Chapter 145
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 145
My plan was to introduce a new current—Fransek—and force it to clash with the existing tide. The resulting chaos would only escalate, and in that chaos, my opportunity would arise.
But there was someone here who surpassed even me. A monster in human form who repeatedly shattered my predictions and expectations. Just when I thought I had finally reached his level, I realized it was nothing more than an illusion.
The Akies Domini, Kinuan.
Kinuan flickered in and out of sight, weaving through the protesters and the surging crowd. Others might have missed him, but my eyes could follow his every move.
Why?
The question echoed in my mind. No matter how I tried to reason it out, I couldn't understand Kinuan's actions.
You're on the Emperor's side!
I wanted to scream the question aloud.
The Emperor wanted controlled chaos. Fransek's unexpected uprising should have been an unwelcome development.
My gaze darted through the crowd. I saw a person in a mask suddenly collapse. Standing right behind them, once again, was Kinuan.
He's eliminating the assassins targeting Fransek and me.
Kinuan vanished back into the masses. Every time he reappeared, another suspicious figure dropped dead.
He was clearing the threats from our path. He must have been protecting us long before I even noticed, which explained why we had faced so little interference.
Kinuan is making it easier for me to act.
It was hard to believe, but the fact was undeniable. Whether this was the Emperor's will or Kinuan acting on his own, I couldn't tell.
Kinuan had inserted himself into the current I created, injecting yet another layer of chaos. I couldn't even begin to fathom how many steps ahead he was thinking.
With tens of thousands of people gathered, a death or two went completely unnoticed. Some were trampled by the surging mob, and in this madness, no one cared if they stepped on a corpse.
Free from external interference, the current I had set in motion was now flowing on its own.
Kinuan and I were operating in a different realm, a battle of high-level deduction where we probed and maneuvered for the upper hand. Ordinary people would never comprehend our plans or actions.
In this fight, the one who is understood loses.
The clearer one's goals, the easier they are to predict. And Kinuan already knew my objective.
Was even this decision, a conclusion I reached after so much agonizing, within his expectations?
I touched the collar of my suit and activated my helmet.
Gasp!
The moment the helmet sealed, blood burst from my nose and eyes. The shock nearly buckled my knees. I fought desperately to stay upright, forcing my expression to remain unfazed.
My eyes are ruined.
My biological eyes couldn't handle the overload of signals from my brain. My vision was stained a deep, blinding red; I could barely see. I would likely have to get them extracted and replaced with cybernetic eyes soon.
I can't keep up with his train of thought.
To catch him, I needed to process even more, think even faster. But I had hit a physical wall. I lacked information, and my brain was deteriorating. If I kept trying to match him, my body would give out first.
Ignore his intentions. For now, I have to focus on what needs to be done. Even if I'm just dancing in the palm of his hand, I have no other choice.
Once again, I spotted Kinuan emerging from the crowd. Our eyes met. He knew I was watching him.
Kinuan offered a relaxed smile and placed a single index finger over his lips.
Shh.
His message delivered, he melted back into the sea of people.
"Luka, I want to go meet my brother now," Fransek whispered, having finally gathered his makeshift forces. He had no idea of the silent war that had just unfolded between Kinuan and me.
Fransek was the weakest link among the pillars of this new current. There was no guarantee he could withstand the coming clash.
If he starts to fall, I have to support him.
Get a grip, Luka.
*
I didn't know where Heilas and the military generals were gathered. They had cut off all communications and gone into hiding, preparing for the coup in earnest. Only a select few could contact them.
A coup d'état had to be swift and decisive. If it dragged on, it was doomed to fail.
The traitors undoubtedly believed their revolution would succeed. After all, their plans had proceeded smoothly so far, without any interference.
The Emperor's goal was to weaken the military and purge the powerful nobility.
The military intended to launch a coup and place Ivan on the throne.
Heilas planned to offer the coup forces to the Emperor as a tribute to ensure the survival of his family and the Imperial Guard.
And Fransek was hastily assembling a revolutionary army just to survive the Imperial Family's conspiracy. Frankly, as an independent faction, they were negligible. They seemed formidable now with the protesters and public rallying behind them, but a closer look revealed a hollow skeleton.
"Your Highness, my sword is yours."
"The Weber-Latri family will follow Your Highness's noble cause."
Several nobles approached Fransek to pledge their loyalty. Most were from houses with close ties to him, while the unfamiliar faces belonged to minor families of middling status. They had sided with Fransek, fully prepared to flee into exile should they fail.
The wind and rain continued to howl. Though the people's coats were soaked and dreary, their passion burned with a fierce heat.
As if to soothe the public's fervor, Fransek issued orders to protect the citizens. A decent number of capable soldiers had also joined his cause, and a proper chain of command was beginning to form.
"Does His Majesty know of this? You will regret today's actions!"
"Haha, has the Crown Prince finally lost his mind? To turn against us and still expect to rule the Empire…"
Several nobles shouted as their hands were bound. They were dragged away, pelted by the jeers of the commoners.
Fransek aggressively seized noble-owned buildings, turning them into shelters for the lower classes. All of this had unfolded in a mere half-day.
Public order in the districts he occupied quickly stabilized. Lacking a proper justification, even the rioters from Nemesis couldn't easily stir up violence here.
The Imperial Family, the nobility, the rebels.
They were all the same. To gain power, they needed the people's support. A rule maintained by force alone had its limits.
That was why the Imperial Family devised schemes far beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. Their immoral atrocities had to remain hidden from the public eye.
"…I will surely reward your faith, my lords."
Fransek desperately played the part of an ideal revolutionary monarch.
The Crimson Crown Prince was charismatic. He was the very picture of a perfect ruler, with an exceptional ability to captivate people. While his rigorous education played a part, it was also a testament to his innate temperament.
But he wasn't chosen by the current Emperor. There has to be a reason for that.
Standing beside him, I could feel it. Tremors of agitation and anxiety kept leaking through his facade. Compared to the Emperor or Ivan, his mental fortitude was weak.
"I've heard from Ilay, Luka," Fransek said, extending his arm.
A drone of an unfamiliar design perched on his forearm. No, it wasn't a drone.
A machine beast.
The hawk-shaped automaton tilted its head. Even the feathers that drifted down as it flapped its wings were made of paper-thin metal.
A letter was tied to the mechanical hawk's ankle. Fransek read it first before handing it to me.
"…No wonder it was so hard to find Heilas and Ivan," I muttered.
They were in the very first district to be locked down—the same place where the riots began.
The news said that entering the district was difficult due to fierce resistance from the rioters. The Imperial Guard must be mixed in with them. That's why it's been nearly impenetrable.
Heilas and the military were using the chaos as a smokescreen to hide. This was their only chance. During the Storm Era, the Empire's control and surveillance systems were crippled, rendering satellite feeds and aerial military assets useless.
We had to travel on foot, communicating by word of mouth and sending messengers. It felt like we had regressed two thousand years.
Fransek's fingertips were trembling. I quickly stepped forward, blocking his hands from view. The surrounding nobles and soldiers must not witness their Crown Prince's agitation.
His only weapon was his charisma. Without it, he was naked.
If his followers sensed their leader was wavering, they would abandon him in an instant.
"Thank you, Luka. You've seen an unsightly side of me," Fransek said, hiding his hands beneath his cloak.
"I don't think it's unsightly at all."
"I still find it hard to accept this reality. No, I want to believe in my father and my brother. Until I see it with my own eyes and hear it with my own ears…"
But Fransek was far too intelligent to ignore the evidence I had presented. He had heard the full story from Ilay. He knew better than anyone that this was not a tale one could simply invent.
"That is why I chose you, Your Highness. People like Ivan, Kinuan, and Heilas will never trust someone if even the slightest doubt arises. But you, Your Highness, try to believe in others even when you have every reason to doubt. Some might call that a weakness, but I do not."
"And why is that?"
Fransek looked at me. The harsh light in his eyes softened, and his fluttering robes seemed to settle.
In that moment, the sacred bloodline of the founding dynasty looked like an ordinary human, just like me.
"Because I am the same as you, Your Highness."
*
My final plan was simple.
Find Heilas before he could offer his 'tribute.' Then, cast Ivan Cracia aside and usurp the military forces Heilas had gathered.
Ultimately, Fransek, backed by both the military and the public, would pressure the Emperor and ascend the throne.
In the worst-case scenario, even if succession proved impossible, it would at least open the door for negotiation. If the Emperor truly acted for the public good, he would have to compromise to prevent an unnecessary civil war.
There were many mountains to climb before we reached the Emperor. And we had just run into one of them.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out. This time, there would be no peaceful passage. The violent rioters in the blockaded district didn't care in the slightest that the Crown Prince had arrived.
Fransek led his makeshift army to confront them.
The rioters blocking the entrance had built barricades and formed a defensive line like a well-trained military unit. There were also many skilled snipers among them; sticking your head out meant catching a bullet.
"Full-Armor Prosthetics? Dammit, they're pulling out all the stops!"
The officers and nobles under Fransek's command scowled. Standing among the rioters were outdated Full-Armor Prosthetics, though where they had acquired them was a mystery.
"What about our armored units?"
"We are gathering all available assets now."
Fransek's faction hadn't arrived fully prepared. They were improvising, scrambling for personnel and resources on the fly. Deploying armored forces like Full-Armor Prosthetics to the front would take time.
We're losing time.
I had already wasted too much.
Heilas would realize Fransek was coming and hasten his plan to offer the tribute. If that happened, everything was lost.
"Prince Fransek."
I spoke to him. Even without an explanation, he understood what I was about to do.
"Luka, make sure you capture that child alive."
"That child" was Ivan Cracia. I nodded.
I slipped away from the front line and took a detour. While entering the blockaded district was difficult for an entire army, it was a simple matter for one person.
I've done everything I can. The rest is out of my hands. All I can do now is hope for the best and fight with all I have.
Akbaran was dark during the Storm Era. I hid myself, darting between the shadows of the buildings. Since the rioters' attention was focused on Fransek's forces, infiltrating the blockaded district wasn't difficult.
I moved according to the map displayed on my prosthetic eye's retina. There was a shortcut through an art museum.
Entering the museum, a calm, chilly air washed over me.
Clack.
The sound of my footsteps echoed crisply on the marble floor.
The museum's ceiling had once been glass, but it was now shattered, letting the wind whip through the interior. Beneath it, an elegant gallery stretched toward the center of the building.
Sculptures and paintings praising the Imperial Family and past emperors lined the gallery, but they had been smashed and torn apart, likely by the rioters who had passed through.
I did not rush. I could see the darkness shimmering at the far end of the hall.
At the end of the gallery stood a man clad in pitch-black from head to toe. His heavy coat dragged on the floor, looking suffocatingly thick.
I stopped. The man, who had been tilting his head down, slowly looked up. A pair of red eyes glowed from beneath his hood.
Whirrr.
His gaze scanned over me, sending a shiver down my spine.
I recognized this feeling. Even though it was our first meeting, I knew he belonged to the Imperial Family.
So I finally meet one.
My first audience with the Emperor came to mind. This figure had to be one of the Imperial Shadows I had been so wary of—the Shadow Imperial Guard. Yes, that's what I'd call them.
Shadow Imperial Guard, or 'Shadow' for short. Or maybe the Emperor's Shadow. I really have no talent for this.
They were the Emperor's true direct subordinates, operating in the darkness rather than the light.
"Lu… Lu… Lucaus… Cus… Custoria."
The Shadow's speech was bizarre. He stammered, as if his language functions had degenerated.
"His… His Majesty… has ac… accepted… Hei… Heilas's… tri… tribute. Do… Do not… interfere… with the… ceremony. Your… Your role… will… be… reas… reassigned… later."
I couldn't bring myself to laugh at his stutter. Instead, a cold dread ran down my spine.
"Turn… Turn… back… and… go… back… the… way… you… came," the Shadow said, pointing a single finger at me.
"Well, that's good news…" I forced a smirk onto my lips. This bastard had just leaked a crucial piece of information. He clearly wasn't skilled in the art of schemes and deception.
"…Because it means I still have time to intercept Heilas's tribute."
Heilas hadn't made the offering yet.