Xingyue, is Xiaokai also considered Kai?

Because this is a planet of the sea.

So, what about the Dead Apostles?

Where do inanimate things come from? And where do they go?

Only the moon, floating gently in the dark sky, seemed to be laughing.

"You surpassed Zhu Yue in some aspects, but were abandoned by Zhu Yue because you were too unstable."

"But now, the kings of the past are dead, leaving only the sole heir to the throne, the sole princess, the sole... 'one'?"

Van Fem's breath stirred the surface of the wine.

Flowers bloom on the surface, with deep red rose petals spilling out one by one.

“Altruchi, the factor that the Grand Marshal of the Magic Path saw, the factor that would end the problem of Zhu Yue in his place, is not you. Because of this, you are destined never to become ‘One,’ nor ever to become a king. Your nature, your future, and your efforts are just as Zhu Yue, who has already abandoned you, said—”

Whether it was magic or a trick, the petals were scattered by the sea breeze and flowed into the Dnieper River in Eastern Europe.

"It was just a failure."

135: The Princess Who Chose to 'Make a Fool of Herself'

"A failed product".

In Eltrauge's eyes, Van Fem's words overlapped with those of the former Moon King.

Her condescending words carried a merciless tone, leaving Eltrauge speechless.

She didn't know how to answer, so she simply nodded gently, as if bowing her head.

Because besides that, Princess Ji didn't know what else she could do.

But later, after the battle of the Thousand-Year City.

"Now that Zhu Yue is dead, as the future king, you should go and wipe out the restless Dead Apostles, the human church that is eyeing us covetously, and the True Ancestors who have fallen into the 'Demon Kings'."

The True Ancestors are species created by the planet, beings with a natural sense of touch. However, the birth of the True Ancestors has flaws, such as the problem of having a vampiric impulse. This is probably because the prototype used as a reference was flawed in itself.

All True Ancestors crave the blood of "humans," the beings they are meant to restrain, and constantly expend their spiritual energy to suppress this impulse. Even so, there is a limit, because they cannot fundamentally resolve the blood-sucking urge. Their desires are slowly accumulated, and eventually, they cannot suppress them with their own power. Such True Ancestors will personally sink into eternal slumber, which is the end of their lifespan.

Among them are True Ancestors who succumb to their desires and indiscriminately feed on human blood, thus being called Fallen True Ancestors.

“Altruki, you are the king who commands us, the true ancestors.”

After Zhu Yue's fall, the Mage's Association, the Church, and the vampires suffered the most heavy losses, with most of them killed or wounded. With the foundation for cooperation gone, the True Ancestors urgently needed a "hunting machine" to act as their "judges." The princess, who possessed the strongest abilities, was naturally the best candidate. Moreover, she was the "relic" of the "sinner" Zhu Yue, so even if they used her as a tool, the True Ancestors would not feel guilty.

But no one wants to be someone else's tool, so the Black Princess, along with her loyal Black and White Knights, the royal army that was sworn to serve the original royal family, and her pets, ran away.

However, the True Ancestors were not actually that worried about Ji Jun's departure, because at that time, there was already another Zhu Yue's 'legacy' in the Thousand-Year City.

That is Arcueid, the younger sister of Arcturus, who will truly be born and succeed over time. She appeared in the 12th century and is almost a replica of Crimson Moon's combat ability. She is a princess destined to become the True Ancestor of the 'One'.

However, Eltrauge was unaware of this, and to this day, she continues to strive to become the queen of the Millennium City.

Avia, who was listening silently to the side, naturally understood the purpose of Van Fem's visit to find Eltrucci.

Arcueid's true birth was too late; the current Dead Apostles couldn't hold out until then. So Van Phim and the Whitewing Lord decided that the Dead Apostles they brought would attack Millennium City, allowing Arcueid to kill and devour Arcueid, who was still in the process of being born.

Thus, it became one of the "original ones" of the "celestial achievers" who could oppose the Church.

"I never expected this—"

After hearing Van Fem's words, Eltrauge sighed.

The indifferent Death Apostle, who rarely wavered and never showed any sign of wavering, let out a long sigh as if he didn't know how to express his emotions.

"I also have a younger sister."

This fact made Altrouge, who had deliberately not conserved her energy and appeared in adult form, purse her lips slightly.

She felt nothing. Even when she heard that she actually had a 'sister,' she felt no emotion whatsoever. Perhaps it was based solely on 'blood ties,' but it was still too unfamiliar to her. Perhaps she was destined to fail. This forced realization made her somewhat sad and depressed.

"What do you think, Your Highness?" Van Fem's face still held the same smile he had when they first met. "If we add the two Black and White Knights, the original Royal Guard, and the Demon Hounds, who are my and that guy White Wing's dead followers, to hold off the remaining True Ancestors, it is extremely possible for Your Highness to succeed."

In Avia's view, the Financial Demon King's proposal was practically a carbon copy of the original True Ancestor's plan to have the White Princess hunt down the Black Princess: first, send elite troops to hold off the Black and White Knights and the Demon Hound, allowing the two beings, who were almost indistinguishable from nature, to engage in a stalemate...

"Heh, and what's with your attitude, Van Fem? Who gave you the right to speak like that, especially since you're the ones asking for my help?"

For some reason, the girl laughed happily, as if she were the one who had just spoken so arrogantly.

"I'm so sorry."

It is highly unlikely that Van Femme changed his mind.

In Avia's view, neither the White Winged Prince nor the Financial Demon King had changed their opinion that Altrucci was a failure.

Even so, the dark-skinned princess still sternly expressed through her words and indifferent, calm eyes that she would not allow anyone to insult her.

"I will consider your suggestions. Just wait for my reply."

"It's natural."

Van Fem raised his wine glass and bowed to the departing princess.

As she turned around, the black-haired girl seemed to remember the promise she had made to Avia in Constantinople, so she stopped and turned around immediately.

"Um, I'm leaving now. You have to stay with me, Avia."

She said this very naturally.

"In that case, I won't bother you any longer. Let's talk again next time, Your Excellency Avia."

Van Fem treated Avia the same way he treated the departing princess, squinting as he watched the two figures gradually disappear, and taking a sip of the wine that was basically just for decoration.

.......

"Have you made a decision yet?"

The silver-haired youth walking beside her turned his head and asked, his blue eyes reflecting the indifferent figure of the princess.

"Ah."

Altrouge, now back in her girlish form, meticulously prepared her expression and tone, nodding briefly and coldly.

"To be honest, I have no resentment towards the True Ancestors who tried to use me... To be honest, I don't hate them at all, nor do I want to hate them. There's no point in doing so. It's the same with my sister whom I've never met. I don't care what happens to her."

Then Eltrauge laughed, a laugh that was the exact opposite of what she had said, a laugh that was utterly cold and sorrowful.

"But if I can't become 'one,' then everything in the world will be meaningless to me."

Eltrauge.

The princess of the Dead Apostles, the Black Princess who was considered a failure, said this to the human beside her.

"Therefore, I can only 'make a fool of myself'."

136: The Tragedy of the Sassanid Dynasty

Only the Eltruchi faction and Avia knew about Van Fem's visit and its purpose.

Avia didn't press Black Princess about when she would agree to go to the Thousand-Year City, because his thinking was quite simple.

If they invite me, I'll go with them; if not, it doesn't matter.

After all, he was currently quite busy as he had to personally oversee all sorts of matters concerning the Hunnic Empire. While the Huns had no shortage of military talent, they were almost entirely reliant on Avia and a few others in terms of political acumen and governance. This was to be expected, given their nomadic lifestyle.

In the midst of his busy schedule, Avia also had Attila implement a policy targeting the diverse and varied peoples of his vast territory. Whether they were bankrupt refugees from the Western Roman Empire, those seeking profit from the Eastern Roman Empire, or people from even more distant lands, they were all treated the same as the Huns—

Those who return are my people. Anyone who plunders local property shall be killed without mercy. Anyone who takes the people's horses, cattle, sheep, chickens, or pigs without permission shall be punished.

In addition, it is necessary to improve the military equipment system...

Although these are just a few simple items, they all cost money. The Huns' finances are not as well-developed as Rome's. Moreover, both the Eastern and Western Roman Empires severely restrict the trade between Hunnic merchants. Furthermore, the two Roman Empires are generally united against external threats. Although Avia believed that the Huns he led could defeat the Eastern Roman Empire, the outcome would be uncertain if the two were united. Therefore, he could not make various demands to increase his own strength under the guise of 'seeking peace'.

Therefore, they could only wait for the Western Roman Empire's food lifeline, North Africa, to be occupied, and for something slightly earlier, for the Sasanian Empire and the Hephthalite Empire in West Asia to fall into war.

Just as the Roman Empire was embroiled in a crisis with the Germanic tribes and the Huns, the Sasanian Empire in West Asia also had to deal with another group of people: the Hephthalites, who were descendants of the Yuezhi people of the Han Dynasty and were known as the "White Huns" by the Eastern Roman Empire.

From the 1520s onwards, the Hephthalites crossed the Amu Darya River and invaded the Sasanian Empire.

Once the two sides start fighting, the Hunnic Empire can take the opportunity to concentrate its forces to cross the Caucasus Mountains and attack the Sasanian Dynasty from both sides, directly capture the capital Ctesiphon, and force them to sign a treaty.

As for whether the Eastern Roman Empire would assist, it is probably not. After all, the Sasanian dynasty was predominantly Zoroastrian and pursued a harsh religious policy. Furthermore, since the Old Persian Bible had been completed, religious heresy and apostasy would be severely punished, and Christians would be persecuted. This was also the Christian policy pursued by the dynasty to counter the Roman Empire.

Even before the Roman Empire split, the two empires had already had numerous clashes with the Armenian region over this matter.

Moreover, the magic popular in the Sasanian dynasty was not from the two major schools of the East and West, but from a third school, namely, sorcery from the Middle East.

Generally speaking, the nobles of the Sasanian dynasty held great power in governing the dynasty, including the governance of border regions. Their positions were mostly hereditary, and many positions were monopolized by a single family for several generations.

Senior border ministers may possess their own silver thrones, while ministers in strategically important locations such as the Caucasus may possess golden thrones. In times of war, these ministers serve as battlefield commanders, and lower-ranking officers may also lead troops into battle.

Avia also took the time to observe the Sassanid dynasty's defenses in the Caucasus Mountains to the north, and found that there were quite a few sorcerers there. The sorcerers were a group that played with transformation, so if the werewolf tribe that Simfitri had brought were mixed in with them, there wouldn't be much of a conflict.

Simfitri brought about 10,000 werewolves from Scandinavia. Excluding the old, weak, sick, and those unwilling to fight, there were about 3,000 who could fight, which could be considered an elite force, and they were all fantasy species.

Add to that the princess's three hundred royal guards, the three-headed dragon, the golden wolf, Attila, and the Hunnic army—once they cross the Caucasus Mountains, they would be enough to confront the Sassanid dynasty head-on. Moreover, Avia also has Typhon...

However, Typhon probably doesn't want to show the mecha itself; at most, he'll have Avia wear the armor she transforms into for combat.

Speaking of which, ever since Typhon was introduced to Attila by Avia that day, the red-haired girl has become much more timid, but conversely, she has become much more verbose when talking to Avia.

Attila, on the other hand, would find time each day to fight Avia, then quietly wait in his tent until nightfall before returning home.

In short, everything is slowly passing by with time.

Six months later, on that day, countless creatures on the Eastern European steppes were bathed in the bright sunlight as usual.

The earth, bathed in the warm sunlight, seemed to shimmer and sparkle. Meanwhile, news arrived from the Hunnic Empire's spies within the Sasanian Empire.

Just as Avia had predicted, the Hephthalite Empire crossed the Amu Darya River and invaded the Sasanian Empire, but one thing caught him completely off guard.

That is, the Sasanian king died.

According to reliable sources, the king attempted to repel the Hephthalites, but was ambushed by them while leading his army to the Amu Darya River and died on the spot. The victorious Hephthalites then extended the war from the Amu Darya River to the heart of the Sasanian Empire.

The king's death in battle and his lack of an heir plunged the Sasanian dynasty into chaos and instability. Although the Sasanian nobles hastily supported the king's brother to ascend the throne in the face of external enemies, it was clear that if the invading Hephthalites could not be defeated, the dynasty would likely fall apart.

If the final outcome is peace talks, then the new king, supported by the nobles, will be deposed sooner or later, and may even be blinded.

It doesn't matter which one it is, because the minister currently in control of the Caucasus is clearly not a loyal person to the dynasty.

Perhaps thinking that the Huns outside the Caucasus Mountains were unaware of this intelligence, the minister wanted to return to the center of the dynasty to get a share of the spoils. In any case, most of the army and sorcerers originally stationed in the Caucasus Mountains were transferred away. However, before leaving, the minister specially sent an envoy to the Hunnic Empire to discuss a peace treaty to open trade, presumably in order to buy time and take the opportunity to conclude a treaty.

However, before this envoy even reached the Hunnic lands in Eastern Europe,

He then saw it: on the vast grassland, the sun seemed to tremble in the dust, and the earth groaned beneath the warhorses.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, it seemed as if only the hooves of warhorses were hammering against the world before them, their hooves thundering and clattering.

Even though the sun had not yet set, the messenger felt that it was getting darker and darker, and he could hardly see the road.

Then, he seemed to see countless crows circling over the entire Sassanid dynasty—

Without hesitation or second thought, they slaughtered everything in their path.

137: The White Wave Sweeping West Asia

Falsa, currently controlled by the Sassanid dynasty, was once an ancient Greek colony and a transportation hub connecting the Asia Minor peninsula and the Caucasus Mountains.

In addition, its proximity to the Black Sea and the presence of a river of the same name make it an essential route between the sea and the inland mountains.

Originally, this area was under the control of the Roman Empire, but the Sasanian Dynasty took advantage of the division of Rome to conquer it and use it as a defensive stronghold in the Caucasus region.

As a key military location for defending against the southward advance of the Huns from the north, its southern border lies Armenia, a region with extremely harsh geography and climate, making it of great strategic significance.

To the west lies central Anatolia, to the east the Caspian Sea, and to the south the rich Sassanid Mesopotamia. Armenia is a crossroads, a crossroads leading directly to the heartland of both sides... It could even be said that whichever side takes Armenia will pose a huge threat to the other.

As night falls, starlight adorns the boundless night sky above Falsatha. All is quiet except for the sound of the breeze rustling through the leaves and the babbling of a distant stream, which evokes a sense of tranquility and profound peace.

At the city wall, sorcerers on guard were patrolling.

Since most of their military force had been taken away, the defenses were now relatively weak, requiring more patrols. They naturally assumed that the nobles who ruled them were a group of people who were good at management, calculation, and strategy, so they would not question the orders they were given.

So, the people of Farsas remained unchanged. After all, no one believed that the barbaric Huns would dare to attack this area. Once discovered, the Sasanian dynasty, relying on the Caucasus Mountains, would essentially be in a situation of plunging downwards.