From the Ship of Fools to Earl of Wugang

At the same time, the magnificent crystal chandeliers in the banquet hall suddenly went dark, and the crowd, sensing something was wrong, immediately began to whisper among themselves.

However, a gunshot rang out, and black liquid instantly seeped from the faces of many waiters, chefs, and musicians around them, enveloping their entire bodies.

Amidst the horrified clamor of the crowd, dozens of villains dressed in black robes appeared on the field in the blink of an eye.

The guards immediately stepped forward to try to control the uninvited guests, while the crowd, sensing something was wrong, tried in vain to leave through various passages.

Several doors opened at the same time, revealing the same patch of lights and the same group of bewildered guests behind them.

An elderly count swung his cane and smashed it against the window. The glass rippled, and the cane emerged from the curtains behind him.

Meanwhile, the prepared black-robed villains occupied the band section and the central dance floor, and began fighting with the guards at the silver-page table.

"Burn the register," the Grand Duchess ordered her secret service personnel. "No one is allowed to take it away."

Having assessed the situation, the Crown Prince drew his sword and stepped forward, shouting, "In the name of Mount Khufhoiseth! Defend the order of the ruling order!"

The sword he raised blazed with brilliant golden light, and everyone present recognized it as the "Golden Sword," a legacy of the Kingdom of Dushi.

Bathed in golden light, their courage surged, and order quickly returned to the crowd. The guards protecting the silver pages managed to subdue the thugs waving their tentacles.

Resisting is futile.

Suddenly, a chilling voice came from the void, and the guards protecting the Silver Pages were struck as if by lightning.

The two leading worshippers collapsed to the ground bleeding from all seven orifices, while the other guards had their heads blown off. The villains then seized the silver pages.

Just as the crown prince was about to give chase, the door in the direction of the wine cellar flashed, and then a gentleman in a black suit walked into the banquet hall with an air of nonchalance.

If Edmund were here, he would recognize Jacob, the cult leader from the Deep Ones.

"Your Highness, please calm down. We'd better talk."

Jacob gracefully accepted the silver pages offered by the believers, like a belated foreign guest—if one ignored the group of men in black robes beside him.

"I have no intention of harming the guests Plichni has invited tonight. You shall surrender and hand over the few marked on the list, and the rest of the guests may leave in peace."

He read out the names of six noble families of the duchy, and several suppressed gasps rose in the hall. Those families were all important ministers who held key positions in the duchy.

The Crown Prince looked coldly at Jacob: "'Winter' and 'Tide,' you are the forces of that underwater city's lord. Kidnapping and cult sacrifices are presented as sincerity in your words."

"Many diplomatic proposals have resulted in far more deaths than tonight," Jacob said, his gaze falling on the guests crowding behind the Crown Prince.

"Besides, those six gentlemen may be willing to take risks for the duchy, or they may believe that the royal family has no right to refuse on their behalf."

A middle-aged man with a plump figure took half a step forward from the crowd; he belonged to one of the families that had been called out.

"Your Highness, I am willing..."

"No need for further words. Prishini has no tradition of handing over guests to the enemy." The crown prince interrupted the middle-aged man and looked at the smiling Jacob.

The Grand Duchess stood at the back of the crowd, her gaze fixed on the silver-page register in the hands of the believer, its edges seeping with black liquid. The six surnames that had just been read out were written in an unusual bluish-gray handwriting, more so than the others.

"Don't answer him, that's a trick." The Grand Duchess raised her voice. "Everyone whose name is called, retreat to the inner circle."

With that, she raised the ruby ​​amulet around her neck, and the Plichni lion crown emblem above her head rang out with a chiming sound, with a halo illuminating around it.

Jacob's smile faded slightly, while the crown prince had already charged forward with his sword.

"The emperor's power is divinely bestowed; he shall strike down the wicked!"

With his shout, all the believers in the charging route seemed to be bounced away by some unknown force, and the ground cracked inch by inch. Jacob saw the golden sword coming down on him.

"Damn 'Lord's Strike,' bring it on!" Jacob muttered through gritted teeth. He neither dodged nor avoided the sword strike, his smile growing even more manic.

The Crown Prince's unstoppable strike gradually slowed as it approached Jacob, the golden light began to dim, and wisps of black smoke emerged from the void the blade sliced ​​through.

*Step back.*

The captivating voice returned once more, and the figure of the mastermind finally reappeared in the void.

Large swaths of tentacles emerged from the void of transparency and changed color, appearing out of thin air like an octopus changing color.

Several cultists behind him plunged their blades into their own hearts, and the gushing blood quickly turned black as it was drawn up, intertwining with their tentacles to form the shape of a monster.

An indescribable sense of eeriness and oppression emanated from it, and golden light emanated from the crown prince.

Only a very small number of the royal forces that followed him remained in place, and the barrier protecting the guests also hummed intermittently.

The Crown Prince's expression finally changed: "Fourth-tier lord..."

"Absolutely right! This is our divine messenger..." Jacob said with a smug smile, about to continue.

"So what! *Order is my life, the national spirit is my soul!*"

The crown prince suddenly twisted the sword blade that was suspended in mid-air by an invisible force, and the golden sword in his hand exploded instantly, bursting out with a dazzling brilliance like the sun.

The skin of the huge tentacle monster next to Jacob was blown off, and Jacob was caught off guard as his whole body began to burn.

The cultists collapsed to the ground with cries of agony, and the priest holding the register lost his balance, the silver pages slipping from his hands.

"Now!" The Grand Duchess was unaffected by the golden light. She took off the amulet from her chest and threw it forcefully at the register.

The amulet cracked open in mid-air, and silver flames spread rapidly along the spine of the book.

The names on the roster began to fade, and the doors around the banquet hall that constantly sent guests back to their original positions began to flicker violently.

A door leading to the side hall was restored to normal, and several court knights were immediately dispatched to escort the women, children, and the wounded away.

Matilda helped a frightened old lady to the door and handed her over to the guards who rushed over from the outside. The guards then pulled the princess away.

"Your Highness, please leave immediately as well."

"Let go! As a princess, I should set an example for the country." Matilda lifted her skirt and resolutely turned back into the hall.

Inside the banquet hall on the other side, the cult had not anticipated that the Crown Prince would be able to unleash such power, but Jacob's confidence when he appeared was not unfounded.

Although the divine messenger's means of survival were nearly destroyed after suffering a severe blow, its essence remained intact, and it still possessed a status far exceeding that of anyone else in the banquet hall.

Its dozens of tentacles turned into charred remains, touched the ground and then merged back into the shadows, crawling onto the nearby cultists who lay on the ground groaning.

After a few sickening swallowing sounds, the believers seemed to melt away and merge into the body of the "divine messenger".

The crown prince, who was lying on the ground, then heard a strange and eerie voice that made even someone as powerful as him, who had reached the third level, feel a chill run down his spine.

We beseech the Father God of the Abyss, the Son of the City of the Deep Sea, the High Priest of the Endless Abyss. Open the gates of His kingdom!

As soon as he finished speaking, a narrow crack appeared in the center of the banquet hall.

A large amount of black water gushed out of the fissure, flooding the ground, and the screaming guests were immediately forced back into the protective circle. All they could see in the fissure was an inverted black sea and countless pale figures crowding together underwater.

In this black water, ordinary believers screamed as they were dragged underwater, while Jacob, whose face was burned beyond recognition by the golden light, was swept up by the black water and stood up.

Jacob laughed as he watched the Crown Prince, who was also being swept away by the black water and struggling desperately.

"Gurgle gurgle, Your Highness, you've finally—gurgle—fallen into my hands."

Suddenly, a huge wave crashed into Jacob and the Crown Prince in the black waters that were constantly pounding the protective circle. The latter was swallowed up again, and the former was also knocked off balance.

Get to work!

Jacob glanced regretfully at the still struggling crown prince, then turned with a sinister grin toward the protective circle that was being constantly assaulted.

The more he takes down, the less pressure he'll face from losing his cult's funds.