Building A Human Empire By Creating A Clan [EN]: Chapter 148

– Give me back my body! Give me back my body!

Vlad frowned in the audience chamber of the Imperial Palace.

What dominated his body now was Tiamar’s relic.

The souls of Tiamar and Akakosk were dwelling within the relic.

‘Persistent, aren’t you? Just stay still.’

Tiamar of the relic suppressed Vlad’s soul.

– Please!

Vlad’s soul resisted more fiercely than usual.

As a result, the magical power within his body flowed erratically.

He lightly stroked his stomach, feeling bloated.

‘It’s worse than usual.’

The reason for such a vehement reaction was obvious.

Tiamar of the relic turned her gaze towards the throne.

‘It must be because of that guy.’

Edar Lundringen, the human emperor and the one who had become a human god, sat on the throne, propping up his chin with a bored expression.

– Aaaaaaaagh!

Vlad’s soul screamed, because he had to see and experience what the body saw and experienced.

He was exposed to the magical power of the soul emanating from Edar’s body.

– Please! Get away!

Edar’s magic was the antithesis of vampires.

He had performed the miracle of reverting vampires to their original race. It wasn’t a miracle he performed intentionally, but that was precisely the problem. Didn’t it mean that the magic he naturally exuded was powerful enough to affect his surroundings?

– Just kill me! Kill me!

‘I can’t do that. If you die, it will be difficult to control the bloodkin [vampire lineage].’

– Cursed bitches!

Ignoring the screams, Tiamar examined Edar closely.

To the eyes of the body, he was a being covered in a halo.

A strong halo obscured everything but his human form.

That halo would stimulate the emotions of the living.

Ordinary people would be stirred by various emotions.

But Tiamar and Akakosk were different.

The two souls looked at Edar without being affected by the halo.

To them, Edar beyond the halo was just a human.

Just a normal young man sitting in a chair.

There was nothing special about his appearance.

Tiamar knew humans well.

It was from Vlad, the original human they had taken.

Having absorbed Vlad’s experiences, she knew that Edar was quite tall by human standards and had a handsome appearance, but it wasn’t special enough to mention.

‘A lizard falling for a monkey, I don’t understand it.’

Another voice interjected at the relic’s mockery.

– Shut up.

Tiamar, dwelling in the pendant, warned.

Despite her warning, Tiamar of the relic continued to mock.

‘If it’s not, it’s not. Why are you reacting so strongly?’

Tiamar of the relic noticed the other’s inner thoughts: that she was subtly siding with Edar and helping him.

‘Did the Lord tell you to help that guy?’

– I have no obligation to tell you.

‘Or do you like him because he resembles the Lord?’

There was no answer.

Silence is another form of affirmation, as they say.

The fact was so amusing that she laughed inwardly.

And she wondered if she should tell the main body, but she didn’t.

‘Well… he probably knows.’

In the end, it originated from one soul, so he couldn’t possibly not know.

‘Even if he doesn’t know, it might be more fun not to say anything.’

The souls contained in the relic were Tiamar and Akakosk.

Akakosk was an ancient god symbolizing fraud, deception, and mischief.

Having been mixed with the soul of such an evil god, she also inherited that disposition.

‘Good luck with that.’

She smiled inwardly and watched the soldier entering the audience chamber.

“Your Majesty, the Allied Forces have arrived.”

“They’re quite late.”

Edar raised his head.

The bored expression hidden behind the halo disappeared.

Thump, thump—

Following that, the sound of drums announcing the enemy’s invasion echoed.

“What is the enemy’s number?”

“46,000, with small units continuing to join.”

Vlad made a sound of surprise.

A force larger than when they were chasing him.

It was the scale of having gathered all the local defense forces.

“They’ve gathered quite a force. Is it because of you?”

It was a joke, but half of it was serious.

The massive flow of magical power caused by absorbing the magic of the throne.

There was no way the Allied Forces wouldn’t have felt that storm surge-like flow.

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

Edar said as the priests fitted him with armor.

“They were following you at a distance of several days, but they haven’t arrived for over a week. What could be the reason?”

“They were wary of the anomalies that occurred here and gathered their forces?”

“Yes, but that’s all. They won’t know the cause of the anomalies.”

The Allied Forces did not fully grasp the flow of magical power.

If they had, they would never have come.

“At best, they’ll think I used an artifact they don’t know about, or they’ll suspect something related to the throne.”

The outstanding figure who could grasp the situation with conjecture had already retreated due to his machinations, so it was difficult for those who remained to derive the correct answer.

“Above all, the Council has only suffered a temporary defeat after consistently gaining victories. If you had a hidden card, they can’t help but wonder why you didn’t use it sooner.”

“That’s true too.”

Therefore, the enemy is worried but not seriously concerned.

“I’m aiming for that small misjudgment.”

Edar said as he left the Imperial Palace.

Thump!

A powerful earthquake shook the Imperial Palace.

Smoke rose from the distant walls.

The strong magical power indicated that a large-scale spell had been cast.

A portion of the wall had collapsed due to the magic, leaving a gaping hole.

Waaaaaaaah—!

A loud shout followed.

It was because the wall had been breached from the very beginning.

If the wall collapsed, the siege was as good as over.

In effect, victory was decided at the start of the battle.

The enemy’s shouts were cheers of নিশ্চিত [certain] victory.

“They really can’t hold out at all.”

Vlad clicked his tongue.

The collapsed wall was the place previously destroyed by siege cannons.

Due to the time constraints, repairs had been minimal.

It was only natural that it couldn’t hold out.

“Charge! Enter the castle!”

“It’s not a trap! Don’t worry!”

The Allied Forces ran with all their might towards the breached wall.

The defenders on the wall shot arrows, but they were ineffective.

The number of defenders was small, and they were undead.

Would arrows shot by corpses pierce armor?

“Only an idiot would die from those arrows!”

The arrows simply bounced off the armor and fell to the ground.

There was no damage except in the rare case where they got stuck in the gaps of the armor.

The soldiers of the Allied Forces raised their morale at the weak behavior of the defenders.

“What’s wrong with them? Are they even trying to stop us?”

“Did they just occupy it for a while and run away?”

Vlad must have left a small number of defenders and fled.

That conviction formed among the vanguard infantry.

“So what! We’ll just occupy it again!”

If the battle was easy, wouldn’t that be great?

They cheered and ran towards the gap in the wall, stopping as they squinted and closed their eyes at the intense light.

“Uh…”

The earth-shattering shouts disappeared in an instant.

Without the slightest sign, his presence appeared.

A deep breath was taken, and the shouts lost their existence.

“…”

Silence descended on the battlefield where tens of thousands were present.

In the silence, Edar ascended the wall and looked down at the enemy.

‘It’s like a sunrise.’

Tiamar, looking up at Edar from below the stairs, thought – Vlad, Tiamar dwelling in his body, thought.

Edar’s ascent was like a sunrise.

“Father?”

Someone muttered absentmindedly.

“Just who is that…?”

Those who had ever encountered a god asked, asking themselves if they had ever seen a light like that.

Whether they had seen the World Tree, ancestral gods, or incarnations, did any of them emit such a light?

Step, step.

Why was it?

The sound of footsteps, devoid of any magical power, was heard.

Edar Lundringen stood on the wall with his creations.

His body was shrouded in radiance, making it impossible to see clearly.

No one beyond the wall knew that he was human.

His appearance was only regarded as one of the beings they worshiped.

“You sinful race.”

Edar opened his mouth and unleashed his magical power – the magical power he couldn’t control after swallowing countless souls, the magical power that had been leaking out so much despite his efforts to suppress it, the magical power that had filled Vlad with pain – covered all life beneath the wall as if a dam had burst.

————!

The sound of magic spreading, which shouldn’t have been audible, was heard.

Even Tiamar, who was observing him with the eyes of her soul rather than the eyes of her body, thought the light was dazzling.

How would it look to the insignificant race in Tiamar’s eyes?

“Ma, magic…?”

While everyone was in shock, someone else was shocked for a different reason.

“The magic… it’s scattering!”

That someone was the mages belonging to the Allied Forces.

The magic that had been flowing stably in nature began to run wild.

If they didn’t draw magic from their own souls, they had to use what was in nature, but the magic of nature was raging too violently to control.

“Cu, cough!”

A mage forcibly drew magic and collapsed, twisting his body. He rolled his eyes, foamed at the mouth, and trembled. The mage next to him tried to use magic a beat later but stopped in surprise at the sight.

They were relatively better off.

Kieeeeeek!

Another mage’s body didn’t just twist.

Tearing apart his twisted body, he gave birth to a bizarre creature that could not possibly have been born naturally. It screamed and gasped but died of suffocation before it could take a few steps.

“Don’t use magic!”

“Wh, what is this…?”

A small number of mages realized it through experience.

They recalled a similar event from memories over a thousand years old.

They blinked in disbelief, then trembled and stopped their shaking shoulders, making a hoarse sound.

“Tiamar?”

Wasn’t that the disaster caused by the magic of the Four Dragons [powerful ancient beings] – a disaster that prevented other races from daring to reside in the southwestern peninsula?

“Why… why here now?”

Everyone knew the reason.

Everyone belonging to the Allied Forces raised their heads and looked at the light.

Edar in the light raised his left hand high.

Rumble——

Then dark clouds gathered thickly in the sky.

Heavy raindrops poured down on the heads of the Allied Forces.

Swishhhhh···!

The rain soon mixed with a strong wind.

The wind soon centered and began to spin.

A huge tornado was born in the middle of the Allied Forces.

“Uh, uhhh?”

“Stop it! Interfere with the flow of magic!”

“How can I when I can’t grab the magic!”

There were many mages in the Allied Forces, but everyone knew the answer but couldn’t solve it, because not a single bit of magic could be grasped in their hands.

Even if they could grab it, they shouldn’t.

Goooooo—

A tornado spun violently in the rain and wind.

A force of 50,000 was defenselessly exposed to the disaster.

The ground was overturned, and the life on it was caught and decomposed.

“Aaaaaaaagh——!”

The original color of the tornado is brown, because it follows the color of the soil blown into the tornado, but the color of the tornado tearing apart the Allied Forces is bright red.

How many people must have been torn apart by the tornado? It was tinged with red, soaked in the blood of those torn apart.

“Blo, blood!”

“Run away!”

The Allied Forces scattered in all directions.

The tornado was spinning in the very center.

If they kept their ranks, they would only die.

They had to scatter to survive.

“Huuuuh!”

Everyone soaked their faces with moisture that they didn’t know was tears or rain.

There were countless mysterious events in a world where magic existed, but a miracle that could devastate tens of thousands of people?

“Ha.”

Vlad chuckled as he watched the scene.

From a distance, it was a space that could be contained in two wide-open arms.

Inside that space, there was nothing but hell, but here it was peaceful.

On the wall, inside the city, warm sunlight was shining.

It was like watching a painting of hell.

‘Indeed… it’s not just the soul that was absorbed.’

The shimmering haze around Edar, if you looked closely, it was stretching out like thin threads.

The threads were connected to his creations with one strand each.

Far away, they stretched high into the sky and connected to someone far away.

‘That’s the flow of magic. The faith sent by humans manifests as magic and settles. He’s really swallowing faith like a god.’

The magic given by the faith of one person is a negligible amount, but what if the entire human race sent faith to a single person?

Many a little makes a mickle [a lot of small things can add up to something big]; it was truly enormous.

‘Absorbing the soul of the throne didn’t just expand the limits of his soul. A change occurred as if he had molted.’

That change was that.

A flow like a blocked blood vessel being opened.

There was a flow when he first saw him too, but it was weak then, and he couldn’t fully receive it.

‘Has he become able to fully accept faith?’

Furthermore, some of the magic he received in that way was also directed to his creations.

Flap.

Mersephone grew and spread her wings wide.

Her wings were so large that the adult she looked so small.

Whoosh!

The priests, including Rachel, had their artifacts glow.

The light burned red like fire, but there was no heat, and instead, Vlad’s soul screamed at the sight of the flames.

“…”

And Calliope, who always stayed by her master’s side, was armed with an artifact that purified the power of the ancient god.

The artifact took on the same color as the light emitted by her master.

The golden light contained her master’s radiance and shone even more fiercely.

“My children.”

Edar’s voice sounded more profound than ever.

No amount of magic could contain such weight.

Even Tiamar trembled together at this moment.

Even in their eyes, Edar no longer looked human.

“Go.”

Edar pointed to the group beyond the wall.

The rain, wind, and tornado that had been sweeping through the Allied Forces stopped abruptly.

Only groans filled with pain and fear flowed.

“You are my punishment. Thus, your actions will frighten my enemies and become my achievement. Show no mercy and kill them all.”

The warriors created by the human god jumped off the wall.

They became punishment for the enemies crawling on the ground and delivered death.

No one dared to resist.