The Empire's First Rose Blooms Like the Night (This Chapter Deserves Monthly Tickets and Applause)

Charlotte tucked away the Magic Alchemy Staff but did not set off. He was hesitating over whether to shoot Lord Leo now when a thought entered his mind: Machu Picchu has completed Labyrinthization.

He smiled faintly and activated Bloody Glory, deliberately suppressing it to the second tier. He followed Lord Leo out of the fortress, but before long, he had been left far behind.

As he pretended to run for his life, he kept an eye on the sky. Sure enough, he spotted several black dots circling overhead.

Charlotte thought to himself, Those should be Lord Leo's blood bats. No wonder he runs so fast with those things guiding him.

Whenever Charlotte was about to lose track of him, Lord Leo would deliberately stop and wait. After the two had run for over two hours, they heard a burst of dense gunfire in the distance, like popping beans.

Charlotte was rather worried. He did not possess Wells's ability to cut down bullets with a sword. Bloody Glory could block bullets when pushed to its limit, but it could not hold out for long.

This was also the common weakness of low-order Knights. In a one-on-one fight, their battle aura could block several or even a dozen bullets without issue. But on a battlefield, with stray bullets flying in from every direction, that little bit of battle aura was never enough.

Charlotte mused, It would be great if I could master the Blood Flame Transformation Technique. If I turned into a mass of blood flames, physical damage would be reduced to an extremely low level.

Mastering the Agility Technique and Spirit Spider Technique would work too. Maybe then I could dodge some bullets.

Lord Leo leaped onto a cliff, stared into the distance for a while, and said to the "panting" Charlotte, "The South Seraph Restorationists have failed."

Charlotte glanced down. The two sides were locked in fierce combat, but he was an outsider when it came to war and could not tell how the battle was going. He asked, "How can you tell?"

Lord Leo said calmly, "Ferdinand's six personal guards are not on the battlefield."

Charlotte was, after all, from the Duchy of Behemoth, and he immediately understood. Grand Duke Ferdinand's six personal guards were quite famous. It was said that all six were Mid-Order Transcendents, and together, they could even fight a High-Order Transcendent. If they were not on the battlefield, they could only be escorting the Grand Duke away.

He said, "Since the mission has failed, there's no value in us staying. We should leave."

Lord Leo shook his head, sprang into the air, and shouted, "Keep up!"

Charlotte looked up at the sky and saw those black dots. Knowing that Lord Leo must have discovered something, he could only follow helplessly.

Neither of them was slow. Though Charlotte deliberately held back a little, he was still far faster than an ordinary person. After rounding a mountain hollow, they heard shouts and cries. Lord Leo gestured, and Charlotte immediately lay prone behind a nearby rock, taking the Anti-Space Sniper Rifle from the Alchemy Staff and loading bullets into its Spatial Magazine.

The Anti-Space Sniper Rifle's Spatial Magazine was not small, but when it was concealed, the magazine had to shift into Anti-Space and would spit out its ammunition. An ordinary person could carry at most twenty Demon-Breaking Armor-Piercing Bullets.

Charlotte set up the rifle and pretended to search for a target.

Lord Leo nodded slightly. He thought, Qian Nan is an excellent soldier, but for this war, he can only be sacrificed.

This is for Byron's future.

Every citizen of Byron must be prepared to make sacrifices.

More than ten people were fighting in the mountain hollow, with another six or seven corpses lying on the ground.

The smaller group was doing everything they could to protect a little old man in his fifties. His silver hair was slightly disheveled, but his small tuft of beard remained neat and clean. He was dressed extravagantly and carried no weapon. With an anxious expression, he crouched beside a woman's corpse, wiping away tears in grief. No matter how desperately his subordinates urged him, he refused to leave.

Charlotte had seen Grand Duke Ferdinand during the festival celebration and recognized the little old man as the ruler of the Duchy of Behemoth—the target the South Seraph Restorationists had wanted to assassinate. The woman's corpse on the ground was Duchess Ferdinand. It was said that the two had shared a beautiful yet tragic love story in their youth. The Grand Duke and Duchess were deeply devoted to one another, a fact well known throughout the Empire of Fars.

Charlotte muttered, "He still refuses to leave his wife at a time like this. Grand Duke Ferdinand really does love her."

Lord Leo chuckled. "The South Seraph Restorationists are still lacking something. Qian Nan, you can give them a hand."

"Aim at Ferdinand and send him on his way."

Charlotte took several deep breaths and first familiarized himself with the firearm in his hands. He had barely handled this thing before, and what he was about to do could not go wrong.

Once he had confirmed that all he had to do was curl his finger and pull the trigger, Charlotte suddenly twisted at the waist and aimed the Anti-Space Sniper Rifle at Lord Leo. He knew he would have only one chance, so he fired three shots without hesitation.

The Demon-Breaking Armor-Piercing Bullets tore through the sky with shrill wails, flying who knew how far away.

Charlotte stared blankly at Lord Leo, who for some unknown reason had suddenly leaped high into the air.

Lord Leo's sudden leap caused all three shots, which Charlotte had expected to hit, to strike empty air.

Charlotte gritted his teeth and was about to draw Blood Rose to fight for his life when he saw a streak of "night" sweep toward Lord Leo.

The one who had struck was his respected senior, Menilman Soumei. The Empire's First Rose wore a military uniform, and the rapier in her hand seemed to have fused with the night as it bloomed furiously in midair.

Lord Leo truly deserved to be called a High-Order Transcendent. He had sensed the thrust in advance, and as he leaped into the air to clash with Menilman, he had inadvertently avoided Charlotte's "sneak attack" as well.

He had not expected Charlotte to be shooting at him. He thought this "loyal imperial soldier" was helping him block Menilman.

Lord Leo's rapier did not even have time to transform into a Knight's Lance before it clashed solidly with Menilman's.

After just one exchange between their rapiers, Lord Leo let out a long, miserable howl. He had been stabbed in the chest, and blood energy continuously leaked from the deep wound. In a hurry, he used the Blood Bat Technique, transforming into hundreds of tiny bats that clustered together and flew back the way he had come. Before leaving, he did not forget to use the Blood Kindred True Word Technique to cast an enchantment: "Qian Nan! Help me stop this crazy woman!"

Charlotte was completely unaffected. After all, he was a man who had looked directly upon an evil god. Resisting an enchantment was nothing to him. Just as he was about to fire two more shots and pick off a couple of bats, Menilman's voice drifted into his ears. "You reacted very quickly just now. If you had coordinated with me a little better, that Byron vampire wouldn't have escaped."

Charlotte's face reddened with embarrassment. If he had acted a little earlier or a little later, he really might have had a chance to severely wound Lord Leo.

Menilman's angle had been different from Lord Leo's. That was why Lord Leo had mistaken Charlotte for someone helping him fire at Menilman, while Menilman had not.

Menilman sheathed her rapier at her waist and said, "Let's go take a look at Grand Duke Ferdinand."