Chapter 290 : Chapter 290
Chapter 290. Trainwreck 2.0
When that time came, he, Moran, had a hundred ways to make that First Prince “return to the embrace of the Lord God” painlessly in his sleep on some silent night, without leaving a single trace.
By then, the royal family’s direct bloodline would be completely severed.
A royal family without even a single heir was nothing more than an empty shell with a pretty exterior.
And he would manipulate the Necromantic Puppet in his hands called the “King,” using the dual names of the royal family and the Cabinet to completely take over all authority and reorganize this stinking, rotten political system that belonged in the grave.
Across the sea, the United States of Meriga had long since proven a truth to this world—a powerful nation did not need a King seated high above everyone else at all.
Those fools who only knew how to rely on the protection of their ancestors and the so-called “noble blood” flowing through their veins—what right did they have to treat the nation as their private property generation after generation?
“President.”
That word had already been circling and brewing like an undercurrent in the deepest part of his mind for decades.
Whenever he sat alone in his study late at night, whenever he looked at that throne during the Privy Council, those two syllables would surge up from the very bottom of his consciousness and strike against his skull.
This was not merely a title.
It was the arrival of a new order.
In Moran’s eyes, Astrelia’s throne, stained with the stench of decay, was by no means some indispensable holy relic.
Since royal authority had already rotted away, then he could take its place!
He, Moran, did not need the endorsement of any hypocritical god, nor did he need even the slightest trace of royal blood. With pure methods and wisdom that surpassed the mundane, there was no reason he could not become the master of this nation.
No. He would overthrow this outdated class structure and become the first and greatest uncrowned leader in this country’s history!
“Logaris…”
The moment he thought of that name, Moran’s breathing, which had been as steady as a deep pool, suddenly grew disordered for an instant. His right hand, which rested against the edge of the mahogany desk, abruptly tightened, his fingernails nearly digging into the hard wood.
That night, the Holy Grail of Purification had actually gone wrong!
Grand Duke Kresis of Hell had personally promised that the 【Pride】 bloodline flowing through Logaris’s body was impossible to conceal.
Moran did not believe Kresis would lie.
Although 【Greed】 was cunning, it never “lied.”
That was the rule of demons.
Perhaps, however, he had deliberately omitted certain pieces of information at certain key points.
“He deceived a holy relic… What vile method did he use? Or can he even falsify his bloodline?”
Moran felt a rare sense of confusion and irritation from the bottom of his heart.
That urgent feeling, like thorns pressing against his back, had kept him almost completely sleepless the previous night.
A twenty-two-year-old Sixth-Tier mage. That figure had never appeared in Astrelia’s history, as though he were a monster who had walked out of myth.
If he was given another ten years… No, with that madman’s advancement speed, perhaps he would only need five years. Once he stepped across the threshold of the Seventh Tier…
The web of power and desire that Moran had painstakingly managed and meticulously woven in the shadows over these years would be shredded completely by that unreasonable absolute violence, as easily as tearing apart a cicada’s wing.
That feeling of having once held every move in his hands, only to now watch a fatal crack appear in his plan before his very eyes, made him feel an unprecedented agitation.
He took a deep breath and forcefully pressed that uncontrollable emotion down into the depths of his heart.
Then he picked up the cup of highland black tea beside him, now completely cold, and took a sip. The bitter liquid slid down his throat, barely allowing his mind to regain a trace of absolute calm.
Moran tiredly rubbed the space between his brows and sank heavily into the soft velvet backrest.
The Magitech Train was speeding smoothly across the plains at an extremely high speed.
The rhythmic mechanical white noise of the wheels crushing over the rails echoed inside the quiet private train, like a hypnotic lullaby.
Moran slowly closed his eyes, preparing to empty his mind during this brief journey and deduce the chessboard against the Northern Territory once more.
However, just as his breathing had become even and his nerves unconsciously relaxed—
Disaster descended without warning!
An extremely sharp metallic tearing sound, almost piercing enough to rupture the eardrums, exploded above Moran’s head! The sound made one’s teeth ache!
Moran abruptly opened his eyes.
Above his field of vision, the special alloy ceiling that had undergone triple magitech reinforcement, and was even advertised as capable of withstanding bombardment from Fifth-Tier spells, was now like a cheap piece of white bread, instantly ripped open from the outside in an extremely savage manner.
The torn edges glowed red-hot, and the steel was instantly vaporized.
Before Moran could even assume a defensive posture, two figures descended like falling meteors, crashing down amid the scorching sparks flying everywhere and the violent wind pouring in from above.
One of them was a white-haired man in white armor. His face was covered by a white mask without any patterns. In his hand was an utterly ordinary longsword, and his landing posture still carried the follow-through of a sword swing, proving that the strike he had used to cut open the carriage roof just now was this very slash.
The other was a gray-haired woman in a long dress, also wearing a white mask. Extremely turbid black mana, enough to make one’s mind tense, coiled around her body.
“Guards!” Moran roared sharply. His voice exploded amid the wind noise of the speeding train, so sharp that it almost changed pitch.
BANG!
The doors at the front and back of the carriage were violently smashed open almost at the same time. Six Fourth-Tier guard knights stationed in the corridor drew their greatswords, Battle Aura surging around them, and charged in at full speed.
However, they were too slow.
Their movements before the attackers were practically like people strolling through thick mud.
The masked swordsman moved.
Time seemed to stretch infinitely at that moment. Moran saw only a cold silver arc of light, almost sharp enough to sever the retina, cut horizontally through the cramped carriage like lightning. The sword light even exceeded the speed at which sound could travel.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Six dull impacts overlapped almost into one.
The bodies of the six knights abruptly froze for an instant under the inertia of their full-speed charge, as though they had slammed into an invisible wall.
There was no spray of blood, nor severed limbs. In that extremely brief moment of engagement, the masked swordsman had precisely turned his wrist and struck with the spine of his sword.
They did not even have time to scream before their bodies flew backward in unison like six ragged sacks, smashing heavily into the inner walls of the carriage. They completely passed out, losing all ability to move.
The carriage was silent for an instant.
Only the shriek of air scraping against the outer shell of the high-speed train remained, along with the violent wind pouring in through the torn roof.
“Who are you?” Moran’s entire body was tense to the extreme, and his fingers were already tightly gripping a Teleportation Stone hidden in his sleeve.
Facing two terrifying existences who had instantly defeated six Fourth-Tier Knights, he had no thought whatsoever of arrogantly counterattacking.
“Dead men do not need to know names.”
The gray-haired mage—Maggie’s Memory Construct—laughed coldly. She did not even draw a staff. She merely raised a finger and pointed lightly at Moran.
【Edict · Immobilization】!
Bzzzz—!
Moran had just been about to exert force and crush the Teleportation Stone when his fingers suddenly froze.
The invisible power of the spell was like tens of thousands of unseen steel nails, pinning his entire body in place without warning.
His body completely lost control.