"You bastard, you really have no conscience," While chewing on a chicken leg, Sein spoke unclearly, "I'm here suffering and working, while you're happily eating chicken legs and flirting with little girls?"
"I was pretty happy."
"You bastard!"
"Though I was pretty happy, you can't blame me for that. Sense dragged me away too," He really did not deny it at all. Eating chicken legs and flirting with little girls was fun, and he even spread his hands innocently at the complaint.
"Dragged away? I think you got carried away by lust!", Sein rolled his eyes and angrily said, "Tell me, how are you going to compensate me? Not only did you betray our alliance and become a heretic, you even left me alone here washing dishes."
"I just normally like cute girls. I don't have those weird thoughts, so it shouldn't count as betrayal," Ash tilted his head slightly as he thought about it, but still compromised, "How about I treat you to another meal? Though it'll have to wait until I finish what I'm doing."
"What are you doing now? Don't tell me it's some shady business?", Sein looked at him suspiciously.
"Nothing much. Just going to kill the emperor."
"Ha... Huh? Wait!", Hearing that, Sein jumped in shock and quickly pulled him to the side, lowering his voice in warning, "Don't joke around without reading the room! The atmosphere in the imperial capital is extremely tense right now! If someone hears you, you'll definitely be sent to the guillotine!"
"I'm actually pretty serious though."
"Seriously?"
"Take this," Ash stopped teasing him. After putting two boxes of chicken legs into his hands, he pulled out three silver coins from his pocket and placed them on top of the boxes. Then he took back the box underneath and walked into the distance without turning around.
"Pay it back and go get a drink. I still need to make a trip to the imperial castle. I'll drink with you when I get back... if I can still run into you by then."
"This is way too much though?", Looking at the silver coins on the chicken leg box, Sein quickly tried to call him back.
But Ash kept walking and only waved his hand behind him.
"I really was in the wrong last time. Take the extra as my apology. If there's a next time, I'll drink with you again."
"No, jokes are jokes, don't seriously go do it?"
Seeing him continue forward without stopping, Sein was so stunned he nearly jumped up.
He wanted to hurry after him, but in the blink of an eye, that figure had already disappeared at the end of the street.
"This is bad... he really went. What if something happens? I need to find Fri... But where are Frieren and that Sense?"
He wanted to find someone to persuade him, but... he had no idea where the others were.
———
In the blink of an eye, after climbing the many stone steps of the imperial capital, Ash was already standing before the imperial castle.
The towering walls gave off authority and pressure. The guards before the gates wore shining armor and held sharp spears, like rows of cold statues tightly guarding the entrance.
As soon as Ash approached, one guard stepped forward and slammed his spear sideways before Ash's feet with a clang, blocking his path.
"Imperial castle restricted area. Trespassers die!", The guard's voice was cold and severe, his eyes full of vigilance.
Ash slightly raised his head and calmly looked at the guard. Casually, he took out the document he had prepared earlier and tossed it over.
The guard subconsciously caught it and saw written clearly on it Ash's identity as a special envoy of the Oisast Kingdom. Beside it was even the royal seal of the Oisast Kingdom.
Of course, he had plenty of blank documents and appointment letters stamped with the royal seal. Though he had written this one temporarily, anything stamped with a magical seal in the kingdom was valid and legal.
After calling a mage to verify it, the soldier casually threw the document onto the ground and even showed a mocking smile.
"A kingdom envoy? Don't you know? This morning His Majesty already announced that last night's incident was entirely caused by the Oisast Kingdom. Starting today, all exchanges between both sides are banned, and all kingdom citizens are to be arrested. Do you think His Majesty would lower himself to meet you?"
"How ridiculous. How does what happened last night have anything to do with the kingdom?"
"How would I know? But before the barrier was destroyed, demons couldn't even enter. Besides that kingdom which colluded with demons and attacked the empire, who else would dare cause trouble in the imperial capital?"
The guards clearly did not know the truth. They did not even know the empire had attacked first. Crossing his arms and lifting his chin proudly, the guard spoke with obvious arrogance.
While they talked, the other guards quickly surrounded Ash like a tide, trapping him in the center.
Spears stood densely packed, cold reflections crossing one another like a web of death. An ordinary person would probably surrender immediately.
But Ash ignored the threat as if it were nothing more than a breeze brushing his face. He even touched his chin and thought to himself, "From your perspective, thinking the kingdom did it does make sense."
Only the kingdom could provide enough power and protection to make the assassination squad defect, so such a conclusion was naturally reasonable.
In the end, even if they were wrong, it did not really matter. The two sides were enemies to begin with.
"Forget it. I'm going back."
After figuring that out, he only sighed inwardly at his bad luck and turned around to leave.
But the wall of spears behind him did not pull back at all. Instead, it pressed closer.
"Surrender peacefully and you might still live," The guard captain shouted loudly, but before he could finish speaking, his voice suddenly stopped.
At nearly the same moment, strange and perfectly even cracks appeared across the armor of all the armed guards around him. Even the front halves of their spearheads fell to the ground with crisp metallic sounds.
The next moment, their bodies collapsed together like puppets that had lost their strings, splitting cleanly into two pieces from the neck.
No one saw when he attacked, but blood burst from the headless bodies and quickly dyed the smooth road beneath them red.
"Ah... AAAAHHH!"
Nearby residents passing by immediately screamed in terror at the sight.
But Ash acted as if nothing had happened and expressionlessly stepped over the headless corpses. Behind him, alarms instantly rang from atop the walls.
The city gates opened, and a small gap appeared in the barrier. However... before the soldiers could rush out, Ash's figure had already disappeared.
More accurately, he moved at high speed and instantly reached inside the gate.
Unfortunately, he was blocked by a second barrier that would never open at the same time, but...
"Looks like the national defense barrier. So they still haven't replaced it," Ignoring the terrified soldiers around him after his sudden appearance, he muttered to himself and placed a hand on the barrier.
After only a brief touch, a sharp cracking sound rang out.
The barrier covering the entire outer imperial castle shattered like glass.
———
The barrier around the imperial castle shattered like fragile glass in an instant.
That clear breaking sound was like the tolling of a death bell. Every guard, soldier, and knight in the palace looked up in shock. Even the nobles living below the imperial castle showed all kinds of expressions.
Some turned pale without a trace of color. Others stared blankly with fear and confusion in their eyes. Every kind of reaction appeared.
But without question, this was a scene they had never imagined, not even in dreams. At the very least, none of them believed they would see the thousand-year empire invaded all the way into the imperial castle during their lifetime.
Urgent horns immediately sounded. Soldiers and knights were mobilized at once and rapidly gathered with the mages, rushing toward the gate like a tide.
Yet Ash's wild laughter echoed through the imperial castle, across the pure white avenue.
"I've held back long enough. It's finally time to make a mess of things... Now show me your courage and magic! And then... face your end!"
Even though he clearly sensed the anti-air barrier covering the entire imperial castle, and knew that without breaking it even he would struggle to fly, he only smiled freely, like a beast released from chains, and charged straight toward the defensive line of guards pouring toward him.
His figure moved like lightning among the soldiers.
"Don't look down on us!"
A brave knight captain roared and swung his sword as he charged at Ash from the side.
The blade flashed coldly beneath the sunlight. Both his speed and skill were exceptional.
But Ash merely glanced sideways, and disdain flashed through his eyes.
"It's not that I'm looking down on you. Trash like you isn't even worth looking at."
The moment the knight's sword was about to pierce his chest, Ash's body flashed and instantly appeared behind the knight.
With one swing, the knight's head flew high into the air, blood spraying from the neck like a blooming red flower.
The other soldiers stepped back in fear at the sight, but the empire's strict military laws forced them to grit their teeth and continue forward.
Yet Ash moved among them as though no one existed, continuing forward while slaughtering the crowd.
Before long, the imperial castle that once looked like a fairyland was filled with a sickening smell of blood, turning into a living hell in the blink of an eye.
As Ash continued deeper inside, the shadow of death covered the once glorious imperial castle more and more heavily.
He did not bother hiding his intentions or using strategy. Like smashing eggs with a hammer, he directly broke through the defensive line of the imperial guards from the front and fought all the way to the entrance of the palace.
Then he used gravity-infused lightning to violently crush the castle barrier, which had only been changed within the past month after the national defense barrier was broken and still remained unstable.
Immediately afterward, he swung his blade horizontally with both hands, and a translucent slash roared forward.
The castle's metal gates let out a painful groan before slowly collapsing with a thunderous crash, raising clouds of dust.
The soldiers behind the gate could not escape in time and were crushed into pulp, causing the smell of blood to spread rapidly.
———
After stepping into the castle, Ash still walked forward at an unhurried pace toward the core area.
His eyes were cold and cruel. Every step felt as though it landed directly on the enemy's heart.
Whenever the sharp light of his blade flashed, it swept through people like the scythe of death, bringing sprays of blood and leaving more corpses across the path he walked.
Screams followed everywhere Ash passed. It could truly be called ten kills per step.
No one could stop him. Everyone who tried to block his path only seemed to be seeking death themselves.
The luxurious wall lamps hanging from the walls swayed in the wind he created, their shifting light and shadows moving across the floor like struggling ghosts.
The expensive carpet beneath his feet had long since been soaked in blood. Each step made a soft squishing sound as blood seeped out.
"Did the emperor and those princes hide deeper inside the castle? Why don't I see anyone else at all? And what's the point of sending so much cannon fodder out here? Are they trying to wear down my stamina? Aren't they underestimating me a bit too much?"
Cleaning up this level of trash was nothing to someone who could stay awake for days without rest. While killing the cannon fodder, he also stayed alert for the empire's hidden trump cards, preparing to have some fun with them.
At the same time he muttered to himself, the palace mages began gathering at an important passageway in the distance. Chanting continuously, they tried to cast powerful magic to stop Ash.
A combined hellfire spell activated first. Thick black-red flames filled the entire corridor. The unlucky soldiers standing before the mages were instantly vaporized together with their armor and bodies. Then the hellfire rushed toward Ash like a roaring beast the moment it entered his sight.
Though dark red, the flames still illuminated the dark interior of the castle, casting Ash's bloodstained figure onto the walls.
The decorative paintings and pure gold ornaments on both sides had not even been touched, yet they immediately burned and vaporized. Even the heavily reinforced walls layered with magical strengthening had already begun melting.
But Ash showed no fear at all. He swung his blade, and a sharp slash roared outward, splitting the flames apart from the center. Like a giant ship breaking through waves, he passed directly through the flames and sliced several unlucky mages in half as well.
The remaining mages immediately changed expressions and quickly switched tactics. A freezing aura spread rapidly, instantly freezing the ground while sharp ice spikes mixed with earth spikes burst upward beneath Ash's feet.
But compared to the earlier attack, this was even weaker. Ash simply stomped down hard.
Under the force of gravity, the entire castle shook violently as countless ice spikes and earth spikes shattered instantly.
If the entire castle had not been protected by extremely powerful magic, the whole corridor probably would have collapsed at once.
But Ash did not care how sturdy the castle was. Before they could make further moves, he rushed toward the mages in a flash and instantly charged into their midst.
The long blade danced in his hands like streaks of light, spraying blood wherever it passed.
The mages' screams and the sounds of shattered ice mixed together like a song of death.
At this moment, the castle had become another bloody battlefield like the imperial city itself, causing this structure that symbolized imperial authority to tremble constantly beneath his feet.
Behind him, corpses covered the ground, and blood gathered into streams that slowly flowed down the stairs.
Yet even during this bloody advance, while moving deeper through the winding corridors stained with blood, though heavy isolation walls occasionally dropped down and forced him to stop and smash through them, there was still no sign of him being slowed.
Until, at a wide hall, he finally encountered enemies that actually looked powerful.
Two ancient armored golems.
The two golems were enormous, standing there like giants.
Their armor gave off a cold metallic glow and was engraved with ancient runes that occasionally flickered with strange light.
Their heads were covered by heavy helmets, revealing only pairs of red glowing eyes like burning hellfire staring directly at him.
Ash gradually stopped walking and narrowed his eyes slightly as he examined these worthy enemies.
He could feel the immense pressure and dense magical power coming from them.
"So this is the empire's trump card? It does look decent enough, but..."
Before he could finish speaking, the two metal golems raised their enchanted metal spiked clubs and charged toward him with heavy footsteps.
But Ash seized an opening and instantly activated high-speed movement, directly passing between the two golems. Then he swung his gravity-enhanced blade toward the tightly sealed gate behind them.
BOOM!
A heavy metallic impact louder than an armor-piercing shell striking a tank exploded through the hall, causing the entire room to shake violently.
A deep groove appeared across the thick metal gate, which was as heavy as a city gate, amid bursts of sparks.
Yet... unexpectedly, it still stood firm.
Clearly, it was far sturdier than even the castle entrance gates.