Chapter 93: Clash
"You truly look down on your own race, Your Highness, the Crown Prince.
And how can you compare us humans to those bloodthirsty creatures...
Who kill over the smallest of reasons?"
The Prime Minister spoke with obvious disgust as he looked at Azar.
As a staunch supporter of the Empress and her children, he naturally disliked the way things were developing around Azar.
The more Azar distinguished himself, the more the Emperor favored him and drew him closer.
It was already well known that he was the most talented, the strongest, and the most intelligent among his siblings, and that he was the Emperor’s favorite son.
Now that one of the Empress’s own sons had appeared with talent capable of matching his, they had to suppress Azar’s rise even more while bringing Iris further into the spotlight.
"No, no, Prime Minister... If this is what you’ve been teaching my brothers, then I’m afraid you’ve wasted your entire life for nothing."
Azar leaned back against his chair and looked at the Prime Minister.
For the first time, he smiled provocatively at him...
Yet the laziness never left his eyes.
"Yes, Prime Minister... Without the monsters, our great Empire wouldn’t exist.
Or have you forgotten that the great Okarcus was the one who graciously bestowed his blood upon my grandfather...
The blood of the Star Dragon.
Or did you think my grandfather seized that blood by force?
Or perhaps you believed it simply fell from the sky?"
Azar mocked him mercilessly.
"I didn’t mean—"
The Prime Minister tried to explain himself, but Azar didn’t give him the chance.
"And without monsters—their bodies and their abilities—humanity would never have advanced this far.
Look at our spaceships, invasion vessels, annihilation cannons, and human civilizations.
Without the secrets hidden within monster bodies, humanity would’ve never reached even half of where it stands today."
Azar looked at the Prime Minister, who was boiling with both shame and anger, with nothing but contempt.
"And without them...
How would geniuses have come to understand the Laws?
How would they have created advancement potions?
Do you not know that most Laws were first discovered by tracing their manifestations within the bodies of monsters, before scholars began expanding their exploration of them into resources and the world itself, regardless of where that particular Law was ultimately found?
And the Law Potions whose creation inevitably requires parts harvested from monster bodies.
Have you forgotten all of this...
Or are you deliberately ignoring it?"
After hearing Azar’s words, the Prime Minister’s anger multiplied severalfold.
His face turned bright red, while veins bulged across his bald head and around his four horns.
Meanwhile, Empress Lumira frowned deeply.
A strange light shimmered within her eyes as she looked at Azar.
Beside her, Emperor Thayron rested one hand upon the throne’s armrest, supporting his face with his fist.
A rare smile appeared on his face.
Azar turned toward Emperor Thayron and smiled confidently.
"This fool claims that I despise my own race...
He accuses me of comparing humans to bloodthirsty monsters that kill over the smallest of reasons..."
Azar turned back toward the Prime Minister, the mockery in his expression unmistakable.
"It seems old age has finally caught up with you, old man...
We are the Children of the Stars...
The stars are both our Law and our path.
The stars are straightforward.
They do not change their colors, nor are they hypocritical like you.
And one truth is as clear as the sun in the sky...
Looking back across the universe’s long history...
Our own race...
Humanity...
Has been the bloodiest race of all...
Second only to the Filth of Chaos.
Unlike monsters, who merely claim a certain territory and kill anyone who trespasses upon it...
Humans are exactly like fire...
If we can’t find something else to consume...
We begin consuming ourselves.
We humans are exactly the same.
If we find no enemy to fight...
We invade the world.
And if there’s nowhere left to invade...
We begin fighting and killing each other.
How many civilizations have fallen because of this...
How many planets have been destroyed because of this instinct...
Even after monster blood mixed with our own...
That instinct remained deeply rooted within us."
Azar’s voice gradually grew louder.
He looked at the Prime Minister, whose rage had nearly reached its limit and whose gaze had become openly hostile.
"And why look so far...
If you compare the number of enemies and living beings slain by the Immortal Star Wings Empire since the day it was founded...
Just one Empire within the Region of Utopia...
Against all the monsters within the Region of Utopia...
You’d find that we’re not so different from the monsters...
Not to mention the other Empires and organizations throughout the Region.
How many planets have we destroyed?
How many humans have we killed?
How many monsters have we captured?
How many lives have we humans ended?"
Azar’s words echoed throughout the hall.
Everyone who heard them was stunned.
Even Emperor Thayron frowned slightly.
Everyone knew Azar was bold...
But not this bold.
"Have you lost your mind, you insolent brat?!"
The Prime Minister finally rose to his feet.
His fury had completely overflowed.
At last...
He had found the perfect opportunity to unleash all of it upon Azar.
"Are you accusing the Founder of being nothing more than a butcher drenched in blood?
Are you accusing every hero of the Empire of destroying planets and slaughtering humanity for the sake of conquest alone?
With such words...
You slander every person who sacrificed their life for the Empire!"
The Prime Minister’s furious roar echoed through the hall.
He released the full pressure of his Ten-Star Immortal aura toward Azar, openly threatening him.
However...
Instead of seeing hesitation or fear on Azar’s face...
He found him staring back like a madman.
For the first time in a very long time...
The laziness vanished from Azar’s eyes.
His eyes opened wide as he fixed the Prime Minister with a sharp gaze that seemed ready to burn him alive.
Azar also rose to his feet.
He unleashed the aura of a Seven-Star Immortal, pushing back against the Prime Minister’s pressure.
Even worse...
He openly released his killing intent in the Emperor’s presence, directing it alongside his aura straight at the elderly Prime Minister.
"What?! Since when did he break through to the Seventh Star?!
Didn’t he only have Five Stars during the last meeting?!"
Everyone in the hall was secretly astonished.
Especially the Empress.
The strange light within her eyes grew even brighter...
Along with something far more dangerous hidden deep inside her.