Slay the King! Destroy Aers! Duchy Advancement! Aiven Kingdom!

Under the king's command, a hundred Imperial Guards charged at Aiven at once.

Aiven did not stop walking, nor did he make a move. He simply continued forward, one step at a time.

Meanwhile, Xiahou Dun had already killed every Imperial Guard who charged at them.

The king was so terrified that he wet himself and collapsed onto the ground. A stream of sour-smelling liquid slowly flowed from his trouser leg.

"Little bastard? You really are courting death!" Aiven had already reached the king.

The next second, he swung his sword and severed the king's left leg.

Splat~

"Urgh, ahhh~!!"

The king let out a miserable scream.

Slap!

Aiven slapped the king across the face, sending him sprawling.

Bang!

He then kicked the king in the head and stomped it firmly beneath his foot.

"I'll ask you one last time. Why did you plot to murder my father?"

The king was utterly desperate and terrified. "I-I'll tell you. Can you spare my life?"

"What right do you have to bargain with me!"

Splat~!

"Urgh, ahhh~!"

As he spoke, Aiven swung his sword again and severed the king's arm.

"My hand, my hand! Ahhh~!" The king once again shrieked like a slaughtered pig.

After more than two months of war, Aiven had grown accustomed to life and death. He had killed too many people.

He had long since become decisive and ruthless, his mind and methods far more vicious than before.

He was no longer the young noble who had only crossed over a few days earlier.

He would never show mercy to his enemies.

"Ais... that man opposed me at every kingdom council meeting, again and again. I could no longer endure it, so I plotted to have him killed..."

The king went on at great length, recounting the details.

After listening, Aiven finally understood.

The king had been a foolish ruler whose conduct damaged the kingdom's reputation. Many of his actions and decisions had been impossible for Aiven's father to agree with.

Thus, at kingdom council meetings, he often spoke frankly out of loyalty.

Loyal advice was hard on the ears. Sometimes, you truly meant well—for the king's sake, for the country's sake.

But to narrow-minded people, it sounded deeply unpleasant and irritating. They might even come to hate your good intentions.

After hearing it all, Aiven felt that his father Ais's death had truly not been worth it.

This king was clearly an idiot.

"So you killed my father over something like that? Heh, ridiculous. Truly ridiculous!" Aiven shook his head and laughed mockingly.

"Child, child! Please spare my life! I'm begging you, don't kill me. I was wrong! I don't want to die!" The king desperately begged for mercy.

"You think saying you were wrong is enough to keep you alive?"

Aiven slowly raised the Emperor Sword.

"N-No!!"

"Go to hell."

Splat!

Without hesitation, Aiven swung his sword and beheaded the King of the Kingdom of Aers.

Blood splattered.

A king who had ruled a kingdom had just lost his head!

Aiven had slain him within the royal hall!

"Xiahou Dun, take his head." Aiven's expression remained cold.

"Yes, Lord."

A moment later.

Aiven returned to the frontline battlefield carrying the King of the Kingdom of Aers's head.

At the city gates, the armies of both sides were still locked in battle.

Amid the chaotic fighting, Aiven climbed step by step until he finally stood at the highest point of the city wall, looking down upon everyone below.

He took a deep breath, and his voice rang across the battlefield. "Your king has been slain by my own hand! Why have you not yet thrown down your weapons and surrendered?!"

"T-The king is dead! The king has been killed!!!"

"The king..."

The soldiers gradually stopped fighting.

Countless eyes turned toward Aiven atop the city wall, where he held the king's head.

"All Soldiers of the Kingdom of Aers, listen to me!"

"The king is dead! The Kingdom of Aers shall perish with him!"

"From this day onward, the Kingdom of Aers will no longer exist on this continent. Its lands will be ruled by the Aiven Duchy!"

"Those who submit to me shall prosper; those who oppose me shall perish!"

"Throw down your weapons and surrender at once, and you shall be spared!"

"Those who refuse to surrender will be executed without exception!"

Aiven's voice echoed word by word, carrying boundless majesty and force.

After speaking, he released his grip and threw the king's head down from the city wall.

It shattered into pieces when it struck the ground.

As they watched the king's head shatter upon the ground,

the faith in the hearts of every Kingdom of Aers soldier shattered with it.

The king was dead, and the Kingdom of Aers was about to fall.

What meaning was there in continuing to fight?

At that moment, countless soldiers threw down their weapons, surrendering and submitting.

As for these surrendered soldiers and prisoners of war, the way many dynasties in ancient China dealt with them had been truly horrific.

Exile and forced labor were considered mild punishments.

Some were even slaughtered to the last man or buried alive.

But such things were absolutely impossible in the Douluo Continent World. Aiven had his own plans for dealing with them.

He would incorporate some of the surrendered soldiers into the Ai City Army as conscripts.

Others would be sent to perform hard labor, building cities, mining, constructing city walls, and carrying out all kinds of defensive construction work.

As long as they worked diligently, they could earn their release and either continue serving in the army or lay down their armor and return to farming.

"We surrender!"

"We surrender!!"

The war against the Kingdom of Aers came to an end.

What remained was cleanup work, along with political and territorial control and administration.

The entire territory of the Kingdom of Aers had to be occupied and brought under the control of the Aiven Duchy.

Jiang Wei and Deng Ai, two versatile talents, could handle those matters.

As for the Wieland Duchy, Aiven dispatched the two great generals Lu Bu and Zhang Fei to lead the campaign against it.

Aiven himself returned to Ai City, where he only needed to cultivate and await good news.

Time passed quickly.

More than a month later.

The tiny Wieland Duchy was also destroyed by the Aiven Duchy. The cleanup work in the former Kingdom of Aers had likewise been completed, and it was fully incorporated into the territory of the Aiven Duchy.

The Aiven Duchy's power, territory, land area, and national strength expanded rapidly!

In less than half a year since its founding, its territory had surpassed that of every kingdom on the continent.

It was second only to the two great empires of Heaven Dou and Star Luo!

It controlled two provinces: Wieland Province and Aers Province.

There were twenty provinces in all of the Douluo Continent. The two great empires, Heaven Dou and Star Luo, each controlled five provinces.

The remaining eight subordinate kingdoms and two duchies each controlled one province.

That made twenty provinces in total.

Therefore, the Aiven Duchy, which controlled two provinces, was second only to the two great empires of Heaven Dou and Star Luo in scale.

The Aiven Duchy currently commanded a total force of 200,000 troops!

The current stage of the war had ended.

The conditions for the second built-in mission of the Conquest System had all been met.

Aiven did not hesitate. It was time to advance the Aiven Duchy into a kingdom!

On this day.

Before the witness of the entire city, Aiven announced, "I declare that from today onward, the Aiven Duchy is officially the Aiven Kingdom!!"

"And I shall be the king of the Aiven Kingdom!"

The Aiven Kingdom was thus established.

"Long live the king!"

"Long live the king!"

"Long live the king!!"

The Ai City citizens cheered.

At that moment, the sound of the system's completion reward rang out in his mind.