Pirate Kingship.

Chapter 463: Two Suns in the Sky, Palace Coup (6100 Two-in-One)

“Is this the evil spirit that appeared on Melrose Avenue three days ago?

Impossible, how could they break through the border maze of the [Iron Law of Kingship] and enter the palace without any hindrance? ! "

In the banquet hall there were the chief officers from the City Guards, the Inquisition, and the Star Chamber Court, who recognized the origin of the bloody handprints at a glance.

After all, before the banquet today, the relevant intelligence and video records were still on their desks.

The clerks of various departments and the prophets, mediums, and naturalists who were assembled were also working overtime to study the cause of this strange evil spirit.

Unfortunately, Byron and [Holy Hammer] Oliver killed so many people too cleanly in order to cut off the anchor that they failed to leave any samples. In less than three days, they didn't even produce a report on the investigation.

Just as the [Painter of Hell] said.

It is not easy to figure out the whole story of "Death Stranding" that appeared in the Old World for the first time, let alone follow the clues and discover their arrangements near Ganquan Palace.

The royal party was caught off guard.

"Help--!"

Several young royalist nobles standing near the door were about to turn around and run, but in the blink of an eye they were drowned by the bloody handprints all over the ground, or more accurately, by the [Evil Spirits·Lost Homelanders].

When these evil spirits attack, they come into contact with their victims, giving them the opportunity to fight back.

Each of the nobles is at least a second-level transcendent, much stronger than those mortal soldiers who look strong but are actually not awakened.

The spiritual glow of various sequences on his body burst out, and among them there was a [Lawmaster] of the Inquisition sequence who was theoretically the most powerful in the country.

"Statute: The Fortress Act authorizes owners, tenants, bailors, etc. to use deadly force to protect their 'fortress' in the face of trespass and violent attack.

Unlimited defense! I sentence you to death!"

The overwhelming force of [Iron Law of King's Authority] descended, and those [Lost Homelanders] who first came into contact with the Law Mage's body were violently knocked away.

They are invisible to onlookers when they are between life and death, but a shadow is faintly visible in the process of transition from the intermediate state to complete death.

But this had no meaning other than making the nobles realize that a considerable number of these evil spirits were originally guards in the palace, making them feel even more terrified.

Moreover, the power of law that a second-level lawyer can mobilize is also very limited. He had just "judged" a dozen evil spirits when he was forcibly sucked dry by more lost people.

It eventually turned into the silver-white [Fifth Element] that flowed endlessly in the bodies of the lost people, and it was also the precious currency coveted by the devils in the bottomless pit at the edge of the world.

At the same time, as these extraordinary people turned into new "Lost Homelanders" after their death, the pulling force from the underworld became stronger, causing this death stranding accident to become more and more serious.

The smooth marble floor of the banquet hall beneath my feet began to soften, and seawater as thick as asphalt gushed out.

It also caused more people who had lost their homes to rush out roaring.

The floor, windows, walls, pillars, and other places were all covered with approaching bloody handprints. It was hard to count whether there were hundreds or thousands of them.

It makes one's scalp tingle.

"what--!!!"

Screams of many women and men in the banquet hall suddenly rang out.

The impact of just hearing horrific urban legends and seeing acquaintances turn into mummies and skeletons in front of them is obviously completely different.

The unknown is always more frightening.

Both men and women dodged hurriedly in the direction away from the door like a swarm of bees. It was not as if there was a ghost chasing them, but there really was a ghost chasing them!
But the accident came too quickly. The dance floor, the long banquet table, the independent rooms around the hall, and the flower hall were all filled with people. There were many extraordinary people and most of them were ordinary family members. They were pushing and shoving each other among themselves. How could it be easy to avoid the evil spirits?

The screams suddenly turned into continuous cries, and corpses that seemed to have lived for dozens or even hundreds of years fell down one after another.

However, not all people surrounded by bloody handprints tragically turned into a pile of bones.

Several earldom nobles, led by Warwick the Kingmaker and George, Duke of Clarence, were like reefs standing firm in the flood, watching all this leisurely.

When all the [Lost Homelanders] met them, they would automatically step away and ignore them.

A few of the Earl's party even took a sip of their wine glasses from time to time, as if they were drinking to the tragic scene before them.

If you turn on your psychic vision, you will find that each of them is wearing a silver amulet engraved with a strange pattern.

They released a black and red aura that was exactly the same as that of the "Lost Homelanders", causing those evil spirits without self-awareness to mistake them for their own kind.

Obviously, this is the [Amulet·Mark of the Beast] that Warwick created with the help of the "Mark of the Beast of the Abyss".

Although he could not command lower-level servants as arbitrarily as the Night Prince Byron, it was not difficult to guide the Lost Homelanders to attack specific targets while protecting himself from harm.

This stark difference in treatment immediately attracted the attention of others.

Edward IV, who was surrounded by a group of [King's Left Hand] guards and a dozen [King's Right Hand], looked at this scene with fire in his eyes, as if he wanted to eat someone, and shouted:

"Warwick! It was you who opened the border maze of Ganquan Palace and attracted these evil spirits? What on earth do you want to do?
Not only did he massacre the nobles and betray the kingdom, he also colluded with evil spirits.

Aren't you afraid of the stake of the Inquisition?!"

In fact, the evil spirit murder case that occurred on Melrose Avenue was ordinary except that it was close to the palace, the victim had a special identity, and the death was not dignified.

The matter was not reported to Edward IV by the relevant departments to ruin his good mood.

Even if it is finally reported, it must wait until the cause of the accident is found out and a response plan is drawn up.

The idea of ​​"covering up" is completely out of the instinct of old bureaucrats and does not matter which world they are in.

In addition, the iron laws of royal power in various countries are castrated versions that can only control people.

And Hastings' unique Magna Carta was an even more castrated version of the castrated version. Under the law, the king had to rely more on nobles and officials at all levels.

There is simply no such commanding power and sensitivity as the Golden Rule, which states, "I am the master of men and also the king of gods."

Even more unfortunate is that one of the most basic abilities of the French Open is to suppress the source tide and maintain the low-magic environment of the Old Continent.

As long as the law covers a place, not to mention ordinary evil spirits and monsters, even cracks in the world are not common.

The Kingmaker, who shared the authority of King Edward IV, also had the power to secretly lift some restrictions and let these extremely dangerous evil spirits in, causing heavy losses to the royal party.

While questioning Warwick, Edward IV raised the jeweled seal ring on his hand and shouted:
“Law: No evil spirit can hide from me, and no one can enter the palace without an invitation.

Get out of here! "

When a lawyer is at the fourth level, his [Law] can exercise discretion and make "groundless" judgments such as "death sentence for entering the gate with the left foot first".

The fifth-level [Royal Title] can almost make its words come true within its core royal domain.

Even if Edward IV was not clear about the principle of "Death Stranding", he only needed to use the faith and will of the entire country to issue orders directly.

Om-!
A silver light wave flashed by, and the "Lost Homelanders" who were rushing in like a tide revealed their ugly shapes, but were blocked by an invisible wall and pushed out little by little.

A strange, bloodthirsty squeaking sound came out of his mouth, but he still couldn't stop the castration.

"Your Majesty is mighty!"

"Long live!"

Many royalist nobles then breathed a sigh of relief, but continued to squeeze towards Edward IV, as if every step closer would give them a little more sense of security.

Look at the other side.

Since the truth had been revealed, Warwick ignored Edward IV's questioning and just sneered:

“Edward, do you think that just because others call you king, you are really the king?
If my last name was York or Lancaster and it was recognized by law, I could do a hundred times better than you as king!
But it doesn't matter.

Ever since I personally helped you put the crown on your head, everything you have is half from me, the King Maker.

The kingdom, power, wealth, palaces, even your Queen Elizabeth, the most beautiful woman in the Channel Islands, belongs half to me in terms of mystical principles, hahahaha."

When he glanced at the beautiful queen, she shuddered violently as if she was touched by a big hand and subconsciously hid behind her husband.

George, Duke of Clarence, who stood with Warwick, also chimed in:

"Brother, you should just surrender and stop struggling. Please pass on both the throne and the [royal title] to me.

Anyway, no matter which of us three phantom suns sits on the throne, it will still be the York Dynasty.

My father-in-law promised me that he would not kill you and would treat my sister-in-law and my nephews and nieces well. They can have whatever they want except power. "

Warwick did not comment on his son-in-law's words. He raised his right hand silently, and his gem seal ring burst into light. Then he shouted:

"Edward, I'm going to tell you today that if I can lift you up, I can pull you down again.

Even if you obtain the crown of the sun and truly receive the divine right to rule, there will still be two suns in the sky of Hastings!

Decree: I allow the [Lost Homelander] to enter Ganquan Palace.

Eat and drink, this is a banquet prepared for you. Eat up all the royal party and give me all the fifth element.

The Kingdom is mine, and eternal life will also be mine!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the ripples of the law that were about to expel the evil spirits paused, and then pressed back towards Edward IV little by little.

Apparently, just as Warwick had said to the Painter of Hell, in terms of real power, King Edward IV might not be as good as him, the "Kingmaker".

Otherwise, he would not have been able to establish such a powerful earl party that dared to go against the king.

Edward IV's face flushed red with rage when his true identity was exposed:

"Warri! Rick! I'm the king.

You can only take what I give you, and you can’t snatch it if I don’t give it to you! "

He also knew that his brother George was a naive fool and was in no mood to pay any attention to him. He just stared at [King Maker] Warwick.

Especially since he had the audacity to speak his mind openly and spy on his beloved beautiful queen, he was courting death.

He knew very well that if he could not execute the traitor, his royal power would be shaky and he would never be able to become the true king of the Kingdom of Hastings.

Byron, who was hiding in a corner with his sister, saw all this and thought to himself:
"It stands to reason that before taking the throne, 'I will rule the world together with my meritorious officials', and after taking the throne, the basic operation of a founding monarch should be to play 'Nine Clans Match 3'.

Unfortunately, Edward IV just couldn't do it.

This is the main reason why I didn't take a shortcut and go to my uncle in the Iris Kingdom to borrow troops, and I had to wait until the main fleet of heavy-armored cruisers was launched before fighting the White Rose head-on.

'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun' is an eternal truth.

In this world, the one with the strongest soldiers and horses becomes the king, and one good punch can prevent a hundred blows from coming.

Only if the founding war is fought well, the throne can be legitimately acquired and firmly seated, thus avoiding many small wars after the founding of the country. "

Byron watched the advancing tide of homeless people, but he sat back and silently clenched the [Broken Arrow of the Lionheart] in his pocket.

Perhaps he could not defeat Edward IV and Warwick the Kingmaker, two fake fifth-level kings who were promoted through the power of the law.

But if the two of them were to fight head-on here, and if one of them got seriously injured, Byron might be able to use this treasure's low-health special attack to kill him with one blow!
Of course, for Byron, the third party, the best outcome is to allow the royal party and the earl party to continue to be deadlocked before he is ready, and continue to bleed each other.

The more of these nobles die, the better.

Even though Byron himself came from a noble family, he knew the bad qualities of the aristocracy better than anyone else.

“These powerful nobles not only possess military, economic, and political strength, but also impose taxes on trade between territories and prohibit the movement of people. They are like a country within a country.

The essence of the Magna Carta was to weaken the royal power and strengthen the power of the great nobles.

Every generation of Hastings kings who wanted to restore the supreme royal power had to fight with the nobles and take back the lost power.

If I want to abolish the Magna Carta and centralize the kingdom in the future, I will have to eliminate most of the nobility."

“Moreover, the whale oil-powered revolution, which represented a leap forward in productivity, was just around the corner, and it was not as simple and pleasant as if we had a steam engine and could immediately flourish.

Four necessary conditions are also required: capital, mobile labor, resources, and markets. The land aristocracy, as vested interests, are all obstacles.

Except for a limited number of elites who can be absorbed into the 'Magic Banquet Council', all others should be abandoned by the times.

Therefore, I have to cross the river by feeling my way forward from my previous life. Even if I don't completely wipe out the old aristocracy in the future, I will definitely have to drastically reduce their power and influence.

But the "forced suicide" method of dying from eight bullet wounds in the back cannot be used too often.

Because as the rule maker, all rules are already in the best interest of the monarch. If he takes the lead in breaking the rules, the backlash will definitely be far greater than the benefits.

I will clean it up myself, but how can it be as pleasant as letting others do it and picking peaches myself? "

Because of this, Byron was happy to see them kill each other.

While he was not strong enough to reap the rewards, he could not allow the royalists to be killed by Warwick and allow the latter to dominate the country.

“But in the kingdom, the [King’s Title] who can mobilize the power of law is supreme, and I don’t have the ability to intervene in their direct confrontation for the time being.

The only person who can possibly influence the situation is probably

Byron looked up at one side of the banquet hall and saw a group of nobles that was not too large in number but formed a group of their own.

The leader was none other than the Marquis Thomas Neville, the father of the prospective sister-in-law, Miss Anne.

He held a holy relic that looked like a circle of wooden sticks wrapped around an axe and stood in the front. He had a heavy aura and became the third pole in this competition that could not be ignored.

Even because of the special status of the neutral party, the two sides in the stalemate subconsciously avoided their position.

No one wants to force these neutrals into the other side's camp and add unnecessary variables.

The information about the Marquis immediately came to Byron's mind.

Marquis Thomas Neville is a fourth-rank [Punishment Knight] in the Inquisition sequence, a higher-level profession than ordinary knights.

In addition to the knight's basic abilities, there is also a core ability [Seal of Punishment].

When facing lawbreakers, you can add it to your fists, cold weapons, muskets, or even anything else that comes handy to achieve the effect of a magic weapon.

The "dragon" tamed by the Marquis at the fourth level is a famous first-level holy relic of the Inquisition sequence [Tarquin the Proud Tyrant's Dictator's Fasces]:
“Although it is only a first-level holy relic, it can be called a divine weapon of the Inquisition sequence, and in some aspects it is comparable to a zero-level holy relic.

It is the earliest symbol of torture and power, belonging to the last monarch of the Silver Empire monarchy period in the mythological era: the tyrant Tarquin the Proud.

In the ancient Silver Empire, when a state of emergency occurred due to war, the Senate would appoint a consul as dictator. There were only two consuls in the entire country, which shows the lofty status of the dictator.

The so-called dictator, as the name suggests, has the highest arbitrary power without the need for public trial by others!

If he thinks someone is guilty, then he is guilty.

The consul had 12 attendants who carried a sheaf of staffs on their shoulders with a battle axe inserted in the middle, symbolizing the highest judicial authority of the Silver Empire.

The stick was used for flogging, and the axe for execution.

When the dictator toured the country, officials from all over the country had to hand over any pending cases to the dictator for a decision. If the crime was not punishable by death, the dictator would use sticks of varying thicknesses to beat the criminal based on the severity of the crime.

If the crime was extremely serious, the criminal's head would be chopped off with an axe.

In that era, the fascists were also called "fascism", symbolizing power, violence, and terror.

Holding the [Dictator's Baton] is equivalent to obtaining the highest dictatorial power, which can be used to behead tyrants and traitors.

More importantly, when the ancient Silver Empire perished, all the countries in the Old Continent claimed that they were the legitimate rulers of the empire!
Including cultural customs, as well as the continental legal system used by various countries, all originated from the Silver Empire of that time.

Even though the current Holy Silver Empire is neither holy nor has much silver, nor is it an empire in the traditional sense, it still obtained a [Crown] that surpasses the [Title] of all other countries, which shows the influence of the other party.

Therefore, this axe from the previous dynasty could theoretically really be used to kill officials or even the king of this dynasty.

Anyone except an outlaw would have to be careful when facing it."

At this moment, Marquis Neville resonated with the [Holy Relic].

The blinding red light was like a tyrannical dragon that was constantly swallowing and spitting out in the dictator's staff. Looking at the two kings who shared the power equally, it instinctively wanted to try.

This [Punishment Knight] tamed this powerful force from the mythological era and was a top-notch existence among all fourth-tier heroes, and even had a special attack effect on other Inquisition sequences.

With such a powerful character around, even if Warwick the Kingmaker was crazy, he would not provoke the neutrals at this critical moment.

The serious matter is to deal with the royal party with all our strength.

After all, it was impossible for him to kill all the nobles. Even if he came to power by seizing his grandson's body in the future, he would still be a king with limited royal power and would still need nobles at all levels to help him govern the country.

The neutrals have their own interests, just as Byron does.

There are ancient families that have been passed down for thousands of years in this world, but there are no royal families that have lasted for thousands of years. Anyway, no matter who sits on the throne, he needs to win them over.

Unless something unexpected happens, they will never risk their lives themselves.

Some people have money and armies, and they are much more powerful than some mere aristocratic families.

This scene made Byron shake his head:
"As a subject, Warwick holds the Sword of Damocles and the King of One, while Thomas Neville holds the Dictator's Prop.

The king of Hattings was a real failure.

If it were a unified centralized country, let alone such a powerful weapon, if you dared to hide two sets of armor, you would have been executed for treason and your entire family would have been exterminated, right?

A king under the law is not even worthy of being a dog! "

Just as Byron saw that the royalists suffered heavy losses and Edward IV was somewhat exhausted, he began to think about how to perform the "offshore balancing technique" in the way that best suited his own interests.

Do you want to use the copper wire to borrow a "left zero right fire, Thunder God help me" from the sky to wipe out the displaced people around you?

"Ah! It's the Dullahan."

"do not come!"

"My hands won't work, stop, stop."

Suddenly, a group of girls' screams came from one side of the banquet hall.

Byron turned his head suddenly and found that the direction from which the sound came was the flower hall where his future sister-in-law Anne Neville and her sisters were hiding!

[Shinmi] also caught a glimpse of a familiar headless figure appearing in their room.

This sudden change was obviously beyond the expectations of either party.

Even Warwick, the instigator who was about to win, suddenly changed his expression and shouted:

"Stop, Hell Painter, those people can't be killed!"

At the same time, Byron; [Punishment Knight] Marquis Thomas Neville; and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who seemed to have not given up the invitation to dance and had been waiting near the flower hall, all rushed over subconsciously.

But it was too late.

(End of this chapter)