Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

Shadow Guard's face trembled slightly beneath his bamboo hat. This was the first time in his life he had felt a trace of fear towards someone's power. At least, in his memory, apart from the ancient worshippers and transcendent celestial masters within the Great Yan Palace, Surtur's attack was no less powerful than anyone else's! Even his colleague, Shadow Guard's full-force Five Thunder Orthodox Technique, was far inferior in momentum to the Flame Giant's attack that scorched mountains and boiled seas.

And that Sarkaz girl standing on the shoulders of the lava giant, with a proud smile on her face, is still so young!

Such talent, even in the Great Yan Dynasty, would absolutely be able to break through class barriers and obtain an official position in the court through the military examination. Given time, he would surely rise to a high position. Yet in Victoria, he could only condescend to become a guard...

Should we try to win them over?

Ying Weizi glanced quietly at Wayne, who was smiling with satisfaction, and began to weigh the options in his mind.

Wayne, of course, had no idea what the Shadowguard was thinking. He was currently busy marveling at Surtr's power and at his own brilliant design.

Upon discovering the enemy's encirclement and confirming the presence of powerful Originium Mages among them, Wayne abandoned his initial plan to lead a direct assault. The enemy was, after all, a regular army. Although the individual strength of his own men was almost at its peak, a few against an entire army was neither tactically nor strategically sound, contrary to Wayne's principle of "swift victory." They needed a massive area-of-effect attack capable of instantly shattering the enemy formation.

Then, Wayne had a sudden inspiration and used Mudrock's Originium Arts in combination with Surtr's Originium Arts to recreate the towering lava giant and the super-amplified [Leivatin] from Surtr's solo episode!

A god descended to earth, and sparks flew across the land. Gazing at the burning earth in the distance and the enemy's encirclement that had been completely torn apart, Wayne was very satisfied with this surprise attack.

He raised his hand and gave the order to the steam-armored troops who were already waiting behind him:

"There's no time to lose! Let's attack now while Surtr has broken through the encirclement!"

Ernest shook his head, snapping out of his shock, drew his rapier from his waist, pointed it at the encirclement, and roared to awaken the equally dazed steam-armored troops:

"Send a message to the second team remaining behind: prepare to break through and attack from both sides! First, third, and fourth teams, charge with me!"

"As ordered!"

The steam-armored troops, true to their elite status, immediately adjusted their stance upon hearing the order, activating their steam armor and entering combat mode. Large amounts of white steam erupted from the exhaust pipes at the rear of their armor, instantly forming a thermal barrier around it powerful enough to defend against most spells. The soldiers loaded their hand cannons, then took a step forward. The armor once again spewed out a large amount of steam, providing them with the initial thrust comparable to starting a train, and they vanished from their spot in an instant!

"Ready—fire!"

The surviving enemy soldiers in the encirclement hadn't even had time to regain their footing from the aftershocks of the lava giant's sword swing when they were met with a sudden barrage of steam-powered hand cannons. Their already crumbling formation was quickly torn apart by the steam-armored squads that had infiltrated the enemy ranks. Each explosion of the hand cannons claimed the lives of at least three enemy soldiers. Simultaneously, the second squad within the encirclement began their breakout. No longer needing to worry about ammunition, they swiftly attacked the six Originium Arts amplification devices deployed by the gray-haired sorcerer, successfully destroying two of them while the enemy was overwhelmed.

With the amplification device gone, the gale that had enveloped the Royal Military Academy's base gradually dissipated. Second Squad Leader Wright, after executing the last besieging soldier attempting a sneak attack with his hand cannon, looked up and saw Wayne and his men slowly walking through the cleared breach.

Surtr nimbly jumped off the lava giant's shoulder, swung her hand lightly across the giant's arm, and landed steadily next to Vayne. With a smile on her face and her eyes crinkling, she raised her hand to Mudrock and gave him a high five. Then she turned around and ran to Vayne's side, striking the same pose.

Wayne smiled brightly and gave Surtr a high five.

"Thanks, boss!" Surtr slung the greatsword back over her shoulder and said with a grin, "By the way, how did you come up with this idea? I've lived with Mudrock for so long, and I never thought of doing something like this!" As she spoke, she stretched out her hand and made an exaggerated circle in the air. "Standing there—so high up and swinging Leivadin with such a huge giant, it's just so cool! It's a genius idea!"

She patted Wayne on the shoulder, hugged his arm, and laughed:

"Just as I guessed, we really do get along!"

"Cough cough!" "Cough cough!" "Cough cough cough!"

For some reason, Ernest, Kal'tsit, and Mudrock all coughed at Surtr at the same time.

Terra reports 3 new COVID-19 cases.

just kidding.

Surtr realized he had gone a bit too far and, blushing, released Wayne's arm.

"It was an accident, an accident, boss, don't be angry. I'm genuinely happy, and so is Mudrock. We'll hug you later too! You didn't even tell me you could make such a big stone man!"

Hearing this, Niyan, hidden behind the mask, rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, "Who wants a hug from you? If anyone's going to hug me, it's probably..."

cough cough.

Mudrock awkwardly turned away, avoiding Surtr and Wayne's gaze. Kal'tsit glanced at Mudrock, raised an eyebrow, and the lynx-headed creature seemed to sense something, turning back to glare at Wayne. She added another note to Wayne's little notebook, the one she used to tattle on Theresa.

Seeing that the audacious and somewhat "skilled" madman who dared to behave so disrespectfully towards a royal prince had finally released his grip, Ernest withdrew his gaze, looked at Wright who was walking forward, and nodded, asking:

What is the casualty situation?

"Three soldiers were seriously injured and ten students were slightly injured, but most of them were burned by the aftershocks of that... young lady's Originium Arts before they could lie down, and they are not seriously injured."

“Very good!” Ernest nodded; it seemed the support plan had been a complete success. But before he could continue, Wright interjected:

"But, Marshal, have you captured an enemy sorcerer with short gray hair? He is the enemy's commander!"

Ernest frowned and looked at the captains of the other steam-armored squads behind him. Unsurprisingly, they all shook their heads in unison, indicating that they had never seen them before.

"Did he get away?" Wright sighed in disappointment. If it weren't for that warlock, they wouldn't have been trapped here for so long. Moreover, judging from the fact that the Northern Rebels had specially crafted an Originium amplifier for that warlock, the warlock's position within the Northern Rebels must have been quite high. Capturing him would have been a tremendous intelligence boost to Wayne's team, which was almost completely cut off from the outside world.

Ernest waved his hand: "Don't worry, he can't have gone far. I'll have someone search him right now."

"Stop! Don't move! Get your commander out here!"

However, before Ernest could finish speaking, a voice suddenly rang out from the group of students. Wayne and the others exchanged glances and walked towards the group of students.

The gray-haired male sorcerer scrambled to his feet from the bushes, his hands, raw and chapped from the flames, wielding a staff that emitted a ghastly green glow. He pointed it at the students not far away and roared:

"Let me go, or I'll kill them."

Wayne glanced at his somewhat twisted right leg and immediately understood what had happened.

He was injured by Surtr's attack and knew he couldn't escape, so he wanted to take the students hostage?

Wayne glanced at the student and easily noticed the distinctive little horns and long blue hair, and smiled slightly.

That's suicidal.

His gaze swept toward the shadow guard beside him, and sure enough, the shadow guard Zi Jin had already drawn his Tang sword, keeping a low profile, and silently walked toward the sorcerer.

Chapter Fifty-Four: We are family!

"Hey, you went way too far."

After Ernest had settled all the students back into the troop transports, Wayne stepped out from behind the steam-armored troops, looked at the gray-haired sorcerer sprawled on the ground, and sighed helplessly.

At first glance, the warlock appears to have no injuries, but upon closer inspection, one can see a bleeding cut at the junction of his head, limbs, and torso.

This way of dying couldn't help but remind Wayne of the legendary dismemberment by five horses. However, this kind of cutting was still much more aesthetically pleasing than the bloody tearing apart of the five horses. At first glance, the gray-haired warlock looked as if he was lying on the ground, sleeping peacefully.

Shadow Guard performed a flourish with his sword, then gracefully sheathed it, answering Wayne's complaint with an unchanged expression:

“Kidnapping the Princess of Dayan should be punished with the most severe torture, but unfortunately, time was short and there were no tools available, which is why he got off easy.”

Wayne pursed his lips, thinking to himself, "If you put it that way, then if Wei Yanwu really sends you to deal with the Black Serpent Talulah in the future, do you also have to give the old Black Serpent a set of torture?"

Of course, this is just speculation. In reality, Wayne could guess from the tail ball that if the Shadow Guards really came out, they probably wouldn't kill Talulah.

He glanced at the corpses that were almost "pieced together" in front of him and sighed.

“We still have many questions we want to get out of him, it would be a shame to kill him like this. But the dead cannot be brought back to life, Ernest, send someone to check his belongings, hopefully we can find something useful.”

"Your Highness."

Ernest, as if he had expected this, stepped forward, took out a handkerchief from his pocket, and unfolded it to reveal a strangely shaped unfamiliar medal.

“We examined the body while you were hiding from that Miss Chen. Apart from the staff and this medal, there was nothing of value.”

medal?

Wayne took the medal from the handkerchief and examined it closely. The medal was quite peculiar, consisting of two layers. The outer layer was an equilateral triangle made up of three rhombuses of varying thicknesses, while the inner layer had a design resembling a spiral dart or an Eastern shuriken.

This style of medal should generally represent a certain faction.

Wayne's first thought was: this was a rebel symbol erected after the Northern rebels declared their rebellion. He frowned, looked at Ernest, and asked:

"Are there any other rebel soldiers with this type of medal?"

Ernest shook his head: "No, Your Highness. It is precisely because there is only one that we think it might be special. Otherwise, a mere medal would not be worth your attention."

Wayne's brow furrowed even deeper.

Since none of the other members of the Northern rebels wore similar medallions, this medal probably wasn't an insignia belonging to the Northern rebels who had suddenly broken out. The overturned hypothesis didn't frustrate him too much; he was just curious why this insignia would be on a Northern rebel leader.

A leader of a northern rebel army who secretly has other factions?

However, after carefully recalling the insignia of the various factions in Arknights that he could remember, he could not find a faction that matched the design of the medal.

Could it not be a faction marker? Or... is it a faction that wasn't announced before he transmigrated?

That would be a real problem. A rebellion within Victoria could be easily resolved, but if it involved an unknown force, a force whose foresight rendered Wien ineffective, the difficulty of suppressing the rebellion would increase dramatically. Because the enemy's leader might not be the Duke of Normandy at all, but someone else entirely!

He reviewed the insignia of the various factions in his mind once more: the goat of Letania, the two-headed eagle of Ursus, the dragon of Great Yan, and even the emblem of Siesta. After confirming that none matched, he had no choice but to temporarily put aside his thoughts, hand the medal back to Ernest, and instruct:

"Keep this safe; we might have uncovered the truth behind this rebellion."

Ernest was slightly startled, nodded, wrapped the medal back in his handkerchief, and put it into the inner pocket of his uniform.

There's too little information right now; he can't determine which faction is behind this medal. But Wayne isn't worried. The fox will always show its tail eventually; more and more clues will emerge until Wayne can uncover the truth.

"Let's go back to Earl Vincent's mansion."

....................

Victoria, Londinium, Iron Palace.

Vina watched the Earl of Princeton's entire speech with a serious expression, put down her tablet, let out a long sigh, and looked at Theresa:

"Theresa, do you know? Actually, Victoria doesn't have a king right now."

Theresa blinked in confusion and asked, "Why?"

Vina's gaze fell upon the empty palace hall, and the scene of her coronation ceremony more than six months ago seemed to reappear before her eyes. She explained:

"The succession to the throne in Victoria was not a secret. Generally, after the coronation, the Aslan royal family would give the king's first televised address to announce the new king's accession and the beginning of a new era for Victoria, but..."

Theresa guessed what was going on and said, "But you didn't do that televised address?"

Vina nodded: "It was my brother's idea. My coronation was very rushed and based on...some unexpected events. In short, I ascended the throne at my brother's coronation ceremony. From the time I returned to the palace to the formal coronation, there was only one week to prepare."

"I wasn't prepared. I had no speech, didn't know the procedure, and had no idea how to demonstrate royal etiquette and majesty. Even my coronation ceremony was a struggle..."

She recalled the scene of receiving the crown from the elder unicorn and placing it on her own head, and shook her head with a smile.

"So my brother helped me get out of that televised speech. He was the son of the King of the North, the original heir to the throne, and also a well-known 'disregarder of etiquette.' He forcefully refused the request to give a televised speech before his coronation, so the radio station didn't have time to make any preparations. As a result, I, who was later crowned on his behalf, also benefited from this and didn't embarrass myself on television."

Vina took a deep breath and said:

"Therefore, apart from the great nobles who were fortunate enough to participate in the coronation ceremony in Londinium, the people outside, from County Dorron to County Essex, and even in Londinium, the heart of the empire, are unaware that they have a new king. Victoria has been without a king for over a hundred days!"

Vina always thought that this matter could be delayed, and that with the help of Wayne, Theresa, and the ministers, she would gradually mature and truly shoulder the responsibilities of an empress.

But clearly, time waits for no one.

Since the Great Purge by the King of the North, the Aslan royal family has ceased to appear in public. The Northern Rebellion was like a heavy hammer that jolted Vina awake from her throne. It wasn't that she needed to mature and take on Victoria's responsibilities, but rather that Victoria needed her to mature and fulfill her duties as Queen.

Victoria hoped that everyone would fulfill their duties, whether they were workers, merchants, students, farmers, soldiers, nobles, or even the emperor!