The man turned around and slightly nodded, "Any conspiracy must be built on power. Do you understand now?"
He was indeed Rudolf II, the emperor of the empire, the legendary leader who was as powerful as a grand arcanist!
But he was using Beyer's body… How did he go through the examination? And somehow… Lucien could not at all sense the imposing air from Rudolf, a legendary.
Lucien had to admit that his nerves were almost stretched to breaking point, as he was now standing in front of a legendary. His body was slightly trembling, but his brain was still working well. Slowly, he pulled out his right hand from the magic pouch.
Rudolf cast a glance at Lucien and then turned back to looked at the statue. To the air, Rudolf said, as if he was just talking to himself, "I didn't notice that a senior-rank sorcerer is also here. You are good, very good."
Although Rudolf was being very arrogant, he was not aggressive. Lucien also did not want to take any rush actions. In the calm voice, Lucien replied,
"I did not notice Your Majesty neither."
"Everything of my family started from here. Our ascendency is derived from this place. Of course, when I am available, I shall come back to see if there are more secrets hiding here and to figure out where we should go in the future. I didn't expect your presence here. You're the surprise." said Rudolf very calmly, with his hands crossing behind his back.
Looking ahead, Rudolf showed the manner that there was nothing here that he had to be afraid of and no secrets he had to hide.
However, Lucien could feel the sore in his muscles from the great intense of his nerves.
Hearing Rudolf's words, Lucien was quite shocked, "So… Your Majesty… You also became a legendary by absorbing the projection of the demons?"
Rudolf sneered, "I'm not as filthy as Ulrich. Fools can only see how they can benefit from absorbing the power of the demons. But Thanos and I… We are out of the control of greed, and we see truth to find our own path. The world belongs to people like us."
Obviously, Rudolf II was not trying to hide his arrogance and confidence at all.
Lucien reflected on Rudolf's words and suddenly got an idea, "So, Your Majesty… To go through the duke's check, you cast your own projection in Prince Beyer's mind or soul beforehand just like the demons. When the time is proper, you get control of the prince's body and grow?"
Rudolf II slowly turned around. It was his first time looking intently at Lucien since he came in. He slightly nodded and said, "Very smart. Although this isn't all correct, basically, I'd say yes."
Rudolf did not tell Lucien where his mistake was. Maybe it was related to some bigger secrets.
Lucien was more than shocked. He wondered what Rudolf did to himself to obtain such creepy but great power just like that of the demons. Also, Lucien had no idea if Rudolf would kill him because he had discovered the secret.
Although Lucien's heart was beating very fast, this was not affecting Lucien's thinking and his belief in hope. He would never give up and yield to the situation!
His right hand was still in the magic pouch. He was ready for the activation at any time.
Sophia, standing below the statue, spent some time watching them talking. Hearing the sorcerer's words, she finally realized what happened and then she cried to her father, whose voice was full of grievance and hatred, "Father, he tried to kill me!"
She wanted the sorcerer to die! Right now!
Before Lucien could take any actions, Rudolf cast a glance at Sophia and said coldly, "Can't you see it? I'm now using Beyer's body. A level seven or eight radiant knight's power is all I can use right now. I'm not able to kill him. And if we fight, under the power, you can't survive."
Lucien was choked. He never expected that the emperor was this straightforward and honest. However, with a second thought, Lucien guessed that maybe Rudolf was just trying to lower his alert… But that was not really necessary.
"I was confident I could kill you. But the ninth circle magic you just cast frightened me a bit. Is that the latest research outcome from the congress?" asked Rudolf very straightforward.
Lucien slightly nodded.
Rudolf also nodded thoughtfully, "My way of doing things is simple. I am not fully confident with killing you, so I won't try, in case the fight will hurt Sophia and Beyer. However, if you are so stupid that you want to seek for trouble, I won't mind it. I can have more sons and daughters, and this is only my projection, so the real me will not get much hurt. You sure you want to do it?"
Then Rudolf turned to Sophia, "Come here."
Sophia was very terrified of the mysterious sorcerer, worrying that he might take actions at any time, but she still walked to her father step by step.
Lucien knew that what Rudolf said made sense.
When Sophia finally reached her father, she could finally relax. Tears were in her eyes, and her body could not help trembling.
"You made two mistakes in your plan. One, you are not powerful enough, and neither are the people who served you. So you have to rely on Metatron to clean up all these things in the end, but in fact you cannot fully trust him. Second, you chose to cooperate with Ulrich, who is a hissing serpent. All the plans he made were beneficial to himself but would not bring him much trouble or risks. He doesn't care about his partners' safety. You should learn from him, Sophia. You shouldn't be here right now, instead, you should stay outside, pretending that you're waiting for rescue in a safe place. As for what happened to Metatron… He's getting old, and his fear of death and pain was utilized by the demon and triggered by the agony of Andris. These were not in you expectation… That's why I said you shouldn't have come down here. You should stay outside like Ulrich."
To their great surprise, Rudolf started a.n.a.lyzing Sophia's failure.
Sophia was very shocked, "F… Father… You don't blame me for almost killing my brother? Many people died down here…"
"A young griffin can only grow in iron and blood," answered Rudolf short and brief, "but you have to deal with the remaining problems on your own."
Sophia finally realized that, from the very beginning, there was no chance at all for her to win since her father had cast his projection on her elder brother, Beyer. She took a quick glance at the mysterious sorcerer, as she felt that her well-plotted scheme was now like a kid's trick being watched by two adults, in spite of the fact that many people died in this kid game.
How childish she was in their eyes! Sophia wondered.
Suddenly, the underground palace started shaking fiercely, together with the magic circles.
"They're almost here…" Rudolf looked up.
Sophia was very encouraged, as she knew that when the rescue came, that would be the end of the mysterious sorcerer. She would not kill him on the spot, instead, she was going to torture him with great patience!
At this time, Lucien instantly activated the item in his right hand.
Although Rudolf II had not launched an attack against him yet, this did not necessary mean that Rudolf would never try to kill him. Once the rescue arrived, Rudolf might trap him, and that would be the end of Lucien!
The magic scroll in Lucien's right hand suddenly lit up and the black haze rising from the scroll enveloped him, and then the power of the black haze broke the magic circles for blocking the s.p.a.ce!
The s.p.a.ce was distorted by the power, and then the mysterious sorcerer disappeared with the black haze.
"Where did he go?!" Sophia could not believe her eyes.
Rudolf squinted his eyes slightly and murmured in low voice, "Night Travel… from the Vampires?"
But he was not at all surprised with Chaos Teleportation cast following Night Travel.
Seeing that Sophia was still shaking her head, feeling rather upset and annoyed, Rudolf II turned around and said to her, "We shall go outside now. Ulrich should not know the existence of this place. I'll see how things will go…"
He never tried to ruin this place, as he would come back here from time to time.
"Yes, father." answered Sophia in low voice.
"But before this…" Rudolf's voice suddenly became cold.
Reaching out his right hand, which was lit up with some kind of white light, Rudolf grabbed a twisting cl.u.s.ter of shadow out of Sophia.
The projection of Pain did not die out, instead, it was resting on Sophia, waiting for its chance… Sophia's face turned pale again.
Rudolf clenched his fist, and the black shadow burst out bitter scream.
