priest Loren compose an immortal epic."
From the back row, Luvishir, the student council secretary, wiped away tears of relief and penned that very newspaper headline.
The sheer pressure Dean Loren had shouldered recently had worried Senior Asna half to death, making her fret that her willful desire to become a chef had brought about the kingdom's impeachment proceedings against him.
Several unscrupulous media outlets had even hounded the restaurant where Senior Asna worked, alleging that the establishment held illicit ties with Loren or might even be a front for secret cabals.
Now, the rumors crumbled on their own. Senior Asna could finally pursue her chef's apron without a shred of guilt.
In a quiet corner of the court's gallery.
"..."
The Ice Snow Witch bit her finger, trembling.
"Loren... your plan to unify the world has taken another step forward, hasn't it...?"
She knew staying at Loren's side was becoming increasingly dangerous.
Yet at this juncture, there was no turning back.
As a secret operative, she had long prepared herself to lay down everything!
Chapter 601