Chapter 241
"Who killed the king... who...!"
Angry roars echoed through the main hall of the palace. The dilapidated surroundings and the blood and corpses on the ground all told one thing—a deadly battle had recently taken place here.
And the outcome was quite obvious.
The king's personal guard has fallen, and the king himself has vanished... The assassins who came to kill the king have succeeded.
"Which damned bastard disobeyed my orders, barged in, and killed the king?!"
Sylas grabbed the mage beside him and roared at him, but the latter just shook his head repeatedly, filled with fear and confusion.
The others naturally remained silent as well—after all, they genuinely didn't know who had done it.
After another bout of impotent rage, Sylas gradually calmed down.
He remembered someone... the person who had used him as a pawn...
He knew he was being used, but he had no other choice at that moment.
To survive, the only option is to obediently follow the route laid out by that damned guy...
As for whether they will ultimately succeed in overthrowing this hypocritical country, or become that guy's stepping stone... we'll just have to wait and see.
"Since the emperor is no longer here, let's start with his son."
Sylas calmed his agitated emotions and with a wave of his hand, ordered the other mages to escort the bound Jarvan IV out of the palace.
Outside the gate, there was already a huge crowd.
Not only were there a huge Great City of magicians, but also countless citizens of Xiongdu who came to "watch the show"—some wanted to help quell the rebellion but were helpless; many more were those who had been "brainwashed"—they believed that the king himself had caused all of this and was reaping what he sowed.
"Brothers and sisters, today we are all witnesses to history!"
Sylas walked at the head of the group of mages, followed by Jarvan IV and Garen, who were tightly bound.
"We've had enough of the king's tyranny! We should stand up!"
"The tyrant is dead; from now on, Demacia will have no king who reigns supreme!"
"A crown is for everyone!"
"Now, let's see the ugly faces of these nobles!"
With a wave of his hand, Sylas had Jarvan IV and Garen forced onto their makeshift execution platform.
The guillotine used to behead the "Black Mage" was pushed out, its round hole still bearing traces of blood that had not yet been cleaned but had long since dried.
That's all the blood of magicians.
Now, it's finally the turn of these hypocritical nobles!
"Send our future king up there!" Sylas shouted, Jarvan IV was immediately forced to the guillotine.
His golden helmet had long been removed, and his blood-stained face was filled with anger and sorrow, but he was now helpless.
His head passed through the round hole of the guillotine, the gleaming blade hanging above him.
As soon as the rope connecting the guillotine cuts...
Then his head would be severed as well.
"Are you scared to death, my esteemed prince?" Sylas squatted down mockingly and slapped Jarvan IV's face with his hand.
The latter flew into a rage. "You damned bastard...! The thing I regret most is not beheading you on the spot back then...!"
"Oh, oh, oh, don't do that, be more dignified, okay?" Sylas took two steps back and bowed to the crowd below the stage.
"Our great prince seems a bit emotionally unstable... He's not behaving himself. Perhaps we should help him regain his composure, shouldn't we?"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" the magicians below the stage shouted, raising their arms in approval.
Seeing this, Sylas accepted the longsword handed to him by his subordinate with satisfaction, and placed the blade on the rope under Jarvan IV's hateful gaze.
Then, with a light swipe.
The rope snapped, and the enormous guillotine fell immediately.
Sylas let out a joyful shout.
The audience watched intently.
Everyone is waiting with anticipation.
But...
The imagined scene of blood splattering and heads falling to the ground did not occur.
The guillotine blade fell, but not completely.
A long sword stopped the falling guillotine.
The sword's edge rested on the guillotine, its hilt against the executioner's block, and Jarvan IV's head lay unharmed in the middle.
"Huh?!" Sylas stared at the longsword in surprise, momentarily stunned.
Then a smiling young man suddenly appeared in front of him—he appeared instantly, as if by teleportation.
"Sorry, Sylas." The young man held the guillotine blade with one finger, then casually flicked it upwards.
Clang--!
The entire guillotine flew upwards, then crashed through the top shelf and fell to the ground.
Everyone was stunned.
That guillotine...
It weighs at least fifty or sixty pounds...
Flick it away with one finger...?
Is this even human...?!
"You can't kill this person yet," Chen Ce chuckled, the long sword already in his hand.
A flurry of sword flashes, and the guillotine and chains that bound Jarvan IV snapped instantly.
Even Garen, who had been lying on the sidelines "waiting" to be executed, was freed as well.
"You bastard...! The king's lackey!" Sylas roared, his hands instantly lashing out with Petricite stone chains. "Kill him!"
The mages swarmed forward, the Petricite chains were right in front of them, but Chen Ce merely swung his longsword casually.
Clang--!
The chains binding the Petricite were severed instantly.
The sharp blade could sever Sylas's head along the original trajectory.
But Chen Ce stopped his sword in time.
Sylas was still in shock when a mocking voice rang in his ears:
"Well done, keep it up... I'll take one person with me for now, the rest is up to you."
Looking back, the strange yet powerful young man had already appeared below the stage with Jarvan IV.
Instead, Garen slowly stood up.
Chen Ce nodded to Garen, then made a strange hand gesture.
The latter seemed to understand.
"A cunning villain..."
Garen watched Chen Ce and Jarvan IV leave, his tall figure blocking Sylas's path.
Sylas wanted to give chase, but Chen Ce was too fast. He could only curse under his breath and deal with the immediate trouble—the weakling he had taken down in seconds.
And to call him the Swordsman Captain of the Dauntless Vanguard... that's utterly laughable.
"Since you're so eager to die before that stray dog named Jarvan... then I'll grant your wish."
Sylas scoffed dismissively and kicked the greatsword at his feet.
That's Garen's Petricite Stone Greatsword.
"Come on, let me knock you down one more time! You blindly loyal fool!"
"You won't be so lucky this time..." Garen took a deep breath and picked up the greatsword from the ground.
Then, Sylas initiated the sprint.
He prepared to absorb the magic power contained within the greatsword once more.
He was determined to win and didn't take the big guy in front of him seriously at all.
Until he discovered that the other party was...
Laugh?
"Die! For Demacia!"
Garen held the greatsword in his right hand, but did not swing it; he reached into his inner pocket with his left hand and took out a strange object.
The next moment...
Bang--!
A loud gunshot rang out, and before Sylas could even figure out what was happening, he was blasted off the platform.
If he hadn't sensed the danger in time and used the last remaining half of the Petricite chain to protect his chest, that attack would probably have killed him instantly.
But given the current situation... even if it doesn't kill him outright, it's nearly killed him.
That strange weapon was extremely powerful; with just one strike, it caused him to cough up blood and become extremely weak.
"Times have changed, cunning villains."
Garen stood with one foot on the broken guillotine, blowing away the smoke from the gun barrel with an air of pure arrogance.
"Enjoy my newly learned martial arts techniques!"
Bang bang bang!
Several more terrifying energy bullets were fired, Sylas dodged them in a sorry state, even rolling on the ground to barely avoid them.
Garen's aim is still a bit off.
But it's okay.
Because...
"Dauntless Vanguard, Charge!"
The Grand Marshal's shouts rang out from not far away, and the sound of cavalry charging instantly drowned out the clamor of the mages.
Reinforcements... have arrived!
"Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic!"
Having escaped the chaos, Chen Ce stood atop the tower and looked down at the utterly chaotic scene, which made him unable to resist applauding.
Jarvan IV, standing to the side, was utterly perplexed.
"Chen Ce... what are you doing..." he asked, his body weak. "Why... aren't you going to help...?"
"Why should I go?" Chen Ce asked with a smile.
"This is... your... duty..."
"That's wrong, I'm no longer Mageseekers."
"Then... this is... your... country..."
"That's wrong, it's never been."
"What...?" Jarvan IV looked surprised.
It suited his weakened state perfectly.
Chen Ce smiled slightly and spoke frankly to this future "king":
"Who told you Demacia is my country?"