Chapter 168: Goodbye Esdeath
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A dark shadow cut through the night sky, coming to a halt above the palace. Aoki gazed down, not rushing to act.
Before arriving in the imperial capital, he had already considered how to locate the Shikoutazer.
One option was to search for it personally, which is what he had done on a previous attempt. However, that method proved to be inefficient.
There was a simpler approach: find someone who knew and ask them directly.
The person most likely to know the location of the Shikoutazer was undoubtedly Minister Honest. Even the little emperor might not be privy to such information.
As the King of Demons, Aoki possessed a powerful ability—he could peer into the thoughts of nearby demons and even control their consciousness.
His plan was simple: turn Honest into a demon. As long as Honest's memories remained intact, Aoki would gain access to the minister's knowledge, making him an ideal informant.
Therefore, he had already planned to target Honest.
If he was going to act anyway, he intended to extract maximum benefit. That was why he sought cooperation with Night Raid and offered such generous terms.
In essence, he was gaining a free alliance with the Night Raid.
Aoki's eyes swept over the vast palace below.
Where could the Shikoutazer be?
The Shikoutazer was an enormous structure, over 200 meters tall, so it definitely wasn't housed in any visible building.
Could it be underground?
Considering the palace's vast size, it wouldn't be difficult to dig out a basement to store the Supreme Throne.
But if it were underground, why place the summoning location in the highest palace? That seemed illogical.
The palace was built atop a mountain.
It seemed more likely that the mountain had been hollowed out, and a storage chamber was hidden within its core.
To confirm this theory, Aoki would need to consult Honest.
After a quick glance at the imperial palace, Aoki vanished into thin air.
In the next instant, a guard appeared in an unnoticed corner of the palace.
Aoki, now hidden, identified the direction and moved toward the central area.
The ministers and the little emperor would most likely be found there.
But before he could take more than a few steps, someone intercepted him.
A man with a thin, sharp face, wearing ornate armor, eyed Aoki with suspicion.
"What are you doing here?"
"The security is indeed much tighter," Aoki muttered vaguely. "The master sent me on an errand."
The thin-faced man quietly placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Show me your identification token!"
"Alright, just give me a moment. I put the token in here..." Aoki began, reaching toward his armor.
Suddenly, his figure flickered, and in an instant, he reappeared behind the man.
Boom!
With a swift punch, the thin-faced man had no time to react. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed, unconscious.
Aoki dragged the man into a secluded corner, rummaged through his belongings until he found a palm-sized wooden token.
"Is this the identification token? It's rather crude," Aoki remarked, tossing the unconscious man into the bushes.
He then transformed to mimic the man's appearance and continued his journey toward the palace's core.
Roughly ten minutes later, a dull horn blared through the air, and the palace suddenly bristled with tension.
"That was a quick response."
Aoki observed the squads of soldiers rushing past, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
He was certain the thin-faced man hadn't regained consciousness yet.
The alarm had been sounded just because of a missing guard, and it had taken less than twenty minutes to react.
The Guards truly were an elite force.
The palace was swiftly placed under martial law.
However, with tens of thousands of people living and working within the palace—serving ministers, the emperor, high-ranking officials, and nobles—it was impossible to lock everything down entirely.
It was impossible to check each individual in the palace to determine if Aoki was disguised among them.
Trying to enforce such checks would only lead to greater chaos.
All the Guards could do was tighten their security. While this did present some obstacles for Aoki, it wasn't enough to halt his movements completely.
As Aoki moved through the palace, he constantly altered his identity and appearance. Using the cover of night, he remained undetected.
But he knew his time was limited.
As the night wore on, fewer people would need to be out and about. If he stayed outside too long, no matter who he was disguised as, he would eventually draw suspicion.
Aoki quickly circled the central part of the palace, identifying several potentially important areas.
His method of judgment was simple: the more heavily guarded a location, the more important it was, and the more likely it was to be Honest's residence.
Following this reasoning, Aoki headed straight for the most heavily guarded area.
Currently, the highest authority in the palace wasn't the little emperor, but Minister Honest.
Aoki didn't approach recklessly. Instead, he quietly circled the area, observing.
What he found was concerning.
The security was incredibly tight, with both visible and hidden sentries intertwined. The sky and ground were both under constant surveillance—nothing, not even a fly, could slip through.
What worried him most was that the guards weren't just members of the Royal Guard. There were also many strong individuals of different styles.
Aoki could clearly sense the presence of several individuals from the Royal Fist Temple among them.
"Is this really Honest's place? Did I get lucky on the first try?"
As Aoki pondered his next move, the sharp sound of something cutting through the air came from behind him.
"Have I been exposed?"
Though unsure, he didn't take any chances and immediately teleported away.
Crack, crack, crack!
A row of blue ice spikes pierced the ground where he had just stood.
Aoki paused and looked ahead.
A strikingly beautiful woman with long, ice-blue hair and snow-white skin appeared. She exuded a domineering, cold, and powerful aura. At a glance, it was clear this was someone not to be trifled with.
"So it's Esdeath. No wonder she was able to approach me so silently!"
Aoki hadn't expected her to return to the capital so soon. "Have the northern ethnic minorities been dealt with already?" he thought.
Esdeath sized him up, her eyes gleaming with the excitement of a hunter who had found the perfect prey.
Crunch.
At that moment, the door to the palace swung open.
A middle-aged man with gray hair and a large belly walked out, holding a slab of meat, tearing into it with large bites.
"Hehe, I've caught you!" he announced, his voice smug.
"That must be Honest," Aoki thought as he glanced between the two of them. "So, this is a trap for me?"
"Exactly," Esdeath replied, one hand resting on her hip, emphasizing her elegant curves. She smiled. "We anticipated you'd target the minister. We've been waiting for you ever since you showed up."
Aoki found the situation amusing.
The wrong assumptions had led them to the right outcome.
He had indeed come to kill the minister, but his reasons were far from what they suspected.
Still...
He liked their plan.
Honest had no idea the significance of appearing before him like this.
But then again, Aoki couldn't blame him. With Esdeath by his side, it did feel safe.
"You're the one who broke into my tent on the northern border, aren't you?" Esdeath suddenly asked.
Aoki's eyes flickered, but he remained silent.
His appearance and scent had been completely altered. There was no way Esdeath should have been able to recognize him.
"You don't need to deny it," Esdeath continued, her smile unwavering. "I can sense your unique scent. It's not something I'd find on ordinary prey."
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And also:
Imperial weapon = Teigu
Teigu = Imperial weapon