Chapter 8. No Luck

At first, everyone in the palace gardens remained silent. After five seconds had passed, a few figures in the field began to faint, falling face-first into the grass beneath them. Uncontrollable, frantic chatter followed. The words spoken by Crown Prince Haide III had been processed, leaving everyone in a state of disbelief.

“What the… what the fuck?”

“What does this mean for us? W-what does this mean for the world?”

“The Emperor ascended… that can’t be possible!”

“Which angel has descended upon our world?”

Valorth found himself surprisingly calmer than the others. At first, he wondered whether it was because he had already met an angel in the spirit realm, but after a moment’s thought, he realised something.

Ever since eating the Rememberer Heart, I’ve found myself calmer than usual. It’s easier to recollect my thoughts, and stress struggles to take hold of me.

Could this be a passive effect of the Rememberer heart?

“Holy shit, Val, is this really happening?”

Valorth turned to his red-haired friend Adion, who stared up at the palace idly. Despite his calm, Valorth could still grasp the gravity of the situation. Not only was a human ascending to the heavens a mere theory, but an angel descending from the heavens was even less plausible. No one believed such a thing was possible.

“Silence!”

Before he could respond, Councillor Ragoslav’s heavy voice bellowed across the crowd, silencing them. Everyone stared up at the overwhelmed Haide III, waiting for him to speak.

Come on, Prince Haide the Third, tell us what’s going on.

“It happened just before sunrise,” he began, drawing everyone’s attention with ease. “In the throne room, my father and I spoke about matters concerning the Central Empire. We discussed how grateful we were to be at peace with the four other empires… we spoke of how successful we had been at preventing demons from climbing out of the rift from hell and polluting our lands.”

Valorth resonated with the prince’s words, and he believed everyone else present felt the same. Ever since the rifts appeared in Vahesh, the main country of the Central Empire, the Black Battalion had fought tirelessly to prevent demons from escaping hell and entering their world. For years, the common man had only faced spirits and manifestations of demons that entered through rituals and possession.

The Black Battalion, created by Emperor Haide II, was the empire’s strongest force, stationed at the rift to combat true demons. They were the backbone of the Central Empire’s continent, not just against demons, but also against threats from the other empires and kingdoms scattered about the four corners of the world.

“That was until a stroke struck my father. A brutal one,” the prince continued. “You all know how powerful the Emperor was: a Hearteater with six veins on his demon heart. Yet, when he awoke from his episode, he became delirious. He screamed about being visited by an angel who had bestowed upon him a ritual that would force him to ascend. Father was so stricken with fear that he didn’t waste a second performing the ritual.”

Whispers spread through the crowd of servants and nobles, all wondering what kind of vision the Emperor must have seen during his stroke. Most were unaware that such a ritual could even exist.

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Before the prince could continue, a voice shot out from the crowd. “And you just let him go mad?”

It belonged to an old man, and the words brought gasps from those around. A few nobles reached for their swords, ready to cut the disrespectful man down, but the prince raised a hand lazily, as though he had grown tired of bloodshed.

“I did not. I used my own powers to do everything I could to stop him, but there was no hope. After all, I am only a fourth-vein Hearteater. He was many leagues above me when it came to combat. At that moment, nothing could stop my father from performing the ritual, and in the end, he succeeded. A great power suddenly overtook him, and just like that… he was gone.”

More whispers spread, not just among the servants but the nobles too. Princess Ivory’s tears flowed freely, mourning her father’s loss. The news was certain to spread throughout the city in no time, despite the princes wishes.

During this, Valorth found himself oddly indifferent to the situation. He had never cared for royalty, nor did he appreciate how they treated him. Instead, he was consumed with curiosity about the visions the Emperor must have seen to drive him to such a state. After all, he was a man who faced such a thing himself. He also wondered how the prince had concluded that the Emperor had ascended. It was equally possible that he had descended to hell, though, of course, he kept this thought to himself.

As the prince began to speak again, the crowd fell silent and allowed him to continue. This was the part they had truly been waiting to hear.

“As I fell to my knees, mourning my father’s ascension, a great light pierced my teary vision. I had knelt in sorrow, but when the light appeared… I found myself struggling to stand under its pressure.”

A pressure so strong that even a fourth-vein Hearteater struggled to stand?

Valorth noticed a shudder run through the prince’s body before he continued.

“I tried to look up, but my body failed me. All I knew was that a new being had arrived and seated itself on the throne. It spoke with a power that could be heard by all on the palace’s top floor, announcing that an angel had arrived in our world and that none should stand in its presence if unworthy.”

At that moment, even Valorth shivered in fear. As someone who had met two angels in spirit, he could only imagine what it might be like to face a descended angel in physical form. It was then that everyone began to piece together the situation, and it was a situation that left them terrified. They had all been ordered to leave the palace because they were unworthy. The prince, the only living man to have faced an angel, was acting cautiously. If the angel was angered, there was no telling what it could do to them all.

Prince Haide let out a sigh, as if preparing to conclude his speech. But before he could, Princess Ivory stepped forward, tears still streaming down her face.

“We believe the angel to be the Angel of Arms,” she announced defiantly.

The entire garden was overtaken by shock. From the looks of the prince and the councillor, this was meant to be a secret. But the princess’s anger had loosened her tongue.

“No way,” Adion whispered. “Has our patron angel descended into our city?”

Valorth was the one truly gripped by shock. It made sense, after all, the behaviour described by the prince matched what he had experienced during his prayer to the angel of swords. It took all his strength to swallow his fear, wondering whether he might be punished for their first meeting. He could only hope that the angel would not remember him.

The prince palmed his tired face, preparing to conclude the meeting after his sister returned to her place.

“For the time being, we cannot allow any of you into the palace until we gather more information. Please remain here while we wait for Thomaes, leader of the Black Battalion, to arrive.”

Thomaes… They’re bringing Thomaes!

That was a man whose name alone could bring order to a city in chaos. If there was any hope that the situation could be brought under control, many in the city would place that hope in him, more even than in the Emperor himself.

With this said, the prince sat down on the ground, catching everyone off guard. His expression suggested he had nothing left to do but wait. After all, this problem exceeded his powers. An angel cared not for the desires of a prince or emperor. At that moment, it felt as though nobles and servants had equally been reduced to one class. A class that was below the might of an Angel.

“And if Thomaes cannot help us,” Prince Haide III said with finality, just loud enough for those close enough to hear him, “then our empire has met its end.”