Chapter 174: Recognizing the Thief as Your Father
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Budo wiped his face and looked at the blood on his hands. He was stunned for two seconds before regaining his senses, his expression changing drastically.
"Where's the assassin?" he asked.
"They've left," Esdeath replied.
Budo scanned the area, his face growing even darker.
In order to deal with the assassin, they had mobilized almost all the forces available, even temporarily putting aside the rebellion.
And yet, they had failed.
"What was that move just now?" Budo asked.
"I have no idea," Esdeath responded, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
There were new techniques to discover!
How... thrilling!
For a moment, she truly felt danger—something she hadn't experienced since acquiring the Essence of Demons.
While she enjoyed crushing her opponents, it was the thrill of fighting powerful enemies, those who posed a real threat, that excited her the most.
Right now, she was filled with an overwhelming desire to conquer this assassin.
This was the most intriguing prey she'd ever encountered.
Suddenly, the sound of a horn echoed in the distance.
Everyone turned their heads in alarm.
"His Majesty!" Budo exclaimed, his face pale as he rushed towards the highest palace in the Imperial Palace.
"Heading for the Emperor? Has he seen through our plan?" Esdeath mused with interest, following closely behind.
...
Outside the gates of the highest palace.
The little emperor clutched his scepter, standing protected by guards who surrounded him. One of the guards held a horn in his hand, and everyone looked tense.
Aoki ignored the guards, his gaze fixed on the little emperor.
"So easy to find," he muttered.
After using "Soul Shock" to incapacitate Esdeath and the others, he had immediately tracked down the little emperor, stopping him just before he could enter the palace.
He had considered taking the chance to eliminate Esdeath then and there, but quickly noticed that even while unconscious, her body remained tense.
Aoki had no doubt that if he attempted an attack, her body would instinctively fight back, regardless of whether she had regained consciousness.
The little emperor, showing no fear, glared at Aoki. "Are you the one who killed the minister?"
"That's right," Aoki replied, and in a blink, he was standing directly in front of the emperor. "In fact, you should be thanking me."
The little emperor undoubtedly deserved death. He bore much of the responsibility for the empire's current state of collapse. The title of foolish ruler or even tyrant was one he could never escape.
But in many ways, Aoki thought, the young emperor was pitiful.
"Get away!" the guards shouted. "Don't come near His Majesty! Die, assassin!"
The guards charged at Aoki, but with a swift motion of his whip, they were sent flying.
The little emperor, clutching his scepter tightly, stepped back.
"What do you mean by this?" he demanded.
Aoki's tone was calm. "Your father was poisoned to death by Honest, and your mother was forced to take poison by him to create the illusion of a love suicide."
The little emperor froze, his face paling in disbelief. "No! That's impossible!"
"The accusations made against Honest by the officials you had executed—they were all true. Honest ruined this country and drove it to the brink of destruction."
Aoki continued, "I killed your greatest enemy for you. Shouldn't you thank me?"
"Impossible! You're lying!" The little emperor shook his head frantically, panic etched on his face.
Aoki's voice remained steady. "Believe it or not, I just wanted you to understand the truth before you die."
This wasn't a gesture of goodwill. It was, in fact, a form of punishment.
Sometimes, dying in ignorance is a mercy. Knowing the truth, however, only adds to the burden.
The little emperor collapsed to the ground, distraught.
"Have I been treating the traitor as my father all these years?" he muttered.
He knew full well that his death was imminent—there was no need for the assassin to lie to him now.
Which meant those revelations were likely true.
The weight of it all nearly broke him.
The only solace he could find was that the minister, Honest, was dead.
"Let's go," Aoki said, raising his hand.
"That's fine. I have no place in this world anymore," the little emperor whispered, closing his eyes in resignation. In the next moment, his consciousness faded into total darkness.
"Quite accepting," Aoki remarked.
He picked up the little emperor's body, glanced around, and in the blink of an eye, his figure vanished.
...
Moments later, Budo and Esdeath arrived at the scene.
Seeing the unconscious guards strewn across the ground, Budo's heart sank. He grabbed one of the soldiers, shaking him awake.
"Where is His Majesty? Where did he go?"
The guard, struggling to remain conscious, replied, "The assassin suddenly appeared and attempted an attack. We tried to stop him, but we were no match. We blacked out and didn't see where His Majesty went."
Budo let the soldier fall, his massive frame trembling.
The emperor had faced the assassin alone.
The outcome was obvious.
His family had protected the emperor for generations, and now, for the first time, they had failed.
The guards, regaining their senses, knelt before Budo. "Please punish us, General!"
Budo took a deep breath, steadying himself.
There was no point in punishing these soldiers.
"General Esdeath, what do you think we should do now?" he asked, turning to her.
With both the emperor and the ministers dead, the empire had suddenly become leaderless. The rebels would undoubtedly seize the opportunity to strike.
He could no longer afford to follow the ancestral edict of "not involving oneself in politics."
Though the minister was gone, Esdeath's formidable power remained unchanged. Whatever decisions needed to be made, he knew an agreement with Esdeath was crucial.
"It's up to you," Esdeath replied, glancing around briefly before turning to leave.
Budo was taken aback. "General Esdeath, where are you going?"
"I have my own matters to attend to," she answered without turning back.
Esdeath had found something far more interesting to pursue.
...
In the cave where the Shikoutazer was stored, Aoki and the unconscious little emperor suddenly appeared.
"I doubt anyone could have predicted I'd still be within the palace," Aoki mused.
He tossed the little emperor to the ground, then began pulling out various pieces of equipment from an interdimensional space.
With Honest dead and the little emperor in his custody, no one else in the world knew about this hidden location.
For now, he had no reason to worry about interruptions.
Aoki picked up a scalpel, glancing at the little emperor before turning his attention to the enormous humanoid weapon standing before him.
"I wonder how the Shikoutazer identifies royal bloodlines?"
The Shikoutazer was, in essence, an oversized humanoid mecha.
But it was clearly more than just a technological creation.
After thousands of years of imperial rule, any bloodline traits should have weakened significantly.
Yet the Shikoutazer could still accurately distinguish royal blood.
This undoubtedly hinted at some form of extraordinary power.
To uncover its secret, the ideal approach would be to have the little emperor activate the Shikoutazer and observe the transformation firsthand.
However, this was simply impossible.
Once the little emperor activated the Shikoutazer, he would no longer be under Aoki's control.
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And also:
Imperial weapon = Teigu
Teigu = Imperial weapon