Shinigami Gazing at Snow Mountains!

The northernmost part of the Empire Continent.

This is the vast Snow Region where the Randel people, whom the empire called the 'Northern Peoples,' have lived for generations.

Because their strong physique and cold-resistant constitution allow them to easily adapt to extremely low-temperature climates, they have a very strong sense of national pride and a significantly stronger will than other ethnic groups.

However, after being completely defeated by the empire a century ago, they became the empire's most important source of soldiers.

It was fine at first.

Now, however, the empire is finding it somewhat unbearable to bear the burden. The two rivals to the west and east are both very strong, and for many years, it has only been able to barely hold onto its borders.

Therefore, they began to feel increasingly resistant and disgusted with the empire's conscription, because there were simply too few people who could return alive from both battlefields.

A number of people were very fortunate enough to stay in the local area.

But it's easy to see that such precious spots are mostly reserved for the children of powerful and wealthy families, leaving only the remaining vacancies for ordinary people to fill.

It's just a matter of chance.

Seka Fortress, or Seka City, was once the capital of the Kingdom of Randel and is now the capital of the Northern Ethnic Autonomous Region.

This is a rugged city where houses, roads, and walls are built entirely of stone, and which would be covered in a 'white coat' if the snow wasn't cleared every day.

Men, women, and children walking on the street were all wearing not-so-thick winter clothes. Every household had a stove and a heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed), and the warm, bright Huoguang illuminated every home.

However, it also produced a large amount of Black Mist, which shot straight into the sky through chimneys and was then dispersed by the cold winds at higher altitudes.

The city center.

A large, dark castle stands there, like a silent Titans watching over the entire Snow Region.

Recently, the local residents have noticed that the troop movements are very frequent, and they often see cavalrymen on fast horses hurrying in and out.

Soon, a strange rumor began to circulate among the people: a strange black army had appeared in the east and was approaching this area, and their own troops were fighting against them!

Inside the Seka Castle, Numa, the current governor of the autonomous region, was listening intently to the battle situation in the east. However, the more Seka listened, the more serious his expression became, and his brows furrowed more and more.

"In just a few days, nearly ten thousand have already died or been injured?"

"My lord, if it weren't for the assistance of various Danger Beasts from the ice plains, and General Baiya's timely adjustment of tactics, ceasing close combat with the enemy, our defenses would have collapsed long ago!"

The knight who came to deliver the intelligence was filled with terror, his hoarse voice trembling, and his eyes seemed to be recalling some horrific scene.

"Calm down first."

When Governor Numa, known as the 'Brave Warrior of the North,' saw him like this, he immediately got up, took some hot tea, and walked over to him, gesturing for him to drink a few sips to warm himself up.

Once the knight had calmed down, he was instructed to explain the more specific details.

"Although they don't seem to have many people, with only two or three hundred in each group, totaling less than three thousand, they are very strong, and each and every one of them is terrifyingly strong!"

"The Swordsmanship they displayed not only produced various lights, shadows, and sounds related to wind, fire, thunder, and water, but its power was also astonishing."

"Our melee units are no match for them. One enemy soldier can kill a dozen or even dozens of soldiers wielding knives or spears. If two or three of them team up, they can turn an area of a hundred meters into Amputate."

Upon hearing this, Governor Numa could roughly imagine the terrifying scene, and at the same time realized that the other party was very likely an elite being similar to a disciple of the Imperial Fist Temple.

"What about the firearms?"

The knight replied with a bitter expression and a hint of despair in his voice.

"Sir, they're all wearing tight-fitting undergarments that look like black vests. They don't look very thick, and they're not made of metal, but they can stop our swords, spears, bullets, and even the claws of the 'Ice Fang Wolf'!"

"Among them are some even more terrifying individuals, exceptionally tall and capable of easily killing even level-one Danger Beasts. The black coats they wear also possess impenetrable defense against blades and spears!"

"So our men often only manage to pierce through their winter clothes before being hacked to pieces by the enemy's blades."

Governor Numa was so shocked that he didn't know what to say, feeling as if a heavy boulder was pressing down on his heart.

"But you must have killed some of their people too, right?"

The cavalryman nodded, biting his chapped lips.

"Before I set off, I had killed a total of thirty-two enemy soldiers, and the number of those seriously injured was incalculable."

"Eleven of them were personally killed by General Baiya riding the 'Polar Tiger', ten were frozen by the 'Shupringaya Dragon's' ice breath and then blown apart by grenades, and the last eleven were surrounded and killed by more than five hundred soldiers who fought desperately, and then bombarded by twenty heavy cannons."

Numa was so shocked that he could no longer speak.

"Your Excellency, just as I said before, if it weren't for our Danger Beasts forces, enough ammunition, artillery, and a force far exceeding theirs, we wouldn't have been able to stop them at all!"

After saying this, the knight could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground, burying his head in his legs and arms and sobbing softly.

It was absolutely horrific!

Those who weren't there in person couldn't imagine what a Hell scene it was. Even cavalrymen on horseback trying to flank and pull the enemy would be easily overtaken by the enemy riding strange mechanical vehicles.

"You've worked hard, go and get some rest!"

After a long silence, Numa looked up and sighed, gave an instruction, and then walked back to his desk, where he wrote down all the details on a piece of paper.

He is writing a letter to the Imperial Capital requesting assistance.

It was obvious that although there were 300,000 troops here, only three of them, including himself, could be considered experts.

The Teigu user was alone, and he simply couldn't stop the enemy's thousands, or even nearly ten thousand, elite troops.

For an opponent of this caliber, the only option is to call upon the Empire's front-line troops, as they have more powerful Danger Beasts units Teigu users, Shingu users, or even send all the disciples of the Imperial Fist Temple!

A dozen minutes later.

A white-feathered falcon, unique to the Snow Region, carrying a small package containing an envelope, flew out of the black castle, flapping its wings rapidly towards the Imperial Capital to the south amidst the Tornado and snow.

The next day.

Numa dispatched more troops to support General Baiya in the east and sent a message instructing him to hold them off as much as possible while awaiting reinforcements from the Imperial Capital.

In the following days, the unrest in the north of the empire grew increasingly intense, with tens of thousands of troops being mobilized from various camps.

There are also ninjas, secret agents, assassins, and CIPHER POL members from both sides, fighting each other in various corners, towns, and even snow-capped mountains on the edge of the Snow Region.

Poison, bombs, traps—all sorts of insidious and ruthless methods were employed to turn one living person after another into bizarrely shaped corpses, which were then left to be buried by the cold wind and snow.

Just then...

Melard Oarburgh, accompanied by his butler Daniel and his two personal maids Cassandra and Gilbert, arrived in White Horse Town to the north aboard a 'spaceship' pulled by a large, Danger Beasts.

The empire's most powerful assassin, known as the 'Shinigami,' stood by the window of the three-story building with a charming smile, gazing at the distant, faintly visible White Mountain.

"I don't know who you are, but you'd better not hurt my Mordai, or I'll really get angry~~"