Building A Human Empire By Creating A Clan [EN]: Chapter 145

The Imperial Palace of Mycenae was immaculate.

No battles had taken place inside the palace itself, and the Allied Forces seemed to have tidied it up quite a bit after occupying it.

But that was just what met the eye.

Keeeee——

You wouldn’t say that if you saw the spirits rampaging within the palace.

“The magical energy is quite unstable here.”

“As always, this place is so creepy.”

Rachel and Kiriyan said.

They couldn’t see the spirits.

Rachel might have sensed it vaguely, but she didn’t show it.

“······.”

Calliope narrowed her eyes and surveyed the surroundings.

Her gaze landed where the spirits lingered.

The spirits, feeling her gaze, retreated in fear.

They knew there was a being they couldn’t dare touch, even in death.

“Edar.”

Persephone tugged at my sleeve.

She, who had been walking beside me, trembled.

“I, I don’t like it here.”

Her trembling, frightened appearance suggested she could see the spirits.

Playful spirits were lingering around the child.

Persephone looked at me, trying not to make eye contact with the spirits.

“Begone.”

I released the magical power of the spirits I had been slightly suppressing.

Then, the spirits that had been teasing Persephone were startled and fled.

“Stay by my side. Then they won’t come.”

“Okay.”

It was a terrible place.

The screams didn’t stop.

How many souls had Vlad captured?

Help, uh— give———

Pain—— too much

The vessel, is coming—

Human······ it is———

Souls captured to expand the vessel of the soul.

The souls swirled around the throne in the center of the Imperial Palace like the eye of a storm.

They spun around the throne, screaming.

“Edar-nim.”

Calliope restrained me with a more rigid tone than usual.

Her gaze was fixed on Emperor Vlad’s throne.

“Do not go any further. It is dangerous.”

“Yes. The magical power is excessive. You could get caught up in it.”

Rachel added to her warning.

Even if she couldn’t see the spirits directly, she could sense the movement of magical power.

And she must have realized what it was through my thoughts.

Squeeze···

Persephone gripped my hand tightly.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Only Kiriyan, the ordinary blood relative, tilted his head in confusion.

I gestured towards the throne.

“That is the treasure that the Council of Aides and Tiamat desire.”

“What? Tiamat?”

Kiriyan blinked at the mention of Tiamat’s name.

He seemed taken aback by the sudden appearance of the Evil Dragon’s name.

“If it were just a place where several good artifacts are stored, Vlad wouldn’t bother defending this place. Vlad himself, maybe. But why would the relic controlling him covet artifacts?”

You might think he’s trying to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Council of Aides and their race.

But if the price for protecting the artifacts is a decisive battle that pits the forces of both sides against each other?

Would he easily choose a gamble where he could lose both the artifacts and the Mycenae Empire if he lost?

“It’s because there’s something he has to take, even if it’s a gamble.”

“That’s that? That chair?”

I took out the pendant.

The pendant glowed and trembled violently.

Along with the ring imbued with Vlad’s soul.

“······.”

Suddenly, I felt a gaze.

I looked up at the window on the side wall.

A pure white dove was perched on the windowsill.

– Human Edar.

Lord’s voice echoed in my mind.

Only I heard his voice.

He didn’t say anything after calling me.

He didn’t want anything from me, he was just watching.

As if he were curious about what I would do.

‘What do you want?’

I looked at the Emperor’s throne again.

The throne was a crude shape made by cutting stone neatly.

“Don’t come closer.”

I pulled back my familiars.

I said that souls contain magical power.

The vortex created by souls is truly a fierce storm of magical power.

Right now, it’s just screaming and spinning stably.

But if the stability is broken even a little, it will have terrifying consequences.

Step, step···

I walked alone towards the throne and stood before it.

The silence around the throne was eerily quiet.

The screams of the souls seemed to be blocked by something and couldn’t be heard at all.

I soon knew why.

The vortex of souls was slowing down.

Because all the souls in the vortex were looking at me.

‘It’s different from before.’

Has there ever been a time when souls were this quiet?

No, there wasn’t. They were always busy wailing.

But at this moment, it was truly quiet.

‘Strange.’

Ignoring the gazes, I reached out to the armrest of the throne.

When I touched it before, I felt a jolt as if I had been electrocuted, or my magical power was being sucked away, but now there was no reaction.

“······.”

Instinct warned me.

It was ominous, I had to get away from the throne.

But what would happen after if I left the throne like this?

Why is Tiamat after the throne?

It’s because she covets the throne’s magical power.

‘We must liberate the souls of the throne and destroy the throne.’

We must liberate the souls that Vlad has bound to become a god.

Otherwise, they will only become food for Tiamat.

‘The method is simple. Just do it as always.’

Just sit down for a moment and release the shackles on the throne.

The throne itself is just a device for binding souls.

At best, it only has the function of amplifying magical power.

If you release the souls that provide the magical power, it’s just a chair.

After that, you can physically destroy it.

Saaaa——

But the moment I sat on the throne, a change occurred.

The souls released from the shackles did not move away from me.

Instead of moving away, weren’t they coming towards me?

“······!”

The souls plunged into me.

They cheered with joy and entered me fiercely.

———!

—! ———!

————!

Incomprehensible words echoed in my mind.

‘Magical power··· magical power is overflowing.’

My soul, which had always been full of empty spaces, was filled with magical power.

As the souls entered me, the magical power they possessed also entered.

I felt my soul swell as it received them.

And the heat and dizziness that boiled within me.

I raised my hand, grabbed my face, and closed my eyes.

“······.”

The headache soon subsided.

When I lowered my head and slowly opened my eyes, I saw a field of grass.

Clearly, I had sat on the throne and the Imperial Palace had a marble floor.

Clatter.

At the sound of a glass clinking, I looked up.

The place I was in was not the Imperial Palace, but a garden.

A garden full of the scent of grass and the chirping of birds.

I was sitting at a table, and at the end of it sat three women.

“······.”

“······.”

“······.”

All three had the same appearance.

The woman sitting on the left had her fingers interlocked and her eyes closed,

The woman sitting on the right rested her chin on her hand and tapped the table,

And the woman sitting in the middle, in front of me, tilted her teacup.

“Hello.”

The woman in the middle put down her teacup and said.

“You know who I am, right.”

I answered without hesitation.

“Tiamat.”

She gave a faint smile.

The other two Tiamats looked at me.

The soul residing in Vlad and the soul residing in the pendant.

And even the main body from which the two had separated.

I received gazes from the three Tiamats.

‘It’s hell.’

An Evil Alliance

This is a garden.

On the surface, it’s an idyllic garden.

But if you know the owner of the garden, it’s hell.

There are three Evil Dragons who tried to destroy the world.

“······.”

The three Tiamats, keeping their mouths shut, stared at me silently.

I slowly scanned them one by one.

‘The one on the right is a fragment of Tiamat’s soul residing in the pendant.’

She was wearing the pendant around her neck.

Originally, it was around my neck, but now I don’t have it.

The Tiamat of the pendant nodded slightly as she looked at me.

‘The one on the left is the soul of Tiamat residing in the relic [an object of religious significance].’

The woman sitting in front of the Tiamat of the pendant yawned.

She rested her cheek on her left fist and looked at me with a sulky expression.

A fox on a leash was sitting behind her.

‘···It must be Akakosk.’

Akakosk is an evil god in the form of a fox.

She is also a soul mixed with Tiamat residing in the relic.

‘And the one in the middle, in front of me, is Tiamat’s main body.’

Tiamat winked at me when our eyes met.

Unlike the other two souls, she showed me favor.

I narrowed my eyes at her unusual attitude.

‘Did she take on a human form, or did she borrow a body?’

The appearance of the three Tiamats was the same.

Their pupils were black, the same color as their hair.

Unusually, they had round pupils instead of vertical ones.

Their ears are also round like humans.

‘If they borrowed someone else’s body, the three of them couldn’t have the same appearance.’

There would be no reason to borrow triplets.

We should assume that they took on human form themselves.

‘Tiamat taking on a different form.’

I unconsciously held back a snort.

It was the first time I had seen Tiamat in human form.

Until now, the form I had seen of her was a dragon.

In the first place, we hardly talked and only fought each other.

But now, she was peacefully drinking tea in front of me.

With an idyllic background and wearing a human mask, not alone but in a group of three.

It was utterly bewildering.

“You’re surprised too.”

The Tiamat in the middle scanned me and slightly raised the corners of her lips.

“What do you mean?”

“Just as I said. It’s the first time I’ve seen you surprised.”

She said she saw me for the first time?

She should be seeing me for the first time, but she spoke as if she had seen me before.

“······.”

Suddenly, I looked at the Tiamat sitting on the right.

‘The relic residing in Vlad told me. That she knew me through the pendant.’

The main body saw me through the clone.

As I realized the answer, Tiamat smiled.

“The only thing I can do in the seal is watch. I experience what the souls that have separated from me see and hear like a dream. I’ve been watching since Father handed you me.”

“Were you just watching?”

“Because there was nothing else I could do besides watching.”

Tiamat shrugged.

“Originally, souls can’t interfere with each other either. Other than me, you can’t even convey thoughts if you’re far apart. If that were possible, would I be like this?”

That’s right.

If she could control other souls, would it be like this now?

The Tiamat of the pendant would have already merged with the main body.

“Then what is this situation now? You said you could only watch, but didn’t you call me and the other two souls?”

“That’s why I said ‘originally’.”

Tiamat smiled slyly.

“It’s thanks to you.”

Thanks to me?

“Don’t you know? What kind of impact you had on the world by accepting the souls of the throne. You’re just in a dream right now, so you don’t know. Thanks to the chaos you caused, the chains that bound me have disappeared.”

Chains.

She’s talking about Tiamat’s seal.

I broke the seal without even knowing it.

It was such an absurd story that I laughed in vain.

“So many souls moved, do you think nothing happened?”

I lowered my gaze and looked at my body.

A faint light was emitting from my whole body.

I knew that the light was the magical power flowing from the soul.

‘Magical power is leaking out.’

I tried to suppress the leaking magical power, but it was useless.

It’s because the magical power I possess is too much.

So much that I can’t hide it even if I suppress it.

“So many souls that I covet. You ate them all alone.”

“Tell me exactly what happened to me.”

“Your soul has grown. To contain the souls of the throne.”

Tiamat picked up the teapot and teacup.

“Now, look. Let’s say tea is magical power, and the teacup is the limit that can hold magical power. What happens if you pour more tea into the cup than it can hold?”

“It will overflow.”

“That’s right. Usually, that’s what you’d think. If you receive more magical power than the vessel can hold, the magical power will overflow like water. But the reality is different.”

Tiamat tilted the teapot and filled the cup.

The moment the cup was full and the tea was about to overflow,

Crack!

She grabbed the cup and broke it.

“The reality is like this. If you receive magical power that exceeds the limit, you can’t pour it out and it breaks like a teacup. That’s why Vlad, that idiot, couldn’t use the throne even after he made it to become a god.”

The reason why I tried to destroy the throne without using it was also that.

If I wasn’t careful, I myself would collapse and die because of greed.

Even if I became a divine being, it was too much power.

I wanted to destroy it safely rather than take a pointless gamble.

“On the other hand, what about you? So many souls rushed into you, but you didn’t break like a teacup here, but rather your limit increased. You accepted all the souls.”

The magical power raging fiercely within me now is that.

The magical power possessed by the souls bound by the throne.

Now, it’s all mine.

“This is your dream. You’ve eaten too much, so you’re resting for a while to digest it. We’re just visiting your dream.”

“What’s the reason for visiting?”

“You know, don’t you?”

I didn’t answer.

I knew the answer, but I didn’t need to answer.

Tiamat smiled more deeply at my reaction and reached out her hand.

“Let’s be together. You who came from afar.”

At the words ‘from afar’, I met her eyes.

She said she had been watching me through the pendant.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. I know everything. I told you that I’ve been watching you since you received me from Father. I’ve seen all the 모습 [Korean: appearance, form] you’ve shown in this world. The 모습 of creating beings who are human but not human, the 모습 of revealing secrets that no one in this world should know, and that this world is not originally reality for you.”

She slammed the table with a thud and leaned forward.

She opened her eyes wide at me and spoke in an excited voice.

“I believe you’re not crazy enough to talk nonsense. Or are you? Maybe all of this is a combination of your imagination and coincidence?”

“No. It’s as you saw it.”

“Right? I’m right, aren’t I?”

Tiamat trembled her shoulders.

I stepped back slightly at the 모습 of her reveling in pleasure.

Was she originally this kind of person?

I rummaged through my memories and recalled the past.

I had faced her several times, but this was the first time I had seen this 모습.

‘The crazy one isn’t me, it’s this one.’

I swallowed the words that rose to my throat.

“What exactly do you mean by being together? Do you want an alliance, or do you want me to be subordinate to you?”

“Dragons rule, they don’t treat anyone as equals.”

“Subordination, then.”

“I don’t intend to bind you to the extent that you’d call it subordination. I’m just going to bind your soul to me. Just take small measures so you don’t run away, so you don’t betray me.”

Is having your soul mortgaged a small measure?

I shook my head and laughed in disbelief.

“Why should I do that? Do you think what I’ll get is so great that I have to offer you my soul?”

She stood up from her seat and placed her hand on the shoulder of the Tiamat sitting on the left. The Tiamat residing in the relic frowned and looked at her.

“She said she’d give you Mycenae, right? Honestly, what does that mean? It’s a trick she came up with, hoping that you and the Council of Aides would perish together.”

The main body grabbed the clone’s shoulder and shook it.

The Tiamat of the relic shook off the main body’s hand and glared at her.

It felt like three heads each harboring different egos were bickering.

“I’m different. I’ll acknowledge your territory. You can take other places that border your territory. The Oroko Great Plains, the Nerup Plains, lizardmen or naga [mythological creatures with human upper bodies and snake lower bodies] are fine too. The world is wide, can’t I give you that much?”

She came behind me, hugged me, and whispered.

“I’ll let you have the power that Vlad was enjoying, and all the beings that will come under me in the future. I’ll make it so that only I exist above you.”

Her hand stroked my cheek and slowly went down.

“Why are you making me this offer?”

“Because I’ve been watching you. I want to know more.”

I pushed away her hand.

She retreated, pretending to be hurt.

“I went out of my way to 모습 you’d like, but that’s too much.”

“Don’t do things you don’t mean.”

“I’m serious.”

“My soul is entirely mine.”

“······.”

“What you promised me is just what I don’t need. Even if I guarantee my territory, the survival of humanity, who would acknowledge that guarantee?”

The power Vlad enjoys?

Black magic, I can do without it.

Clearly, it would be convenient if I could control the undead.

But the price of convenience is my soul?

To become a slave on the condition of getting slaves.

It’s ridiculous.

“The offer from the Tiamat over there is better.”

The Tiamat of the relic is plotting to stab me in the back, but at least she offered me what I needed.

She provided support for everything from manpower, supplies, and land, and even placed administrative familiars in the central government to actually receive my rule. The main body’s empty guarantees are better than guarantees that would cause more harm if I accepted them.

“Are you serious? No matter what she promises you, it’s nothing with one word from me. A clone is just a clone.”

“Try it.”

“What?”

“Order your clones. To antagonize me. Then the Council of Aides will be very happy. The ridiculous monkey and lizard chose to perish together.”

The Council of Aides doesn’t know that Tiamat is awakening, so they can’t think that far, can they? I smirked, raising only one corner of my lips.

Tiamat frowned.

She seemed to want to say something, but she just mumbled.

“What do you want, my soul or the downfall of the Council of Aides? You can’t have both. At your current level, you have to choose only one. What are you going to do?”

The answer was already decided.

“···Okay. I can’t help it now.”

Tiamat sighed.

“But you’ll accept an alliance, shaking hands, right?”

I nodded.

An alliance with a monster that almost destroyed the world.

The goal of the alliance was also the destruction of the existing order.

It was truly an evil alliance.