Those time travelers that year

Even... the previous assassination attempt against some members of the Grete family might have been orchestrated or planned by his brother to eliminate those who disobeyed him and prevent his own exposure.

Thinking this way, Sid broke out in a cold sweat, and his imagination ran wild. Although he showed no outward signs of distress, his inner murderous intent and fear grew stronger. The more he thought about the worst, the more Sid felt that Ciel was definitely up to no good and wanted to take back everything according to the traditions of the nobility.

Now, the current Earl Grete is still alive, but what about a hundred years from now? Perhaps by then, the long-lurking Charles will definitely raise his sword against him, Sid Grete…

Sid's heart sank. Without disturbing his fiancée beside him, he took a deep breath. Although it was just a thought, it wasn't impossible. Besides, placing his eldest son, who originally had inheritance rights but had now been stripped of them, in the territory didn't seem like a good thing at all!

'Go back and talk to Father. Perhaps he could just let him manage the Chamber of Commerce, or send him to the New World to handle colonial affairs. Have Father arrange an official position for him there…'

Sid considered various possibilities and ultimately decided that only by exiling his nominal brother to the New World could he truly avoid threatening his power and status. Ideally, he would die there due to acclimatization issues or some other reason.

Of course, if Charles knew that his nominal brother had such 'reasonable' thoughts, he would be very happy to send him to a world filled with firelessness. Let him personally experience what life's lessons are, what a good life is, and then, amidst tears and lamentations, type "GG." This process would probably involve repeatedly kneeling and starting over, kneeling dozens or even hundreds of times, which should be enough.

Suffering! Can it be called suffering if you don't die dozens or hundreds of times?

……

Just as Sid was pondering how to deal with his brother, the music in the opera house continued at its usual unhurried pace. However, in a corner unnoticed by anyone—on the opera house ceiling—a dark figure appeared.

That was a warrior dressed in full silver-white armor and carrying two swords on his back—Old Wang of the vanguard.

His purpose in coming here was simple: assassination! Kill some of the people on Zavisha's list to muddy the waters of the capital's politics, to make the reformists and conservatives completely break off relations, and ultimately ignite the fuse of war.

Coincidentally, a large portion of the people on this list were coming to the opera house tonight to listen to music, while another group was absent. As the team leader, Lao Wu from the capital city went to handle the situation.

Using the suspended beams and chandeliers on the ceiling, Old Wang walked unnoticed to the edge of a beam and began climbing down the wall decorations. The darkness provided perfect cover, and no one discovered him.

Soon, Old Wang arrived at the box where one of his targets, Sid Gret, was located, and then slowly drew the short knife from his waist.

This is going to be a bloody night...

It seems there's more squeaking around, so I'll post the extra chapter at 12 o'clock!

Extra 1

New York City was bustling with activity as usual. Superheroes and supervillains staged one dramatic scene after another on the streets. Sometimes the supervillain would get beaten to a pulp by the superhero and then run for his life. Other times, the supervillain would beat the superhero to a pulp, but then, for some reason, the superhero would have a burst of inspiration, become possessed by the protagonist, and then turn around and beat the supervillain to a pulp in return.

The residents of New York City are helpless against these bodysuit perverts. What can we do? We're powerless too! These rioters, looting and burning, neither have the police come to their aid, nor have they ever paid for the damage to public property. Well, a big reason for this is that the cost would be enough to bankrupt some not-so-wealthy superheroes, like that guy who needs to sell his photo album.

It seems that New York City residents are used to it; at most, these guys might raise prices a few percent when they come to shop in those tight suits. Anyway, the rich don't suffer, like Iron Man. But the poor, like Spider-Man, suffer. Of course, he knows this, so every time he finishes work, he finds a place to change clothes before going to the supermarket.

So, many residents weren't surprised to hear rumbling noises echoing through New York City in broad daylight. It was a phenomenon reminiscent of a Middle Eastern conflict, a common occurrence in New York City's daily life.

However, for these New York City residents, this day is likely to be truly unlucky.

In a corner of this city, a building that has always been hidden by magically folding space is one of the three nodes maintaining the spatial barrier of the entire Earth. Thanks to this barrier, outsiders cannot easily enter Earth through spatial teleportation. In Asgard, one needs to cross the Rainbow Bridge; even the demon king of Hell could only exert considerable effort to throw out a weak clone.

However, on this day, an accident occurred...

Within the Sanctuary in New York, a building that marks the last remaining spatial barrier node on Earth, a fierce battle is raging. On one side is a Dreadlord from another universe, whose soul has possessed a mortal's body; on the other side are Stephen Strange and Kal Mordo, two disciples of the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme, who were users of supernatural abilities on Earth and had already perished at the hands of this Dreadlord.

Of course, there were other mages from various sects nearby, but it was clear that their combat abilities were simply insignificant in this situation. Kal Mordo was one of the Ancient One's most outstanding disciples, while Stephen Strange, though the youngest, possessed exceptional talent. Furthermore, when the Ancient One was on the verge of death from the Dreadlord's fatal blow, she transferred all her magical power to Stephen. It could be said that Stephen was now considered the new Sorcerer Supreme.

However, they were facing a dreadlord, a high-ranking member of the Burning Legion—Azeroth's eternal nightmare—who was no ordinary demon. In fact, while dreadlords preferred to achieve their goals through cunning and intrigue, they also possessed considerable military strength.

Powerful magic from shadow and fel energy raged in the hands of the dreadlord Diathorus the Seeker. Fel flames burned fiercely, easily melting steel and iron. Some mages caught in the blast were instantly incinerated, their souls devoured by the dreadlord. Even Kal Mordo, one of the Ancient One's most outstanding disciples, and Stephen, who inherited all of the Ancient One's magic, were forced to retreat before the dreadlord's fel energy.

Even if this dreadlord was merely a soul possessing a body, confined to a fragile and weak mortal form. Furthermore, not long ago in Hong Kong, this dreadlord was nearly beaten to death by a rather strange human warrior with his fists.

Thinking about it this way, the dreadlord felt aggrieved. How could a human who was clearly a warrior be so adept at manipulating fire and water elementals?! If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad, but damn it, this guy can also stop time! Is he a warrior or a mage?!

In short, Diathorus the Seeker, the dreadlord whose soul possessed a mortal body, was forced to drag his already fragile and shattered body along, constantly using evil magic to squeeze the life out of this mortal body and unleash even more powerful shadow magic.

A barrage of shadow arrows rained down, and the mages of Kamar-Taj hurriedly raised their magical shields, barely managing to block the shadow magic infused with corrosive energy. Then, Diathorus pointed a finger, and the mage he pointed at instantly fell into a deep sleep. A ball of eerie green fel energy gathered in Diathorus's hand, from which countless insects swarmed out, overwhelming the mages led by Doctor Strange.

Then, with one of the Three Sanctums behind them, Doctor Strange and Karl Mordo together manipulated a massive amount of magical energy to erect a huge barrier, firmly keeping Diathorus's evil magic out.

"Damn mortals!" Diathorus roared, unleashing an even greater surge of shadow power. Corruption, Unstable Affliction, Death Coil... all sorts of vile spells rained down from his hands. However, it was to no avail. The mages of Kamar-Taj remained firmly steadfast in protecting the New York sanctuary. Diathorus, on the other hand, was in increasingly dire straits. He had been relentlessly draining the life force from his mortal body, and now it was nearly dried up. Clearly, his mission was nearing its end.

Thinking of the consequences of failing the mission, Diathorus had no desire to experience Kil'jaeden's methods. For traitors and losers, unless you have enough power, Kil'jaeden, as a fraudster and the Burning Legion's lieutenant, would be happy to show you what it means to suffer a fate worse than death.

"Enough! You lowly mortals!" Thinking of the consequences of failure, Diathorus made his decision immediately. Rather than be tormented by Kil'jaeden for his failure, he'd rather take a gamble. Even if his body was destroyed, some of his power was lost, and his soul was forced into a state of weakness and hibernation, it was still better than being held responsible for the failure by Kil'jaeden.

Not to mention, the true rulers of the legion have been keeping a close eye on this matter.

Powerful shadow and fel energy surged from this mortal body, and under Diathorus's reckless drive, the mortal's form was instantly transformed. Bones were enlarged, flesh was twisted and reshaped by fel energy, and a cluster of enormous demonic wings tore through flesh and grew from the back of the body.

Suddenly, Diathorus's aura surged, causing the Kamar-Taj mages to tense up; this was the final moment of the battle. Victory meant the Kamar-Taj mages could rebuild the defenses of the Three Sanctuaries to protect Earth; defeat meant Earth would be completely exposed to the eyes of other nations.

"Mortals, your resistance is futile..." Diathorus, revealing his demonic form, strode forward, the power of shadow and fel energy surging like waves upon his body. This startled the mages of Kamar-Taj, who had been wary of the demon possessing a mortal, and they immediately tensed up.

At the same time, both Doctor Strange and Karl Mordo looked solemn. They quickly directed the remaining sorcerers to strengthen the magical barrier while mobilizing the power of the Sanctuary behind them to prepare an exorcism spell in an attempt to banish Diathorus from this world.

"The Legion descends, the apocalypse is nigh!" Diathorus, in his demonic form, lunged at the protective barrier, his mutated claws piercing into it. He then ignored the spells and incantations of the mages, squeezing the power from his body and soul, and merging all of it into one.

"This world, this universe, will burn fiercely!"

Boom!

A massive burst of flames and a deafening roar erupted as Diathorus, at the cost of his own body, unleashed a chaotic energy explosion. This explosion shattered the barriers erected by the mages, and also tore apart the souls and bodies of the vast majority of them.

Doctor Strange and Karl Mordo survived, but were thrown away by the explosion. The last sanctuary they fought so desperately to protect, under the weight of the shadow and evil forces, began to crumble under the pressure. Then, with a deafening roar, a large section of the New York sanctuary collapsed, and half of the building crumbled amidst the wailing sounds.

"Hahahaha..." Amidst the ruins, Diasolus, whose body was disintegrating and whose soul was weaker than ever before, laughed loudly, "The end of the world has come!"

As Diasorus cried out before his demise, the sky over New York City darkened, and a swirling green vortex appeared, growing larger and larger, above the city.

The deafening roar of thunder shook the entire sky. In that instant, the last of the Three Sanctuaries was destroyed, and the outer space barrier around Earth came to an end. At the same moment, the Dark Dimension connected to Earth's coordinates, and within the Dark Dimension, countless demons roared to the heavens.

The burning army couldn't wait any longer.

The strange occurrence in the skies above New York City immediately changed the expressions of all the superheroes and criminals, and even every resident of New York City. Cries and screams echoed throughout every corner of the city.

The last time an anomaly appeared in the sky was due to an invasion by an alien army.

This time, the anomalies in the sky far surpassed those of the recent Battle of New York.

Before the superheroes could find a solution, or even figure out what was going on, green flames streaked across the sky, and dozens of meteorites burning with green flames pierced through the clouds and crashed down on New York City below.

In the sky, within the green vortex, meteorites appeared one after another, then followed the first batch of falling meteorites, crashing down on the city below.

352. Interlude 3

Sid Gretel was assassinated, along with his fiancée whom he had recently married; both were stabbed dozens of times and died on the spot. Similarly, four other noble heirs died in the opera house, bringing the total number of victims to eleven. This incident immediately ignited an uproar throughout the capital.

But before many people could recover, a second piece of devastating news spread throughout the upper echelons of the empire: the current Duke of Arliuth had been murdered. The murderer fired several shots at the duke before fleeing. By the time his servants rushed him to the hospital, it was too late; the duke was pronounced dead.

These two assassinations completely ignited the entire aristocratic class of the empire. On one side were the heirs of four families with varying degrees of influence, and on the other side was a duke who held absolute power in the empire. If one paid close attention, one would discover that all those who died that night belonged to the conservative faction.

Thus, the conservatives began to rise up in protest. No one wanted to be assassinated without a clear reason, and no one wanted to see such a thing happen, especially in the current tense atmosphere. The death of Duke Arlius, who had been the leader of the conservatives, pushed them into the abyss. As for the four nobles who had lost their heirs, they were now even more in turmoil.

If they had alternative heirs, that would be fine, but only the Grete family still had an eldest son who had been exiled back to the territory; the other three families all had only one son.

In short, the entire capital was completely sealed off after the incident, and the army even began to be stationed there to declare a curfew.

However, not long after, during the investigation, two documents were found on the bodies of the four deceased noble heirs and the deceased Duke of Arlitte. One document was a list of conservatives who had infiltrated the reformists. The other document, a plan for a coup, was found in a hidden compartment of a file box among the Duke of Arlitte's belongings.

When this document and plan were discovered, the person who had taken over the investigation of Duke Arlius was a member of the reformist faction. He secretly concealed the matter and then sent the document and plan to the palace overnight.

Not long after, Zavisa, one of the heirs to the Duke of Arliuth, was placed under royal protection, ostensibly to prevent further attacks by the perpetrators and thugs while he was still seriously injured. However, for some unknown reason, information about the document and plan was accidentally obtained by a conservative spy planted in the palace, who quickly smuggled the information out of the palace.

Then, some of the conservatives discussed the matter and immediately realized that things were going terribly wrong. Especially after discovering that they were being monitored to varying degrees, these people, who had recently lost their leader, panicked. However, they quickly calmed down through clandestine efforts. At this point, a young man claiming to represent Zavisha contacted the conservatives.

In the following months, these conservatives all kept a low profile, only making a lot of noise about the two assassination attempts to put pressure on the royal family and the reformers... However, in secret, several conservative nobles began to secretly gather their forces. At the beginning of the fourth month, on a dark, moonless night, two ships full of soldiers quietly sailed into the port outside the capital in the early morning. At the same time, the general of the garrison stationed outside the capital also received visitors.

——————————Divider Line——————————

Charles was unaware of what was about to happen, neither his true self nor his clones traveling in other worlds knew what those reincarnators were planning. Although he learned of Sid's death, Charles was completely indifferent to it, coldly tossing the letter aside. Incidentally, after Count Gretel lost his beloved son, the letter he sent strictly ordered Charles to stay within his territory and not to go out.

Ciel completely ignored this.

He had no interest in the squabbles of these 'ants,' but a certain princess had kept some things from Charles in this regard. At least, Princess Kamishiro knew what those reincarnators were planning to do. Atia hadn't reported these matters to Charles, because Charles had simply handed them over to Princess Kamishiro.

So she concealed this information and instructed Atia to postpone her actions against the insects, allowing them to completely destabilize the country. Incidentally, the Princess of the Age of Gods was also very interested in the reincarnators' plans, and even more so in the possibility of gaining control of the nation…

Sometimes, you need to find something to do to pass the time, right?

……

Ciel wasn't interested in what was happening in the main world, and neither was his clone. In fact, compared to the life-or-death struggles in the main world, staying in this world that had transitioned from a game to reality was far more interesting.

A few days after leaving Susukino, Ciel returned to Akihabara with Shiroe and her group. Of course, they didn't fly directly into the city on their flying mounts, as that would attract too much attention. Instead, they landed some distance away from the city and rode horses instead.

After returning to Akihabara, Shiroe and her group went directly to a guild called the Crescent Moon Alliance, while Ciel declined their invitation, not seeing any point in throwing a party.

On the contrary, at this time, Shire, who had returned to the city, ran to a high place to look out over the entire city and the adventurers who had almost become lazy and had nothing to do, and suddenly a good idea popped into his mind.

As mentioned before, Charles was very interested in the system rules of these mass-produced cannon fodder, as well as the guard system in these cities. What exactly were these guards? Were they controlled puppets or golems? With this in mind, Charles casually gathered a few adventurers and easily tricked them into engaging in PvP combat in the city using simple tricks like hypnosis.

Then, just as these guys started fighting, a blue light flashed above them, and the same number of guards wearing blue armor as the adventurers appeared directly in front of them. They then forcefully suppressed the adventurers and sent them all to the Great Temple to reload their save files.

"As expected... spatial teleportation?" Watching the guards crush the adventurers and send them to their save points, Charles secretly lurked to the side, analyzing the guards' mechanics. "Just as I guessed, these guards can only be stationed within cities, which means that each city's defense mechanism can only cover the city's area!"

"Moreover, these guards... are not the puppets or golems as guessed, but actually—earthlings as NPCs!?"

"interesting!"

353. Meeting!

The city was bustling with activity. Originally, in Ciel's prediction, this city was supposed to gradually descend into chaos, but it was revitalized by the appearance of something called "food"! After the opening of the Crescent Moon Dining Shop, run by the Mikazuki Alliance Guild, Akihabara began to show its vibrant side, no longer the lifeless place it once was.

Charles felt it was a pity that this city hadn't become like the previous city called Susukino, because that meant there would be no more free prey coming to him.

However, this can be considered a good thing. For Sharl, who simply sees this world as a place for travel, sometimes it's unnecessary to make a complete mess of the world. In Sharl's view, actively intervening in the world is still a foolish act, because you never know if you'll encounter an epic team of twenty people who will have a talk about life with you after you intervene.

During this time, Charles had been busy with other things, especially those five unfortunate adventurers whose souls he had captured. These guys really had no mental fortitude; they were completely finished after only dying thirty or forty times. Charles found it a pity, since he usually passed the time by reading these guys' survival records in Yharnam when he had nothing else to do.

Of course, after these guys' souls collapsed, it made it easy for Charles to start operating on their souls, and then he easily extracted the system rules from their souls.

It was something called the Myriad Manifestations of the Universe, or perhaps some kind of magic. In any case, when Sharl was tracing back this power of rules, what surprised him most was that this rule was entirely acquired. It originated from an unimaginable magic called the Myriad Manifestations of the Universe. In fact, one could say that the 'system' and the 'adventurer' were byproducts of this magic. The true purpose of the magic was—a "miracle," essentially a super-enhanced version of a wish spell, a forbidden spell capable of genuinely altering a world's core rules.

However, Charles could only trace back to this point; he couldn't continue his search using the souls of these five unfortunate souls. Before Charles could delve deeper into the investigation, their souls shattered into pieces.

This saddened Charles for a long time, and he then began to try to find the specific traces of this spell.

However, so far, this spell called "All Things in the Universe" remains elusive. But on second thought, such a spell, capable of directly impacting a world and altering its rules, is most likely concealed by its own people. After all, if it falls into the hands of someone with malicious intent, they could wreak havoc on a world however they wish!

But it doesn't matter, there are still plenty of adventurers to use as guinea pigs, right? Sharl, who has temporarily settled in Akihabara, is disappointed that there are no more guys automatically offering themselves up for PvP. Although this group of adventurers doesn't seem very enthusiastic about quests anymore, prices in Akihabara are skyrocketing as they can now produce flavorful food, driving the entire adventurer community into a frenzy of monster hunting in the wild!

Almost every day, Sharl would stay at the city gate, constantly creating familiars like crows and rats to secretly follow the adventurers. Every now and then, he would personally buff the monsters, making these weaklings suddenly become incredibly powerful, fighting the adventurers to the death.

This has led to the occasional, illogical spawning of wild bosses in the monster areas outside Akihabara recently. Many adventurers have been inexplicably defeated, as an ordinary wild monster suddenly doubles in level and is even given a boss-like appearance. This often results in solo adventurers or groups of two or three being wiped out.