After receiving the letter Egbert had sent back early with Liat and hearing Liat's own account of what had happened, the Empire's hundred-thousand-strong army stationed around the fortress forty miles outside Karthus City soon withdrew—and they withdrew decisively and cleanly!
In less than a week, apart from leaving behind some necessary garrison troops, most of their main forces had returned intact to the Empire's original territory. Emperor Barnhardt, Lyon, and the Empire's other high-ranking commanders had gone straight back to Faruzanlia City, the capital.
Clearly, after learning that the floating island truly housed a powerful and threatening enemy—one that was preparing to openly invade the entire EruSalaria Continent—the Empire no longer had the time or inclination to fight and waste time against those cowards holed up in Karthus City. Instead, they immediately began preparing for the even more arduous and terrifying war that was likely about to arrive.
After all, compared with the insignificant enemies in Karthus who were openly in front of them, the enormous floating island still hanging ten thousand meters above the Empire's border—and openly declaring that it would occupy the entire world while urging every nation to peacefully hand over its authority—was the true enemy they needed to deal with first.
No one was willing to hand over their power and country "peacefully." Emperor Barnhardt of the Empire was naturally unwilling as well. Even if the other side, like the Empire, was a faction that claimed to be working toward "a peaceful world without racial discrimination, class oppression, or the suffering of war," that still wouldn't do!
Although the Re-Estize Kingdom had always used a similar excuse to launch its wars of unifying the continent, and also wished to unify the entire world and establish "a peaceful world without racial discrimination, class oppression, or the suffering