Chapter 496: How Is Ashe Even on the Ranking?!

In Azura, Weeping Sand Cliose gazed at the violet spiderweb veiling the night sky as cursed tears slid from her eyes. "Aine."

***

Inside the Good Moonlight Agency, Crimson Cicada Duchess Aina, once the primary foe of the Funeral Agency, murmured in a daze, "Aine..."

***

At Vanmura, the Six-Emblem family leaders looked up, contemplating whether to officially launch their plan to change the other five families' surnames to Senheiser.

***

Across Vanmura, Modora, Fedela, and Montphera, as the Gospel Rankings appeared and spiderweb-patterned fireworks bloomed, the entire Gospel whispered the same name in unison. "Aine."

***

Back in the banquet hall of the Nabistin Imperial Palace, the Empress rose from her throne. She spread her arms and calmly proclaimed the transfer of power. "The new Emperor is born. Aine shall be the future Echoer. The Isa Dynasty welcomes our new Saint."

"How is this possible?"

"Why him?! How could it be him? It can't be him! I refuse to accept this!"

"No! This can't be happening!"

"The Woven Festival is over... and so are we..."

When the Gospel Rankings finally concluded, many guests were left utterly devastated. This hit the Mercury, Roland, and Kessriel families the hardest. They had sent people to hunt Ashe, and even now, the bounty on his head remained in the Gospel Market.

Their despair stemmed less from Ashe becoming the future Emperor of Isa, and more from the terrifying truth that they had forged a life-and-death enmity with the future supreme ruler of the Gospel.

Had they acted with full knowledge of the consequences, it would at least be the result of their own deliberate choice. Yet just a minute prior, these same individuals, obsessed with hunting Ashe, were celebrated as pillars of the Gospel. A single minute later, they were transformed into traitors guilty of regicide.

No phrase captured it better than, "A single step separated heaven from hell." Such a violent reversal was enough to shatter anyone. Even a stock market crash had circuit breakers, and leveraged losses merely wiped out capital! Through one misstep, they had gambled away centuries of family legacy. For all their years as Sacred Realm sorcerers, hardened by countless trials, their minds crumbled in that single instant.

As for whether offending Ashe might be forgiven... Over the past several centuries, no one had ever crossed the Gospel's First. Before ascending the throne, the princess remained protected within the palace. After her ascension, she ruled as sovereign. She might offend others, but no one dared offend her.

Still, history provided its clear answers.

Dynasties that defied the Gospel's First all became ancient history. Prisons that once held the Gospel's First all crumbled into ruins. And the madmen who dared challenge the Gospel's First all left behind not even a trace of their existence.

Their terror stemmed from a simple truth. They were no ordinary people. Sitting at the absolute peak of the ruling class, these noble family conglomerates felt the terrifying weight of the Isa Imperial Family's authority more acutely than anyone else.

If the imperial throne could suppress them inside their respective cities and put a stop to their destructive rivalries, it could just as easily crush them out of existence. They could be forced into swift collapse, or simply made to vanish overnight. This was no paranoid delusion, for the imperial lineage had done it before.

Around three hundred years ago, a Legendary sorcerer emerged from a rival family. The man refused to enter Nabistin. Relying instead on his overwhelming strength, he intimidated and coerced surrounding houses into submission. His influence expanded rapidly, spreading across numerous cities. He reserved every position of power for his most trusted blood relatives, binding them through contracts and other strict controls.

That house stood on the verge of breaking through the territorial limits set by the imperial throne. They went so far as to erect a towering palace and invite the major families to a lavish banquet, attempting to cement their prestige as the Second Gospel.

Then, on one fateful night, the family suddenly met its demise.

The official cause was internal conflict. Because the Legendary sorcerer valued blood loyalty over actual competence, the members who felt they had contributed the most grew bitter over time. Meanwhile, those who received his unearned favor saw themselves as entirely deserving of their positions. During rapid expansion, blood ties could temporarily obscure deep conflicts of interest. Once the weight of personal ambition tipped the scales, those buried grievances returned with tenfold fury.

The conspirators struck while the Legendary sorcerer walked the Virtual World. Using love to turn his daughter against him, they successfully assassinated him. A brutal civil war erupted immediately afterward, consuming the entire family until virtually no one survived.

On the surface, every trace pointed toward self-destruction with no clear signs of outside intervention. Yet no noble was foolish enough to believe the imperial throne had played no part. While a Legendary sorcerer could indeed be assassinated inside the Virtual World, any practitioner at that level would prepare standard safeguards before entering, even in the safest environments. Perhaps that sorcerer had simply grown careless. Perhaps he grew lazy and entered without setting a single defensive spell. Still, that absurd degree of carelessness was enough to send a chill down the spines of subsequent generations of nobles.

Were the Mercury family and their allies truly unbreakable fortresses? Were the castles they spent centuries building any sturdier in the eyes of the throne than a child's sandcastle?

The growing rebellious urges of Quinna and Evelyn sprang from more than just ambition. They were born of absolute fear. In truth, the two feelings were inseparable. Realizing that the blade of the imperial house perpetually hovered above their necks naturally bred resentment and a desperate urge to break free.

That was why the Mercury family could not simply stand by and watch Ashe ascend the throne. It mattered little whether Ashe sought revenge. If he wanted retribution, they would at least face a swift, definitive end. But if Ashe chose mercy, they would spend every remaining day trapped in terror, suspecting every stroke of bad luck was his doing. Like being sliced apart by a dull knife, they would eventually destroy themselves from within.

Ultimately, the pressure the Gospel's First exerted was simply too vast, powerful enough to shatter their reason. Yet they possessed no means to resist it. No matter how formidable their strength, could they ever hope to surpass the legendary Elven Dynasty or the Ember Dynasty?

Worse still, the imperial house had no real need for these families' help in ruling. The sorcerer bloodlines possessed advanced knowledge, playing key roles in technological progress and production efficiency, but inviting them to witness the succession was merely a polite acknowledgment of their standing. They were important, nothing more, and certainly not indispensable. Even if every guest present and every house behind them were wiped out, the imperial rule would remain as stable as a mountain. Production might stagnate for a short period, but it would eventually recover.

The imperial line was right to isolate itself from the outside world. No family could bear the consequences of being abandoned by the Princess. Unless...

At that thought, everyone turned their eyes toward the group that had caused such a massive disturbance during the banquet.

It was no wonder the Empress showed no reaction whatsoever when the Senheiser and Belldet nearly demolished the palace.

Quinna and Nona needed no explanation, given how the Gospel had repeatedly declared Ashe's ownership over them, signaling how deeply he would cherish them. Evelyn, stripped of her standing in the Happiness Rankings, had transformed into Ashe's personal secretary, acting like a loyal hound completely under his sway. Anphel was Iger's wife, and Iger was the madman willing to overturn the entire Gospel just to revive Ashe. Furthermore, Ashe held Anphel's daughter, Leia, in high regard. Taken together, Anphel was practically his sister.

As members of the future Emperor's inner circle, tearing down a palace was a trivial matter.

"Evelyn..."

"Senheiser family leader..."

"Respected Lady Belldet..."

"Honored guardian of Vanmura..."

As the guests approached with polite greetings, a furious voice shattered the quiet of the hall. "The Gospel has deceived us!"

Mercury's eyes turned bloodshot as he gritted his teeth. "The requirement for entering the Gospel Ranking was clearly reserved for the purest, most innocent, kindest, and most wonderful young girls. Why is Ashe on the list? How can he possibly deserve a spot?!"