Glorious God Throne

What- What!

In that instant, Fina’s mind went completely blank.

Deep emerald eyes gazed at her dazed face, and the other person’s voice was low but seemed to have a mesmerizing power.

“You know it, right? To achieve your goal in the current situation, becoming empress is the best choice. You can unite all forces that share your objective.”

“Otherwise, what’s the use of just killing some opposition?”

She immediately understood the implications of those words.

Although the imperial family of the Chenxing Empire was far less powerful than hundreds of years ago, the old emperor who had sat on the imperial throne for so many years clearly wouldn’t be easy to deal with.

Moreover, there were other conservatives. Even if the Shadow Council eliminated all the conservatives, their subordinate forces wouldn’t disappear but might instead pledge allegiance to the final conservative – the emperor himself, strengthening the old emperor’s power.

Even if they managed to deal with the old emperor through great effort, how much would the empire itself be damaged in this internal struggle? More importantly, how much time would this process waste?

Whether it was the depleted national power or wasted time, both were incredibly precious and could affect millions of future lives.

So, the Shadow Council’s thinking was clear—

Since political means were time-consuming and resource-intensive, they would switch to simpler, more direct methods to solve the root of the problem.

—Put someone new on the throne.

But the emperor himself had no intention of abdicating. If they tried to force him to abdicate through others’ influence, not only would it be extremely difficult, but achieving the goal would also be as time-consuming and resource-intensive, perhaps even more challenging than just neutralizing the emperor to stop him from hindering them. Because the latter only temporarily stripped his power, while the former would take away his throne.

This would undoubtedly make the old emperor fight desperately with everything he had.

The Shadow Council clearly didn’t mean this and couldn’t pull off such sophisticated political maneuvering, especially considering the achievements of the assassin before her…

“Once the emperor dies, surely you can handle your brothers and sisters in the succession competition?”

No, of course not.

Fina answered in her heart.

With a group of like-minded collaborators and now having gained Mueller and others’ support, she undoubtedly had great advantages. At least regarding the Return to the Void, their goals aligned.

But everything hinged on her father emperor’s death.

—Could she really make such a choice?

“So, do you want to become empress?” K asked again.

To Fina’s ears, this directly translated to “Want me to kill your dad?”

She feared the other person would act the next second and casually tell her: “Your dad’s gone.”

Fina hurriedly said, “I want to try convincing Father Emperor.”

“The Shadow Council must already know about the Return to the Void, right? I plan to tell him everything, to convince him…”

If the final result still wasn’t favorable…

If he insisted on standing in opposition…

Fina didn’t continue thinking, nor did she want to think further.

****n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Many decisions can’t be made until the last moment. But for many things, even before the last moment arrives, our hearts have already made the choice – this is human nature!”

In the towering cathedral, sunlight shone through the colorful glass dome above, casting rainbow-like light on the old man’s face.

The massive Sun God’s emblem bloomed on the wall like a rising, burning sun, filling his vision.

Arnosi quietly gazed up at the statue of the Sun God. Since childhood, he had stood countless times under this statue, praying to the god and offering his most devout faith, yet never receiving a response.

Since returning from the nightmare world, he had been standing here for an hour.

“Arnosi.”

Someone entered the cathedral and stopped beside him. It was his lifelong friend, now the Pope of the Sun God Temple.

“I thought I’d never have the chance to see you here again.”

The Pope of the Sun God Temple turned his gaze to this old friend. The other person wasn’t wearing the Sun God Temple’s cardinal robes. “Or should I call you— the founder and current Pope of the Candlelight Society, Samuel?”

“Whatever works.” Arnosi didn’t deny it.

The Candlelight Society had started developing from the Holy Federation, initially being various cults he had merged. With the Sun God Temple’s control over the Holy Federation, the Pope couldn’t have been unaware, but had simply allowed it silently.

The current growth and strength of the Candlelight Society was certainly due to Arnosi’s exceptional abilities, but he had to admit it was also partly thanks to his friend’s favor.

His friend had tacitly allowed his development and maintained his cardinal status. Last time, he even let him attend the joint meeting. Between them, there was an unspoken understanding.

These two men, one a former Cardinal Archbishop of the Sun God Temple and one the current Pope – who could have imagined they were actually the people with the most tepid faith in the Sun God Temple?

More accurately, the Pope himself only used the Sun God Temple as a tool to control the Holy Federation, not truly believing in the god. While Arnosi had once been a fanatical believer in the Sun God.

However, this faith had never been rewarded.

“Long time no see.”

Arnosi removed the mask from his face, revealing a face much younger than before due to extraordinary powers, with only traces of silver in his hair betraying his age.

“I often think back these years…”

He quietly gazed at the Sun God statue he had seen countless times.

“When I was proclaiming His blessings at the Sun God’s festival, using all beautiful words to praise His divine grace, how were my wife, daughter, parents… struggling and wailing in the sea of fire, waiting endlessly for rescue…”

“Did they resent me then?”

“Resent me for devoting all my passion to the deity, attracting the whole city to attend the festival, while leaving my sick daughter and those caring for her at home, leaving them with no hope for help…”

“The god I believed in didn’t save them.”

His breathing became violent, his once-straight back bent in pain, and finally he fell heavily to his knees. Under his deeply bowed head, tears wet the floor.

“The Sun God never existed in the first place.”

The Pope of the Sun God Temple spoke words that could be considered blasphemous.

“Your accusations against the Sun God are just misplaced anger.”

He understood his friend’s psychology all too well.

Regret for being so fanatically devoted to the Sun God, regret for going to preside over the festival that day, wondering if staying home might have saved everything… such thoughts day after day, finally transformed into hatred for himself and hatred for the deity.

–The almighty Sun God, why hadn’t He protected them? Why couldn’t He save a devout, fervent believer?

–It must be because the Sun God was too incompetent! If he had believed in a true deity, he surely would have received salvation!

Sure enough, the person kneeling on the ground said hoarsely, “It’s okay, I’ve now found a deity worthy of belief…”

“They will definitely, definitely fulfill my wish!”

The Pope let out a very soft sigh. As someone who knew the truth, he naturally knew how crazy and obsessed the other person was.

But reality had to play a joke…

He looked at the person on the ground who, despite possessing power unimaginable to ordinary people, was like a stray dog on the street.

“Why, why is there Return to the Void!”

The person on the ground had almost curled into a ball, his fists hitting the ground heavily, fresh blood mixing with the tears.

The truth revealed in the nightmare world was too cruel.

His former faith had collapsed, and now the Flower Speaker he believed in couldn’t give him answers either. Even though he believed the Flower Speaker would eventually fulfill his wish, there wasn’t enough time…

“All my efforts until now have been to bring them back to the world of the living, but if the world is going to be destroyed, what meaning does any of this have? What meaning!”

He struck the ground heavily with his fist, again and again, as if he had lost all sense of pain, venting the collapsing emotions in his heart.

A hand suddenly pressed on his shoulder.

The Pope of the Sun God Temple bent down to look at his hysterical friend. “The meaning is that once the world is destroyed, they won’t even have the possibility of resurrection.”

“But by preventing this, you can preserve that possibility.”

The cathedral fell silent again.

After a long while, the person on the ground slowly stood up like a puppet whose joints hadn’t moved in ages. Arnosi gently smoothed the wrinkles in his robes, as if the previous madness had been just an illusion.

“You’re right, Diego.”

He smiled at his friend, that kind of madness and obsession that refused to accept fate burning once again in his eyes.

“It’s not time for despair yet. If they knew I gave up like this, they would surely be disappointed in me.”

“…I must preserve the possibility of a future for them.”

I must fight with all my might for this possibility.

“In that case, let’s work together. The Holy Federation won’t give up hope either.”

The Pope of the Sun God Temple also smiled.

“Throughout history, humans have overcome so many disasters, it’s not time to admit defeat yet.”

“Moreover, there’s still that mysterious White King, the deity you believe in, god-like supernatural powers…”

Especially the mysterious “White King”…

Being able to pull so many people into the nightmare world, and according to intelligence exchanged with the Special Affairs Bureau, they had been maintaining the order and rules of this world – they were a god-like existence. Surely they wouldn’t allow this world to be destroyed so easily?

He absolutely would not allow the Holy Federation to be destroyed so easily – as the Pope of the Sun God Temple, even though he had never believed in the Sun God, he had a responsibility to save the life of every believer.

But the experience in the nightmare world told him that even if he struggled with all his might, he couldn’t resist the power of Return to the Void. To save the people of the Holy Federation, he could only place his hopes in more powerful beings.

“I’ve never believed in gods. This time, I’m willing to believe once.”

****

Sang Country, Island Alliance, Roland Kingdom…

Haotian Temple, Parliament..

Many countries took action as soon as they learned the news, beginning to prepare for the impending Return to the Void.

The civilian world wasn’t quiet either.

In a nameless small country, the leader of the extraordinary organization woke from their dream and immediately gathered their companions, preparing to save their family, friends and more civilians in the near future…

On some secret forums, people with aligned goals had already connected, calling friends to strengthen their teams…

Legends of powerful extraordinary beings like the Lord of the Heavenly Capital, Flower Speaker, Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation, Joey and others were mentioned again. Many people searched for their traces, especially Joey who was clearly in the Roland Kingdom, hoping to gain their protection in the coming disaster…

A new round of joint meetings between various countries’ top leadership was underway. With their tacit understanding, seemingly real yet uncertain news about Return to the Void gradually leaked online, testing the public’s reaction.

And in various countries and regions, all kinds of civil defense projects and refuge projects that had already begun preparation accelerated their progress.

Everything was like a fast-forwarded movie, the whole world accelerating its pace under Bai Yi’s promotion.