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Chapter 101: For the Crown (6)

"I am..." I murmured and… Wiiiiingggg… The Shadow Stalker that was on my left hand transformed from a watch to a revolver. I naturally aimed the revolver at him and said, "...your death."

Thuckkk! It sounded like something was punched lightly. There was nothing notable about it, and was a sound I wouldn\'t even have heard if I paid slightly less attention.

"Lies..." It was a sign of the end of a Great Saint who had lived for thousands of years… He looked down at his own chest, with a look of disbelief. "This can\'t be real..." Chakak! Before he knew it, there was a hole the size of a human skull on his upper torso.

When a civilization awakens its intelligence and starts to blossom, it would be considered a Stage I Civilization. Only when such advanced intellectuals had set up an information system and network that covered all or most of the planet would it be considered a Stage II Civilization. Then, an advancement to Stage III Civilization would take place upon managing to leave their planet and succeed in interstellar and intergalaxy travels. What was the condition to advance to Stage IV Civilization then? I thought, \'Control of the three major properties.\'

Kain, the God of Magic, classified the properties of magic into twelve different attributes. Among the twelve, he excluded three and named them the absolute properties. They were also known as the three major properties, because they were special properties that only the Gods could handle with perfection. They clearly had a higher rank than the other properties.

The Stage IV Civilization was a domain that could be entered if the three major properties—Time, Space, Void—were successfully utilized in real practice. Space distortion, interference with the flow of time, as well as destruction and creation, would be made possible with the power of science.

In other words, the fact that Shadow Stalker was called the fruit of the Stage IV Civilization meant… it could control all three absolute properties.

Thuckkk! Jwa Ja trembled yet again. If the first shot was a fatal blow, the second shot was tantamount to a death sentence. However, he was not capable of any resistance. Even if he had the ability to block it, he would have still failed.

"I\'ve severely overdone. Even if he was restricted, I can\'t believe he has lost the ability for self-defense," I commented to myself before thinking, \'Is it because he thought he was going to switch to a new body anyway? Even if Jwa Ja was a Saint, he made an unprecedented and unthinkable action. He distorted his own mission and forced Celestia and I to go to the demi-humans ship… \'

Aside from that sequence of events, Jwa Ja also repeatedly exerted his enormous influence on the Physical Realm after that. Moreover, some of his actions had nothing to do with his safety or mission. It was not a regular mission by any means. If the Saints could take their mission so lightly, then the Great Universe would have long already been in the hands of the Saints.

"... What the hell did you do? What is that gun? How can such a personal firearm be usable in the Heavenly Space?" Jwa Ja muttered. Needless to say, he did not reveal an opening. He knew the penalty that came with disregarding and manipulating his mission, so he activated his transcendental spell—Heavenly Space—to move in the suspended time of the flow of all cause and effect. Meanwhile, he could pull in beings from the outside.

That was an alternative option that Jwa Ja had prepared, on the off chance that he couldn\'t use his mission for self-defense. In this strange space created in a distorted gap of time, he could only talk to the person he pulled in. Any sort of influence would not be possible here, even in terms of physical and magical abilities, as well as authority. They would not work at all.

\'Basically, it was an absolute peace zone,\' I thought. However, that did not matter to me. I, who knew everything, obviously had knowledge of his countermeasures, much less his defenses. Chakak! As I pulled the trigger, the gunpowder chamber rotated and applied the relevant effect. Then, I aimed at the body of Jwa Ja, who was staring at me with disbelieving eyes.

Jwa Ja couldn\'t escape, nor could he block the strike. His whole body was bound by all kinds of restrictions, and he had no way of changing his confirmed future right now. "This is ridi-ridiculous. No way, this can\'t be. Am I going to... just like this..." Thuckkk! Jwa Ja fell before he could even finish his final words. Despite being an Emperor-class existence, who was considered a God in the Physical Realm, his ending was in vain. When he simply fell down to the ground like that...

Kyiiiiiiiiiiiii… Along with a strange echo, the suspended time began to flow again. Then, as his body collapsed like that was exactly how he had fallen…

"Get a hold of yourself, Cel. I know this guy is a great pilot, but this is a completely different matter. Even the greedy nobles… No, on the contrary, it is precisely because they are greedy nobles that we shouldn\'t forget that there would be no reason for them to do such a thing."

"I know, but I can\'t imagine Duke Amon being able to evade from his ability when even Cheong Won couldn\'t."

"You mean to say it\'s a high-level ability that could work on even Cheong Won?"

Before I knew it, I was back in the normal flow of time. No one around me could sense anything, and even the transcendents Rosta and Duke Amon remained oblivious. Furthermore, Jwa Ja\'s dead body wandered around the time-space dimension… His presence would remain missing for a long time.

\'It\'s really futile,\' I thought to myself. Jwa Ja was an ascetic existence that came from the end of China-Later Han before becoming the progenitor of Forbidden Arts. Later on, he reached the level of a Great Saint by attaining the status of an Intermediate-rank God. No one could have imagined that such an existence would simply die in vain. He had been patient for a long time, trying to bide his time. However, just like how it had always been, it was impossible to perfectly predict the vortex of fate.

"Hey Dae-ha, can you give a brief explanation about what you can first reveal to him?" Celestia asked as I remained momentarily absent-minded.

Rosta, who was next to her, was also staring at me. It was as if he wanted to dissect me apart. "Yes. If you have a special ability… then you have to let me be in the know for starters. To be honest, it is hard to believe so… but if you have the power to read the truth of what a transcendent says, then that\'s just…"

"So noisy," I groaned.

"That\'s... What did you say?"

"Don\'t make a fuss, old man. I understand your desire to care for the daughter of the woman you loved, but that\'s not a reason for you to be rude to me."

"What are you saying... Huh?" Rosta gaped for a moment, as if he was utterly speechless.

However, it was none of my business. I stood up from my seat and said, "Let\'s go. I don\'t think there\'s anything more to see here."

"Erm, Dae-ha? I obviously don\'t want to stay here any longer either, but the current situation is..."

"Follow me." I grabbed Celestia by the wrist and dragged her along. She struggled and seemed slightly flustered, but she couldn\'t push my hand away. I managed to pull her along, just like that.

"Oh?"

"No, wait, what is he...?"

I could hear perplexed voices coming from all over the place. Even Duke Amon, who was on the podium, instantly changed his expression too.

\'Because this is difficult timing.\' I silently clicked my tongue. Both Celestia and Rosta thought that it was an ambiguous situation to back off because all the nobles in the council room already figured out that we were here. Both of them knew that leaving right now would only attract the attention of all the nobles, but…

\'But rather, now is the only chance. They can\'t do anything because everyone\'s attention is focused on us.\' I knew because I could see it all. I could grasp all the petty tricks of the Emperor Faction and the Nobles Faction\'s reaction, as if they were all within the grasp of my hands. I could see and feel it so clearly that it is impossible to be duped by their schemes.

"Just go out quietly. Don\'t even look back. Just treat it as non-existent, no matter what noise you hear."

"But isn\'t it useless if they stop us?"

"If we ignore everything and try to force our way out, they will gradually fail to stop us. That was something that had no justification, so they couldn\'t do anything about it. We… No, to be exact, you are not an important enough figure for them to take such a risk."

"...Even though it\'s convincing, it\'s making my blood boil." Celestia was pouting, but I continued dragging her along. We left without any hesitation, while the commotion around us grew increasingly loud.

"Oh my God. The Fourth Imperial Princess is being dragged away."

"Who the hell is the bastard next to her? A bodyguard?"

"I don\'t think so. I heard it\'s her husband."

"..."

"Are you saying that the rumor is true? She\'s going to marry someone like that?" They were clamoring away as they pleased. Even though we were close enough to hear their conversations, they didn\'t really seem to care. Celestia was definitely a royal, but she was still easily disregarded by the other royals and nobles.

\'This can\'t even be considered a joke. Even though they are regarded as royals, the others are still discriminating against them.\' I had suspected it would happen, but I never inquired about it. \'Why didn\'t she have a sense of belonging to the Imperial family? Why didn\'t she have any backing despite being a royal? Why was she clearly discriminated against as compared to other royals and nobles? This is...not good.\'

I didn\'t ask. I didn\'t want to know. However, at this very moment, I could know everything just by questioning it. God Knows. No question could possibly remain unanswered in the world.

Thuud. I stopped walking. Celestia, who was being dragged by me, as well as the momentarily dazed Rosta who was following behind us, both looked at me with pursed lips. They clearly had a lot of things to say but quietly stared only due to current circumstances.

"…I don\'t like this," I muttered. I knew that my best choice would be to turn around and leave, but… Duke Amon wanted to take advantage of Celestia, but he had no intention of doing so at the cost of ruining the council conference that he had called up through so much effort. If Celestia, like a fool, had stayed until the council conference ended, he would have detained her as soon as they were away from the prying eyes. Yet, if the situation did not allow him to do so, he also thought of giving up so easily. To him, Celestia was only worth that much. I muttered again, "I don\'t like it."

"Hey, Dae-ha?" I looked at Celestia, who was questioning me with an indescribable expression. As I viewed her, I could see her life and her inner thoughts. I saw the image of a little girl who endured hardships and struggled her way up.

"I will most probably regret it if I unseal this state..." I laughed. Then, I turned around and began walking towards the podium that was located at the center of the main council room.

"Dae-ha?" Startled out of her wits, Celestia unexpectedly mustered strength in her arms and legs as she was still being dragged along by me. "Huh?" She was rather helpless in this situation as I made my way to the podium without a hint of hesitation.

"By the way, does the Fourth Imperial Princess really intend to have a wedding?"

"I can\'t believe it either, but she said the former Emperor gave his blessing."

"But he passed away shortly after that, so would that still be in effect... Huh? Look over there. They\'re coming back?"

"That\'s a given. Walking out in the middle of a council conference is an absurd thing to... Where are they going?"

No one could stop me, and it was at that moment -- the moment when no one else but Duke Amon and his aides were near the podium. Duke Amon raised an eyebrow and asked, "Oh, Fourth Imperial Princess-nim. Do you perhaps have anything you wish to say to everyone?"

"That\'s..." Celestia couldn\'t say anything properly. She was flustered by this sudden turn of events, and her face flushed slightly. It was unsurprising because what could she have said when she had been dragged here without any warning? However, it didn\'t matter.

"Duke Amon, do you know me?" I spoke up.

"... You impertinent bastard! How dare you act so cheeky towards Duke-nim..."

"Calm down for a bit." After dissuading his outraged aides, Duke Amon glared at me. He had a sharp gaze that felt like he could see through me. "Of course I know of you. I heard you are the lowly human that the Fourth Imperial Princess brought over as her husband. I thought you are just a toy that was dragged around to attract attention. However, now that I look at you, it seems you are a man that possesses an ego." He insulted me with a calm and cold voice. His gaze was so intimidating and aggressive that it would have been absolutely normal for a regular person to receive such a great blow to their mind and become mentally ill.

"What you think of me doesn\'t matter. I would like to introduce myself to everyone for a bit."

"…Haha." Suddenly, there was a gleam of interest in Duke Amon\'s eyes. "Interesting. Well then, let\'s see you do it."

"Duke-nim?!" The aides were astonished, staring at me from behind. Their faces suggested that they would want nothing more than to chew me up. However, regardless of their reactions, Duke Amon stepped down from the podium.

Needless to say, I already knew for a fact that Duke Amon would do that, so I passed by him without a moment of hesitation. My action made Celestia to become even more flustered. She asked, "Hey! What are you trying to do right now? Why are you..."

"Wait here."

"Dae-ha?"

I let go of Celestia\'s hand for a while and walked up to the podium. Countless eyes focused their gaze at me. All the gazes carried different emotions, though most were full of discontent. Some looked at me as if I were pathetic, while others were questioning or irritated. There were even a part of those looks that had a hint of jealousy and envy. Clack... And under those gazes, I opened the "door".

"I\'m Kwan Dae-ha." I looked down. They were a distance away from where I was, so they had to stretch their necks and raise their heads to look at me. "Nice to meet you." My introduction caused silence to blanket the noisy council hall.