PS: Happy Labor Day to all of you! The Emperor wishes all of you a golden week and a long holiday!
Midsummer, Year 2525 of the Empire's Calendar. In the fallen Steyr territory, in the tent of Emperor Sylvania, Lord of the Dead, Vlad Von Castein.
Although he was a dead man, Vlad's elegance and high standards of living made him seem to understand the importance of etiquette and extravagance better than any other emperor in the history of the Empire. If it weren't for his terrifying vampire fangs, pale hair, and cursed armor, he would have looked more like a noble of the Empire than any other noble of the Empire. He spoke in an ancient language, and the standard of his pronunciation was enough to put those stubborn nobles who claimed to be orthodox to shame.
Sylvania's undead army was gathering here, and its scale was growing larger and larger. Every second, there were people who had lost their lives in battle being pulled up from the ground. Everything was so familiar. Vlad even remembered that he had done the same thing a few years ago. He had gathered the lost souls, given them a purpose, and made them greater than they were when they first returned to life.
However, Vlad soon realized his mistake. That was not a few years ago, but five hundred years ago. Five hundred years ago, his final and decisive siege had failed at Brunswick. Even though the Empire was on the verge of collapse and surrender, and more than two thirds of the Empire's dignitaries and dignitaries had decided to surrender to him, the destined Eternal Emperor, Vlad still lost to Archbishop Wilham III. After his Ring of Resurrection was stolen, Wilham launched himself and fell into the city with him. His wife, Isabella, died for him. His ambition had failed.
Vlad laughed self-deprecatingly. He was a failure, but at the same time, a winner. He could resurrect again and again from the underworld. As long as there was a single descendant of Von Castein alive, Vlad would always be on the road to resurrection.
Brunswick …
Vlad murmured the name of the city in his heart. He could almost smell the gunpowder on the walls of Charlemagne's throne, the fishy smell of the docks, and the cursed sweetness of Isabella. His wife was as gentle and affectionate as ever.
Everything would be decided there.
She had been his strength, his everything, and in those days everything he had done had been bound up with her, driven by a surprising, primal passion.
Being alone, the bitter aftertaste of loneliness had never left. If he wanted to, he could have countless prostitutes and mistresses by his side, or he could choose from the beautiful corpses of the Lemia Sisters over the millennia, but no one could replace Isabella to arouse Vlad's desire in that way.
Vampires had feelings, but there was probably no vampire who loved Isabella as deeply and deeply as Vlad did.
At most, Akhan's love for Vlad's ex-wife, Nefrata. Nothing more.
Now that Uttbad in the Steyr domain had fallen, the road to Brunswick was unimpeded. Unable to resist Sylvania's advance to the west, the Kurfürst Alberich Hauter Anderson could only flee and leave the despairing civilians of Steyr to the great Lord of Death.
Vlad did not make things difficult for these mortals. Apart from the thousands of city guards being torn apart, and the battle priests of the church, the Golden Scythe Knights, and the Raven Knights being executed and resurrected as the Black Knights and the Graveyard Guards, Vlad even recruited many musketeers, crossbowmen, and artillery from the civilians of Steyr. At the same time, Luthor Haken's army of vampire pirates made up for the lack of long-range attacks of Vlad's undead army.
It was actually very simple to make the mortals willing to work for Vlad. Vlad only needed to grasp the six words, "Beat the tyrants and distribute the land". The Lord of Death knew that as long as these lowly mortals could see that he would bring "fairness, justice, and openness", eliminate the tyrants and evil-doers, distribute their land to the poor peasants, capture the greedy merchants of Uttbad, confiscate all their wealth, and distribute what the dead did not want to the living, he would never be short of living people willing to follow him. And that was the truth. On the first day of Uttbad's fall, Vlad's army had already gained several thousand more mortals, and he firmly believed that there would only be more in the future.
Working under my command, these living people can earn far more than the stingy nobles of the Empire. I will guarantee your legal rights and provide you with military protection. You will soon understand how relaxing and enjoyable it is to serve Von Karstein. The lowest wage, the highest hours, and the best work! Working souls! If you work well, you will even have the chance to join my bloodline and become a noble person!
Vlad thought in satisfaction as he watched the large groups of mortal auxiliaries being distributed to the fields and the joy of the plague being eradicated.
The moss decay, river mud, and fungal blanket that the Nurgle army was so proud of could not stop Vlad's advance at all. The wind of death was the bane of the Nurgle army. Wherever Vlad passed, the malicious green leaves began to wither and crack, turning black as if burned by fire.
But there was no fire here — only cold. The cold wind seemed to blow out from the belly of a fish from hell. The water turned as black as a rock, and the trees in the distance howled and groaned as they curled up. The trees began to dry and crack, aging and withering in an instant. The vines loosened from the objects they were tightly wrapped around, and the solidification and hardening of the sap from the roots made them brittle.
In the face of the power of the Lord of Death, the rotten living things had no choice but to wither and collapse.
The road was opened, and the road to Brunswick was unimpeded.
Vlad's power made the vampire lords both proud and fearful. Using both kindness and power, Vlad, who controlled his subordinates well, maintained his superb control over the necromancers and vampire lords.
The tent opened, and Lich King Arkham walked in from outside. Green witchcraft flames burned in his eyes. Behind him were the "Pale Lady Sisters" of the Lemia Sisters, a total of eight beautiful female vampires. The three leaders of the sisters, Vivian, Lillian, and Morian, were the ones who planned the last and most powerful resistance before the fall of Marlin Castle, stopping Grote and his brothers from making any rash moves. To a certain extent, they had saved the civilians around Marlin Castle.
They were all wearing white ceremonial robes inlaid with lace that shone like moonlight. Their footsteps did not leave a single trace on the damp ground. They curtsied in an ancient manner and slowly approached to pay their respects to the Lord of Death. Vlad asked a few simple questions about the fall of Marlin Castle and expressed his dissatisfaction. Then, he let them leave.
"Zettra has won again. A great victory." Lich King Arkham did not leave. He looked at Vlad with a playful expression, as if he was spying on the Lord of Death's movements. "The Tomb Army, probably the largest army in history, has defeated the Chaos army from the South Pole. Cytra has ordered the execution of the hundreds of thousands of Chaos barbarians who landed at the South Pole. This is good news for us, and I'm serious."
"The Chaos Tide in the North is enough to trouble us." Vlad suppressed his joy. "Then, what about the alliance I asked you to propose?"
"Of course, it was rejected by our great emperor, the Immortal Emperor, Emperor Camouflage, Emperor Nicohara, the King of Kings, the Pathfinder, the Holder of the Sacred Flame … Of course, it was rejected by our great emperor, the Immortal Emperor, Emperor Camouflage, Emperor Nicohara. "Our great emperor, the Immortal Emperor, Emperor Camouflage, Emperor Nicohara, the King of Kings, the Pathfinder, the Holder of the Sacred Flame … Of course, it was rejected by our great emperor, the Immortal Emperor, Emperor Nicohara, the King of Kings, the Pathfinder, the Holder of the Sacred Flame … Of course, it was rejected by our great emperor, Cytra the Great. If there is no accident, he will declare war on all the forces in the world at the same time. Whether it is Chaos or Order, the living or the dead, they are all enemies of Cytra."
"Does he really think he can fight against the whole world?" Vlad was speechless.
Cytra wants to be the King of Qi Xuan, right?
"Don't you know Cytra as a Nicoharan?" Arkham continued his mocking attitude. "Cytra is only a master, not a subject."
"Well, at least he can't participate in our war with Chaos for now." Vlad looked at the map. Although he was once a Nicoharan, he did not live in Cytra's era and did not experience Cytra's resurrection. He also did not participate in the war between Nagash and the King of the Tombs.
"It will come sooner or later. The old world and Chaos will both suffer. This is an opportunity for Cytra." Arkham shook his head. "I know him. He will definitely try to join in, or he will not be Cytra."
"Now we only have Brunswick to think about." Vlad focused his attention on the city that he had always dreamed of.
Luther Haken was an idiot, Gül was only in charge of fighting, and Vlad would only discuss important military matters with Arkham.
But today was different. Just as the Lord of Death and the Lich King were discussing military matters, they heard a vicious roar from the subspace.
"All things in the world nurture man, but man has nothing to repay the heavens!"
"Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!"
Kane's Tyrion's declaration reached here.
Another King of Qi Xuan? Vlad only felt a great pressure.
"Did you hear the echoes from the subspace? My lord? " Arkham chuckled. "Another lunatic. The teachings of the God of the Blood Hand, Kane, always interest me."
"Kane's teachings?" Vlad was interested. "You know about them?"
"Five thousand years of life gave me enough time to understand everything." Seeing Vlad's interest, Arkham picked out the important points and said.
The God of the Dark Elves, Kane, had a complete set of teachings, which was the so-called Kane's Doctrine of Loyalty.
The God of the Blood Hand, Kane, the God of War and Murder, believed that mortals were destined to be idiots. They were lazy and hated work, and they were destined to have bad habits. These habits would not change with the improvement of education and economic development. In other words, idiocy could not be cured. It would only spread and infect, and this would greatly reduce a mortal's fighting strength and will.
Kane believed that the elves were especially stupid and full of bad habits, weak and lazy. As a god of heaven, Asuryan did not care about the race he created. It was too stupid.
In that case, how could he remove the idiotic elements that were embedded in the bones of mortals? Blood Hand God Kane believed that pledging loyalty was the only way out, and that was to pledge loyalty to Blood Hand God Kane.
How could one offer loyalty? The theory was simple. Kill! Solve all problems through killing.
Only through slaughter could one remove the bad habits of mortals. That was why Cain encouraged his believers to kill. Killing in any sense was an important way to show loyalty to Cain and eradicate the bad habits of mortals. When there was no war, Cain even encouraged his believers to kill each other. For example, on the famous Night of Blood, Cain's believers would openly walk the streets of the dark elves' cities and kill any living person that entered their line of sight.
Through continuous loyalty, mortals would become physically strong and mentally valiant, while elves would maintain their fighting strength and will. Martial virtue would return to the elves' bodies. At the same time, they could effectively control overpopulation and reduce the 'burden' of the 'sluggards'. Kane believed that this was true equality. If one was strong, one had reason, and if the other was weak, one deserved it.
Finally, a beautiful era filled with martial virtue was about to arrive.
"Great destruction and great establishment?" Vlad sneered. "Interesting. Why don't Tyrion set a small goal first, such as … offering loyalty to a million elves?"
"I can't deny that Kane's loyalty theory is … but many elves really do rely on it to maintain their fighting strength and will." Akerhan was silent for a moment. The Lich King probed, "What do you think?"
"I can only say that great governance is often followed by great chaos. Nicohalla is like that, Sylvania is like that, the Empire is like that, and even the elves are like that, provided that there is no chaos." Vlad was silent for a moment. He seemed to be talking to himself, but also seemed to be asking Akerhan, "Do you think the Empire will agree? Appoint me as the Kurfürst? Agree to this alliance? "
Akerhan sneered in his heart. Weren't you very confident before? Why are you doubting yourself now and looking for approval from me?
Well, this was a typical example of the Nicohalla nobles. They were too proud, so proud that they were absolutely confident and arrogant in themselves.
But after that, there was a sense of inferiority. Vlad sent out the letter full of confidence but received no reply. The Lord of Death felt that his pride was hurt.
"If you are so confident, why don't you agree to the alliance of two emperors? Emperor of the Eastern Empire, Emperor of the Western Empire? Or Emperor of the Eastern Empire? Emperor of Sylvania? "Akerhan continued to mock Vlad's hurt pride. He took pleasure in it.
"The situation doesn't allow it." Vlad said simply, "First of all, the curse on your master still exists. Secondly, I don't have the confidence to defeat that guy."
The curse was referring to the curse that Nagash cast on the vampires. "You will never defeat Charlemagne's Empire." This curse was still in effect even after Vlad had absorbed part of Nagash's power. The Lord of Death's last bit of power was still trying to stop Vlad's ambitions.
"That guy?" Akerhan thought for a moment. "Charlemagne?"
"No, Charlemagne is nothing to be afraid of. He will know what to do in this situation. The one I am truly afraid of is the Sun Wang Laing Macado. Can you feel it? His power is just too great. I don't have the confidence to defeat him. His woman Emmanuel and son Frey Derick will definitely do everything they can for the throne of the Empire. It will be troublesome if we draw him here. " Vlad said after some consideration, "For now, the most important thing is to obtain the officially recognized position of Kurfürst. The most important thing is to deal with the Chaos Tide. If the Empire is gone, then everything is gone. Our internal problems should be dealt with later."
"Are you really willing?" Akerhan was still fanning the flames.
"Time will change everything. And what we don't lack the most is time." Vlad was full of confidence again. "So what if Frey Derick is the Emperor for one or two hundred years? I have planned for a thousand years to obtain Sylvania. "
This time, Akerhan did not refute. The Lich King nodded. "But we must hurry. Otherwise, Brunswick may fall before we arrive. I believe you will get your answer there."
"Nothing can stop us, my friend. We will sweep towards Charlemagne's throne like a cold wind blowing through a graveyard. When we arrive, they will realize that they have miscalculated by ignoring the son of Sylvania." Vlad gripped Bloodthirst tightly. "The Alliance of Order will be re-established. I will also obtain everything I deserve from Charlemagne's throne. And … my wife, Isabella!"
"Wait for me. I will take you home immediately!"
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