Emperor of Steel

Chapter 729: Before and After 2

Du Du Du Du!

The same was the case of the 1st Continental allied squad, which would reach Nemesis in a day, but had to see the massive pillar of fire with earthquakes.

Marquis Rogers, the Chief Commander, out of intuition ordered the entire army to advance.

And about two hours later, standing on the hillside path overlooking Nemesis, he saw something remarkable.

He was the huge Imperial Palace, which had reigned as the heart of the Baroque Empire for the past 500 years, gone without a trace.

“What happened?! What the hell happened in there...?”

He couldn’t even understand what had happened. He was speechless.

At the same time, they had to find out the whereabouts of Luke as well as rescue the people of Nemesis.

The huge pillar of fire that soared high in the sky suddenly disappeared, but there was still black smoke all over the city.

“We will enter Nemesis right away!”

“But, Sire, I heard that there are a lot of Imperial troops in action.”

“If they block us, wipe them out! Ask the troops to get ready...”

It was when Rogers was about to give orders to his unit, a messenger ran in from the left side.

“Your Majesty has returned!”

“What?!”

“It was said that he used an ancient underground passage connected to the temple, but he seems to have escaped with a lot of people.”

Upon hearing the messengers report, Rogers ran over to the place where Luke was.

There he was, Luke, with soot all over his clothes and face.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like he was hurt.

“Your Majesty, are you alright?”

“I am fine. Rather, we need to enter the Nemesis again.”

“Well, I was about to give them that very order. But what even happened there?”

At Rogers’s question, Luke explained in detail what had happened at the Imperial Palace.

He explained in detail how he caused confusion in Nemesis to lure away the Imperial forces and then attacked the Imperial palace, the fight in the ruins, and eventually, killing off Rudolf as he triggered the self-destruction magic circles, which was installed in the Imperial Palace right before his death.

“Hu! Then the Imperial Palace is done, and that huge fire tornado was because of Rudolf?”

“Yes, he chose to burn down the Imperial Palace rather than to leave it behind. The flames are still alive in the capital.”

The largest fire was destroyed by Luke.

However, the huge fire tornado had spread all throughout Nemesis and was still tormenting people who couldn’t evacuate in time.

“What are those stupid Imperial army troops even doing when they have such things to deal with?!”

“That...!”

At Rogers’s frustration, Luke threw away his soot-covered armor and said, “Well, it isn’t something so tough to understand. The Imperial Palace burned down. The contact with the Emperor got cut off and the mercenaries who were forced into the army are raging and robbing the shops to find money, so the command of the Imperial Army has gone out of hand.”

Nevertheless, Luke felt that the Imperial troops had to uphold their duties and extinguish the fire.

The only reason an army existed was to protect the people.

However, there didn’t seem to be any such concept in the Baroque Imperial army, which had always lived as the Emperor’s dogs.

Not liking the explanation from Luke, Rogers frowned.

“We need to capture Nemesis right away.”

“Yes, not for our victory, but for the sake of the people of Nemesis. So go ahead and put down the fire.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Rogers, commanded by Luke, ordered the entire army to change their tactics.

In Nemesis, hundreds of Gigants were gathered from all over the place, and more than 100,000 Imperial troops were gathered.

However, none of the Imperial troops responded like the 1st Continental Allied squad.

Just as Luke had predicted, the Baroque Imperial troops were completely aloof.

The fire and turmoil was the problem, but the final blow of something resulted in the entire Imperial Palace getting blown off.

“Marquis! Please give out the orders!”

At the urge of his lieutenant, Marquis Maghreb, the commander of the Imperial Army, asked with a somber expression.

“Your Majesty? Has anyone found His Majesty, the emperor, yet?”

At Maghreb’s question, the lieutenant as well as the other commanders sighed. It wasn’t a situation where they had to look for the emperor.

“Sire, the enemy is right in front of Nemesis. If we don’t respond quickly...”

Bang!

Marquis Maghreb struck his fists on the table and yelled at the lieutenant.

“Shut up and answer my question first! The response to the enemy is the next thing!”

Was he feeling lost?

The lieutenant was speechless for a moment, but he reported after sighing.

“We did find some survivors beneath the palace, but no one seems to have spotted His Majesty.”

“Ugh! Damn it...!”

All of a sudden, the Imperial Palace was blown away by huge flames, and Maghreb along with the other military heads tried everything to search for Rudolf.

In fact, there were even reports of a group of people invading the Imperial Palace at the time when a monster appeared in the capital.

They thought that it was the enemy’s unit, but they all believed that the Emperor’s SS Knights would be able to deal with them.

It was because they knew that Rudolf and his SS Knights were the most powerful.

However, the situation at hand seemed a lot worse. A request for assistance flew in from the palace, and Marquis Maghreb was preparing a unit to be sent over to protect the palace.

However, before the reinforcements even reached the Imperial Palace, a sudden earthquake struck the palace with a huge explosion.

The entire Imperial Palace was devastated.

In addition, a huge pillar of fire soared high, taking away not just the Imperial Palace but also the places in its vicinity.

Why did the Imperial Palace, which was supposed to have handled the situation well, get blown away?

Did the invading enemy troops do something nasty, or did a natural disaster strike it?

‘It doesn’t matter if the Imperial Palace is smashed or the entire capital is turned into ashes. What matters is His Majesty’s safety...’

If Rudolf died, the Baroque Empire would no longer exist.

Rudolf’s brutal power and his strict ruling was the only reason that the empire was able to sustain itself even with rebellions breaking out all through the nation.

The nobles who feared him never dared to even confront him, and they would succumb to his unjust orders too.

But what if such a tyrant died?

Above all, there was no successor in the palace.

All of those who held the emperor’s blood, his family, had died a few years back.

‘If we don’t find His Majesty right away, it will be dangerous for not just the Empire, but for us, who always supported him!’

When Marquis Maghreb was thinking about the future, Count Jemo, the commander of the Northern army, opened his mouth.

“It is important to find His Majesty, but it is equally important to put this war situation under control.”

“The war situation...”

“Didn’t you hear? The invaders, the self-proclaimed Continental Alliance, drove their Gigants!”

Maybe he was annoyed since Count Jemo’s voice only turned higher.

“We need to decide right away whether to stop them or to abandon the capital and retreat! If their reinforcements come in from other places, we will end up being surrounded and isolated in there.”

Nemesis wasn’t a great city for military.

First of all, the population was large when compared to its supplies and food, and the walls were long with numerous streets. There were many places in the city that had to be protected.

Nevertheless, due to Emperor Rudolf’s order, all the Imperial forces were gathered in such a city.

Marquis Maghreb frowned at the words of Count Jemo.

“How long do you think we can stay in the capital?”

Abandoning the capital was like giving up on the search for their emperor.

Therefore, Marquis Maghreb decided to choose war than to retreat.

However, the circumstances were tough.

At the Marquis’s question, Count Sochi, the commander of the Eastern Army, said, “I think... about five days.”

“Just five days? That can’t be? How is that even possible...?”

“Have you forgotten? Most of the troops and the supplies stored were in the Imperial Palace and the depots close to the palace. But it is all blown away now.”

“Kuek, that fire pillar...!”

Military supplies and other needed supplies were always placed in the safest of places, and in Nemesis, the Imperial Palace was such a place.

But the place that was supposed to be the safest turned into ashes.

“Honestly, we have five days. That is the longest possible time. As of now, with the current mess and confusion, three days is a lot.”

“F*ck!”

The sudden Imperial Palace explosion distorted the thoughts and plans of the commanders.

There were people saying that they would evacuate, and mercenaries who were plundering the shops near the city, and the emperor who was supposed to deal with the situation was missing in action...

The morale of the soldiers weren’t great enough for them to stand in war.

As the commanders were sighing loudly, a messenger rushed into the room to give them a new report.

“Sire, it is urgent! The enemy troops on the southern hillside, outside the capital, are charging in!”

“What?!”

The commanders who were below Maghreb in rank were shocked.

The enemy had arrived already.

They thought that they would at least build up a camp and the attack would be a day after.

It looked like the enemy had noticed the internal conflicts in the city and entered.

“Kuek! Move all the Gigants and cannons to the wall right away! The gates should never be opened!”

“Yes, Sire!”

However, even before Maghreb’s orders were properly delivered to each unit, the 1st squad of the Continental Alliance flocked to the gates.

“Get out of the way! The gates will be opened by Count Philip!”

At the command of Marquis Rogers, Philip, who was the vanguard of the troops, broke open the gates with Gigantic Aura.

Slash! Crack!

When the gates broke down, around 10 Gigants of the central army, which were ordered by Maghreb, were ready for battle.

However, they didn’t seem to stop the Sword Master Philip, who was using a Hero class Gigant, Orion.

Even other Gigants of the Baroque turned into scrap.

“The southern gate is open!”

“The enemies are flowing in!”

The situation was turning entirely horrible, and reports were being delivered to the chief commander.

Many soldiers were abandoning their weapons and surrendering to the Continental Alliance, and the knights along with riders, who knew that they couldn’t win, ran away from the capital.

It was bound to happen as the morale of the Imperial troops was running down.

In such a situation, Maghreb and the other military leaders and nobles were forced to abandon the capital.

“Shit, abandon the capital and retreat!”

“All forces retreat! Retreat!”

At the order of Marquis Maghreb, the Imperial forces escaped from Nemesis.

“Your Majesty, it is being said that the enemy is abandoning the capital and running toward east.”

At the report from Chief Commander, Marquis Rogers, Luke couldn’t help but frown.

He had expected them to act in such a way, but it felt like the Imperial troops were backing down too fast.

” Your Majesty, give me an order! I will go after them and smash them down.”

Since they arrived at Nemesis, Count Philip didn’t have many battles, so he begged for going into battle.

However, Luke stopped him.

“If you have that much energy, go and stop the fire and enlist the people of Nemesis.”

“But...”

“It is fine. The chances of us finding out the escaped men is negligible in the mess.”

The Baroque Imperial army had already lost its center.

Considering that Rudolf was taken down, there would be no one who could support or help them.

This was why Luke decided to do what was best and save the people of Nemesis rather than pursuing the remnants of the Imperial army.