First was King Gilgamesh, a Human King whose bizarre strength remained unknown.
Then there was King Solomon, a Human King who would command the Seventy-Two Pillars of Demons and even the Demon King.
If, after Ragnarok began, the gods carelessly sent out a not-so-powerful god because they knew nothing of these two, the result would be death.
So was this the so-called Tian Ji's Horse Racing Strategy? Wouldn't that guarantee victory?
Well, it was possible.
Once both sides finalized their thirteen representatives, the arrogant gods would reveal who they intended to send out. If the opponent's chosen fighter was not particularly formidable, these two kings could be sent in.
Of course, even if the other side stated who they would send out for each round, they could still change their fighter if something felt wrong before the battle began.
Likewise, she could also select someone else from the thirteen people she had chosen.
But aces were generally saved for the later rounds, to deal with the enemy's top generals.
Besides, Brunhilde felt that she had been taking things too much for granted.
With King Gilgamesh's arrogant personality, he would never listen to her about which round he should enter. More likely than not, he would choose his own opponent—and choose the gods' ace.
In that case, it was hard to say who would win.
Although King Solomon appeared gentle and refined, someone easy to talk to, he probably would not be willing to take the field so casually either.
Suddenly thinking of something, Brunhilde frowned.
In the blink of an eye, a book titled "The Key of Solomon" appeared in Brunhilde's hand.
At first, she had believed that this book had no direct connection to King Solomon, and that it had been written in the Middle Ages by a group of humans fascinated by mysticism.
Those people had drawn from King Solomon's story and added mythological elements to it.
She had thought it was merely a self-indulgent tale fabricated by humans to satisfy their vanity, allowing them to believe that myths were not invincible beings beyond humanity's reach.
But now, this book did not seem simple.
She needed to carefully examine its contents.
She especially wanted to know what had happened after King Solomon's time.
And now, she was no longer in Akasha's Chamber. She had arrived in the Earthly World, in that holy city.
"Dear travelers, what you see before you is from the year B.C.—"
Before the sisters, a female tour guide was introducing the ruins before them to a group of tourists.
Yes, ruins—the palace ruins built during Solomon's era.
They were in the modern Human World, a world that had rapidly developed after enduring two World Wars in the previous century.
"Sister Brunhilde, it seems to be here!"
They arrived before a stone wall, the very wall from the historical footage that led into another space.
Brunhilde placed her hand against it, then closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, a trace of confusion appeared on her face.
"H-how is it, Sister Brunhilde?"
"It is a completely ordinary stone wall. There are no traces of magic."
She could not sense a Mirror Space here either—the space constructed through the power of the Seventy-Two Pillars of Demons.
But that was only natural. The Seventy-Two Pillars of Demons were no longer on earth, so that space naturally no longer existed.
What puzzled Brunhilde was that the Solomon in the true history had clearly intended to build a magical army. How had such power vanished without a trace?
It seemed that until King Solomon's dynasty disappeared, there had never been any confrontation with the gods.
After all, if the Seventy-Two Pillars of Demons and a human army of magicians had truly joined forces to attack Heaven, such a major event would not have been easy to conceal.
So what exactly had happened for them to disappear without a trace?
Could the truth be hidden within The Key of Solomon in her hand?
She continued flipping through it, looking for hidden information.
After reading a great deal, nothing seemed useful, so she turned to the final pages.
Hmm?
There was a passage written there—
'Three thousand years later, the Magic Kingdom shall descend.'
The Magic Kingdom?
Where was this Magic Kingdom?
For now, she could only wait for the Magic Kingdom mentioned in the book to descend before learning where it had been hidden.
However, she did not have time to wait. She needed to return to Akasha's Chamber immediately and continue searching for the remaining eleven people.
Looking at the time, if each of them took as long as the first two, there might not be enough time.
It felt as if Ragnarok would begin after she found just one more person.
The Next Candidate—The King of the East
She returned to Akasha's Chamber once more.
With a wave of her hand, a large number of virtual character windows popped up.
Who should her next target be?
King Gilgamesh and King Solomon had both been unexpected discoveries.
No, King Solomon had been deliberately guided to her.
And now, for the third candidate, it seemed Brunhilde would have to search through humanity's seven million years of history herself.
Since the first two had both been kings of humanity, she might as well narrow the range and filter out the famous kings in human history.
Thus, under Brunhilde's control, the virtual windows of historical figures were reorganized.
Every person displayed in the images before her was a renowned king from human history.
With a wave of Brunhilde's hand, one image moved to the forefront. It was the first king to call himself Emperor—Qin Shi Huang.
In 221 B.C., after King Zheng of Qin destroyed the Six Nations, Qin Shi Huang believed that the former titles of lord and king, used by the feudal rulers of the various states, were insufficient to display his supremacy. Thus, he ordered his ministers to discuss a new title.
After deliberation, the ministers believed that Qin Shi Huang had "raised righteous armies, slain brutal villains, and pacified the world," with achievements "unprecedented since ancient times, beyond even the Five Emperors."
Therefore, citing traditional honorifics, they said, "In ancient times, there were the Heavenly Emperor, the Earthly Emperor, and the Supreme Emperor, with the Supreme Emperor being the most exalted," and suggested that Qin Shi Huang adopt the title of Supreme Emperor.
However, Qin Shi Huang was dissatisfied with this. Believing himself to possess "virtue equal to the Three Sovereigns and achievements surpassing the Five Emperors," he took the character for "sovereign" from the Three Sovereigns and the character for "emperor" from the Five Emperors, creating the title "Emperor." Thus, he became the first monarch in Eastern history to use the title of Emperor and called himself the First Emperor.
It had to be said that, across the world during that same era, the East displayed warfare far more astounding than any other region.
In the Western world of the same period, a battlefield involving more than ten thousand men was already considered an extremely terrifying large-scale campaign.
But in the East, armies of tens or even hundreds of thousands clashed at every turn. They were simply not on the same level.
It was not merely a difference in numbers. Military strategy and the sophistication of weaponry also surpassed the West.
Honestly, if all the world's land had been connected and there were no treacherous regions too difficult to cross separating them, Brunhilde suspected that the First Emperor could have conquered the entire world.
Perhaps if the First Emperor had possessed a complete map of the world and understood that it was far greater than he imagined, he would not have limited himself to the borders of his current realm. He would have continued marching against foreign nations and expanded his territory even further.
Such an outstanding figure was naturally included among Brunhilde's candidates.
It was also unfortunate. Such a man should have been able to lead his nation toward greater strength and prosperity, allowing it to endure.
Yet in his later years, the First Emperor feared the end of a human lifespan and sought immortality through the pursuit of immortals. Then came harsh शासन, oppression of the people, suppression of their minds, and the destabilization of the Qin Dynasty's foundations.
With the First Emperor's death, the surviving nobles of the Six Nations, who had been so thoroughly suppressed during his lifetime that they dared not raise their heads, rose up one after another, plunging the Qin Dynasty into turmoil.
At the same time, because of the First Emperor's sudden death, Zhao Gao and Li Si conspired to forge an imperial edict in Qin Shi Huang's name, making Hu Hai inherit the throne. They also accused Fusu of being an unfilial son and Meng Tian of being a disloyal minister in the First Emperor's name, forcing them to commit suicide without defiance.
Thus, after inheriting the throne, Hu Hai heavily favored Zhao Gao, granting him immense authority and allowing him to control the court. Zhao Gao persecuted loyal and virtuous officials in every way, further accelerating the Qin Dynasty's destruction.
In the end, in 207 B.C., the Qin Dynasty fell.
Such an unprecedented empire had existed for barely more than a decade. Like a brilliant firework, it had shocked the world, yet vanished just as quickly.
Of course, Brunhilde had also heard certain rumors about why the Qin Dynasty had met such an end.
It was said that because the First Emperor sought ascension to immortality—meaning he wanted to become a god—the gods had mocked such an attempt to ascend to Heaven. Then, because he had been excessively arrogant and tyrannical in his pursuit, he had angered the gods.
Thus, the gods had secretly interfered, causing the First Emperor's empire to collapse at an astonishing speed.
This was the gods' punishment for him!
Although this great dynasty had existed only briefly, it had left an extraordinarily dazzling mark upon humanity's seven million years of history.
And the man who had established that dynasty—the First Emperor—had also drawn much criticism, especially accusations of being a tyrant.
Through the ages, people had claimed that Qin Shi Huang was cruel and inhumane, citing events such as burning books and burying scholars, building the Epang Palace, the Great Wall, the mausoleum at Mount Li, and more.
It was precisely because of his seemingly limitless exploitation of the people's labor that the seeds of the dynasty's destruction had been planted.
So, was this the truth?
If it was false, then what was the real truth?
As usual, she would know once she entered the historical footage within the Akashic Records and saw for herself.
"Um, Sister Brunhilde, I'll stay behind this time."
"Oh."
Brunhilde's reaction was calm. She understood Goll's current feelings.
On one hand, she was frightened. The two consecutive unusual experiences had scared her badly.
On the other hand, she feared that she might carelessly cause trouble again and end up in some predicament.
"Hmm? Lantigreese, do you want to come along?"
Brunhilde had originally planned to enter alone, but from the corner of her eye, she noticed the faintly expectant look in her fourth sister's eyes.
"I-I... can I?"
Lantigreese had originally wanted to say that she should stay behind and keep watch, but under her sister's intensely pressuring gaze, she decided to admit it.
Her sister preferred straightforward responses and disliked people whose words did not match their hearts.
"No problem. With you there, I would actually feel more at ease. Unlike Goll, who's so useless."
"Ugh!"
Goll felt deeply wounded by her sister's words.
This sister of theirs never held back from saying harsh things to her younger sisters.
"Let's go to this point in time first!"
Brunhilde set the time to 221 B.C., the year the First Emperor created the title of Emperor.
The location was naturally Xianyang City.
Then, log in!
At that instant, the sisters' vision twisted around them, and in the blink of an eye, they were swallowed by an unbelievable rainbow glow.
When the rainbow glow faded, their distorted vision gradually returned to normal. The two were no longer in Akasha's Chamber.
Once their vision cleared, both of them could not help staring in astonishment.
They were not in Xianyang City.
They were on a battlefield.
Had there been a teleportation error?
Not Great Qin? It Was the Chu-Han Contention!
What entered Brunhilde and Lantigreese's eyes was a brutal battlefield, where humans were slaughtering one another.
Witnessing such a scene, Lantigreese slightly covered her mouth. Corpses covered the ground, and the earth had been dyed red.
"Sister, weren't we supposed to go to Xianyang City? Where is this?"
"Hmm, I definitely set it to Xianyang City!"
Brunhilde frowned as well.
Before you continue