Ember Dragon

Chapter 876 Sunset City
After Tiamat's defeat, the cultists in Sunset City were completely broken, and the Imperial soldiers stormed the city without lifting a finger.

These well-trained soldiers occupied key buildings such as the Seleucia Palace, the Tower of the Eternal Sun, the bank, and the armory, and quickly took control of the entire city.

In front of tens of thousands of people in the city, the statue of Tiamat was smashed in public. The once unbearable faith and symbol of power was now nothing more than a pile of dull rubble.

Tiamat's temple was also renovated by the Imperial construction team and became the new Dragon Oath Temple, where hundreds of Dragon Oath Holy Knights and Emperor's followers resided, widely distributing alms and propagating the idea of ​​the Burning Emperor's supremacy.

The tens of thousands of human slaves and sacrifices imprisoned in the dungeon were freed. After being rescued, the emperor's priests distributed food and water to them and preached to them, telling them where their suffering came from and why they were saved.

After repeated speeches, these refugees who had escaped death would become the emperor's most loyal supporters, harboring extremely deep hatred for the Church of the Dragon and Tiamat.

After dismantling Tiamat's faith, it was natural to dismantle the social power structure left by the Church of the Dragon. Under the massive search by the Imperial Guard, all the former high-ranking members of the Church of the Dragon were arrested and imprisoned in dark dungeons.

The five-colored dragon mark, once coveted by everyone, has now become a symbol of disaster that people avoid at all costs. Once someone is found to possess these marks, they will be arrested by the Imperial Guard, and even their relatives and friends will be implicated.

In this atmosphere of widespread fear, the social order that was once similar to the "caste system" has been completely abolished and replaced by the empire's unique system of occupied territories.

Praising the emperor, submitting to the empire, and reporting spies became rare avenues for advancement for ordinary people.

Meanwhile, in accordance with the previous alliance, the Seleucid nobles' alliance, led by Adrian, still held a dominant position and naturally moved into the local lord's mansion. Although it was only nominal, it still had a certain degree of control over the local people.

However, the days of war have finally passed, and the people of this devastated country have finally been given a chance to breathe. They no longer have to panic about becoming sacrifices or worry about becoming victims of war.

In the city of sunset, people hurry about, bustling about.

The towering Eternal Sun God Tower still stands in the city center, but it is heavily guarded and inaccessible to ordinary people.

The majestic city walls were mostly shattered by Tiamat's breath attack, and construction teams from the Empire were working hard to repair them. Large machinery such as tower cranes, excavators, and concrete mixers appeared in the city.

At first, the Seleucia natives looked at the noisy steel behemoths with fear, but as time went by, they gradually got used to the existence of these new things, though they still felt a little curious.

Newsboys in the square were waving newspapers and shouting at the top of their lungs, their voices exceptionally clear.

"Breaking news! Breaking news! The Chief Minister of the Burning Empire, Langpu, will visit Sunset City in three days for friendly talks with Duke Adrian!"

"Former Bishop Loren of the Church of the Dragons, who massacred tens of thousands of people, has been captured by the Imperial Guard and will be executed this afternoon!"

According to an insider, the person who provided the intelligence was an ordinary craftsman, who received a reward of 150 gold coins.

In the heart of the city's most bustling area, atop the tower of the lord's mansion, Duke Adrian, the nominal ruler of the Seleucid Kingdom, surveyed the city, now in ruins and teeming with people, in utter silence.

Adrian, once a spoiled nobleman, is now regarded as a hero. In the war against the Church of Tiamat, he slew several dragons with his Radiant Blade and was revered by the people of Seleucia as the "Son of the Sun" and the "Dragon Slayer".

He also enjoys a high reputation within the Allied Forces, and many Imperial officers even hold him in high esteem, hoping that this warrior who inherited the power of Amannata can join the ranks of the Imperial Army.

"The war ended, the Church of the Dragon was destroyed, and I became a respected duke. Everything seemed to be going in the direction I had hoped for, except..."

Adrian gazed at the steel behemoth beside the distant city wall, and the majestic figure of the Burning Emperor resurfaced in his mind, a somewhat bewildered expression appearing on his rather young face.

Is this all he wants?
"Lord Adrian, they are still waiting for you in the hall," a servant whispered beside him, interrupting his thoughts.

Adrian calmly instructed, "Just tell them I have something to attend to right now and that they should come back in five days. By then, Lord Trump will have arrived, and we can resolve all the matters at once."

The servant hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head and whispered, "Count Clive said that he will not leave unless you come in person, and he will bring them to you."

Adrian then turned his gaze to the servant: "Who else is there besides Clive?"

The attendant replied, “The Duke of Wao Hawke, the Duke of Engel Morrick, and almost all the families of the Anselm Whitaker alliance are present, sir. I think they do have important matters to discuss with you.”

He paused for a moment, then said cautiously, "Of course, there are also envoys from the Kingdom of Kasander and messengers from the Church of Amannata."

"I know, I'll go."

Upon hearing that name, Adrian's expression immediately turned serious: "Have they finally given up?"

Months before, after the war ended, the Cassander Empire sent envoys several times in an attempt to negotiate with the Seleucid alliance of exiled nobles and gain control of Sunset City.

Some of Cassander's scouts even appeared in the border region to probe, only to be captured by the Imperial army stationed there.

Soon, Adrian entered the hall with several knights in his entourage. The nobles on both sides of the long table in the hall were arguing fiercely. Their gorgeous clothes were in disarray, and they seemed about to fight. They showed no respect for the etiquette and dignity of nobles.

"Your Grace, the Duke has arrived."

A young noble knight slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "You actually want the Kingdom of Cassander to occupy Sunset City? This is a betrayal of the alliance, and a betrayal of the Seleucia royal family!"

He drew his longsword from his waist, pointed it at the middle-aged man opposite him, glared at him coldly, and said in a stern voice: "The Kingdom of Kasander is our enemy!"

Duke Hawke, don't you remember? Your father, the old Grand Duke Hawke, died in the War of the Three Emperors, at the hands of the Cassanders! And now you shamelessly want to hand over the spoils of the Allied forces to the Cassanders!

"boom!!"

Duke Hawke's bloated face was contorted with rage, and his fist trembled as he slammed it on the table.

"What right do you have to talk about me? You're just relying on those damned imperialists to back you up!"
Ultimately, this country belongs to us Seleucids! Everything here belongs to us!

But now those imperialists have seized everything; my power, status, and wealth are all gone! What good would it do to reclaim this territory from the Church of the Dragon?

Duke Hawke was so angry that his entire body of fat trembled.

He did indeed inherit his father's position, but his army was decimated in the war against the Church of the Dragon.

Not only that, his original duchy was now controlled by the Empire, and he was merely a lord in name only, having lost all real power.

How could he tolerate this? Duke Hawke cursed, his words sharp: "I think you're the ones who've gone mad! In the end, those Imperials are nothing but the dragon's minions, what's the difference between them and those Tiamat cultists?"

"shut up!"

Duke Adrian interrupted coldly, his voice filled with barely suppressed anger: "The allied forces went through countless hardships and sacrifices to reclaim this land from the Church of the Dragon and free the Seleucids from the flames of war! What right do you have to say such things!"

"recapture?"

Duke Hawke completely abandoned all pretense of civility, pointing at the duke who had just stepped into the hall, and mocked mercilessly: "It is clearly you who have become the loyal dog of the Burning Empire, kneeling at the feet of the dragon and offering our country to that red dragon!"

"Be careful what you say, Your Grace."

"Yes, the Empire has many spies in the area. If what you say is discovered..."

Upon hearing this, even the nobles who supported Duke Hawke panicked and hurriedly tried to dissuade him. A beautiful noblewoman stepped forward and grabbed Hawke's arm, saying, "Your Grace, please calm down."

In any case, the Burning Empire is the de facto ruler of this city, and even they cannot openly rebel against the Empire.

During this period, everyone came to the same conclusion—angering the empire would never end well.

However, Hawke ruthlessly shook off the woman's hand and stared at Adrian with a direct, provocative gaze.

The knights beside Adrian immediately drew their longswords and stepped forward menacingly.

Adrian raised his hand to stop them, sat down in the hall, his posture quite casual, and asked in a cold voice, "Duke Hawke, what do you want? I am considered a high-ranking member of the Allied Forces, so perhaps I can fulfill your request."

"I want to regain control of this land! I mean control in my own hands, not those parchment documents that the imperialists use to fool children! I'd rather go back to two years ago than be a puppet!"

Hawke roared breathlessly, seemingly having lost his mind.

"An expected demand, but... on what grounds?"

Adrian raised his head, his gaze utterly indifferent.

In an instant, he thought of his loved ones wailing in the flames, the girl crying under the dragon's flames, his comrades crushed by claws, the altar littered with corpses, and the duke who fought the dragon to the death.
Duke Hawke, standing before them, actually wanted to return to two years ago, to that nightmarish era, all for his own power and status.

This is an insult to all those who died in that war!

Feeling Adrian's gaze, Hawke gritted his teeth, his face contorted in rage.

That look again.

Those damned traitors all regarded the Imperials as saviors, and looked at him with utter contempt, as if he were an insignificant piece of trash.

But he was the king's nephew, and the most qualified person to inherit the throne of Seleucia after all the royal children were killed!

Hawke's eyes were bloodshot as he roared, "Because of the blood of the sun god flowing in my veins, I am the king of this land!"

"Do you intend to betray the Allied Forces?"

Adrian suddenly looked up, his pupils flashing with the light of the sun, as if he wanted to burn the person in front of him to ashes. His hand had already touched the silver sword at his waist.

"You are the betrayers! You betrayed the Seleucid royal family! You sided with that damned red dragon."

Hawke cursed loudly, then looked behind him and eagerly patted his chest, saying, "Ms. Gaunt, you promised me that as long as I bring Adrian here, I will become the future king of the Seleucia Kingdom!"

Adrian drew his silver sword, looked behind Duke Hawke, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

A tall woman in a golden robe slowly emerged from the crowd. She supported herself with her sun scepter, and a halo of light swirled in her pale golden eyes as she cast an indifferent gaze at Adrian.

A sacred light emanated from the hall, and an intense pressure filled the vast space, causing many nobles to kneel on the ground.

Even Adrian lowered his stance, staring intently at the woman, his gaze growing increasingly serious: "Is this... the legendary priest of the Church of Amannata?"

wrong.

Compared to the Amannata priests in his memory, the woman before him radiated a more intense and destructive light, like the midday sun in the desert, capable of evaporating the blood from one's body.

He carefully examined the sun emblem on the other person's robe, which was quite different from what he remembered. The face in the center of the golden emblem was glaring angrily, as if it were about to unleash punishment at any moment.

The sun god in his memory was just and ruthless, certainly not like this.

And that’s not all.

In the empty hall, several figures shrouded in light emerged. They were all clad in heavy armor, nearly five meters tall, with bulging muscles, resembling giants.

Descendants of the Titans.

The elite of the Kingdom of Cassander, the direct descendants of Otis Aragorn, are said to possess power comparable to that of angels.

Adrian gripped his longsword tightly, golden wings unfurling from his back, and he shouted sternly, "So you really are from the Kingdom of Kasander—the Blasphemers! What is your purpose in infiltrating here?"

"Reclaim the power of my god and reclaim the City of Sunset."

Gaunt stared at Adrian before him, gazing at the wings on his back, and said coldly, "Adrian, you were once chosen by the great sun god and given this power that should not belong to you."

If you are willing to submit to the Church and return to the embrace of the Great Sun God, we are willing to overlook your sin of cooperating with the Burning Empire and welcome you back.

(End of this chapter)