He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 219

“Guard Captain, what’s the status of the investigation?”

“I am sorry, but their movements are so subtle…”

This exchange occurred in the Archbishop’s office on the floating island controlled by the Celestial Church.

In their theocratic system, the Celestial beings ensured that clergy members of the church replaced key figures in the national government.

The archbishop, responsible for the floating island, rebuked the guard captain for the recent incidents.

“Already eight people have been attacked! Eight! And that’s not counting those who were ambushed initially. Isn’t that right?”

“Y-yes, Archbishop.”

“What’s even more infuriating is that these ‘doppelgangers’ are wandering around using the faces of the eight dead! There may be even more victims than we know!”

Bang!

“And what are you all doing!”

“I’m sorry…”

“Enough. I won’t say any more. Get out there and catch them immediately. If I see you loitering around this temple today, you’ll regret it!”

“Yes, sir!”

The guard, eager to avoid the archbishop’s wrath, hurried out. As per his orders, the guard wouldn’t be able to return to the temple that day.

“…It’s all clear. You can come out now.”

After ensuring the temple was completely empty, the archbishop quietly spoke to someone.

Then, those who had been hiding in various parts of the temple or disguised as believers revealed themselves.

“Your acting is superb, Mirror.”

“Hmph, this is just average for me.”

The archbishop, who had been scolding the guard captain just moments ago, was actually Mirror in disguise.

Not only Mirror, but also several other doppelgangers had already assassinated key figures on the floating island and taken their places.

Their skills were so refined that no one had noticed the switch.

“Okay, now that the temple is secure, we can move to the Celestial dimension. Take these forged identification badges. With these, you shouldn’t be discovered easily.”

“Good. You’re the only one we can trust.”

“Hmph, don’t expect anything from those words.”

Mirror clearly looked pleased to be praised but pretended not to care.

Seeing him, I smiled briefly and then headed straight to the dimensional gate with the dark knights.

“Are you all ready? This is the way to your homeland.”

“It has been a long time indeed. It would have been better if it were a more glorious return… but we must be satisfied with this for now.”

The dark knights, trying to mask their disappointment, passed through the temple’s dimensional gate.

Soon after passing through the gate, a massive floating city came into view. It was a city of a scale incomparable to the floating island.

“Now I can truly say this is heaven.”

The endlessly high Celestial City, with the Celestial beings with angel wings freely flying, was an impressive sight.

But our destination was not up there.

“We must head to the Abyss. The underground church will surely be there.”

“The Abyss… you mean the abyss. At this level, it really is an abyss.”

The opposite of heaven, the darkness below, was called the Abyss.

The subsidiary cities clinging to the endlessly falling abyss were the residences where the lowly lived in heaven.

“I’m curious, what causes the wealth gap here?”

“Souls. Those without souls, the source of divine power, become the lowly, and those with them become the noble.”

“And that will be monopolized and inherited by some classes. It’s not much different from human society.”

Of course, there would be more complex circumstances, but that wasn’t what we came to find out right now.

“Let’s go down.”

It was time to find our Prometheus [In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan who is credited with creating humanity from clay, and who defies the gods by stealing fire and giving it to humanity, an act for which he is subjected to eternal punishment.] in that abyss.

* * *

Finding the underground church wasn’t that difficult.

Or, to be precise, figuring out their location was easy.

“So, they’re in a sector called Acherus?”

“Yes, it’s a kind of lawless zone in the deepest part. It’s one of the few places worth living in the abyss, so everyone wants to go there.”

The abyss was not a good place to live, even as a joke.

The fact that sunlight didn’t reach was a minor problem.

Here, murder was too common, especially murder that involved stealing souls after killing.

We were targeted several times, so we had to deal with some ‘soul snatchers’ for self-protection.

“Right. But the surroundings are surrounded by soul snatchers, right?”

“Yes, there’s no way to get through except by breaking through them.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I came.”

It seemed that it would have been impossible to complete the mission here with ordinary force.

“It’s a relief that everyone can fly. We’ll fly there at once.”

Moreover, the place called Acherus could only be reached by flying.

In the first place, there were many such structures in the celestial realm.

If we were to invade this place later, it seemed that bringing ground troops would be of little use.

“New prey!”

Then, soul snatchers began to fly in from all directions.

Unlike the celestial beings above, who rarely used modern weapons, they aimed firearms at us.

Pshooom! Pshooom!

But what they fired were not bullets but net shots.

These devices caught the victim by wrapping them in a net with an electric current flowing through it.

“Kugh, I’ve been hit!”

“Brother!”

The dark knights’ level of strength would normally be superior to the soul snatchers, but some were caught in the net because they weren’t adapted to the unconventional weapons.

It was a clever tactic to quickly fly in to help other dark knights when their wings were tangled and they couldn’t fly properly.

It was a cunning tactic.

“Ihya! You get caught too!”

Pshooom!

Slash!

“Not a chance.”

“What?!”

I cut the flying net in one stroke. Then, I rushed in the opposite direction like an arrow.

Slash!

I cut off one guy’s neck and snatched his gun.

“It’s amazing, this small bullet becomes a net?”

I, who had snatched the net gun, immediately aimed it at a nearby soul snatcher.

Pshooom!

“Ugh! Who shot me!”

“Crazy, which guy-”

Slash!

I tied one guy with a net and cut another.

“Ah, no!”

“No? Goodbye.”

The guy tied in the net fell straight into the abyss as the one who would release him was defeated.

Even though I had dealt with three in an instant, there were still many soul snatchers.

“It’s difficult to use shadow blades here.”

In this case, multiple shadow blades would be effective, but it is difficult to create them in this dark place. I could have used it if the light was strong and the shadows were bigger.

“Something is better than nothing.”

[Mana Heart Amplification]

[Amplification Rate 300%]

[Sword Wind Deployment]

Whiririk-

I swing my sword and scatter sword energy.

Its range and accuracy are not comparable to shadow blades, but it was still able to decently intercept the flying soul snatchers.

“Keuak!”

“Keheok!”

“Retreat, retreat! They’re not ordinary!”

As I and the dark knights began to counterattack in earnest, the soul snatchers soon couldn’t withstand it and began to retreat.

“The interrupters are gone.”

“We must head to the gate of Acherus. We cannot enter other places because they are shielded.”

“Guide me.”

Guided by the dark knight, we entered ‘Acherus.’ Unusually, this place was surrounded by an opaque shield, so it was impossible to know what the inside was like.

“Stop, you can’t pass here.”

“We are not refugees. We are old comrades who have come to find the underground church.”

“Lies. There are humans mixed among you?”

Kaliel argued with the gate’s guard. In the meantime, I felt the energy emanating from Acherus.

“Strange, it’s very familiar.”

Strangely, the energy was familiar. No, it had to be familiar.

-Use my divinity, Emperor.

At that moment, a whisper was heard.

The whisper of Justitia, the empire’s guardian deity of justice.

Sreung-

Immediately, I took out Silver Rose, and I focused divine power on it.

The light of justice, which does not compromise with any injustice, began to illuminate the dim abyss.

“That light is……!”

“Open the door, her light wishes to return.”

Only then did I, who had grasped everything, order the guard.

Then, the guard immediately opened the door without saying a word.

The gate of Acherus opened. What was visible inside was similar to the Celestial City, but quite different from the celestial realm.

There were celestial beings, but not only them, but also all kinds of terrestrial races who had been captured in the celestial realm.

But unlike the poor in the Celestial City, who had their souls taken away, souls could be felt from them.

“An old brother has returned with a stranger.”

“Probius! Is that you!”

In the meantime, a series of celestial beings flew in. Their appearance had white wings like celestial beings, but they were people who did not show their unique arrogance.

“Kaliel. It seems like 3,000 years in dimensional time since I last saw you…….”

“It’s been a long time. You’re still the same.”

“I have no choice but to be the same. We hid in the abyss, but you were exiled.”

The man called Probius looked sorry, as if he was sorry for not being with them at that time.

Kaliel shook his head and denied his self-reproach.

“There’s no need to blame yourself. We were just doing what we had to do.”

“You…….”

“Rather, let me introduce you. This is the emperor of the empire, our collaborator. He is a player in this Game of Gods.”

Kaliel soon introduced me to the man.

Then Probius looked at me and said.

“You use our light.”

“Are you sure it’s the light you gave?”

“Of course. We have imparted divine power to countless races. You are no exception.”

“I want to know more about you. You are celestial beings, but why did you impart divine power to the terrestrial races?”

Probius smiled at my question.

“That’s a foolish question, Emperor. How can the sun give off its light while discriminating against its existence? Divine power was also a power that everyone should have, so we just imparted it.”

“Your fellow tribesmen don’t seem to agree.”

“Isn’t that why we’re in the abyss? Hehe…….”

Looking at Probius’ self-deprecating smile, I realized that it was more of a difference in perspective on power than a difference in doctrine.

Probius’ position was to impart divine power, the source of their power, to the terrestrial races as well.

In other words, they are the ones who want to give rights to the terrestrial races as well.

On the other hand, the existing celestial beings wanted to monopolize it.

Perhaps this was the cause of the celestial strife.

“Then why were the dark knights exiled?”

“They were the guardians of the old royal family. And the old royal family showed signs of agreeing with us. At that time… the chief state councilor caused a rebellion. The king and queen were murdered, and we hid in the abyss.”

“And we became dark knights and resisted.”

Now I understood the whole story. Then it was time to move on to the main point.

“We are trying to cause a major incident inside the celestial realm, can you cooperate? I heard that there is especially a royal bloodline?”

“…That fact is only half true.”

“Only half?”

“The royal bloodline no longer remains.”

At those words, both Kaliel and I were stunned.

“But Probius clearly…….”

“Remained. 3,000 years ago. But she went down to earth. There’s been no news since then.”

“That can’t be…….”

Kaliel was stunned. But for some reason, Probius looked confident.

“But it’s too early to be disappointed.”