Starting to Eat Clone Soft Rice from Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 44

"This war ended too quickly. At first it was just a standoff, but when the large-scale conflict truly began, the Kazimierz border defenses were torn apart by the Group Army and the Wendigo Legion in less than a single day. The complete fall of Kazimierz followed immediately, giving no one any time to react."

"Besides, the Nearl Family doesn't care who rules Kazimierz. As long as this nation can become better, then we are willing to offer our respect."

The Nearl Family motto is: Fear not the dark.

But Nearl felt that after being ruled by that Emperor Talulah, the future of Kazimierz was now very bright.

The Commercial Union, which had once oppressed the people of this nation through capital, had vanished. The various new political decrees issued from Ursus were all centered on national development. Infected individuals had also been granted the human rights of legal citizens. In short, aside from the noble class, the people of Kazimierz had not become worse off from being conquered and ruled after losing the war to Ursus—on the contrary, things were trending better.

Under these circumstances, why should the Nearl Family resist Talulah's rule?

Even though the Nearl Family, as a knightly house, strictly speaking belonged to the noble class, neither Nearl, nor Zofia, nor even Maria felt that the current Kazimierz was bad.

Even the fact that Nearl now had a lunch break to sit in a café and drink coffee was thanks to the eight-hour work system and the lunch break policy that Emperor Talulah had implemented in Kazimierz.

"Instead of speculating about the intentions of those above you, it's better to keep your feet on the ground and think about your future path. That's my advice to you."

The Commercial Union had already been shattered under the trampling of the Group Army, and the new Kazimierz would no longer need a killer organization like the Armorless Alliance.

Roy naturally understood this as well. Even without Nearl's reminder, he would have realized it early on. However...

"Right now, all the major cities in Kazimierz are under martial law. Leaving this country during this period is still quite difficult."

It wasn't that Roy and the other members of the Armorless Alliance didn't want to run—it was just that if they didn't want to run into the Ursus Group Army and the Wendigo Legion at the border, the best course of action for now was to lie low and hide in the city.

Moreover, aside from the low-ranking grunts and a few individuals in the Armorless Alliance, high-ranking members like those at the Lapis Lazuli Seat and the Black Iron Seat needed time to transfer their assets.

Although no official notice had been given, practically all the high-ranking members of the Armorless Alliance had already prepared to flee the moment the heat died down.

After all, that Emperor Talulah wasn't familiar with the power divisions in this country. She probably wouldn't come knocking on the Armorless Alliance's door that quickly... probably.

"Heh."

As if sensing something, Nearl swept his gaze across the café interior. Seeing that aside from himself and Roy, there were no other customers left, he set down his newspaper and walked to the counter to pay.

"Looks like you're about to have trouble."

At that moment, Roy also sensed something off. Although this high-end café was expensive, and even though it was located in the city center, few people came here—still, it shouldn't have been so long without a single customer besides him and Nearl.

But before this Lapis Lazuli Seat of the Armorless Alliance could even rise, an arrow wreathed in crackling electricity suddenly pierced through the wall, triggering a massive explosion inside the café.

Boom!!!

In an instant, a hole several meters in diameter was blown open in the café wall, and the entire interior was filled with thick smoke.

When the dust cleared, Roy, who had retreated to a corner of the café, looked out through the hole in the wall and saw a figure holding a long bow walking in from outside.

"Platinum, have you betrayed us?"

Seeing that familiar figure, Roy's mouth twitched as he asked.

At the moment of the attack, Roy had thought of many people who might come for him—Ursus soldiers, the reorganized Silver Lance Pegasus, even the Emperor's Blade. But the last thing he expected was to be stabbed in the back by his own subordinate.

"By order of Her Majesty, I will end the Armorless Alliance and make this killer organization disappear from Kazimierz."

One by one, soldiers of the Shadow Troopers emerged from the shadows, surrounding Roy in the corner. This was part of the authority An Xiu had granted Platinum when assigning her the mission—the ability to summon a portion of the Shadow Troopers.

It was with the help of the Shadow Troopers that Platinum had been able to locate Roy and the other high-ranking members of the Armorless Alliance so quickly. After all, even though she was a member of the Armorless Alliance, neither the Lapis Lazuli Seat nor the Black Iron Seat would reveal their daily whereabouts to a Platinum Seat.

"Just these people and little Platinum alone? I'm afraid that might not be quite enough, right?"

Although he had been very tense when the attack first came, sensing that the strength of these strange figures emerging from the shadows to surround him didn't seem very formidable, and that the only person walking in from outside was Platinum, Roy seemed to regain his confidence. His expression relaxed as he spoke.

He knew Platinum's strength well. There was no way she could be his match, and these surrounding people couldn't stop him either. Although being targeted made Roy deeply uneasy, he was confident he could defeat the people in front of him and then make his escape.

To this, Platinum said nothing. She simply drew her bow, nocked an arrow, and shot it at Roy. Roy did the same, drawing his bow and firing an arrow toward Platinum's.

The two arrows, carrying immense power, clashed in midair. Then Platinum's arrow directly shattered Roy's arrow and continued toward him with undiminished speed.

"No!"

At that moment, Roy finally realized the problem. The Platinum in front of him seemed to have strength that was anything but normal!

Chapter 94: Talulah Blitzes Victoria, A New World Begins

Boom!!!

A deafening explosion rang out across the entire café. Roy's figure was sent flying backward from the center of the blast, slamming straight into the wall.

In the original Arknights storyline, Roy's strength was greater than that of a single Silver Lance Pegasus, but he had to join forces with another Lapis Lazuli Seat to fight two Silver Lance Pegasi. Three Silver Lance Pegasi were roughly equivalent to one Inner Guard. Now, Platinum's strength was comparable to two Inner Guards. So what was the gap between Roy and the current Platinum?

At this moment, watching Platinum, expressionless, slowly walking toward him, Roy was drenched in cold sweat.

"At this final moment, is there anything you wish to say?"

Looking at this superior who had repeatedly exploited her in the past, Platinum spoke calmly.

"Heh... can we make peace?"

"At this very moment, are you joking?"

Boom!!!

Another roar echoed through the café. Roy's body smashed straight through the wall and crashed heavily onto the street outside, knocked out cold.

The waiting Shadow Troopers immediately moved in, binding the fallen Roy and teleporting him through the Shadow Kingdom directly to Kazimierz Prison.

And so, with the help of the Shadow Troopers' reconnaissance, the entire Armorless Alliance couldn't hold out for even half a day. Platinum, through a strategy of picking them off one by one, wiped them out completely. All the high-ranking members were thrown into prison to eat prison meals and await labor reform, while the assets under each of their names were fully confiscated.

A few days later, Kazimierz, inside a lavish mansion.

An Xiu opened the system interface, first glancing at the shop. This month's discount section hadn't refreshed with anything worthwhile, so he closed the shop page and clicked into the traversal interface.

It wasn't that An Xiu planned to head to the One-Punch Man world or the DanMachi world. Rather, after clearing Ursus and Kazimierz in succession, combined with the steady stream of points from Makima and Seele in the Jujutsu world hunting curses month after month, his accumulated points had once again broken through the five-hundred-thousand mark, filling the progress bar needed to unlock new worlds.

Among those gains, Mobius and Talulah had earned him one hundred thousand points for conquering Ursus, fifty thousand for taking Kazimierz. Defeating the twenty-finger Sukuna and Gojo Satoru during the Shibuya Incident in the Jujutsu world had netted roughly another one hundred thousand points total. Add in the enemies crushed along the way by the Wendigo Legion and several absorbed Group Armies, plus the daily two to three thousand points from Makima's curse army and Seele in the Jujutsu world, and he had just hit the threshold of five hundred thousand points.

In other words, An Xiu could once again use the new world unlock feature and see what fresh options awaited.

The map interface, set against an infinite void, now showed the new world unlock count in the upper right corner—previously zero—ticking up to one. Meanwhile, the progress bar that had been full was reset, replaced by a new one marked with a one-million-point requirement.

An Xiu wasn't surprised by the change in the progress bar's demand; he'd expected it. Now, staring at the four glowing world points on the interface, he raised a hand and clicked the option to unlock a new world.

Instantly, a fresh light point flared to life on the map, signaling the appearance of three new worlds.

Clicking on the point, An Xiu examined the information for these three new worlds.

The three new worlds were: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Konosuba, and Genshin Impact.

Gazing at the three worlds before him, An Xiu fell into thought.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure—a world where the gap between upper and lower power limits was enormous. But most of the Stand users who appeared had strength that was quite limited compared to An Xiu and his clones now. Even many final bosses, in his current eyes, were just so-so. A world he could visit for fun if he felt like it.

Konosuba—a medieval setting similar to DanMachi, also with gods. Only, in this world, the gods ruled over many realms. While the surface-level combat power wasn't too strong, it was still a world with deep waters. Still, dropping by for a bit of fun shouldn't be a problem.

As for the last one, Genshin Impact...

"Damn, I've already got Genshin and Arknights together. Throw in Star Rail, and am I set for life?"

In his past life, An Xiu was the ultimate batch-player, wielding the combined power of Genshin, Star Rail, Arknights, Honkai Impact 3rd, and Honkai: Star Rail. It seemed that in this life, after crossing over, he might still have a chance to recreate his previous life's achievements.

He was tempted to check out the new worlds, but right now, the Arknights world had him tied up.

According to intelligence, Theresis, who had been entrenched in Londinium, the capital of Victoria, had suddenly lost his mind for some reason. He'd led all his Sarkaz troops in a frantic looting spree, grabbing every bit of wealth and supplies from Londinium before bolting straight back to Kazdel.

This meant Victoria's capital was now defenseless. An Xiu and Talulah only had to deal with the armies of a few Victoria Dukes. For Talulah, who now held both Ursus and Kazimierz, it was a simple matter under An Xiu's orders to dispatch the Wendigo Legion and the Group Armies, charging straight to Londinium to claim the throne.

As for the rear, with the Doctor holding things down, there was no need to worry about problems in the short term.

And once Talulah was crowned in Victoria, it meant Ursus, Victoria, and Kazimierz would merge into one. Two of those three were the most powerful nations on this land. United, they'd become a superpower that would send every country across Terra into a frenzy, forcing them into Spinosaurus Form!

By then, aside from Great Yan, threatened by the Giant Beast beneath its feet, Aegir fighting the Reaper of Death in the sea, and a handful of other nations, everyone else would be reduced to small fry.

Just what kind of explosive scene that would be, An Xiu was very interested to see. So, after taking Kazimierz, the army, which had barely settled down, began mobilizing again. Two Group Armies and the Wendigo Legion headed straight for Victoria's border.

The troops on Victoria's border clearly hadn't expected Talulah to be this insane. She'd only just taken Kazimierz a few days ago and was already marching on Victoria.

Seriously, is this how you wage war?

The Victoria Dukes, receiving the news, had no time to react. By the time they started rallying their forces, the Ursus Group Armies and the Wendigo Legion had already torn through the border, racing toward Londinium, Victoria's capital.

PS: I'm guessing some readers might think that letting Talulah wage war this crazily will end up like Kazdel, with all of Terra ganging up on her. But let me say in advance—don't worry about that. Little Jibril is about to make her official debut.

Chapter 95: The Deep Pool Leader Comes to Pay Homage! Talulah: What is the Deep Pool organization?

Victoria's capital, Londinium.

Perhaps because it had just suffered a round of looting not long ago, this city—likely the most prosperous on all of Terra—now wore a desolate air.

Theresis and his Sarkaz troops were probably driven mad by poverty. With the mindset of grabbing one last haul before leaving, their pillaging of Londinium was utterly ruthless.

Grain and supplies—whether from the national treasury or ordinary homes—anything they could scavenge was hauled away. Anything useful left on the streets was stripped clean. The royal palace was dismantled into an empty shell. Not just the contents inside, but even the slightly better floor tiles and wall plaster were peeled off.

An Xiu strongly suspected that if they hadn't been in such a hurry to flee, these bastards would have dug three feet underground or simply torn Londinium apart and shipped it piece by piece to Kazdel for recycling.

When Talulah and An Xiu arrived, this was the ruined city they saw.

No sign of any defending army. Without even needing the two Group Armies and the Wendigo Legion that had followed them to lift a finger, Talulah and An Xiu simply strolled into the city, easily occupying Victoria's capital.

Everywhere, chaos reigned. All the food stores in civilian homes had been stolen. Under the threat of famine, people flooded the streets, smashing and looting, desperately trying to find anything edible.

Fortunately, the two Group Armies that had entered the city quickly took control of the situation. An Xiu also summoned Shadow Troopers, using the Shadow Kingdom's teleportation function to have Talulah bring in a batch of supplies, ensuring the residents of Londinium wouldn't starve.

After handling that, An Xiu and Talulah headed to the Victoria Royal Palace.

There wasn't much to see in the palace now. As mentioned, the Sarkaz troops under Theresis had stripped it down to the point where even the floor tiles and wall plaster were gone.

But the good news was that, for some unknown reason, the crown, scepter, and coronation robes meant for the enthronement were all neatly placed on the throne. The throne hall itself was completely intact. Theresis's Sarkaz troops had looted every corner of Londinium, yet they seemed to have left this place untouched.

An Xiu had no idea what reasoning lay behind that move, but for him and Talulah, it was clearly good news. All the necessary items for the coronation were here. Combined with Talulah's Drac bloodline, even if no nobles remained in Londinium to witness it, she could still claim the throne directly.

"In that case, spread the word immediately. The coronation ceremony will be held before the throne at noon tomorrow. All residents of Londinium are to attend on time."

As long as the coronation took place, Talulah would become the legitimate Empress of Victoria. No matter how much the Victoria Dukes cursed under their breath, they'd have to grit their teeth and accept it.

After all, the Victoria throne had been vacant. A Drac descendant with legitimate Victoria royal blood had completed the coronation ceremony in the palace at this critical moment. You couldn't just refuse to recognize it because you were too busy to attend, could you?

Of course, that didn't mean Talulah could rest easy once crowned. In the end, what did becoming Empress of Victoria really change? It was just seizing the high ground of legitimacy. If she couldn't keep the Dukes and nobles in line, she'd end up like Vigna's dog-shit father—Victoria's previous emperor from the original story—sent to the guillotine.

By the same logic, even if Talulah became Empress of Victoria, those Dukes wouldn't pass up the chance to march their armies in. To reach Londinium and claim the throne as fast as possible, An Xiu and Talulah had only brought two Group Armies deep into Victoria. In the Dukes' eyes, this was the perfect opportunity to crush Talulah while her forces and supplies were thin.

But An Xiu and Talulah didn't care about that.

An Xiu's confidence came purely from his strength. Even if he didn't act, the moment those Dukes dared to gather their armies and march on Londinium, he could summon Jibril at any time to sweep away those worthless fools.

Talulah, however, was well aware of An Xiu's various methods. Even if they truly faced an unfavorable situation, the Shadow Kingdom's teleportation ability alone, granted by the Shadow Troopers, would be enough for them and their army to slip away safely.

Thus, Talulah began arranging personnel to prepare for the coronation ceremony, while ordering the two Group Armies and the Wendigo Legion to rest and reorganize. She also dispatched soldiers in batches to continue maintaining order in Londinium.

The next day, at noon, Talulah held her coronation ceremony before all the residents of Londinium and successfully completed it, becoming the emperor of yet another nation after Ursus, and at the same time, Terra's first-ever Double Emperor.

The reason Kazimierz wasn't counted was that it had been a defeated nation annexed into Ursus's territory after being conquered, no longer an independent state.

After ascending the throne, Talulah's first act was to label several Dukes of Victoria as rebels, forcibly pinning charges of treason on them.

Faced with this situation, several Victoria Grand Dukes who received the communications exploded with rage. They hadn't even made a move against Talulah yet, and she had already struck first. They immediately accelerated the assembly of their armies and marched menacingly straight toward Londinium to surround it.

They had expected to simply wait for the armies summoned by the Dukes to arrive, but contrary to both An Xiu's and Talulah's expectations, on the day after Talulah's coronation in Londinium, someone actually came to visit.

"The leader of Deep Pool requests an audience?"

Inside the palace, Talulah sat on the throne, her face filled with shock as she listened to the guard's report, quickly asking for clarification.

"What organization is Deep Pool?"

Talulah swore she truly meant no disrespect, but she had genuinely never heard of this Deep Pool before.

After all, as the emperor of Ursus, before coming to Victoria to ascend the throne, the only things worthy of Talulah's memory were top-tier figures from heavyweight nations like Great Yan, Columbia, and Victoria. Groups like Deep Pool—remnants of the Tara Dynasty that Victoria had cast aside long ago—were nothing more than roadside trash, and their intelligence wasn't even fit to be placed before her.

Naturally, Talulah had absolutely no impression of this organization.

"Never mind. Let the leader of Deep Pool in."

"Although I don't know who it is, coming to see me at a time like this—aren't they afraid of being caught up in the war?"

Instructing the guard to bring the visitor in, Talulah muttered to herself with a puzzled expression.

"They probably have some special purpose, or perhaps they simply have faith in us, believing you can win this war."

An Xiu, seated on another chair that had been moved next to the throne, spoke up.