Chapter 1013: Chapter 1012: The Spin Begins

Duke Ferdinand left the room, and Emperor Rosetta stood for a moment before breaking the silence as if speaking to himself: "Everything is indeed as you said."

As soon as he finished speaking, an invisible wind suddenly arose in the spacious study, whispers like the overlapping of multiple voices coming from all directions: "Indeed—perhaps our time together over the years hasn’t been quite pleasant, but one thing you must admit, when it comes to matters of the gods, the knowledge I have given you has never been wrong... As long as a cooperative relationship is established, I am always sincere."

Rosetta squinted slightly; outsiders might not see anything, but in his sight, he could see starry points of starlight corroding the surrounding walls and ground. In the purple-black shadows, it’s as if countless gazes were hidden, while the floor-to-ceiling windows beside him were casting dusk-like light, with shadows resembling clouds intertwined.

Within this chaotic interplay of light and shadow, an abstract, eye formed by curved lines slowly opened before him, its hollow pupil devoid of any humanity, gazing at him intently.

If an ordinary person saw this scene, even just accidentally catching a glimpse, they would be driven to madness by the eye and the endless knowledge it contained—but to Rosetta and the members of the Augustus Clan, this eye was already their "old friend."

"Sincere..." Rosetta said softly, his lips seemingly curling slightly upward, "Actually, you should know well that I have never truly trusted your sincerity... For mortals, trusting a ’thing’ like you comes at too high a cost."

"...Indeed," the eye was silent for a moment before it surprisingly adopted a rather serious tone of agreement, "I must admit, over the years, my interactions with you have not been entirely pleasant... I know your family has paid a great price to house ’me,’ but whether you choose to believe it or not, this was not my intention."

Rosetta didn’t speak but quietly listened to the eye talking as if to itself.

"...From the moment of my birth, I have always been this way, as have other gods. To you mortals, we harbor no malice, yet our mere existence is a threat—like those near a flame getting burned, but it’s not the flame’s fault. Augustus’ offspring, if you forsake prejudice, you should know everything I say is true.

"Hence, I don’t expect you to ’trust’ me much, because even I don’t believe I can avoid causing harm to you in future activities... Humans shouldn’t trust nature’s mercy, nor should you trust a fragment of a god parasitic on your clan...

"But under this premise, we still share a common goal... Augustus’ offspring, we share a common goal."

Emperor Rosetta Augustus finally broke the silence, speaking quietly: "End it all."

"Yes, end it all, end this mutually tortuous relationship," the eye said calmly, floating in the air; the multitude of curves forming its outline and the surrounding diffused starlight slowly wriggling, tinged with a gentle tremor, "Relax a little, this curse is finally ending... Now think more about a better future. You and your family can finally escape the nightmare, and I will embrace freedom—do not fear or resist this. I can guarantee you that I will stand with you and your Empire... You’re not about to lose your longtime protector god, right? Then let me fill this position; the power of dreams will become your new backing..."

Rosetta was silent for a few moments, seemingly pondering the feasibility of this matter, before nodding slightly: "Once everything settles down, I will seriously consider it."

"Of course, of course, you must be cautious like this, otherwise, I wouldn’t endorse you so much—cautiously consider, the decision is yours. Regardless of the answer you give later, our cooperation will be effective..."

The eye’s voice gradually faded, and the fluctuating light and shadow in the room slowly returned to normal. As the starlight and dusk light gradually subsided, the room before Rosetta reverted to the familiar place he knew.

He calmly gazed at the now empty air, not moving his gaze for the next dozen minutes, as if the eye were still floating there...

...

"This is the intelligence just sent back by General Philip," Aunt Heidi stood in front of Gawain, reporting the frontline situation with an unusually serious expression, "In this battle, the Mortal World Serpent has completely lost combat capacity, and the recovered wreckage is essentially beyond repair. Another armored train sustained heavy damage, with repair efforts potentially continuing until spring. The Dragon Cavalry’s losses are still being tallied—an intense blizzard has led to a considerable number of personnel missing, and related search and rescue efforts have been initiated."

Gawain sat behind the desk, listening attentively to Aunt Heidi’s report. The sudden frontline battle report disrupted the standoff and balance that had persisted for days and also interrupted some of Gawain’s plans. Moreover, he discerned some peculiarities in Typhon’s sudden large-scale operation.

"So, you’re saying... Typhon used large-scale ’miracles,’" he spoke after Aunt Heidi’s report, breaking the silence, "Because of the celestial-level disturbances or other reasons, these phenomena evaded our detection technology?"

"Yes, until the extraordinary phenomena suddenly appeared amidst the blizzard, the Magic Power detection devices mounted on both the armored trains and Dragon Cavalry showed no response—soon after, these detection devices were fully disrupted, and the enemy launched a full-scale assault, Aunt Heidi nodded solemnly. General Philip’s analysis suggests this stems from the ’miracle’s’ unique nature; miracles in celestial form inherently possess evasive detection effects, and Typhon might have countered our detection technology with some sort of... countermeasure, given their more advanced accumulation in the magic field, the emergence of some counter-spell is quite possible."

"There are areas for improvement in the existing detection technology," Gawain said sternly, "Send the battlefield data and all collected Typhon equipment remnants to Longwind and Sorin’s research institutes, find out what methods the enemy used to launch this sudden attack... Additionally, what of the Dragonborn’s losses?"

Aunt Heidi recalled briefly: "Two Dragon Descendant Mercenaries died, sixteen were severely injured, and others lightly wounded... The casualties have already been sent to the responsible party in the Sacred Dragon Kingdom."

Gawain paused, "...All Dragonborn were injured?"

War inevitably costs lives; even the powerful Dragonborn cannot escape injuries when facing Typhon’s overwhelming air force. Gawain had considered this when recruiting Dragonborn mercenaries, but he didn’t expect this mighty aerial force to suffer comprehensive injuries in their first battle, leaving him momentarily surprised—not a single one intact? Are Typhon forces that formidable?

"According to General Philip, it seems the Dragonborn’s combat style was particularly... rough," Aunt Heidi apparently anticipated Gawain’s doubts and quickly explained, "Their tactics are utterly unstructured yet exceptionally aggressive, disregarding damage, and completely different from their training state. Our forces couldn’t provide effective cover, and many Dragonborn opted for close melee after their weapons were damaged in the final stages of combat, crashing gryphon knights into mountains... It’s impossible not to be injured."

Gawain: "..."

Aunt Heidi cautiously asked: "Ancestor?"

"I understand now," Gawain sighed lightly, waved his hand, "In any case, the ’Dragonborn’ card in our hand should have already been exposed to the Typhon Empire, so the Dragonborn troops no longer need to hide. Our aerial confrontation with Typhon may continue to escalate, and the Dragonborn and Dragon Cavalry troops will become crucial weights on the battlefield."

After this, Gawain was silent for a moment, then asked: "Let’s talk about the other aspect—what is the assessment of the damage on the Typhon side?"

"There is currently no very accurate assessment conclusion—the enemy showed a very strange continuous ’resurrection’ phenomenon during that blizzard, and the extreme weather conditions seriously affected the judgment of the crash situation, but one thing is certain—Typhon Empire definitely has more casualties than us," Aunt Heidi said immediately, "According to reports from post-war aerial observers, the entire gorge along the mountain range is filled with scorching wreckage and bodies of personnel and gryphons. The enemy dispatched at least two to three thousand Gryphon Knights to fight our aerial forces, and after the Dragonborn joined the battle, this batch of Gryphon Knights was completely wiped out..."

At this point, Aunt Heidi couldn’t help but shake her head and sigh: "Unfortunately, we also suffered the greatest loss since the start of the war... The ’mortal world Serpent’ is currently the most powerful armored train in terms of offensive capabilities. The gap left after its destruction is not easy to fill. The Zero must remain around Winterwolf Fortress for defense tasks, and the weapons system of the War Citizen still has some issues and cannot be used for frontal attacks for now..."

"It’s only a temporary loss. Maryland managed to preserve all the experienced technicians and officers. As soon as the next train rolls off the production line, the combat power of the ’mortal world Serpent’ can be immediately restored—however, the Typhon Empire lost elite soldiers who might take decades to train," Gawain seemed optimistic but also a bit helpless, "The only headache is that the Typhon Empire can afford the losses..."

While speaking, he leaned back against the chair’s backrest, showing a contemplative expression.

Celestial-level ’miracle’... This is something he hadn’t considered before, or rather, he considered that the Typhon Empire might use some large-scale strategic spell power to influence the war situation, without ever imagining it would be such a ’miracle.’ According to intelligence from the frontline, this miracle clearly bears traces of divine power, which gave him a faintly ominous feeling.

"Ancestor?" Aunt Heidi noticed that Gawain’s expression was gradually turning serious and couldn’t help but inquire, "Have you thought of something?"

"From the start of the war until now, has the Typhon Empire ever conducted such large-scale use of War God’s Divine Arts?" Gawain asked.

"Large-scale use of War God’s Divine Arts..." Aunt Heidi immediately began to recall, and after a few seconds, she shook her head, "No. Only on small patches of the battlefield have War God’s Clergy been seen, and most were executing small-scale ’Daredevil Team’ suicidal missions... This large-scale divine arts miracle is the first, possibly requiring participation from hundreds or even more high priests."

"Yes, it may require participation from hundreds of high priests, and it must be a very formal, very grand sacred ceremony," Gawain said slowly, with a solemn expression, "Aunt Heidi, this is unusual."

"Unusual?" Aunt Heidi was momentarily stunned but quickly realized, "You mean... using the War God’s power with such disregard..."

"Yes, with such disregard," Gawain nodded, "We all know the truth of this war, and Emperor Rosetta Augustus knows it as well. If it were just a normal conflict, using the War God’s power on the battlefield would be a standard move, but this is a divine disaster, and using divine power on such a large scale becomes a very dangerous act. Since the start of the war, the Typhon Empire has consciously avoided this. They split those fanatical priests exposed to contamination into small groups without allowing them the chance to use large-scale divine arts, constantly reducing their numbers in attrition battles... This was all to prevent too much of the War God’s power from entering this world. However, in this operation... they carried out such a large-scale ’miracle’..."

"Could it be the frontline commander’s unauthorized actions?" Aunt Heidi instinctively suggested but quickly shook her head herself, "No, that’s unlikely..."

"Of course not. If the Typhon Empire’s frontline commanders were foolish to that extent, if the frontline army were that out of control, Emperor Rosetta Augustus would have been ousted in the early stages of the war," Gawain shook his head, "Such an action must have been licensed by Emperor Rosetta Augustus, perhaps even... his order."

Aunt Heidi’s eyes widened slightly, unable for a moment to comprehend what the Typhon Ruler was planning: "Why would he do this?"

Gawain did not answer immediately; he just stared at the map in front, his mind rapidly processing—from recent changes in control zones on the frontline to both sides’ forces committed, and military movements on the Typhon side, intelligence returned by Soldrin and his Steel Cavalry from the enemy-controlled area... Numerous clues coalesced in his mind as if forming invisible lines. Finally, he vaguely realized that he had sensed the key!

This unsettling discovery even made him break out in a cold sweat!

"Ancestor?" Aunt Heidi instantly showed a hint of concern, "What’s wrong with you?"

"I might have figured out what Emperor Rosetta Augustus wants to do," Gawain couldn’t help but stand up from behind the desk, "...This is really..."

Aunt Heidi cast a gaze filled with shock and confusion: "What does Emperor Rosetta Augustus want to do? What do you mean?"

"This war has an ultimate goal, not to maintain the status quo nor simply eliminate a rogue church. We all considered only those mild plans, yet Emperor Rosetta Augustus... he wants to do something more thorough," Gawain said, taking a deep breath, "He wants to drag the War God into this world."

"Drag the War God into this world?!" Aunt Heidi was shocked immediately, "Has he gone mad?! Does he plan to let a rogue deity destroy everything?!"

"No..." Gawain slowly shook his head, "From what I understand, he might be planning to... kill Him."

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