Hate me, Miss Witch!

The howling wind swept through the palace, which was as silent as death, making even the sound of a needle dropping piercingly clear.

Whether it were the envoys of the oath-sworn families, the Great Noble guests, or other attendees inclined toward the Royal Family—

At the sight of the figure within the black flame, every neuron in their brains spun wildly, trying to comprehend the reason behind this bizarre scene.

Just now, every word and action of Tarik was announcing that he had secretly made a deal with the Ashes Cult. The preparations for a Godly Descent had been secretly completed, ready to welcome the Lord of Ashes' descent in the Empire Capital.

But could someone explain to them... why the product of Godly Descent was this thing?

Shiayar Egutt.

A Ceylon migrant from the Northern Territory, newly chosen by the Second Princess Isadella as her Swordbearer.

His last public appearance was at an engagement banquet hosted by the Borgia family, where he demonstrated the strengths of a 4-Ring Master Rank Beastmaster.

With his guarded and calculated action, he killed the Titled Rank Beastmaster "Silver Fox" Riel, who was off guard and complacent, revealing an explosive power of at least 5-Ring.

Considering his extraordinary talent, with half a year gone by, many speculated that Shiayar now possessed the combat strength of a 6-Ring.

This was the intelligence about Shiayar that every noble in the Empire Capital had gathered after quiet investigation. However, even if he had indeed advanced to 6-Ring, that still fell far short of explaining the current situation.

The Lord of Ashes, after all, was a True God, unscathed and perfectly intact!

Forget about 6-Ring; even a Legendary would be no different from an ant in front of His Godly Descent's Body.

For a time, the CPUs of countless nobles were smoking from overheating.

On the other side, Tarik was equally dumbfounded.

Wasn't the Lord of Ashes' Godly Descent supposed to happen? Why had I summoned this... thing?

But a Legendary is still a Legendary. At that moment, his spiritual power, which had already condensed into an ocean of spirit, whirled rapidly.

The Legendary memory, known for never forgetting a thing once seen, was mobilized, searching for an answer amidst the colliding thoughts. Then, in an instant, Tarik felt he had grasped a crucial point.

I remember Shiayar Egutt first made his name in the Empire Capital amidst the chaos of the Ashes Cult's attack on St. Roland Academy, thwarting the cult's conspiracy in one fell swoop. He even killed a 4-Ring Ashes Cult leader, achieving fame with that single battle. And before his death, that Ashes Cult leader had shouted the words, "Son of God!" Although there were few eyewitnesses to that turmoil, and Isadella had intentionally suppressed the details, so hardly anyone knew such minor details. Yet, as a Royal Family Legendary, when I learned of Isadella's choice of Shiayar as her Swordbearer—I happened to read the detailed files of the academy attack and knew its intricacies.

If the phrase "Son of God" wasn't slander as written in the files, but a fact discerned by the cult leader in his dying moments?

Not to mention, among the combat skills Shiayar Egutt displayed was the ability to summon black flames, which had always been mistaken by the world as a Pet Beast skill... but now, it seemed it might not come from a Pet Beast, but was instead an innate Authority of his own.

If so, everything made sense.

Why could Shiayar, proven to be just a commoner from Ceylon with no background, possess such shockingly prodigious talent, rising unstoppably like a comet?

Why was he able to shatter an Ashes Cult conspiracy with his mere 2-Ring ability at that time?

Why had I used a Sacred Relic of the Ashes Cult to summon Shiayar's true self?

The Lord of Ashes' black flame, which even Legendaries dare not touch—a divine punishment capable of incinerating the Soul—Shiayar could withstand it unscathed, as if walking on level ground.

Naturally, that was because Shiayar Egutt had been the offspring of the Evil God from the very start.

He intentionally disguised himself as a human, lying low within the Empire, waiting for the moment to strike, which had erupted at this instant.

GASP—

Tarik took a sharp breath.

He felt like he had uncovered just the tip of a monumental conspiracy; the more he thought about it, the more alarmed he became.

If this was the case, the Lord of Ashes was far too terrifying.

Meticulously planning for a thousand years, patiently waiting for a thousand years.

Deliberately disguising both himself and his Religious Order as brain-dead, single-minded pyromaniacs, thus causing everyone to lower their guard.

Then, secretly arranging for his offspring to infiltrate...

Furthermore, by some unknown means, he made Shiayar secure Isadella's affections in secret.

Thus, by silently erasing all those in the palace who were privy, along with Isadella...

Later, he could reveal himself before the unsuspecting masses of the Empire as the Queen's Royal Consort, supported by me, and other oath-sworn families and power players.

Perhaps with such a status as Prince Regent—Shiayar could, without anyone noticing, bring the Empire, the most powerful nation in the human coalition, completely under his control.

At that time, by simply enacting doctrines such as a state religion in secret, tens of millions of the Empire's citizens would become devotees of the Lord of Ashes.

The scale of that Power of Faith would be incomparable to any of the existing deities; after all, even the Holy Creed Kingdom, worshiping the Seven Gods of Dawn, divided its worship among seven deities, which couldn't compete with exclusive devotion.