Little Sun Karna

Xu Mo had already secretly secured the support of most of the royal family.

Of the Sun Moon Empire's five national guardian legions, the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion and the Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion had already taken his side.

The remaining Flame Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion and Evil Lord Soul Engineer Legion had yet to state their positions clearly, but at the very least, they would not completely fall out with him for the Emperor's sake.

The five national guardian Soul Engineer Legions each guarded one of the empire's four directions. Only the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Legion, with its three hundred members, remained stationed in the imperial palace year-round and answered directly to the Emperor.

That was the final obstacle to his seizure of the throne.

Xu Mo had originally planned to use the Holy Spirit Cult's power to keep the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Legion in check, but Xu Tianming's appearance had given him a better option.

A sharp glint flashed through his eyes.

If he could make Kong Deming, who commanded the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Legion, remain neutral at the critical moment—even if he merely stood by and watched—things would become far easier.

Ye Xishui naturally understood Xu Mo's intentions.

She looked at Xu Mo and asked calmly, "When will we act?"

Xu Mo fell silent for a moment as killing intent gradually gathered in his eyes.

"Three days from now."

His voice was low, yet his resolve allowed no doubt.

Ye Xishui nodded lightly.

"Fine. When the time comes, our cult will cooperate with you."

She paused, and a cold gleam flashed through her violet eyes.

"But don't forget your promise."

"Of course."

Xu Mo nodded without hesitation.

"Once this is done, the Holy Spirit Cult will become the state religion of the Sun Moon Empire."

At that, Ye Xishui's red lips curved slightly upward.

She naturally knew that cooperating with Xu Mo was no different from seeking a tiger's skin, and Xu Mo likewise understood that the Holy Spirit Cult was no benevolent organization.

But so what?

So long as he could seize the throne, what did it matter if he borrowed the Holy Spirit Cult's strength to deal with the former Three Douluo Kingdoms and cooperated with evil Soul Masters?

History had always been written by the victors.

As long as he was the one who won in the end, a thousand years from now, people would naturally whitewash everything for him and find lofty justifications for all he had done.

The rule of the Douluo Continent had always been simple: whoever lost was evil, and whoever won was righteous.

Xu Mo slowly clenched his fist. The arrow was already on the string; there was no turning back. Either he would successfully ascend the throne and lead the Sun Moon Empire to unite the world, or his plan would fail and leave him disgraced for all eternity.

He had no way out.

Ye Xishui said nothing more and merely turned toward the shadows of the study.

Her red dress swept across the floor, while her dark violet shoulder armor glimmered with a cold sheen beneath the lamplight. Her figure gradually melted into the darkness, leaving only those violet eyes, still glowing with a chillingly eerie light.

"Three days from now, I will await your message."

As her voice faded, Ye Xishui's presence disappeared completely. Xu Mo was left alone in the study. He raised his head and looked out the window; the night was deep, while Mingdu's lights still shone brilliantly.

Three days from now, this prosperous Imperial City was destined to welcome a storm capable of changing the Sun Moon Empire's fate.

After leaving the study, Xu Tianming walked back toward his residence.

The prince's estate was quiet at night. Only the armor of patrolling guards occasionally clinked softly. He slowly made his way along the corridor, idly turning over the black card containing one million Gold Soul Coins in his hand.

"Master, there was someone else inside just now."

A calm voice sounded beside his ear, devoid of any emotion.

"Oh? How strong?"

Xu Tianming was not surprised. His bargain-bin father was still an imperial prince, after all. How could he possibly lack powerful people secretly protecting him?

"Her aura was the strongest in all of Mingdu. To fight her, I would need to unseal my full strength."

Xu Tianming halted, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

The strongest person in Mingdu, someone Karna needed to unseal his full strength to fight... There were only a handful of figures like that on the entire Douluo Continent.

That was right. The unseen person speaking beside his ear was Karna, the Servant he had summoned through the Star Core.

The Star Core's power had now spread throughout the entire Douluo Star System. It absorbed the Wish Power of all living beings, twisted the energy of reality, and created extradimensional spaces known as Rifts.

Like cancer, these Rifts devoured all energy and matter, expanding without end.

Whenever a Rift was destroyed, part of the pure Wish Power would be reclaimed by the Star Core, which Xu Tianming could then use to make wishes.

He had tested it many times.

Most wishes were fulfilled by the Star Core in some maliciously twisted manner. Fortunately, the wishes he had made before were all harmless little ones, so they had not caused much damage.

Yet one type of wish had not been twisted at all and had instead been fulfilled smoothly: using Wish Power to bring the characters from his memories into this world.

He could not understand the principle behind it. Perhaps the Star Core had undergone some unforeseen change when it traveled through space and time with him.

But for him, this was undoubtedly tremendous news. At least now he no longer had to worry that making a wish would blow up the entire planet.

After discovering this, he stopped wasting any Wish Power and quietly began accumulating it, preparing to do something big.

At first, to be safe, he had summoned only a weak fellow—a minor villain from some game.

After all, if the person he summoned refused to obey orders, a weak target would be easier to deal with.

The facts proved that his caution had been correct.

He truly could not completely control those figures condensed from Wish Power. They inherited the memories, experiences, and power of their originals, possessing souls and personalities of their own rather than being mindless puppets.

Although Xu Tianming had created them, they still had thoughts of their own. When he discovered that the minor villain showed signs of becoming uncontrollable, Xu Tianming decisively severed the Star Core's connection to him.

Deprived of the power sustaining his existence, that fellow disappeared soon afterward. It was like a Servant in the Holy Grail War—after losing its Master, it would soon return to the Throne of Heroes.

Though he could control the life and death of those he summoned, Xu Tianming still disliked subordinates who would not obey. Besides, that fellow truly was just an ordinary person with no value to exploit, so he discarded him outright.

After that, Xu Tianming accumulated Wish Power for several years before finally summoning Karna.

Karna was powerful enough, and more importantly, he was absolutely loyal to his Master.

That proved true as well. This little sun was incredibly obedient. Whatever Xu Tianming told him to do, he did without complaint, and his efficiency was astonishing.

Through his research, Xu Tianming found that the people he summoned were not fundamentally much different from those Rift Realm Creations. Both were born through the Star Core's power and had little connection to the originals from their respective worlds.

In other words, this Karna was the Karna from the game in his memories, not the true son of the sun god from the Type-Moon World.

However, his power was not false.

Karna was extraordinarily strong. Although he was not a Soul Master and had no specific rank, his Noble Phantasms and skills remained intact.

By Xu Tianming's estimate, Karna at full power would be no weaker than a level ninety-nine Limit Douluo of this world.

After all, this was an SSR he had summoned only after painstakingly saving Wish Power for several years.