At the same time, the other mausoleums scattered across the Loen Kingdom were each guarded by members of the Twilight Hermit Order summoned by George III. From beginning to end, none of them encountered any intruders.
In other words, aside from the single mausoleum destroyed due to the battle between Krismona and Judith—the two Demonesses of Catastrophe—the remaining eight stood untouched, still towering in their designated locations. With them intact, George III gradually completed the advancement ritual of the Black Emperor.
———
In Backlund, at the Memorial Square.
The imagined voice of George III grew increasingly impassioned as he swung his arms with force, bringing the rousing speech to its conclusion:
"My subjects! Follow your emperor! March together to the frontlines! Use our flesh! Use our blades to drive out every invader! Avenge our brothers, our compatriots, our families! Drive those damned, wretched Feysac people off our lands completely!"
"And more than that—I promise you now: the pain and suffering Feysac brought us shall be repaid a hundredfold!"
With his thunderous proclamation, the citizens gathered in the square raised their hands and erupted into cheers, offering their emperor the highest reverence.
———
Outside Backlund, within the "Site 1" ruins—
Inside the deep, pitch-black and imposing secret mausoleum, the real George III raised the black crown and placed it atop his head. His expression grave, he lifted his head and swallowed the potion crafted from the three Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics.
His body began shifting toward the direction of the Shadow of Order, expanding and stretching in a wondrous state. The eight remaining mausoleums served as islands amid a void ocean—each one a component of the grand structure of rules. At the same time, the citizens chanting "Emperor George III" in the ritual formed countless densely packed beacons, jointly anchoring this ruler of Loen, East Bayam, and the Rorsted Archipelago. They prevented Him from fully detaching from reality and becoming completely absorbed into the Shadow of Order.
At this moment, He already knew: all enemies who attempted to sabotage the mausoleums had been repelled. With the tacit approval of the Seven Gods, no one could stop Him from taking the final supreme step—becoming an eternal deity equal in status to the Seven.
Becoming the Black Emperor, who would rule reality itself!
When that time came, every person who dared obstruct Him would be ruthlessly crushed—reduced to ants beneath the feet of the newly ascended Black Emperor, George III.
Two hundred and twelve years of effort—three generations of schemes—and millions of sacrifices all crystallised in this moment. They were all worthwhile. They deserved praise. They would witness with their very eyes the birth of a new god!
Sensing that the potion had nearly completed its final transformation of His body, George III rose slowly to His feet. His gaze brimmed with supreme authority. His moustache curled upward slightly as a smile spread across His face. Spreading His arms wide, He declared in a resounding voice:
"I, George Augustus…ascend as a god this day!"
Suddenly—
Without the slightest warning, George III felt His spirituality tremble violently.
The potion that had nearly completed its transformation abruptly halted—stopping at the very last step, lacking only a hair's breadth.
The smile froze on His face. Threads of bewilderment flashed across His eyes. Shock and confusion tinged His voice.
"How…how could this be?"
"Impossible! Impossible!"
"This is absolutely impossible!"
"I have already completed the ritual! I have already consumed the potion! Why…why have I not ascended as the Black Emperor?!"
Then—
George III sensed that something atop His head was missing.
He reached up in alarm and discovered that the black crown—the Uniqueness of the Black Emperor—had vanished without Him noticing.
He instantly stood up, His gaze sharp as lightning as He scanned His surroundings. Only one thought roared through His mind—
Impossible!
Even the King of Angels of the Marauder pathway—Amon—could not have stolen His Uniqueness completely soundlessly. Yet the reality was that it had simply…disappeared.
"Who?!"
George III's voice echoed throughout the mausoleum, layered with power that distorted laws and order. He attempted to reconnect with the vanished Uniqueness—but nothing responded.
The next moment, His legs abruptly gave out. He collapsed uncontrollably onto His knees. His body deflated like a punctured balloon, His aura rapidly deteriorating—falling from the near-Sequence 0 Black Emperor, down to Sequence 1, then further into Sequence 2.
No...this was not merely a regression of aura and sequence!
George III clearly felt that the potion composed of the three fused Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics had inexplicably vanished from His body—as though He had never consumed them at all. It was exactly the same as the sudden disappearance of the Uniqueness moments earlier.
"!!!"
His pupils trembled violently.
Yes. He had thought of a possibility.
A possibility that could explain how both the Black Emperor's Uniqueness and the three Sequence 1 characteristics could vanish into thin air. But He immediately shook His head hard, refusing to acknowledge it. He slammed His fist into the ground in rage.
"No! No! Impossible! I was only half a step away—half a final step!"
This plunge from heaven into hell shattered George III's sanity. Madness and loss of control devoured Him.
"I AM the Black Emperor! I AM the deity equal to the Seven Gods! I AM the eternal Black Emperor!!!"
His consciousness grew more frenzied. An uncontrollable, volcanic eruption of deranged willpower surged from His body, warping His form and distorting the surroundings.
In a vague trance, He saw a colossal black throne. He saw Himself seated upon it—crowned, overlooking reality with supreme arrogance, ruling over all living beings, standing equal to the gods.
He extended His hand, trying to seize that future:
"I am Loen! I am the Northern Continent! I am the eternal emperor of this world!"
"No one…NO ONE can stop me!"
"I—George Augustus—AM THE BLACK EMPEROR!!!"
George III's body twisted. Black curled hair burst from His skin, and His face became hideously distorted—He was on the brink of complete loss of control.
"I…AM THE BLACK EMPEROR!"
"No. I am."
A black silhouette abruptly appeared within the underground mausoleum. Its form gradually solidified, condensing from darkness into a physical body—a middle-aged man wearing a black crown studded with jewels, clad in pitch-black armour with a cloak of the same colour, holding a sceptre in hand.
Emperor Roselle of the Intis Empire.
He had revived moments before George III completed His advancement—forcefully reclaiming both the three Sequence 1 characteristics and the Uniqueness that George III had taken. At the instant of His revival, within the astral realm, He completed His return to godhood as the Black Emperor.
This—this was the nature of the Black Emperor.
This was the "shameless" trait of His authority.
Before the previous Black Emperor was utterly dead, as long as He was given the right opportunity, He could ignore all efforts made by successors attempting to ascend—reviving and returning to His throne through an unchangeable law that even true gods could not overturn.
Roselle flexed His fingers, feeling the transformation from a lingering remnant soul to an ascended deity—the return of the power He had lost for over a century. He exhaled deeply.
"Ah…after being stuck in that damned place for so long, I'm finally out!"
A faint smile crossed His face. In a clear, resonant voice, He declared:
"Intis, your emperor has returned!"
The moment the words left His mouth, they echoed instantaneously within the minds of every citizen of Intis. A profound awe rose from the depths of their hearts, compelling them to kneel, bow, and welcome the Black Emperor's return.
At this time, George III's body had undergone a complete aberration. Black curly fur sprouted all over Him—His previously dignified figure now morphed into a gigantic curly-haired baboon.
He rampaged around the mausoleum before fixing His monstrous gaze on Roselle. Roaring, He charged:
"BLACK EMPEROR…IS MINE!!!"
"Tsk. So the Black Emperor's mythical creature form really is a curly-haired baboon."
Roselle curled His lip. With a casual gesture of His finger, the force of distortion imbued with authority twisted the enormous baboon into a ball of flesh. After extreme compression, it burst with a loud bang, scattering bloody chunks everywhere.
But George III did not die. The pieces of flesh squirmed slowly, attempting to reassemble themselves.
Roselle snapped His fingers.
With a boom, the laws and order of the surrounding space shifted. The scattered flesh instantly disintegrated into fine powder, then burned to ash under the flames generated by the friction of a casually flicked pebble.
George III—dead.
A crisp ding rang out as an amorphous, fog-like clump dropped to the ground. It was the Sequence 2 Beyonder characteristic of the Duke of Entropy.
Roselle reached out, seized the characteristic, and stepped forward—vanishing from the mausoleum.
"Bernie, Daddy is coming."
———
East Chester County
Bernadette, covered in the imperial "Emperor's New Clothes," had managed to block yet another execution from William Augustus I. But the Sequence 1 Hand of Order clenched His fist toward her—and directly stripped her of the "Emperor's New Clothes."
Bernadette retreated, conjuring another blood-stained Spear of Longinus between her fingers. Filled with a destructive aura and bloody presence, it shot toward William Augustus I's head.
Although she was only Sequence 3, the spear's special nature was enough that even William Augustus I did not take it lightly. With one hand, He reduced the spear's speed; with another wave, He banished it into the void.
Then His left hand grasped the air around Bernadette's figure—and clenched.
In an instant, Bernadette's body was imprisoned midair. She could only watch helplessly as William Augustus I raised His fist again, descending to execute her.
This time—without the Emperor's New Clothes—this Sequence 1-level execution descended upon Bernadette without restraint. Receiving such a blow would mean certain death for a Sequence 3.
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.