He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 217

“Yo, Your Majesty… that is…”

“Why? Are you going to say it’s impossible?”

I asked, a smirk on my face, to Kaliel, who looked flustered.

Of course, I knew very well what I was talking about.

It meant that in exchange for giving them freedom of religion, I would fight their god.

What difference would it make if Jesus and Buddha decided to have a cage match? But I’m sure I’ve seen a game with that concept in my previous life, too, right?

Of course, I didn’t just say that off the top of my head.

“Of course, this is a rhetorical statement, Kaliel. It doesn’t mean I’m going to meet him, defeat him, and make him submit. If I were, why would I ask for your cooperation in the first place?”

“…Is, is that so, Your Majesty?”

Of course, saying ‘I will challenge him’ is more like a chivalrous duel, but what I really want is to come to a reasonable agreement with the god of the Dark Orthodoxy [a religious sect] they believe in.

This is something that Earth’s religions can’t imitate. Gods agreeing with each other directly? That’s unheard of.

Of course, even I’m not strictly a god of the Imperial Church… but I do have divinity, for now.

“Accepting your doctrines in the face of the Celestial Race is necessary, but side effects are expected. Therefore, I want to negotiate directly with him about that. Will you cooperate?”

Kaliel pondered my question for a moment, then nodded and said.

“I understand, Your Majesty. I will convey Your Majesty’s intentions to the First Knight Commander. But please keep in mind that it may be rejected.”

“Understood.”

If they refused, that wouldn’t be a bad thing in itself.

I could no longer expect anything from the Dark Knights, but it was better to eliminate future sources of trouble.

“Your Majesty, the First has agreed to meet with Your Majesty.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, the Dark Knights conveyed their agreement.

Thus, a meeting with the god was arranged.

* * *

It was pitch-black darkness.

Surprisingly, it was darkness that rejected light, so the light of the Imperial Soul could not illuminate it completely.

It felt like being in outer space.

“Are you the presumptuous mortal who seeks to challenge me?”

There, I met the first Dark Knight Commander, the Exile, Dakari.

“It seems I already possess divinity to be called a mortal.”

“Are you talking about the divinity you stole from a minor god?”

“Oh, Gobemain would be sad to hear that. Well, it’s true that I started with his, but I’ve steadily built up my divinity since then.”

A Celestial Race man with black wings.

Unlike the Dark Knights, who had no wings, he retained more of his Celestial Race appearance.

Of course, those black wings were distinctly different from those of the Celestial Race.

Anyway, he seemed to have more than ordinary insight.

“Even so, you are not a race born with divinity. At best, an anthropomorphic god [a god in human form]. You are merely a proxy of the gods, not even one who has ascended to the throne.”

“So, you’re rejecting my offer?”

“If you cannot persuade me, then yes. Why should I submit to you?”

It’s not really submission. Rather, I’m offering to put you on the same level as the god we believe in.

Of course, from his point of view, he could think so since it meant coming under the Imperial Church.

“We have what you don’t.”

“I don’t have?”

“Yes. You, the Exile, ultimately have no people.”

“…Do you see me as just a king or an emperor like you?”

“Are you going to say you’re not, Knight Commander turned god?”

I thought about it carefully.

The Celestial Race was indeed an arrogant bunch, as I had seen before.

The Dark Knights opposing them might seem different.

But in my opinion, the reason they were exiled was ultimately due to a power struggle.

They seem to have their own complicated circumstances, but the essence of the exiles is that they were pushed out of power.

“What you needed in the first place wasn’t followers, but citizens, wasn’t it?”

What they longed for was to recapture the heavens, not to spread their doctrines.

“Does that mean you’re going to give me your people?”

“Of course not. I can’t hand over a single Imperial citizen to the enemies of the Empire. However… if you become a member of the Empire, that’s a different story.”

I will ‘allow’ my people to believe in you.

“And in the name of the Empire, I will allow you to reclaim your people.”

“That is indeed an arrogant statement. Do you think I would accept that?”

“This isn’t a negotiation, Dakari.”

Swish-

The existence of gods is barbaric.

There are occasionally gods who preach love and friendship, but since the essence of faith comes from reverence, most primitive faiths are violent.

“This is a ‘challenge.’ Let’s fight over who goes underneath.”

In the end, the conversation between gods was nothing more than violence.

“I will gladly do so. Emperor.”

At that moment, Silver Rose emitted the light of the Empire.

The pure white light filled the endless darkness.

“It’s useless, human Emperor. This place is infinite darkness itself. Your light cannot fill it.”

“We’ll see about that.”

[Imperial Soul Release]

[Unleash all Imperial Souls to deploy the Spirit World.]

The light of the Empire intensifies. But this is not the full power.

[The Abyss Heart begins to supply a massive amount of Imperial Souls.]

[The Throne of Prosperity further amplifies the Imperial Souls.]

[Frostfire’s magic is converted into Imperial Souls.]

“This is……!”

“Did you see that? This is the Empire’s power.”

Born with divinity? A Celestial being? So what? In the end, you are a being under the sun.

“Even if the darkness is deep, it can’t swallow the sun.”

The Empire is a burning sun. Humanity started as a faint bonfire, grew into a great flame, and eventually reached the sun.

Isn’t that so? Even on Earth, where divinity was nowhere to be found, humans eventually obtained the power of the sun.

Clang!

The victory was decided in an instant.

With a single blow imbued with light, his sword broke, and Silver Rose reached his throat.

“Choose. Join us, or die here.”

If you choose to die, I’ll take your pitiful knight order as spoils of war.

“…Very well. I will do as you say.”

“A wise choice.”

“But let me make one thing clear.”

“What is it?”

“I have submitted to you, and no one else.”

“Why would you say such a thing? What does it mean?”

He asked me instead.

“Don’t you understand, Emperor? You have already become one who subjugates gods. Do you think you can remain just an emperor?”

“……”

I deliberately remained silent at his question. Not because I didn’t know the meaning, but because I knew it too well.

“Even if you reject the throne of gods, it will come to you someday. Remember, that is the fate of one who has obtained divinity.”

His words sounded like a curse-like prophecy to me.

* * *

“If the First has made such a decision, we have no choice but to follow. We have no major complaints. We may no longer be able to use the name Dark Orthodoxy, but we never had a great attachment to the name in the first place.”

Once Dakari’s approval was obtained, the Dark Knights readily accepted it.

“Now you are brothers in faith with us. Therefore, I want to bestow even more upon you.”

[The Imperial Soul deploys the Spirit World.]

[The new Imperial God Dakari accepts the Spirit World.]

[From now on, the Dark Knights can be trained as Legions.]

“This is…….”

“This is a gift from the Empire to you.”

A gift I bestow upon them, who are no different from having joined the Empire.

It was the wings they had lost.

Soon, black wings sprouted from their backs.

Dakari still had them, but the Dark Knights did not.

“Wings that we had forgotten for thousands of years…….”

“To be reborn again…….”

I sat on the throne and watched them marvel.

“Dakari said that he was able to replenish his deficient divine power by joining the Empire. Thanks to that, you were able to regain it.”

So, continue to be loyal to the Empire. Remain allies.

I hope you will not forget this grace even if you regain the heavens in the future.

This was a kind of leash. Of course, if they regain the heavens, they may have other ideas…….

‘That’s something we’ll have to see then. At that time, whether the identity of the Empire will be stronger for them, or the identity of the Celestial Race will be stronger.’

It is still unknown. At least for now, we will be able to move forward together.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. We have truly received great grace.”

“With this, I hope you will continue to join this holy war.”

One thing solved with this… but in fact, it was just the beginning.

“More than that, the fact that those guys are releasing spies means they’re slowly testing the waters again.”

“That’s right, Your Majesty. But now that we have officially been incorporated into the Empire, we will thoroughly respond to their machinations.”

“I trust you. But I will help a little more.”

Even if it wasn’t them, I already had many good intelligence assets.

There is the intelligence organization that Hendrik has been cultivating, but there is also the Doppelganger unit that I recently recruited.

From there, an interesting idea came to mind.

“Let’s try infiltrating those Celestial bastards in reverse.”

The doppelganger technology using dolls was improving day by day thanks to Baron Gawain’s efforts.

It seems like imitating the Celestial Race could be possible if done well.

“…Certainly, those guys would never dream that we would infiltrate them in reverse.”

“Yes, if we do well, we might be able to extract important information, right?”

However, there was the point that we had to find out where and how that important information would be.

“…There is one thing that is important to search for.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know if they still remain, but…”

Kaliel said cautiously, as if guessing.

“Our old brothers may still remain.”

“You mean your comrades from before you were exiled?”

“Yes… we were branded as apostates and exiled, but there may still be those who resist those traitors.”

“Even though it’s been thousands of years?”

“Even so, the possibility remains.”

“Why?”

I asked the reason. From a human perspective, I couldn’t find a reason to resist even after thousands of years.

Would it be different just because they have a longer lifespan than humans, like the Celestial Race? They don’t live for thousands of years either, do they?

Even if they lived that long, there was no guarantee that their minds wouldn’t change.

“In the end, they are usurpers. They usurped the throne, but they could not cut off the bloodline of the Divine King. If that bloodline is still alive, there may still be resistance forces.”

“You’re going to find that bloodline… that sounds difficult.”

I have no knowledge of the local information. Perhaps the Dark Knights, who have been separated from the heavens for a long time, are the same.

“But infiltrating spies is worth trying.”

Whether that resistance force exists or not.

Of course, I was thinking of infiltrating myself this time as well.

Come to think of it, I can also transform into a doppelganger, right? I should do something instead of just playing around.