Volume 3: Chapter 14 - Investigation

(Roland's Perspective)

My name is Roland Ashford.

I serve as a captain of the Imperial Shadow Guard under His Majesty of the Antasia Empire.

Three hours ago, the Imperial Palace received an emergency report from the Leader of the Star Observation Tower.

According to the report, an Evil God's Projection had descended in Antasia Empire and clashed with an unknown Crowned One in this wasteland.

The report immediately threw the entire Imperial Court into chaos.

From the ministers to His Majesty himself, no one could remain calm in the face of the descent of an Evil God, even if it was merely a Projection.

Fortunately, the Evil God's Projection was sent back by the unknown Crowned One.

However, that mysterious Crowned One had now become another source of concern.

In the entire world, the number of Crowned Ones was extremely small and almost every one of them@ was known to the major powers of the world, especially those residing within their own territories.

But now an unknown Crowned One had appeared.

Although it was possible that this individual had only recently reached the Crowned Realm and had yet to become known to the outside world, no one dared to lower their guard.

The power of a Crowned One surpassed all norms and had stepped into the Realm of a God. Though they weren't yet a God and had yet to sit on the throne, they were walking natural disasters.

If a Crowned One wished, he could easily pluck down the stars from the sky and destroy nations.

A wild Crowned One was a source of worry but at the same time he was also someone who would be madly sought after by various Major Powers.

Any Country which had a Crowned One or produced a Crowned One, could be counted among the major Superpowers in the world.

Currently the Antasia Empire had 5 Crowned Ones in the open.

Five may seem a lot but in fact this was nowhere near the number which Antasia Empire possessed at its peak.

If the Empire could recruit one more Crowned One, its national power would rise to an entirely new level.

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Because of this, His Majesty personally dispatched the Imperial Shadow Guard, together with several court magicians and elite knights, to investigate the site where the Evil God's Projection had descended.

Our mission was simple. Find the source of this Evil God's descent and also find the traces of unknown Crowned One.

If possible, it would be best if they could recruit him.

...

After we arrived, without wasting any time, our group quickly spread out across the battlefield.

The Imperial Shadow Guards searched for clues while the Royal Court Magicians began casting large-scale detection spells.

Only after arriving did I truly understand why the Leader of the Star Observation Tower had sounded the highest level of alarm.

The battlefield before us no longer resembled land.

The once vast plain had become a sea of enormous craters.

Some pits stretched for hundreds of meters, while others sank so deeply that their bottoms could not be seen.

Several nearby mountains had completely collapsed, as though invisible giants had smashed them apart.

The earth itself was covered with countless cracks that extended far into the distance.

Even after three hours, the surrounding Elemental Spirits remained unusually violent, making the air itself feel oppressive.

Soon, one of the Shadow Guards shouted.

"Captain Roland!"

I immediately rushed toward the source of the voice.

A broken magic train lay overturned in the middle of the plains with its carriages derailed.

Looking at it, it was impossible to imagine what kind of impact had thrown such a massive train across the battlefield.

Near the broken train lay dozens of corpses dressed in black robes. Along with them were several dried up corpses.

One of the Shadow Guards knelt beside a corpse and tore open the damaged black robe.

A crimson emblem appeared on the chest of the dead man.

It was an eye surrounded by twisted vines.

Seeing this my expression immediately changed.

"...The Love God Cult."

No wonder an Evil God's Projection had descended.

It was probably a large-scale sacrificial ritual conducted by an Evil God Cult which used everyone on the train as a sacrifice.

Just as I was lost in thought, several court magicians slowly approached.

Their staffs still emitted pale-blue light as countless detection runes floated through the battlefield.

The elderly leader of the Royal Magic Corps stopped beside me.

"Captain Roland! We've discovered something."

"What is it?"

Shaking my head, I looked at the old leader and asked.

"According to the residual Magic Power in the surrounding area, we detected two Magic signatures that remained until the very end of the battle."

"Two?"

Hearing his words, I couldn't help but frown.

"Yes and judging from the fluctuations, both belonged to living individuals."

"One should be the unknown Crowned One. As for the other, we do not know who it belongs to but it is possible that it was someone close to the unknown Crowned One."

"Can you track the Magic Signatures?"

"Unfortunately no!" The old mage shook his head.

"The Magic Signatures suddenly disappeared at one point and no detection magic could track it. It's possible that the Crowned One used Spatial Movement to leave."

"What about Divination?"

While normal detection magic could detect almost everything, there were things it couldn't find.

For this kind of things, this world had a special branch of magic called Astrology or Divination which could peer into destiny.

If the Magic Corps could find the Magic Signatures then it was totally possible to divine the location of the owners of the two Magical Signatures.

Even if they could not track the Crowned One, as long as they could track the other Magic Signature, they would be able to find the Crowned One.

"No, Divination can't find them either."

...