"Lord Otto, the outside--"
"What's the fuss? It's just Schicksal HQ being attacked."
Otto took a sip of his red tea calmly, looking at the servant who had rushed into the room. "Sigh, I thought everything was going smoothly, but I didn't expect Lihua's little friend to be so troublesome."
"But it's alright. Lihua seems to care about them, if they want to play, I'll play along."
"So, what do you mean, lord?"
Otto looked out the window at the rising smoke, answering slowly.
"Surrender."
"???"
"What are you looking at me for? If those girls get hurt, Lihua will get mad at me again."
Otto got up and patted his clothes. As he walked toward the door he said, "All of the factions that I could win over are already on my side. The rest of those stubborn old men can go meet their god."
"Oh, wait. I almost forgot, they'll probably never get to meet God."
Otto pushed open the door and saw the massive army approaching. A wicked smile appeared on his face. "Because they're all going to Hell with me."
After that, Otto smeared some pot ash on his face, grabbed a flag made out of a bed sheet, and rushed outside with a grim expression.
"The Archbishop of Schicksal is over here! Guns ready, follow me!!"
Servant: "???"
"Damn it! How could those useless fools let this happen? It's just a bunch of commoners outside!!"
At the entrance of Schicksal's cathedral, the gray-haired Archbishop smashed his cross in anger as he looked at the approaching army and the Schicksal guards who were quickly falling apart.
The trembling guard said, "The civilians have hundreds of elite Valkyries leading them. They also have a lot of firearms that we've never seen before. They have immense power. And…"
"And what?!"
"And… Lord Otto seems to have surrendered. His Valkyries and troops are also charging toward us…"
When they heard that, not just the Archbishop, but also the old Schicksal executives that were next to him were dumbfounded.
What was going on? Otto was at the peak of his power in Schicksal. Although he was still under them, he was going to be the next leader.
They might not see eye to eye with him because they thought he was too young, but the position of the Archbishop would be his after they were dead.
And now, he had turned on them and was attacking Schicksal with the civilians?!
How could someone attack their own home!
He only needed to wait for a few years to take over everything peacefully. Why risk everything now?
What was the point?!
"Nicholas, is this the son you've raised?!"
An old man in luxurious clothing pointed his trembling hand at the Archbishop.
"Enough, I didn't think he would be so ruthless!"
The Archbishop looked grim. "I thought I had raised a talented wolf pup, but it turns out he's a poisonous snake."
"Where is Kallen Kaslana? She could easily take care of those commoners!"
"L, Lady Kallen has been missing since the chaos began…"
"Ha! This is interesting. When Schicksal is being attacked, the next Archbishop and the strongest Valkyrie have betrayed us and gone missing!"
The old man mocked. "Under Archbishop Nicholas's leadership, Schicksal sure has a lot of talent."
"Let's focus on solving the current problem."
"Solving the problem?"
The old man sneered at the Archbishop. "We're a group of geriatrics whose combined age is over 1000 years old, along with your guards, who are too scared to walk straight."
"There are over 10,000 people coming toward us! They could drown us with their spit!"
"I think we should just kill ourselves and save some face, rather than hanging on the gallows!"
"You want to die that badly?"
The Archbishop turned his head, looking at the old man with a sharp gaze. The old man flinched and said defiantly. "What are you looking at? You will——"
Before the old man could finish, a dagger pierced through his heart.
"Since you want to die, then go die!"
"Otto, what are you planning?"
The army was charging towards the Schicksal Cathedral on the hill. At the front, two flag bearers whispered.
"Planning? I have no plan. You guys wanted to rebel against Schicksal, so I'm helping you."
Otto smiled. Though Lihua's subordinate was a bit stupid, he was still patient and willing to talk with her.
"If I don't help you, most of you will be killed by the Schicksal guards."
"Tch." Eleanor clicked her tongue, but she knew that Otto was right. If he wasn't helping them, even if they could break down Schicksal's gates, they'd suffer heavy losses against the well-trained guards.
Because of him, most of Schicksal had directly betrayed their higher-ups. They broke through Schicksal's defenses with almost no resistance.
If it wasn't for this, Eleanor would have punched Otto's head off. She was only pretending to be friendly.
"Where did you send Lady Lihua?"
"Don't worry, she's in a safe place." Otto smiled. He had personally designed the dungeon. It was reinforced with Soul Steel. It was top-tier, both in terms of offense and defense.
He had originally created it for that madwoman Kallen. But he never expected that he'd end up using it on Lihua…
"Once I get rid of those old men, I will let Lihua out. But it's too dangerous for her right now."
"Hmph. If I see any scratches on Lady Lihua, then you'd better watch out!"
In the middle of the battle, where things were barely under control, the two had unexpectedly come to an agreement.
But in the very next moment, they both stopped. Their eyes looked toward the church that was at the top of the hill.
Under the dark sky, the church, surrounded by gunpowder smoke, looked more sinister than ever.