NOVPUBThen, the deafening roar surged into the sky, blood staining the air like the roar of gods!
The city walls and mountain ranges began to twist and shatter before the rampaging shockwave, the enormous energy lifting the ground, buildings blown away like scraps of paper, trees, and vegetation swallowed by the white light.
As time seemed to stretch, the white glow expanded and rose until it covered everything in the sky!
Whether they were Seventh-order or Eighth-order Strongmen of the Huo Ning Empire, under this apocalyptic flame, they would all turn to ashes, unstoppable and beyond retaliation.
The people in the Congressional Building gaped, unable to utter a sound.
They had never witnessed such a terrifying tragedy, as with the drop of that tiny Magic Sphere, a tsunami of heat devoured an entire province of the Huo Ning Empire along with its garrisoned troops!
Soon, even the Congressional Building in the far northern continent felt the intense but brief tremors, instinctively covering their heads!
The parliamentarians looked with trepidation at the strange and magnificent lights filling the screen.
Was it a destroyer or a creator?
They couldn’t tell, only knowing that they had witnessed a forbidden weapon capable of annihilating gods!
Lanci stood at the podium, gazing at the crowd.
The bomb created by combining the Nuclear Fusion Wolf Transformation he left for the Demon World and the Fourth Ancestor Eduado, now turned into a Summon by the Demon Race, had been delivered over the skies of the Huo Ning Empire.
Simply put, he blew up the Fourth Ancestor Eduado as an expendable item.
The might of such a Ninth-order Epic spark, no nation could withstand.
"Meow meow meow?"
Cat Boss, in Lanci’s shadow, looked out incredulously.
It... it just pressed that button...
And wiped out an entire province of the Huo Ning Empire...
Meow aaaaah! I don’t want to be a war criminal cat!!
Cat Boss instantly understood the cost of a high-order Epic Card—It had become the most vicious executioner of sin in the world!
Its eyes brimmed with tears; although it did not fear debt like Hugh, the merits it now owed might take three hundred to four hundred lifetimes to repay!!
The Congressional Hall fell into a long silence.
Lanci spoke again.
"Death will eventually come for all the creatures in the world, but no death is more noble than facing a formidable enemy, dying to protect the bones of our ancestors and the temples of our beliefs."
"Right now, on the native soil of the Palante Empire and in the allied lands of the Eternal Night, we have a force so many times more powerful than at any time during this great war!"
"This fact is certainly advantageous for resisting an invasion and defending our homeland, but we cannot go on like this, we cannot be satisfied with defensive battles, we owe it to our allies to reorganize a Palante Expedition Army under the courageous command of the supreme commander. All this is underway, but in the meantime, we must ensure that our homeland defense is at a high level of organization, requiring very few people to ensure safety effectively, and at the same time maximize the potential for offensive operations. We are currently deploying in this respect."
"I will demand the unconditional surrender of the Huo Ning Empire! Otherwise, in one month, we will drop another Ancestor bomb on the Huo Ning Empire! Until they surrender!"
"Even though in the upcoming prolonged expedition battles, we may be defeated once, twice, three times, even many times, we absolutely will not surrender!"
When Lanci said "We will never surrender," his voice was filled with resolution, reverberating throughout the entire meeting hall.
This statement was not only a declaration of war against external enemies but also a judgment on the indecisive within.
"We will fight to the end; we will fight on the northern continent; we will fight over the oceans; we will fight with confidence in the skies!"
"We will defend our homeland at all costs, we will fight on the beaches! Fight at the enemy’s landing sites! Fight in the fields and streets! Fight in the mountains! We will never surrender at any time."
"Even if this island, or a large part of this island, is occupied by the enemy and falls into starvation, our overseas forces armed and protected by the Palante fleet will continue the fight!!"
Having said that, he stepped down from the podium.
"For defensive wars, we must never consider them as the end! We must rebuild the Expedition Army, we must bolster our national defense, reduce our domestic defense forces, and increase our striking power overseas. In this great war, the northern continent will serve as our strongest backing, with the Palante Empire, the Demon World, and the Eternal Night Land, Beastman City-state uniting together—"
With his back to the crowd, he walked down the road alone, raising his hands and waving them high as if the conductor of an impassioned and finishing symphony,
"We will never yield; we will never surrender! Long live Palante!"
There was silence in the venue for tens of seconds.
Suddenly, there erupted enthusiastic applause.
The applause lasted for a long time.
People shouted and cheered, their fervent gazes following the Prime Minister’s departing silhouette.
Even the conservatives couldn’t help but stand up, overtaken by emotion, cheering for the Prime Minister!
In the hallway, he put on his hat, donned his coat, and left the venue.
Never give up, never surrender, never compromise!
Senators chanted, hurling the documents into the air as pages fluttered down like rain.
The figure walking towards the light appeared as a straight blade, piercing the darkness with the remaining glow of the setting sun.
...
Present day, Old Buri Court.
The entire venue was silent as a graveyard.
Some exchanged looks, their shock rendering them speechless with trembling voices.
Loren’s student seemed a bit excessive, his speech not only incited people not to yield, but also demanded the unconditional surrender of the Huo Ning Empire and declared that the Palante Empire would sweep through the south in a sacred war of reclamation.
Who was beating whom between the Huo Ning Empire and the Palante Empire, those outside the Shadow World were no longer able to tell.
They saw all the indicators skyrocketing like mad.
The odds of victory soon broke through the 1% threshold.
This Seventh-order Shadow World had undoubtedly passed smoothly.
Many judges on the bench were covered in sweat, some even streaming with cold sweat.
A minute later, the entire Old Buri Court erupted in thunderous applause.
"Great High Priest Loren! Wise and valiant!"
"We simply hadn’t been able to keep pace with you!"
"All of this was your teachings to Lanci, wasn’t it!"
Unable to contain themselves any longer, they surged forward to embrace Loren.
Loren: "???"
He was still in a daze.
Suddenly transitioning from hell to heaven, he had become numb to it all.
If he had to describe it, he was simply numb.
He finally covered his face, giving a forlorn smile.
Thousands of words couldn’t compare to that faint smile.
...
Wrapped in feelings too deep for words, a burden to bear alone, those around Loren were finally beginning to understand at this moment.
Indeed, the shadow of loneliness was etched behind glory.
Citizens in the audience stands also rose, clapping sincerely in admiration for Loren.
"A person’s life goes through three stages—questioning Loren, understanding Loren, and Great High Priest Loren creating an immortal epic."
The student council secretary, Lavisseir, in the back row, wiped away tears of relief and penned down this news headline.
The recent pressure faced by Dean Loren had nearly worried Senior Asina to death, fearing that all the impeachment against Loren by the kingdom was triggered by her capricious desire to be a chef.
Even unscrupulous media had targeted the restaurant where Senior Asina worked, speculating that it might be involved in unspeakable collaborations with Loren, perhaps even a den for secret meetings.
Now that the rumors had self-destructed, Senior Asina could finally continue to be a chef without any burden on her conscience.
In a corner of the Court’s audience seating.
... 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓹𝓾𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
The Bingxue Witch bit her finger, trembling.
"Loren... your plan to unify the world has moved one step closer, hasn’t it..."
She knew that staying by Loren’s side was becoming increasingly dangerous.
But at that moment, she had no way out.
As a spy, she had long resolved herself to the sacrifice!
-----------------
End of this volume, new volume tomorrow.
For the first two days of the lunar new year, I wrote 8,000 words each day to finish the finale of the Shadow World, my child didn’t even get to celebrate the new year, so I beg for your monthly votes!
