Chapter 2191

2191 - Death

"Marshal Caesar..." Serafina furrowed her brows with some hostility when she saw the owner of the voice.

The Marshal was undoubtedly one of the high-ranking figures in the sector. Although he was merely a Martial Emperor, for many years she had grown accustomed to receiving instructions and missions from him, and accepting the rewards he sent without any negative feelings.

But that changed since his confrontation with her mistress, Helen, when he expressed that he had been giving her missions in order to humiliate her... At that moment, she felt that she was the cause of all this, as she was the one who pushed her to deal with the Cradle Empire.

Since that time, she had avoided him as much as possible, and if forced, her dealings with him were very brief—word for word, any encounter lasting a second or two at best.

After a few moments, Serafina steeled herself and stepped toward him. "I ask you to stand by the truth here." Then she continued, pointing behind her, "Does it please you that that person prevents me from my monthly visit without any reason?"

"..." Caesar looked at her with half-open eyes, then turned to the Spirit Master and nodded at him. "Hello, Ziegler, how are you, and how is your father?"

"I'm doing well, Marshal." The Spirit Master nodded with respect and a big smile. "I'm glad you returned safely."

"Hmm." Caesar nodded, then began walking in the same direction again.

Ziegler Burton is one of the highest-ranked and most powerful Spirit Masters, and his great-grandfather was one of the heroes who fought alongside Caesar against the Flame Empire back then. He is currently one of the military advisors at headquarters… Without Caesar, Peon, or someone of that stature here, it's hard to find anyone who can command this young man!

“…?!” Serafina followed Caesar with wide eyes as he walked away, “What was that?” Then she quickened her pace behind him, “Is that all you can do? Won't you do me justice?!”

“I have no involvement in such trivial matters.” Caesar continued forward, “Whatever the guard said, I support it.”

“That's not fair!” Serafina closed the distance, “How can you void all my points just because there's a war going on?” Then she raised her voice slightly, “Since when is the Cradle Empire not engaged in a war?!”

“Heh~” Caesar laughed, “Did Ziegler tell you that?” Then he cast a glance back, “He's right, go earn some new points.”

In truth, Serafina also had a point, but he didn't say that out loud.

The truth is that the current war on Planet Arkathion is nothing new or exceptional. The Double Hundred Cradle Empire has waged countless wars, some no less epic than the decisive Arkathion War.

In fact, they have been in worse situations.

At least on Arkathion, they hold the upper hand in terms of ground forces and vehicles, and even against the World Calamities and the Nexus States, they no longer retreat, thanks to a number of royal spirit masters who went to provide support.

The only thing they are losing in is morale—not because it is low, but because the morale of their enemies is extremely high, and their will to fight is blazing.

They have lost so much that their honor and history have been dragged through the mud, and if they lose there as well, their empire will end forever. So even those whose limbs have been severed continue to fight with their teeth for one more day for the empire their children inhabit!

But those minor efforts will make no difference when facing this overwhelming disparity in everything... for even those who fight with their teeth will eventually have them shattered.

In truth, Caesar himself would not have gone to the battlefield; decades, or even centuries, have passed since he last personally led wars.

He had stopped because of what the Death Fire could do on the battlefield, because of the terror that seized his soldiers even before his enemies… because of the feeling that he was unwanted by his followers.

Why did he go this time?

To try something…

After Caesar decided to retire from fighting on the front lines and devote himself to leadership and politics, he succeeded in that.

He chose a new hobby for himself…

Expanding his knowledge of the Fundamental Death Law.

Since those around him would fear him and make him feel unwanted by their side on the battlefield anyway, why not strengthen himself in the way his father had recommended to him?

In that metal, after his father emerged from seclusion following the coronation, he handed each of his sons and leaders a new path to power. Among them, he gave Caesar the complete Fundamental Death Law up to the Fourth Level.

He said that day that he had suffered greatly while recording it… and Caesar understood what he meant the moment he tried to read the first line.

Even he, who was accustomed to the Law of Death, could not endure it, so he closed it again and focused on his other efforts.

But finally, after several centuries… he had enough time and enough motivation to explore what his father wanted from him.

The amount of information he obtained just by pushing himself to read a portion of the first level was staggering. His understanding of the Path of Death in general saw an explosive increase, and the proportion he could utilize within the Flame of Death also grew strangely.

Of course… over time, he felt a strangeness in his body and soul, with the increase in information and the repetition of experiments.

But he largely ignored it.

Many times, he would wake from sleep to find himself writing something he had no idea about—something like strange inscriptions, or simply a twisted phrase like <The Beautiful Death>. Yet he continued to dismiss it as fatigue from ruling the empire.

Until he reached a point where he had to stop. There were times that came over him when he no longer felt like he was inside his own body.

He began to see the world differently whenever he closed his eyes, and he started hearing voices… voices urging him toward things…

So he decided to search for an answer to what was happening in the cosmic records about the only power that uses the Path of Death…

The Necrofortress Galaxy.