Chapter 454: Enfeoffment

The Seven Deadly Sins... all of their members had descended upon the Longyuan Empire...

If even the Dragon King was so overwhelmed, his ministers fared far worse. Some sat with ashen faces. Others collapsed to the floor, weeping and wailing. Those with a sliver of courage abandoned the court session entirely, fleeing the great hall like madmen to run for their lives.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! You must pull yourself together." A minister rushed forward to prop him up.

The Dragon King looked at him blankly and muttered, "The Longyuan Empire... is finished."

"Not necessarily, Your Majesty! Destroying a mere Longyuan Empire wouldn't require the entire Seven Deadly Sins to assemble. Not long ago, Wrath alone nearly annihilated the Blood Moon Empire. If all of them are mobilizing at once, their goal cannot simply be destruction."

At those words, a glimmer of light returned to the Dragon King's eyes. As if clutching a lifeline, he gripped the minister's hand tightly. "You're right! They wouldn't mobilize everyone just to destroy the Longyuan Empire. There's still a chance. There has to be!"

"Your Majesty, our most urgent priority is to dispatch the army to intercept them. We absolutely cannot allow the Seven Deadly Sins to enter the Imperial Palace."

"Indeed, Your Majesty. Dispatch the troops at once."

The rest of the ministers hastily murmured their agreement. They were standing right inside the Imperial Palace; if the Seven Deadly Sins breached its walls, would any of them survive?

Seeing his court so unified, the panic-stricken Dragon King scrambled to mobilize the grand army.

Outside the Imperial City.

The ancient, massive city gates crashed open, and a dark tidal wave of soldiers surged out from within. Surrounded by this throng of troops, the Dragon King—the strongest among them—finally made his appearance.

Everyone's face was taut with terror. The soldiers could only grip their weapons tightly, desperate for some illusory sense of security.

They stood in full battle array. Suddenly, someone screamed, "They... they're here!"

Miraculously, the shout did not incite a panic. Instead, an absolute, deathly silence fell over the entire army.

Because... the Seven Deadly Sins had truly arrived.

At the far end of the broad avenue, seven figures wearing tailcoats slowly walked into view.

The glaring sunlight shone upon their Silver-White Masks, reflecting a biting, icy gleam.

Despite the tens of thousands of soldiers standing in the square, the footfalls of those seven figures echoed with unnatural clarity in everyone's ears.

This was the first time the Seven Deadly Sins had made a collective appearance. The oppressive aura they brought was truly devastating. It felt as though the colossal behemoth of the Longyuan Empire was trembling beneath their feet.

With every step the seven took forward, the trembling soldiers took a step back, lacking the courage to even look them in the eye. They retreated until there was nowhere left to go, crushing together in a packed, shivering mass.

At the front, Pride slowly came to a halt. The six figures behind him stopped in unison.

Forcing down the horror swelling in his chest, the Dragon King opened his mouth. "You—"

"This is the Longyuan Empire," Su Mu said evenly. "Who among you wishes to be the King here?"

Behind him, Lin Canyang looked eager to step up, but hesitated.

Lin Canyang thought to himself that as the strongest empire, the Longyuan Empire was naturally the top choice. But because it was the strongest, the difficulty would also be the greatest. With his current strength, he couldn't suppress the Dragon King.

The others offered no response either, seemingly unwilling.

Opposite them, the Dragon King froze, a surge of fury erupting in his chest. "What exactly do you Seven Deadly Sins think you are doing?!"

None of the seven tailcoat-clad figures paid him the slightest attention.

"Lust, you take it," Su Mu said, glancing at the nonchalant Jun Wushang.

Jun Wushang blinked and pointed at himself. "Me? Well, alright then..."

"Take this." Su Mu flipped his palm. A longsword that looked to be cast from solid gold fell into Jun Wushang's hand. It was the Sword of Royal Power.

The Dragon King stared, his eyes splitting with rage. 'My Sword of Royal Power!!'

He finally realized what was happening. Pride was handing out fiefdoms, and had just given the Longyuan Empire to Lust.

"Don't even think about it!" he roared. "If you want to lay a finger on the Longyuan Empire, you will have to see if my army agrees first! Attack!"

The Dragon King had been pushed past his breaking point. If the Seven Deadly Sins seized his empire, what would happen to him? They would execute him, without a doubt. He would rather fight to the bitter end—even if he had to die, he would die with his dignity intact!

At his command, tens of thousands of soldiers hefted their weapons—and then aimed them squarely at the Dragon King.

The Dragon King froze, staring in disbelief at his own soldiers. "You... are you rebelling?!"

No one answered him.

"Come. Let us go see your Imperial Palace, Lust," Su Mu said, stepping forward to walk slowly toward the gates.

Wherever he passed, the soldiers parted to the sides and dropped to one knee.

Shock and fury warred within the Dragon King. He wanted to resist. He wanted to scream. Yet as the members of the Seven Deadly Sins strolled past him one by one, he found himself paralyzed where he stood.

In the end, he could only watch helplessly as the Silver-White Masks, each bearing a different expression, swept past his eyes one by one.

The raging fire in his chest gradually cooled, fading into the cold ashes of despair.

He had been ignored, completely ignored by the Seven Deadly Sins. As the strongest King of the strongest empire, he could only watch helplessly as they came to steal his nation. They hadn't even spoken a single word to him.

Sometimes, defeat was not the most terrifying outcome. Defeat at least proved that the two sides had fought, that one had lost because their strength was lacking. But now, he didn't even possess the qualifications to be defeated.

Inside the Imperial Palace, the seven tailcoat-clad figures stood tall. Pride elegantly leaned on his cane, Wrath stood as unmoving as a mountain, and Lust glanced idly in every direction, while the petite Sloth surveyed their surroundings with curiosity, and the tall, graceful Envy gently smoothed a strand of hair that had fallen on her mask.

Greed swept a greedy gaze over the resplendent Imperial Palace, striking a sharp contrast with the zombie-like Gluttony.

Moving as if entering an uninhabited realm, the seven strolled through the great hall of the Imperial Palace, taking in the sights. The hundreds of ministers surrounding them were frightened into absolute silence. Not a single person dared to move, nor did anyone dare to make a sound.

"Leader, are you really putting me in charge of the Longyuan Empire?" Jun Wushang asked, his scalp going numb. He had absolutely no experience in governing a nation. "What about the Dragon King?"

Su Mu said evenly, "The Dragon King is still the Dragon King, but you... will be the King of Lust, seated high above him. You will handle the general framework and direction, supervising the operations of the entire Longyuan Empire. You don't need to know how to govern a country. You just need to know how to kill."

"Just killing?" Jun Wushang breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "I'm pretty good at that."

Having slaughtered countless Nightmare Creatures, he considered himself quite skilled in that regard.

The two conversed as if there was no one else around. The ministers present shivered in terror. Some wanted to flee, but discovered to their horror that their bodies were completely out of control. Deep within their minds, a voice seemed to constantly echo.

'You cannot escape. The entire world will fall under the rule of the Seven Deadly Sins. Where could you possibly run? Your only choice is to accept your fate and obey.'

That was Su Mu's psychological suggestion to the ministers. Through his Illusion Technique, he was implanting the concept that Lust was the Supreme King into everyone's minds.

What was a King? When everyone recognized you, you were the King.

It was not that you became King and were then recognized by everyone.

The essence of human society consisted of stories. Only when everyone believed in the story of the King, agreeing that there should be a King high above to lead the entire empire, would that King exist.

It was just like primitive society, when humanity operated in tribes. At that time, there were only stories about tribes. Later, there were stories about nations, and so nations came into being.

Without a shared story they could all believe in, humanity could never unite and cooperate. All Su Mu was doing was adding a new character to their story.