After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

But now that the artificial magic reactor has been extinguished and countless demons have been awakened by the call of the ice calamity on the surface, this nation's centuries-long struggle is destined to end in depravity.

The call of the Ice Calamity not only awakened the demons of the Cloud Continent, but also the sleeping Hutot Khan in the northern grasslands of the continent of Elusia.

He knew that the situation in the north was nearing its end.

Now that the demons have awakened, in order to have a chance of survival... he must consider a plan to head south ahead of schedule.

Chapter Two: Meteor, the Premature Southward March, the Undead March 8K

April 1st, Imperial Calendar 006, night.

A meteor fell from the sky. In the minds of nomadic peoples, the appearance of a meteor either signified good fortune or disaster—and how to interpret the appearance of a meteor became the exclusive right of the Khan.

Through the meteor, the Khan could interpret the current situation as one that was advantageous to him. But for Khuttod Khan, the appearance of this meteor did not give him a choice.

Or perhaps, he was originally planning to head south anyway, and the sudden appearance of the meteor, aside from forcing him to head south before he had sufficient supplies, didn't actually have a significant impact.

So Khuttok Khan took a deep breath and convened a symbolic meeting with the Kheshig, his ministers, and the priests. With the Kheshig and priests' unanimous affirmation, he confirmed that this meteor was the beginning of an auspicious omen.

Khuttod Khan would then naturally announce this news to his people—but not now.

"Gathering people late at night will only cause more chaos. Let's wait until tomorrow noon—we'll let the people of the grasslands enjoy a feast, and then I'll announce the good news during the feast. That's settled then."

At the command of Khuttod Khan, the Kheshig and his priests left. Khuttod Khan sat on his cushion, lost in thought, recalling the vision he had seen in his dream.

Whether it was because the world was about to perish again or not, in any case, Hutok Khan dreamed of many scenes from the ancient world.

Moreover, it concerns the scene of that [Cloud Kingdom]—in his memory, the Khan became an ordinary commoner in that kingdom. But even as a commoner, he had inexhaustible magical power to use and countless pieces of knowledge to freely browse in the [Cloud Kingdom].

This is a powerful nation capable of artificially producing magic. In the Khan's memory, it was the most powerful of the four ancient kingdoms, but also the least populated.

This country is called the Kingdom of Eden. It is a heavenly kingdom that has completed the creation of artificial magic and personality uploading technology, and almost everyone lives in a mechanical age.

Because none of them are theoretically immortal, this country naturally has the smallest population. At the same time, they have preserved a vast amount of knowledge and skills, and when they go out to work, they are accompanied by individuals called "Golems." They once created a strange race of antler-wearing beings, who had once shared a powerful era with their masters.

Until the demon invasion... With all four continents under demonic invasion, the Kingdom of Eden suffered the most powerful and terrifying invasion of any demonic army.

(It must be the legendary Titan demons and... other unimaginable things. It's hard to understand how they withstood the first wave of attacks, and then tragically let their land and people fall to the surface...)

In the Khan's memory, the Cloud Kingdom seemed to be divided into three parts.

One portion fell into the southern ocean and formed an archipelago, another fell into the eastern part of the continent of Elusia and formed a mine, and yet another rose into the sky and its whereabouts remain unknown.

Leaving aside the two parts that went high into the sky and those that crashed into the ocean, in short, the Khan is determined to obtain the ruins of the Cloud Kingdom in the eastern mines of the Roman Empire.

It's not just because the wondrous technology of the Cloud Kingdom should possess the ability to fight against demons in this era. More importantly, once the Khan inherits the legacy of Eden, his ambitions will be within reach.

But before that... the Khan must first conquer the Roman Empire, secure a stable home for his people, send them north to defend against the Ice Calamity, and only then can he make preparations for inheriting the legacy.

(Simply put, it's an extremely time-consuming operation... but let's just leave it at that.)

Huttok Khan took a deep breath. He was already prepared for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, within the remaining territory of the Kingdom of Eden, after the artificial magic reactor was completely shut down, all citizens of the Kingdom of Eden above were ready to land on the ground.

In the centuries of bloody war, the already small population of the Kingdom of Eden has dwindled from over 200,000 to just 400. These 400 people refer to those who retain the last reproductive function in a biological sense and are kept in cryogenic chambers as the last seed. Those who are active outside are the magical dolls who have uploaded all their consciousness to the magic network and can be repeatedly resurrected.

Even with unlimited resurrection, the Titan demons still inflicted too many casualties on the citizens of Eden. With only 400 living citizens remaining, the number of magical dolls has also dwindled to less than a thousand due to inevitable battle losses, interrupted personality transmission, and simply being unable to withstand the pressure of bloody warfare.

In this situation, the Kingdom of Eden had long ago handed over the management of its entire administrative structure to intelligent life forms known as the "Synthetic Dolls." Under the operation of the "Synthetic Dolls," only a small portion of Eden's territory, which had risen into near-Earth orbit with virtually no protection, peacefully survived for over six hundred years after the demons went into hibernation.

But now.

I have no idea who the hell awakened the Ice Calamity on the continent of Alicia. Now, the roars of the awakened ancient demons in the dream have also awakened the demons of the Kingdom of Eden?!

"Perhaps the situation on the surface isn't as bad as we imagine." The magical puppet muttered to itself, staring at the palace gates that could be breached at any moment. "Although there's a possibility that the Ice Calamity might just awaken after entering a normal dormant period, it's clear... the other nations that fought alongside the demons back then couldn't have disappeared, could they?"

"The Saintess of Farland burned the entire continent, along with herself, to ashes. The Sirens of the West uprooted their own continent, and it's estimated that only a minority group with the ability to cross oceans survived. The Bayerns of the East seem to have sunk into the earth as well. Now that we can't make accurate observations of the ground, who knows if only demons are left on the earth?"

"But it's still better than sitting here and waiting to die like this! Otherwise, not to mention us, even Elena herself wouldn't be able to survive!"

Elena is the name of the synthetic doll. All the citizens of Eden who participated in the creation process regarded this synthetic life as their own daughter and placed extremely high hopes on it.

Although Elena still doesn't understand human emotions and speaks only in a cold, mechanical way, her contributions to the Kingdom of Eden are undeniable...

This is why more and more Eden citizens now believe they should indeed return to the surface. Otherwise, Elena could collapse at any moment due to the demon invasion, and without Elena's assistance, the current Eden Kingdom is completely powerless to fight against the demons.

Ultimately, those who have survived to this point are not the soldiers fighting on the front lines, but scientists protected as valuable assets. Once these scientists lose their [Magical Doll] bodies, they are just ordinary people—at least in the face of the elite forces emerging from the bloody battle.

Not to mention the [seeds] still in hibernation pods that haven't awakened yet...

The magical puppets sighed. They could only grip their weapons, which had been improved countless times but had become increasingly simplified due to a lack of materials. They waited for everyone to find a replacement for the artificial magic reactor to provide energy for the magic barrier in the controlled area, while also calculating how long the current Eden Kingdom could hold out.

After all, just now, another piece of debris crashed into the ground... Although the friction from its high-speed descent will quickly reduce it to insignificant fragments, this is still not good news for the Kingdom of Eden...

They could only hold on, until the assessment of landing on the ground was confirmed, or until the day the demons were all killed.

...........

Meanwhile, in the capital of Roman Kingdom, the meteor was also observed in the sky, but for the capital, where public discontent was already high, the magnitude of the calamity that the meteor represented was of no concern.

After all, Prince Garsen had truly reached the point of being abandoned by everyone except for his head lady-in-waiting, his attendants, and the few remaining imperial knights. He had no support from the people and nobles, and no one was likely to support him. However, having realized that all he wanted at this stage was this safe and comfortable life, Prince Garsen felt neither shame nor worry.

He enjoyed this kind of life. As long as he could ensure there was wine, good food, and pleasure—he didn't care how many people died outside. As long as he could live comfortably, he wouldn't mind replacing his imperial knights with soldiers from Alessar.

Based on this, even if Allese wanted to propose more conditions, Prince Gassen would likely accept them.

Looking out the window at the bustling crowds on the streets of the capital, Prince Garsen took only one bite of the crispy roasted pork leg, then sighed:

"It was just a shooting star..."

It was just a shooting star.

The prince, absorbed in his schemes and plots, sighed heavily.

Meanwhile, the demon servant was pondering where the meteor had come from.

After all, demons are not mindless creatures. He knew very well that if the meteor was real, it was impossible for it to suddenly appear out of nowhere without warning.

If it were a genuine meteor... it would definitely appear where it's visible first, not just appear out of thin air, just like how the Romans don't suddenly possess truth, goodness, and beauty...

...

out of thin air?

The demon servant looked up at the beginning of the shooting star. In that night sky, the demon servant strained his eyes to see, but could only see a peaceful expanse.

It seems like the aurora started from there too. Was it just my imagination?

The demon shook his head, thinking to himself that since the Ice Calamity had already awakened, the next demonic calamity might end before it even started. He felt incredibly at ease.

And that was after the meteor appeared.

The rainy season has officially begun in the southern part of the central region of the Roman Empire.

As dark clouds gradually gather, the undead, whose numbers have already been reduced by more than half, will follow the sounds of the approaching rain to the temporarily peaceful south.

Meanwhile, on the southern plains outside the capital, General Dreschka's military region troops were conquering city after city.

He had received news of the fall of the rear cities, but he had not yet begun purging the interior. He knew very well how significant it would be to be fighting off an enemy with one hand while simultaneously making a few slashes on his arm with a knife in the other—more importantly, he knew the nobles were truly capable of doing so.

The nobles' sense of honor and shame is even worse than that of the new recruits in the military! At least the recruits know how much work they do and how much pay they get, while the nobles still cling to the corrupt idea that "we can still be nobles as long as we surrender," which is truly lamentable.

In this situation, would General Dreschka really dare to trust the nobles to control his rear?

He dared not, he really dared not. So all he could do was send messages to the capital, hoping to get Prince Garsen's assistance, especially the Alessars' assistance, while continuing his journey under the cover of night.

However, his letter went unanswered, and the returning messenger claimed that Prince Gassen was staying at home and that the situation in the capital was even more chaotic than anyone had imagined.

If it weren't for the comfortable heating and other convenient facilities in the capital, perhaps the capital would already be surrounded by an erupting crowd.

Alas! How has this country degenerated?

General Dreschka sighed heavily. After ordering his soldiers to besiege a city once again, which the nobles had closed their gates to defend against peasant rebels, he stepped forward again and issued a proclamation of surrender, only to be met with an unquestionable rejection once more.

The nobles did not believe they had any need to resist invasion by enemy states.

They value their identity highly. They have no sense of belonging to this country.

They...should not exist in this country.

General Dreschka now understands firsthand why the Regent had been so persistent in trying to weaken the power of the feudal nobility.

As the regent feared.

In the face of war between nations, the nobles of the Roman Empire were nothing but a bunch of worthless trash devoid of any sense of honor. Nothing more.

...........

The next day, April 2nd, arrived early in the morning.

As the rain and fog rose over the central region of the Roman Empire, followed by rainfall, General Dreschka, after conquering the city he could conquer, chose to immediately open the city gates and send his well-rested light cavalry to the mountainous region that isolated the south and north of the central area.

He ordered one group of cavalry to lead the undead toward the Isogardian-held territory, while another group led them toward the very culprits, the parish.

"On the one hand, this is to cause trouble for the Isugardians, and preferably force them to retreat—they don't have many people, and if they also have to take the townspeople who are being enslaved with them, they will have to abandon most of the cities they occupy, which will inevitably cause serious chaos in their logistics and administration."

On the other hand, the parish has been standing idly by for too long! They created this bunch of living dead themselves, and then chose to watch the show! We must drag the parish into this mess, we must make the parish give back their reserves, otherwise we have no hope of victory at all.

So go! Go now! Lure the undead away as quickly as possible before they enter our controlled area! Hurry!

With General Dreschka's urgent command, the district's cavalry split into two. They rode small, slow but agile horses across the hills, deliberately making piercing noises with their whistles in the rain to attract the undead to follow behind them.

The cavalry controlled their speed to prevent the undead from falling behind, and the noise generated by the undead moving in a certain direction further guided the undead in that direction. Under their leadership, the undead quickly split into two groups. By that afternoon, one group was moving towards the territory occupied by the Issugard colonial army, while the other was moving towards the parish that was now peacefully being cultivated.

The light cavalrymen were unsure whether the Protestant Church led by the Virgin Mary or the Old Church led by Peter was the real culprit, but they were certain that the parish had played an extremely disgraceful role in this incident—so the light cavalrymen planned to distribute the undead evenly throughout every corner of the parish, only in this way could their pent-up hatred be relieved.

Even with their high speed, the light cavalry could only advance slowly when slowed down by the undead.

As they slowly advanced, both the parish and Isgard noticed the unusual activity in the distance...

The Isgard scouts abandoned all their field positions and cities almost the instant they saw a mountain of corpses surging towards them.

Because they knew very well that their rifles had no wide-range lethality, let alone that damn dense wave that looked like it was being slowly approached by millions of soldiers!

Rather than wasting bullets among a group of people who look incredibly strange, it's better to abandon the city immediately and run as far away as possible.

With this in mind, they took all the supplies they could carry, while the residents of the occupied territories were initially overjoyed, thinking that the army had finally come to their rescue, forcing the Issugardians to evacuate.

When they climbed the city wall and looked out into the hazy rain and mist, wow!

The group that arrived were all fellow villagers, a group of dead people being led here little by little by the light cavalry. In the rain, the dense yellow dots among these mountains and seas of corpses terrified many people, causing some residents with weak mental fortitude to faint on the spot, and making more people realize the fact that they had been completely abandoned.

"Run! Let's run!"

Those who could pack their belongings fled the city with their bags, while many more chose to run away with just two pieces of bread in their pockets—while those who fainted or were unable to escape the city were left behind in the town to await their doom.