Pirate Kingship.

Chapter 464: Thunder and Fire, Civil War Begins (6400 -in-)

The only people in the hall were Anne Neville and five other unmarried sisters.

The unique custom-made dresses have their own characteristics, which complement the girls' own temperaments, making them look heroic, cute and cool, making people forget the world.

In this small circle of neutral aristocratic ladies, Anne, the only daughter of the Marquis, has the highest status.

It is precisely because of the first-level holy relic [Tarquin the Proud's Dictator's Baton] in the hands of Marquis Neville that the neutral faction has the confidence to play both sides between the York Party, the Lancaster Party, the Royal Party, and the Earl's Party.

When the "Death Stranding" happened, they were still comforting Anne Neville, who was sad because she came to Ganquan Palace again and was reminded of her past.

All those present were her closest confidants, and they all knew about her engagement to Edward Lancaster, the only son of Mad King Henry VI and the original first heir to the throne.

Chirping and comforting:

"Anne, don't be sad anymore. Prince Edward who is sleeping in Valhalla certainly doesn't want you to continue to be depressed.

A year has passed. No matter how good your relationship was, it’s time to move on and face a new life.”

"Yeah, you hardly went out this year, and you lost a lot of weight."

There were also those who were indignant at Richard, the "Devil Duke," for his persistent pursuit of them, and their words were particularly sharp:

"The York family are all despicable villains. They can't defeat Lancaster head-on, so they use conspiracy and trickery.

The church, which is supposed to uphold justice, is in cahoots with them.

If Lancaster were still here, Anne would be a princess by now."

"That's right, Richard the Toad wants to eat swan meat, but he doesn't even consider what he looks like.

Not to mention living with him, just meeting him unexpectedly at night would make you think you had encountered an evil spirit and would be frightened to death.

You dare to get close to our Annie all day and try to take advantage of her."

Ordinary people might be afraid of the power of the Devil Duke, but they, the descendants of the great nobles who had been passed down for at least several hundred years, were not even afraid of the king, so how could they be afraid of a mere king's brother?

Since John the Lost King who signed the Magna Carta, the kings of Hattings have indeed been of little clout.

Anne Neville felt a little warm in her heart as she listened to her sisters' words, but it was not easy to forget her lover of many years.

After chatting for a while, someone who was outspoken suddenly said:
"What do you think we should do if the uncles of the faction decide to side with the royalists and ask one of us to enter into a political marriage with that dwarf?"

The hall suddenly fell silent.

They usually enjoy the family's resources, extraordinary knowledge and privileges. How could they not pay for them at the critical moment?
They have already had a huge advantage over the common people who have a hard time even living. It would be irresponsible if they still only think about pursuing their own freedom, individuality, and love.

As for "You only lost a leg, but she lost her love." It is simply a shocking view-shattering statement and is beyond the consideration of normal people.

When Anne heard her sisters mention marriage, her eyes grew dimmer.

If a political marriage happens to be with the person you like, how rare and lucky would that be?
Edward was the same age as her. The upper aristocratic circle in the kingdom was very small, and the two had known each other since childhood.

In addition to laying the foundation through family education in the early stages, we were classmates from public school to university.

Both of them are from the Inquisition sequence, one is a [Lawyer] and the other is a [Punishment Knight], and both studied law.

Everyone thought that this would be a beautiful love story from school uniform to wedding dress, a perfect marriage like the encounter between the prince and princess in a fairy tale.

But the White Rose York family destroyed everything.

For Anne, the greater her joy at the beginning, the greater her pain now.

"Perhaps, I should have held Edward's hand tightly at that time, not letting him push me away and being swallowed by the Kraken together with him.

The Valhalla of the Bay People? It was swallowed by a super-sized being. I am afraid that when my soul returns to the underworld, I will never see him again. "

As the first heir to the throne of Mad King Henry VI, Edward did not follow Byron and his men to fight in the naval battle in the Strait of Dover, but stayed in the capital with Queen Margaret.

Even Byron and the group of girls didn't know that the young couple in love were actually sitting in this flower hall when the incident happened.

Anne Neville also saw with her own eyes that Edward was dragged into a dream by tentacles extending from the void.

Suddenly, the scene of life and death seemed to have happened just yesterday.

Just as she was once again immersed in grief, her ears suddenly moved, warning the other sisters:

"Be careful, there's an intruder."

Then a series of fighting sounds and screams came from outside.

Although they were shocked, they remained calm. Even though they were a group of girls, they were all descendants of great nobles and were extraordinary people themselves.

Influenced by the leader of the camp, Marquis Thomas Neville, all of the members are female [Punishment Knights]. In addition to studying law, they also receive militarized knight training.

His skills are much better than those of some of the pampered non-combat male nobles out there.

Stab it--!
They tore open the hems of their dresses to avoid hindering their movements, stepped on the high heels of their shoes and broke them off, and drew their daggers from the leather sheaths tied to their thighs.

They collectively activated the [Seal of Punishment] to greatly increase their own combat power, and were just about to find the right opportunity to break out of the flower hall and meet up with Marquis Neville and the others.

Just at this moment, behind the frosted glass of the hall, a short figure suddenly seemed to sway.

A black mark immediately appeared on the smooth floor beneath everyone's feet.

If there were any Earl's party outside here, they would find that the structure of the mark is exactly the same as the [Seal of the Beast] in their hands, but the shape is completely opposite.

As for the effect
Woo woo woo.
As a biting cold wind blew past, a pure black knight riding a horse that almost reached the ceiling suddenly appeared behind them.

It turned out to be the painting spirit number three [Cursed Spirit·Headless Horseman] who was previously discovered by Byron and completely killed!
A terrifying, bloody and filthy aura exploded, instantly covering the entire hall.

All six girls couldn't help but shudder, and the youngest one couldn't help but screamed:

"It's the Headless Horseman!"

The murderous intent of the visitor was extremely decisive. He did not give them any time to react or call for help, and the killing rules of the cursed spirit were immediately triggered.

The six pretty girls, with different temperaments, were filled with fear. They uncontrollably raised their swords together with the Headless Knight and slowly placed them across their necks.

But compared to the simple fear of the other girls, there was a sense of relief in Anne's eyes.

puff!puff!puff!
Six beautiful human heads soared into the sky under the push of the blood pressure in their necks, and the headless corpses slumped to the ground.

Even though several of them, including Annie, were second-level [Punishment Knights], they were still too powerless against a Cursed Spirit that could knock away [Sea Mage] Salant with one move.

The red blood instantly flooded the ground, and also quietly melted the mark that seemed to be used for positioning.

The "Death Stranding" accident was triggered simultaneously, and asphalt-like black sea water emerged from the ground of the flower hall, completely submerging all traces.

next moment.

The door was pushed open suddenly.

Although Byron was the fastest, Richard, the Devil Duke, who was closest to the flower hall, was the first to rush in and saw everything that happened here. At the same time, he also stepped into the killing rules of the Headless Horseman.

Just as he was about to pick up a dagger and follow the girls, he shouted angrily:
"Draw a circle to make a prison! Die!"

The Gold and Yuan Sequence [Banker] itself does not create extraordinary abilities, but through the combination of investment, savings, lending and other abilities, it makes them the porters of extraordinary abilities.

As long as they make other extraordinary people suffer, anyone who needs extraordinary abilities can do without them.

What’s more, he is a powerful fourth-level [Banker].

Om-!
A red light wave instantly built a cage based on the four walls of the flower hall.

It is the core ability of the third-level [Warden] of the Inquisition sequence [Draw a Prison on the Ground]!
One can designate any walled place as a prison under his jurisdiction, and in this mystical "prison", he enjoys all the privileges of a warden.

Greatly increases strength, speed, and endurance, while giving different degrees of negative effects to the following "prisoners":

[Force Field Shackles], [Mind Numbness], [Fatigue Aura], [Confinement Maze].
The worst part is that attacking the [Warden] is equivalent to committing a more serious crime. The more severe the attack, the more severely you will be suppressed, and you may even be hurt by the law.

I don’t know if Richard accidentally chose the right ability that is most effective against the Headless Horseman.

When the head is about to be chopped off, the killing rule will rebound and make the headless knight chop off his own head.

The constant bouncing back and forth caused the Headless Knight to swing the axe at his empty neck repeatedly, but he failed to hurt Richard at all.

It then dissipated on the spot, as if it found that its attack was ineffective and was summoned back by its master, the Hell Painter.

[Devil Duke] Richard looked at Anne Neville's torn body in front of him and could not help but kneel on the ground and cry:
"Annie, I'm sorry I'm late.

I don’t ask you to marry me, I just want you to come back alive, please come back alive.”

Others saw all this, and although Richard still looked like an ugly dwarf, they could not help but be moved by the Duke's deep affection.

I feel that the rumors that the other party is vindictive may not be entirely true.

After all, Miss Anne had never treated the Duke well, yet he still cried so sadly.

When Byron and Marquis Neville arrived one after another.

The room was already filled with "Lost Homelanders" who had escaped from the underworld. Even the bodies of several girls were swallowed up by the rapidly rising black water.

The three of them were immediately pushed out by countless evil spirits.

But no one noticed that when Byron realized something was wrong, he calmly activated the power of his skull number one [Lord of Heaven] and skull number thirteen [Goddess of Suicide].

He glanced through the evil spirit's nest in front of him and quietly took away something.

After feeling a little relieved, he frowned again:
“Something’s wrong, absolutely wrong.

Lancaster knew the character of his great enemy Warwick very well and always planned before taking action.

This was the case when he sent tax officials to check accounts and assassinate me. If he had not misjudged my methods, he would have succeeded long ago.

I really find it hard to believe that he would make such a bad move and ruin a good situation that he was sure to win just because of the mistake made by his partner [Painter of Hell].

More importantly.”

Byron looked at the logbook in his right eye.

After the two masterminds behind the scenes, [Hell Painter] and [King Maker], were exposed one after another.

The decoding density of [Secret: The Death Stranding incident under the bipartisan dispute, historical impact 28] has only been advanced to 70%.

Just like the previous "Secrets of the Empire of the Sun: The Dark Clouds of the Succession of Kings", it was obvious that there was still some big secret hidden. Those who play politics are all ruthless, and he was worried that even at the last moment, the guy who was still hiding under the water might not jump out in person.

"Oh my Annie!"

On the other side, Marquis Thomas Neville saw his beloved daughter, his only precious daughter, die tragically. He couldn't help but howl like a lone wolf and almost vomited blood on the spot.

The parents of the other five girls also felt dizzy, unable to understand why they, the neutral party, who had done a good job, had encountered such an unexpected disaster.

They couldn't find the Headless Horseman, nor did they see where the Painter of Hell was hiding, so they all directed their hatred towards Warwick.

Suddenly, the political situation between the royalists, the earls and the neutrals changed dramatically.

Just an unexpected "accidental injury" completely forced the neutral faction represented by the Neville family to the side of the royalists.

"Oh! Warwick, I will kill you!"

Marquis Neville raised the [Dictator's Probe] in his hand and pounced on Warwick who was confronting Edward IV like a tiger coming down the mountain.

The family motto roared:

"The king is under the law, and justice delayed is justice denied!"

The [Dictator's Fascia] in his hand exploded with a rusty dark red light as his furious mood progressed, and behind him, twelve rusty cavalry attendants appeared, each holding a fascia of varying thicknesses.

The Silver Law descended, and the dense legal net connected them together, forming a group of armored knights with Marquis Neville as the spearhead.

Rushing through the wide hall.

Although its power is still not as good as the fake King, it has reached the same level.

Especially when Edward IV is the main force here, it is enough to add a heavy weight to the balance of the battlefield!

Rumble.
All the "Lost Homelanders" along the way were violently smashed into a cloud of blood mist, and disappeared in light before they hit the ground.

In the blink of an eye, he rushed in front of Warwick, and ignoring the other party's repeated shouts of "misunderstanding", he swung the giant axe in his hand down with extreme anger.

Warwick had no choice but to draw out a half-handed sword from his waist, take a step forward and use a [Wheel Slash] from above to counter the attack.

clang--!
Thunder roared, and all the glass in the banquet hall was shattered in an instant.

A terrifying shock wave erupted, and all the Earl's party members who were originally standing next to Warwick were knocked away and rolled out of the hall like rolling gourds.

Although Warwick himself did not have much of a problem, he was still under great pressure to confront Edward IV and Thomas Neville at the same time.

clang!clang!clang!
The sword in his hand danced into a ball of silver light, and he fought and retreated, using his superb swordsmanship that reached the realm of a sword master to resist Thomas Neville's bombardment, shouting:
"【Hell Painter】Come and help me!"

He breathed a sigh of relief only when two huge monsters leaped out of the "asphalt pool" behind him and pounced on Marquis Neville opposite him.

The one with three heads is "Painting Spirit No. 4: Hellhound", and the one that looks like a dragon but has no front claws is "Painting Spirit No. 5: Wyvern".

They are all painters who rank high among the painters in hell, and the other party did not treat them perfunctorily.

Of course, it is impossible for a tyrant like Warwick to completely trust his collaborator, the Painter of Hell.

A strict contract had been signed with him before, requiring him to do his utmost to deal with Warwick's enemies and protect him from harm.

“Maybe it was just an accident.

But the operation has failed because of this fool. It is impossible to destroy the royal party and Edward IV today. We must retreat temporarily and regroup.

As long as I still have the title of "King Maker", I can come and go freely in this palace, and I can come back sooner or later.

Before leaving, there is one more person that must be killed!"

He dodged and retreated, leaving a trail of afterimages as he rushed out of the banquet hall.

At the same time, he looked coldly at Byron who was chasing him out with a group of royalist extraordinary people.

Over the past few months, we have tried to kill him several times but failed. Instead, he has become stronger and stronger, his contributions have become greater, and his status has become higher and higher.

He has become a banner for the royal party to rally the people, and even the most capable minister of the kingdom who has created huge overseas interests.

“If we don’t get rid of it now, it will become more and more difficult to get rid of it later.

If I can’t get the overseas benefits, then no one can get them. I’d rather give them to the Castilians.”

With a fierce heart, he used the Seal of the Bottomless Pit that he had mastered and ordered the evil spirits that were still pouring into the material world through the black water:

"Law: Kill him with all your strength!"

Warwick thought that he could defeat Byron with just a casual blow, but he didn't expect that Byron was already a fourth-level mythical creature.

Even without using the Night Demon Prince's series of black magic, the ability of the Storm Admiral alone is incomparable.

As long as he turns back to plunder the treasure fleet and restore the balance of the three extraordinary routes, Byron dares to fight against the fifth-level legend.

Snap! Snap! Snap! .
Countless bloody handprints gave up on killing the royalist nobles and turned to kill Byron. The other nobles who had chased him out were terrified and dodged.

Byron's eyes also stern:
"In order to maintain the balance between the Royal Party and the Earl's Party, I didn't take the initiative to deal with you, but you still come to mess with me?!"

Without hesitation, he summoned [Guaranteed Hit Gungnir] with his left hand, and condensed a storm weapon exactly the same as it in his right hand.

Tie a coil of pure copper wire that had been prepared long ago to the butt of each gun.

At the same time, the [Divine Mask] belonging to the Bay God King Woden once again appeared on his face.

The power of this [King of the Wild Hunt] originally includes both the undead and the storm, which can greatly enhance his extraordinary abilities in these two aspects.

He concentrated and held his breath, using all his strength to activate his [Divine Vision] and [Weather Intuition], and was aware of every tiny change in the cumulonimbus clouds above his head.

Just when the vanguard of [Lost Homelander] was still twenty meters away from him.

His eyes suddenly widened, and he threw the storm spear in his hand out fiercely.

call out!
A line of bright blue lightning, surrounded by countless storm elves, shot straight up into the sky.

It headed straight for the dark cumulonimbus cloud that Byron perceived was carrying the strongest electric charge.

The gun at the other end of the copper wire was aimed at the largest "tar pit" in the square in front of the banquet hall.

At this moment, the two spears turned into positive and negative electrodes.

"Left is zero, right is fire, Thunder God, help me, die!"

next second.

Boom——! ! !
The thunderclouds were too close to the ground. Thunder and lightning came at the same time. The flaming white lightning turned into a dazzling white dragon and plunged into the asphalt pool.

Pure water is an insulator, while water with impurities is a good conductor.

In an instant, the entire square was filled with electric snakes running around. Countless homeless people flickered after the electricity was turned on, and soon turned into ashes.

"The sun and storms are the nemesis of the deep sea." This statement is absolutely true.

In just a breath, the entire square was completely cleared.

Even the members of the royal party who were a little further away had their hair standing on end due to static electricity, as if they had a broom head.

But no one had the leisure to care about their hairstyle. They all stared blankly at the terrifying power in front of them, muttering:
"The Holy Spirit is reincarnated. It must be the Holy Spirit is reincarnated."

"Except for the Creator, how can a mortal master such great power?"

"Holy Spirit!"

“Holy Spirit.”

Although the main forces in this battle were Edward IV and Marquis Neville, who could blame Byron for making this move the biggest and most spectacular?
Instead, he became the most prominent one.

The title [Sea Hunter] already had a legendary level of 29 points, and at this moment it completely broke through the limit and reached the 30-point mark!
It also gave him a third additional ability in addition to [Guaranteed Gun·Gungnir] and [Animal Companion·Raven Giant Wolf].

Without waiting for him to take a closer look.

Seeing the bad situation, Warwick on the other side started to run for his life, crushing his outer boots with one foot, revealing a pair of extremely worn leather sandals.

[Second-level Relic: Marathon Running Shoes]:
"A long-distance runner from the mythical era.

Just put it on, and you can run 42.195 kilometers with one somersault. No human being can catch up with you. "

Warwick's figure flashed, and he pulled up his son-in-law George, Duke of Clarence, who had just crawled up from the ground, and came to the outside of the city in one stride.

Upon receiving the news, the Earl's party members also fled the capital and rushed back to their own territories.

Various forces and spies also responded immediately. Countless messages were transmitted through the legal network, and the sky above the royal capital was buzzing.

This "Death Stranding" attack was somewhat anticlimactic, and it was clearly not worth the effort.

Although the royal party suffered heavy losses, it unexpectedly drove the neutral party out and joined the hostile camp of the earl's party.

Failure to completely root out the royal party and send them to the underworld in one piece meant that a civil war between the royal party and the earl's party was bound to begin.

Warwick, with a gloomy face, mobilized his faction before the war through the legal network:
"The decapitation tactic has failed. Everyone, return to your territory and gather your troops. We will soon come back with a dignified and fair attack!

A few days ago, I found an arms dealer called Rheinmetall on the online financial street. Although it is a private company, they have sufficient supply and will sell anything as long as you pay.

You don't have to worry about the logistics of this battle and future rewards.

I will use all the savings of the Warwick family to support my son-in-law, George, Duke of Clarence, to take the throne. Money is definitely not a problem. "

At the same time, Edward IV, looking at the mess on the ground in the palace, issued the same order with a livid face:

“Gather the troops!
Even after the destruction of the First Fleet, the reconstruction plan remained on paper, but sufficient armaments had to be purchased at all costs to win the counterinsurgency war.

Destroy Warwick and his earldom once and for all!
Richard, I'll leave the purchasing to you.

The Minister of Military Affairs has reported to me that a private arms supplier, Rheinmetall, has recently emerged in the online financial street, and its equipment is extremely cost-effective.

If our arsenal's production capacity is insufficient, we will seek external help or even outsource it all to a third-party service provider.

In ten days, at most, we will personally lead our troops to the Earldom of Warwick, catch him off guard, and put an end to this farce once and for all!"

The [Sun Crown] on his head shone brightly, and he made his first wise decision.

(End of this chapter)