Do Your Own Revolution

< Emperor-009. >

Boom—!

In the heart of the Imperial Capital.

Along with the sudden sound of cannon fire, the high spires of the Imperial Palace were engulfed in explosions and smoke.

“Wh-what! Artillery?! Where is it coming from…!”

“All security forces, take defensive positions! Find out where that artillery fire is coming from!”

The startled guard captain’s bellowing didn’t last long.

The source of the bombardment on the Imperial Capital revealed itself boldly.

Imperial Railway Line 1.

“Damn it, what’s that thing doing here?!”

“Rifle rounds aren’t working! Regular troops can’t handle this!”

“Where’s the Knight Order! Where’s the Knight Order!”

The Knight Order was just as surprised by the sudden attack.

As knights rushed out from the palace direction, the tightly sealed doors of the armored train opened as if they had been waiting for this moment.

Hisssss-!

What emerged one by one with the steam were automatons made of steel.

However, that wasn’t what shocked the knights.

“Wait a moment.”

“That person in the center…!”

The army of dolls that appeared in the center of the Imperial Capital.

What caught their attention was the single person standing at its center.

“Prince Friedrich…!”

“Good to be home.”

Whoosh-!

With that brief command, the automatons all took formation at once.

“Open fire.”

With the short order from behind, dozens of beams shot forth from the automatons’ arms.

“Arghhhh?!”

“M-magic! Those dolls are using magic…!”

“Deploy barriers! Hurry, quickly!”

Though the knights tried to respond after finally grasping the situation, the armored train behind them wasn’t idle either.

Machine guns and light mortars mounted on the train windows.

An incredible number of weapons that could be called a fortress in itself unleashed fire all at once toward the Knight Order.

Boom—!

Endless explosions.

A hail of bullets, and beams piercing through the barriers between them.

It took less than 5 minutes for the Knight Order that deployed to stop the armored train to be completely annihilated.

“Kuh, kugh…!”

A knight staggered, covered in wounds.

“Go tell Margaret,”

Friedrich approached the knight and spoke slowly, looking at the terror-stricken knight.

“That I have returned.”

“Hii, hiik…!”

As the knight fled, overwhelmed by his presence.

“Hey, Freddie.”

Kalkas and Kassel, who had been operating the weapons inside the train, stepped down.

“Don’t you think this entrance was too flashy? Most of the artillery was just for show anyway, just blanks.”

“No, this is sufficient.”

They had succeeded in drawing out the Knight Order remaining in the Imperial Capital.

And…

“With all this noise, the citizens who hear the gunfire will flee.”

“Good grief.”

At Friedrich’s nonchalant words, Kalkas dropped his shoulders as if dumbfounded.

In a situation where victory wasn’t even certain, he was still worried about civilian casualties?

Somehow sensing the words Kalkas had swallowed, Friedrich smiled slightly and spoke to him.

“We can’t let innocent citizens bleed because of political fighting between those at the top.”

“Ha, fine fine. You win, you bastard.”

As Kalkas stepped forward with a smirk,

The Imperial Guards and Dvorak family knights who had detected the attack came rushing out.

The second line of defense.

However, their numbers were pathetically small compared to the knights they had first encountered.

“Prince Friedrich?! Why are you here…!”

“Capture him! Capture the traitor…!”

Boom—!

Just as they were about to charge, Kalkas’s sword strike swept through the knights.

The knights were swept away without even being able to resist.

Looking around at them, Kalkas shook his head.

“These knights are worthless. They may swarm in numbers, but they’re all chaff without any real skill.”

“That’s inevitable. The family’s elites are probably fighting the Knight Order in Ruin City right now.”

It was Kassel who stepped forward saying this.

After confirming the automatons were in formation, Kalkas lowered his sword and took position at the front of the formation.

“Follow me well! Freddie.”

“…”

“We’ll cut straight through to the heart of the Imperial Palace.”

***

“What in the world is happening, Margaret!”

Meanwhile, inside the Imperial Palace.

In the intermittently shaking palace, the Dvorak family seniors were raising their voices.

“Magical power communications are coming in from each territory. The Knight Order… Other magic nobles are surrounding Dvorak territory!”

“There’s no way such an attack would happen without reason! What did you do! Why are they attacking our family…!”

“Silence.”

With that low utterance, the voices of the elders who had been shouting instantly ceased.

Margaret’s magical power rising ominously.

Even for the elders, they couldn’t withstand the family head’s anger.

‘To think they would stab me in the back at this crucial moment.’

The simultaneous rebellion of the magic nobles.

The reason was clear.

She had tried to upset the delicate power balance between magic nobles and make her family into the imperial family.

The plan to become the empire’s ruler must have been exposed.

And leading the vanguard was none other than Count Buckenheim.

It was obvious who had leaked the plan.

Karl Buckenheim.

That snake had finally betrayed her.

He betrayed me, Margaret, who elevated that dying worm to his position…!

“…”

Margaret turned to look at the family elders who were pressing her.

Materialistic fools.

These maggots who tried to kill her out of jealousy of her talents, only to switch sides and join her faction when she became family head.

However, at this moment, she was quite pleased with them.

“M-Margaret…? What are you trying to do?”

Though they were decrepit old creatures, they were high-level mages with five stroke imprints or higher.

As tools to be discarded, they possessed more than adequate power.

“This magical power reaction… You can’t mean…!”

Boom-!

Just as the elders sensed something was wrong and tried to hurriedly rise,

When a wave passed through, everyone seated in the assembly froze.

[Domain]

Her domain enveloping the entire palace had completely seized control of the high-level mages’ minds.

“A temporary measure has been established.”

There was only one way to counter this – deploying the same Domain.

But Friedrich would have no means to resist her domain.

‘The only remaining heir to the imperial throne with succession rights. If I capture him, I can negotiate with Buckenheim who’s leading this rebellion.’

Acknowledge her plan and bow her head for now.

Then build up strength in hiding and challenge again later.

She was the one and only genius in imperial history.

If she waited for the right time, opportunity would surely…!

Boom—!

At that moment, the automaton army broke through the palace doors.

Friedrich appeared leisurely before her eyes.

After briefly being surprised by the impossible sight, Margaret realized how he was able to resist her Domain.

“Gloucester, and Korhonen…!”

Two seven stroke mages.

Though their magical power was far inferior to her own, they were her equals in imprint level.

Their domains were currently invading her own.

“How dare you!”

Margaret maximized her domain and mental interference.

In response, Kalkas and Kassel’s domains activated simultaneously, creating a temporary magical power vacuum.

Rumble–!

The magical power amplification and reduction effects through domain disappeared, leaving only a pure battle of skill.

In this fleeting moment, she was just an ordinary mage.

However…

“I can’t let you have your way.”

The family seniors she had brainwashed beforehand were still Margaret’s puppets.

They slowly rose with vacant eyes and raised their weapons.

“The brainwashing isn’t breaking? But I nullified the Domain…”

“Mental domination isn’t something that can be turned on and off at will like you imagine.”

Infiltrating the brain with magical power, completely destroying and reconstructing neural pathways.

Once you flip someone’s mind, returning it to normal is impossible.

“Then…”

“Yes. You understand what that means?”

Margaret gave a cruel smile as she looked at Friedrich grinding his teeth.

“Emperor Franz sitting on the imperial throne will never return to normal.”

“…!”

“He’ll be my puppet forever.”

Friedrich’s face gradually grew cold.

The moment his hardened expression filled with hostility, battle broke out between both sides.

Clang–!

High-ranking knights charging at the automatons. And Kalkas rushing toward Margaret.

While Kassel’s dolls held off the high-level mages, his intention was to capture Margaret, the core.

“At this distance, in one strike…!”

Kalkas swung his sword as he closed in to point-blank range.

However at that moment, Margaret’s hand moved like lightning as she grit her teeth.

And then.

Clang—!

“…you crazy.”

Margaret had blocked Kalkas’s sword swing with her bare hand.

“I’m sorry, but I’m the woman who devoured an entire family on her own.”

“…!”

“And until I became family head, not a single knight has ever defeated me through force!”

Clang-! Clang clang–!

Relentless combination of punches and kicks.

The speed was at a level that even Kalkas, who had trained with the sword for many years, couldn’t fully keep up with.

“This is insane! How does hitting a sword blade with your fist make a metallic sound! I thought you could only do mental control…”

Margaret increasingly pushed back Kalkas, while the puppet seniors pressed the automatons without caring that their imprints were breaking.

Crack-!

“Damn, this is…”

As over ten automatons were destroyed, Kassel frowned and looked toward where Friedrich was.

With their current forces, they were at a disadvantage.

If this continued, there was a possibility they could be counterattacked.

However, when he saw Friedrich’s face, Kassel’s anxiety turned to confusion.

“…?”

Even in this unpredictable situation, Friedrich’s expression was serene.

‘No, more than serene.’

What was gradually blooming on his face was a smile.

A satisfied smile as if everything was proceeding according to plan.

“…Don’t tell me.”

That guy, right now.

Did he predict even this situation?

Clang-!

“What?!”

At that moment, Margaret deflected Kalkas’s sword upward and drove her fist into his exposed abdomen.

“Kuh, ugh…!”

A surprise attack.

One blow from a seven stroke imprint mage was enough to send the confused Kalkas flying.

Boom-!

Kalkas went flying far away.

And the next moment, Margaret appeared in front of Friedrich who was separated from Kassel.

“Too bad, Prince Friedrich.”

“…”

“Now you’ll be my puppet too.”

With those words, Margaret’s hand touched Friedrich.

Mental interference through physical contact rather than magical power.

“No, Freddie-!”

“If I reshape your mind right here, this pathetic rebellion…”

Flash-!

An ominous magical light dyed the surroundings.

What Margaret saw was not reality, but Friedrich’s mental landscape.

It was the process of grasping his memories and mental structure before dominating his mind.

But at that moment.

“…Huh?”

Looking into Friedrich’s mind, Margaret was momentarily speechless.

The mental world unfolded before her eyes.

Because she witnessed an impossible scene.

“What is this?”

Everything was burning.

The Empire, the Republic, magic nobles, the Emperor.

What she thought were enemies.

What she thought were allies.

What she ignored as meaningless.

All of it was burning, surrounded by black corruption.

“Monsters…? No, but this is…! Ugh?!”

Looking up, Margaret could only gasp.

The horde of monsters densely covering the sky.

Seeing Friedrich’s memories, Margaret immediately understood what this horrific sight was.

This was the future.

The doom that would occur in less than 100 years.

“No…”

Anxiety and terror enveloping her whole body.

In the end, Margaret had no choice but to remove her hand from Friedrich’s head.

“This… This can’t be.”

She had used her innate power to crush things she didn’t like.

And simply took what was before her eyes.

Just because it was there.

Because it looked beautiful and brought happiness when obtained.

But inside Friedrich’s mind.

The moment she witnessed the fixed future, Margaret realized.

Grasping the Empire in her hands.

In other words, it meant taking responsibility for the scene she just saw.

The fact that with the meager body of a single human, she would have to stop that massive doom.

“Mo-monster invasion? The return of the Great Rupture?! D-don’t be ridiculous! Something like this… How could anyone stop something like…!”

As Margaret rambled in confusion,

Squish-!

“…Huh?”

The sword in Friedrich’s hand pierced through Margaret’s heart.

“This…”

It was a perfect blunder.

That scene imprinted in Friedrich’s mind.

She was so distracted by it that she didn’t even put up a basic magical power barrier…!

“Kuh!”

Though Margaret struck Friedrich away with her arm, it was already too late.

In that moment when she had grabbed Friedrich,

Rather than saving Friedrich, Kalkas had dealt with the six or so high-level mages.

“No… No…!”

In a final struggle, Margaret ran toward the imperial throne.

Then using Emperor Franz who had become a puppet as a shield, she began screaming at the top of her lungs.

Animal howls that couldn’t even be understood.

Friedrich stared at his father who had become a puppet with solemn eyes.

“…”

The Emperor looking down at him with emotionless eyes, having fallen to being a puppet.

However at that moment, the expressionless Emperor’s mouth began moving on its own.

“Fre…die…”

“?!”

The brainwashing was broken?

Margaret’s eyes went wide in disbelief as Emperor Franz opened his mouth with a weak smile.

“Fulfill… your duty.”

“…!”

“This throne… will be heavier than you think.”

Emperor Franz saying this while looking at Friedrich.

Everyone present would understand what those words meant.

“Kassel.”

Screech—!

Behind Friedrich, a mass formula deployed by over twenty dolls spread out.

The core of the spell formation was the seven stroke mage, Kassel.

The final card prepared to deal with Margaret, a seven stroke mage.

Friedrich spoke in a tight voice and opened his mouth with clenched fists.

“As the rightful successor to the Kalhyram Empire designated by the previous Emperor… I command you.”

“By your order, Your Majesty.”

Not the casual tone of calling a friend, but the stance of a subject receiving their monarch’s command.

At that solemn voice, Friedrich slowly opened his mouth.

“Margaret, the traitor who defiled the imperial family.”

“No, n-no…!”

“Erase her without a trace.”

With Friedrich’s words, Kassel activated the mass formula without hesitation.

Light enveloping the entire Imperial Palace.

Unable to even finish her final death cry, Margaret transformed into light and vanished.

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