Throne of the North.

Chapter 564 The Guillotine of the Feast of Divine Grace, Dawn's [Divine Punishment]

The Feast of Grace.

This day belongs to mortals' descriptions of the greatness and beautiful imagination of the gods, as well as to the Pope who first walked among humans and ignited the spark of human civilization.

Every year when the Feast of Grace arrives, it is a carnival for all mankind, with all the joy concentrated in these short twenty-four hours.

However, this year's Festival of Divine Grace was terrifyingly cold for the royal city of Carlos, freezing even joy deep within, leaving only bewilderment and panic on their faces.

Is Kaan Diaz a king to the Kingdom of Carlos? Or isn't he a king?

He single-handedly established the Kingdom of Carlos as it is today. If he weren't the king, wouldn't the history of the Kingdom of Carlos over the past hundred years be a blank?

Perhaps after Kaan Diaz's death, the Kingdom of Carlos will fall into civil war, and the nobles will rise up in rebellion over the issue of royal bloodline, but that will definitely not happen while Kaan Diaz is still alive.

Everything he did in his youth gave him the majesty of a king. The nobles would not object to this son-in-law of Carlos, who had various problems with his bloodline. This meant that as long as Caan Diaz was on the throne, he was Carlos's king.

The nobles never imagined that one day they would see the king in a prison cart.

While he was still alive, the nobles were silent, as were the nobles from the empire. To be honest, they didn't care about the king's fate, but rather that even if Kaan Diaz wasn't the king, he was still a noble, and a great noble at that.

He was either a king or a nobleman, and by either definition, he should not have died like this.

He could have died some random night; it shouldn't have ended like this.

Has His Majesty not yet issued any orders?

Earl Clayton looked at Grand Duke Meyers, who had come from the capital to execute a king as the emperor's envoy.

Only the four Grand Dukes of the Empire and the Emperor himself had such qualifications, but everyone felt the matter was absurd and suspected that the Emperor would retract his order on this day.

"His Majesty's attitude is very firm."

Grand Duke Meyers didn't seem to care much about this; he had already killed quite a few nobles, so one more wouldn't make a difference.

In truth, the nobles of the empire, especially those who have experienced chaos, should not be afraid of this.

Count Meyers looked around. Indeed, ordinary people don't live that long. Apart from him, no other nobleman here had truly experienced the chaos of a hundred years ago.

"The Kingdom of Carlos does not need a false king; his true king will sit on the throne that belongs to him."

Grand Duke Meyers shouted loudly. There were no ordinary people around. Emperor Flor granted King Carlos the final dignity, not allowing commoners and slaves to witness the king's death.

As the Grand Duke shouted, Kaan Diaz, who was being held firmly to the ground, stared intently at Grand Duke Meyers and Earl Olsen, who was being crowned the king today.

"This is my kingdom, this is my kingdom!"

"Flohr, even if you kill me, it won't change the fact that this is my king, the king of Kaan Diaz!"

“The nobles are all my followers; they will only be loyal to Kaan Diaz and their king.”

Kaan Diaz was roaring madly, struggling with resentment at dying in such a humiliating way. He used his anger to suppress his deep-seated fear; he was going to die.

"The nobles of the Kingdom of Carlos are loyal to the bloodline of Carlos. Only the true Carlos is the king of this kingdom."

Earl Olsen approached Kaan Diaz triumphantly, looking down at the former king with resentment in his eyes.

"It's all because of you that the honor that belongs to the Kingdom of Carlos has been taken away."

"Honor? Heh heh heh..."

Kaan Diaz looked at his replacement and suddenly laughed, his anger and fear vanishing.

"Hahaha, you rats who are just trying to survive in the gutter, how dare you talk about Carlos's honor? Do you even deserve it?"

"You possess the blood of Carlos, yet you have willingly betrayed your lineage and surname, abandoned the army of the Kingdom of Carlos, and abandoned the nobles who were loyal to you. Like cowards, you fled the North in fear, without even glancing back at your Windleaf Banner that flies high on Mount Sissehra."

Upon hearing Kaan's words, Earl Olsen's face also darkened.

He knew that the Kingdom of Carlos that the other person was talking about was the Kingdom of Carlos from more than a hundred years ago, and the mountain he mentioned was once home to the Carlos royal family.

Kaan Diaz, as the son-in-law of the Carlos bloodline, became the king of the Carlos Kingdom in the southern lands. Even with the help of the Dawn Church, would he succeed so easily?
After all, Carlos's bloodline hadn't completely died out at that time, so if the order were rotated, it wouldn't actually be Kaan Diaz's turn.

But in the end, it was his son-in-law, Kaan Diaz, who became king.

The fact that the four great nobles of the Kingdom of Sera, of Carlos's bloodline, could not compete with Kaan Diaz in front of them was itself problematic.

Therefore, there is a problem with the four Carlos bloodlines.

Their past actions have led the nobles of the Kingdom of Carlos, and even other nobles in the southern lands, to disagree that they are still qualified to inherit the Kingdom of Carlos.

After the outrageous incident, Kaan Diaz, as the king's son-in-law, used various means to become the king of Carlos.

“I am more suited to be King Carlos than you.”

Kaan Diaz laughed, which made Earl Olsen's face darken. The gazes of the surrounding nobles made him unsure of what to say in rebuttal, because everything was true.

The son-in-law, Kaan Diaz, is more qualified to be king than the four great nobles in the land of the Kingdom of Sera.

Olsen stared at the king before him for a long time, then took a deep breath and said:

"The Kingdom of Carlos belongs to Carlos, and Carlos will recognize your status as king, but... the true bloodline of Carlos is more qualified to sit on the throne than your bloodline, Kaan Diaz."

The king on the ground struggled again, and the two imperial barons who were holding him down couldn't help but lower their heads. They could laugh loudly at the king during the war, but now they dared not look directly at the dying king.

Grand Duke Meyers said loudly:
"In the name of the human nobility, in the name of the Grand Pope of the immortal God of Light, Kaan Diaz, the shameless usurper of the throne of the Kingdom of Carlos, will be spurned by the gods, his soul will be burned by the flames of light, and his body will bear witness to the true right of the Carlos bloodline."

"The right of a nobleman to inherit must never be taken away by others."

"In the name of the Carlos bloodline!"

Earl Olsen roared, and on the other side, Archduke Meyers' voice was even louder, following behind Earl Olsen's.

"In the name of the great Pope of Light, I sentence Kaan Diaz before me to death for the crime of betraying loyalty to the monarch and for the crime of deceiving and depriving nobles of their honor and dignity."

Kaan Diaz struggled to lift his head, and what he saw was the rapidly falling guillotine under the sunlit sky.

All the nobles closed their eyes until the frantic shouting abruptly stopped.

The king was dead. Almost all the nobles of the Kingdom of Carlos stood up at that moment, their bodies trembling, their eyes bloodshot with rage as they stared at Olsen and Grand Duke Meyers. Their breathing was so rapid that they were almost fainting. If they hadn't all been sitting there as the defeated in the war, they would have ordered their armies to launch a war against the enemy who killed the king, regardless of the cost or the consequences.

boom!
One nobleman fainted, unable to breathe, followed by more nobles. This time, they weren't faking it; they genuinely fainted. Staring at the king's corpse on the ground, no noble dared to move. Only after a long while did Grand Duke Meyers pat the trembling Earl of Olsen.

"Your Majesty, it is time to crown you."

Knights covered in visors and wearing golden robes—the attire of the Church of Light—came up from all sides. One by one, they approached the body of Kaan Diaz, wrapped the dead king in white cloth, connected his head to his body, and placed him on the prepared pile of firewood on the high platform.

With the blood of the king, the new king is crowned.

Grand Duke Meyers also changed into brand new clothes, the attire of the High Pope of Light. He now represented the Emperor of the Flor Empire, His Highness the High Pope of Light. Of course, since he was acting as a substitute, he did not wear a crown or hold a scepter.

Count Olsen also donned heavy clothing. Before Kaan Diaz died, he had neither the courage nor the right to wear the king's clothes.

"In the name of God, immortal light will crown you, my esteemed Majesty."

Grand Duke Meyers knelt down on one knee. This elderly grand duke was frighteningly healthy, making one feel that the heir of the Meyers family would remain a prince for decades to come.

Immediately afterwards, the surrounding imperial nobles also slowly knelt on one knee. They witnessed the king's coronation, and their simple bow was only because the other party was not their loyal monarch, Emperor Flor.

The nobles of the Kingdom of Carlos were also jolted awake. Looking at the crowned king, they slowly knelt down under the pressure from the surroundings, but not a single noble uttered any words of loyalty, which greatly displeased King Olsen.

"Have you betrayed the bloodline of Carlos? You have recognized a despicable thief as your sovereign."

No one answered him; the silence of the nobles of the Kingdom of Carlos was their most direct form of resistance against Olsen.

Olsen turned around, and in an instant, he exuded the majesty of a king.

Looking down at the kneeling nobles, Olsen was furious.

"Have you forgotten the vows you made for generations to come?!"

"You will always be loyal to Carlos; you belong to Carlos, you are my followers!"

"Not his!"

Olsen personally grabbed the torch handed to him and threw it at the pile of firewood on the platform. In an instant, a raging fire broke out, and Kaan Diaz's body turned to ashes in the flames.

Seeing this, the nobles of the Kingdom of Carlos's eyes reddened even more. They bowed their heads and kissed the ground beneath King Olsen's feet, swearing their loyalty to the king.

"Connelly will remain loyal to His Majesty."

"Jokic is your most loyal follower."

……

The nobles' oaths pleased Earl Olsen immensely, and he laughed, his voice growing louder in the glow of the burning flames.

Of the four great nobles of the Kingdom of Sera, he was the one who would ultimately become the king of the Carlos bloodline, and he was the final victor.

"Arise, my loyal nobles."

King Olsen's voice gradually softened, while the imperial nobles on the other side had naturally stood up.

This was a very cheap coronation ceremony, but also the most expensive.

It was cheap because there was no six months of preparation in advance, no thousands of people from the Kingdom of Carlos watching the ceremony, no nobles leading their bloodline heirs to shout their loyalty to the king at the top of their lungs in the square, no miracles of glory brought by the Pope, and even the king's clothes were taken from the royal palace in the capital of Carlos.

It is expensive because the king's coronation tramples on the corpse of another king.

An unprecedented coronation announced the change of power in the Kingdom of Carlos and marked another victory for the Empire over the Papacy, not only in war but also in the victory of the Light over the Dawn Papacy.

At this moment, all the nobles had different thoughts.

Grand Duke Meyers looked at King Olsen, pondering the support His Majesty the Emperor would need for him in the Twilight Province upon his return to the Empire.

Brutus, the successor to Grand Duke Rodrigo, had a glint in his eye. After this matter was over, a considerable number of nobles in the empire would support the establishment of the Mage's Guild, and there would be no more obstacles to this matter.

Earl Clayton looked at the burning square. The victory in this war was clearly not enough to make him the fifth Grand Duke of the Empire. The credit for this war was not as great as that for his son, Ryan Clayton, killing the Silvermoon Werewolf King of the Orcs in the Northwind Province.

As the elector Freud gazed at the burning corpse, he realized that even kings could die. So when he killed the Pope of the Holy Mountain, no one would be qualified to challenge him for the throne of the Flor Empire. He would lead the empire to its most glorious peak.

This coronation ceremony brought together people with different interests. When Kaan Diaz died and King Olsen ascended the throne, it meant that the gears of their interests had begun to turn.

For a moment, everyone was overwhelmed with joy.

Their slight relaxation went unnoticed by anyone as the sun in the sky, the light of the Empire, the dawn of the Church, began to ripple outwards.

It is faint, so insignificant to Him, but as the ripples draw ever closer to the world, they become a storm that will destroy it.

The snow-white radiance shone brightly in the sunlight. It transformed into a beam of light that traveled from a distant world to the royal city of the Kingdom of Carlos. Only when the snow-white radiance illuminated the faces of everyone in the royal city did they raise their heads in horror to look at the holy beam of light that was hurtling towards Earl Olsen.

Divine Punishment

Prophecies not belonging to humankind echoed, and the wrath of the Dawn Church finally arrived on the day when the gods were most active and their divine power was at its peak.

When the Papacy's wrath truly descends, it will be a catastrophe that destroys everything.

The divine punishment beam instilled fear in everyone, and Count Olsen, its target, was filled with despair, his pupils dilating outwards.

No one knows how to survive divine punishment.

Except for...blasphemers.

Grand Duke Meyers was the first to react. His face was solemn as he slowly raised his head. Nightmare energy rose from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, transforming into a huge... life force that blocked King Olsen's head.

It was the divine essence of a deceased god, sealed within Grand Duke Meyers' body. It was the most powerful foundation of the Meyers family and their strength in fighting against the gods.

The snow-white divine punishment struck the power of the nightmare, and it was blocked.

But soon, the cracks in the gradually tearing barrier made Grand Duke Meyers feel the threat of death. He turned around and slapped a cloth doll at King Olsen's back.

He was a legend, his power terrifying. He smashed and pierced King Olsen's back, tearing out his heart. Then, before death came completely, he replaced King Olsen's heart with a doll.

A priceless life-giving potion was pushed into the king's mouth, and then Grand Duke Meyers grabbed the king's heart and threw it beyond the Nightmare's power barrier.

boom! ! ! ! ! !

As the divine punishment of dawn dissipated, the nobles opened their eyes to find King Olsen collapsing weakly and in a panic.

(End of this chapter)