CG Chapter 92: Judgment Day
And just like that, the three promised years came to an end.
Under Tom's influence, no citizen, noble, or royal could get a good night's sleep.
The clergymen of the seven churches feared that if they slept today, then they might find themselves dead tomorrow, becoming the next unlucky victim of the Eternal Flame.
The only words that could describe the current state of the world were madness--pure, and unadulterated madness.
The taverns, once places to share interesting events, had become hubs of whispers, where people gathered to exchange information on the latest calamity.
During those three years, Tom had done everything he could. The only thing that was left was unsheathing his sword to face the royal families.
In his private chamber, Tom grinned with a devilish smile as he sensed the energy emanating from his life seed.
Having ascended to the rank of Grand Knight, Tom felt that there was something different about his life seed.
As he compared the energy his own life seed emitted with the energy that came from Folek's and Hidden's life seeds, he realized that although he had just become a Grand Knight, his life seed was no ordinary one.
The energy filling his body at that moment was gentle--extremely gentle--but beneath this gentleness hid a volatile vitality that could explode with enormous power at any second, should he wish it.
Sensing all of that, Tom knew the time had come.
The time for the royal families to meet their end, and for the faith of the people to scatter.
Corruption, lust, and greed have become rampant in the last few years.
The world was on the verge of collapse, but that wasn't enough, as the world wouldn't truly fall unless the pillars of faith--and their proxy, the royal families that the common people held in their hearts--completely disappeared.
Even if they were facing some problems because of him, Tom didn't doubt for a second that if he stopped moving, the royal families would quickly regain control of the continent in no time.
He was even more certain of that because he knew they had an extremely talented strategist in the crown prince, Alexander de Astrail.
For all these reasons, Tom decided not to wait any longer.
He began by sending letters to the various noble families under him, ordering them to prepare their forces with just three short words:
"Death Ad Royal."
When the letters were delivered, both Tom and the noble households knew that blood would soon be spilled.
The royal families had committed the gravest crime of all: they had stood in the way of the harbinger of calamity's climb to immortality.
The first royal family to suffer his wrath would be none other than the smartest and wisest of them all.
"We'll see if the ever-wise owl can fly away first, or if I'll turn it into a featherless bird."
Tom didn't decide to target the strongest kingdom, nor the wealthiest, first. Instead, he chose to go after the head of the snake.
By removing the Astrail family, the other kingdoms would have nothing but pure force without any direction, turning them into easier prey for him to slaughter.
As you might have guessed, Tom was, intentionally or unintentionally, turning the Astrail family's own strategies against them.
The irony of the situation wasn't lost on him, and he relished the satisfaction of watching them fall prey to the very tactics they thought they had mastered.
…
In a faraway place, deep within the Luminara Forest, the shaman's crackling laughter filled her small hut.
Even though she hadn't received Tom's letter, she somehow knew everything that was happening, as if to say that she didn't need such lowly methods of sharing information.
The shaman's body was filled with a tremendous excitement that only she could understand. The wrath she felt toward the royal families was enough to melt iron.
At that moment, she had to do everything she could to restrain herself from moving too soon out of sheer hatred.
The shaman clutched her chest. With no one to comfort her, no one to rely on, she had to be her own support.
"I… I've waited for so long. What is a little longer? Judgment day is near."
She began to murmur, "I'm sure you didn't think this day would come when you held your swords against your mother."
Her anger, combined with years of agony and pain, caused her powers to spiral out of control, making the dark hut feel even darker. Gusts of wind began to blow through, causing objects to shift and rattle. Yet, some mysterious force held the fragile hut together, preventing it from collapsing.
She began to cackle as she scratched her face. Her rotten teeth, along with her crazed laughter, gave her an incredibly creepy appearance.
With a cold smile, she whispered, "The unfilial sons will soon return to their mother's side. Oh, bad boys, you will sleep with your mother forever…"
The shaman and Tom worked together, but no one knew if they would backstab each other at any moment.
If you viewed this world from an outsider's perspective, it would appear as an enormous board of Go, with three sides fighting against one another. However, what makes the scene even more chaotic is that there are players outside the Go board—those who are playing with multiple worlds.
All of these players were waiting; some would move after the fall of the royal families, while others had much larger schemes.