At the same time, the first-class carriage looked somewhat chaotic.
Ceramic fragments slid in the direction of gravity, and the crystal tea table had slammed heavily against the carriage.
The leather sofas were also piled near the side of the carriage, lying quietly in the messy and empty room.
It completely lacked the luxurious appearance it had earlier.
Aurelian held her forehead and shook her head again and again, trying to shake away the dizziness in her mind.
Just now, just now, she had experienced a strange fluctuation of gravity.
Because of a violent collision, the train had been forced to stop. Not long after, the entire train suffered another massive crushing impact and began rapidly falling from the sky.
Then, before it could fully fall, it seemed that something grabbed the entire train and forced it to stop suddenly.
Now everything around the first-class carriage was floating.
Aurelian struggled to climb up from the sofa, holding her head as she painfully freed herself from the sofa that had trapped her tightly.
What just happened?
She remembered.
It seemed that after discovering some threat, Vanilla suddenly lowered her body.
A low growl kept coming from her throat.
At that time, Vanilla seemed to have lost her usual calmness and elegance.
She had completely turned into something like a beast.
Finally, she crouched low and suddenly roared fiercely toward the outside of the train window.
[Fierce Roar]
The surrounding air was compressed by the sound waves, and the terrifying airflow turned into a tidal wave under that roar.
Even the floor was torn open by the impact, leaving a deep trench as wood splinters scattered in all directions.
At that moment, Aurelian covered her ears.
Before she could even react, she looked up and saw...
The roof of the carriage had somehow been covered by countless patches of black sludge, which slowly began dripping into the carriage.
The moment those black stains touched the floor, they started wriggling, and the liquid formed into human shapes.
Anyone could see that such disgusting, filthy things were definitely not normal.
But just when Aurelian was about to attack those monsters...
They suddenly collapsed onto the ground again, turning into fragmented pieces that scattered everywhere.
This left Aurelian completely confused.
'How did those monsters that had just appeared suddenly die?'
'Could it be because of Vanilla's roar just now?'
'Did it cause them to already be in a state of death at that moment?'
After that, the carriage experienced the collision and stopped.
'Then... where is Vanilla?'
Thinking of this, Aurelian hurriedly stood up and began searching around.
Because of the violent collisions, the magical supply around the carriage had been cut off.
The originally bright carriage had already dimmed.
Fortunately, Aurelian was a mage.
With a flick of her hand, she lit a flame, making the carriage slightly brighter.
With that light, she saw Vanilla lying on the ground.
Seeing this, Aurelian ignored everything else and hurried to Vanilla's side, lifting the small catgirl up.
She helped the catgirl onto the sofa and took a breath before examining Vanilla's condition.
At this moment, she had fallen into a light unconscious state.
Perhaps the roar she used earlier consumed too much strength, causing her body to become exhausted and weak.
Thinking about it, Aurelian felt puzzled again.
'What kind of magic had Vanilla just used?'
'The power of that roar was definitely not an ordinary shout.'
Yet Aurelian had not sensed any magical flow from Vanilla.
Fortunately, Vanilla's condition was not bad. She was just exhausted.
If she rested for a while, she would recover soon.
Aurelian slightly smelled the scent coming from Vanilla, and she found it rather pleasant.
Just as she had said, there was a faint scent of vanilla.
"No wonder she's called Vanilla."
After finishing all this, she slowly walked toward the window.
She urgently wanted to know what exactly had happened outside.
But then the scene before her was dreamlike and unreal, striking Aurelian's pupils again and again, instantly throwing her into boundless shock.
The train carriages had been separated into sections, and each carriage floated irregularly in the air as if supported by nothing.
They hung freely in the gentle embrace of the sky, like toys casually thrown away by a child, suspended across the darkness.
At this moment, it was as if time had frozen.
The canyon hidden deep below was bottomless, and silent fear pressed toward Aurelian like some unseen force.
She had no choice but to step back a few steps.
The sky had turned terrifyingly dark, but it was not because of clouds covering it.
The entire sky seemed to have been contaminated by something, falling into immense darkness.
Chaotic tentacles pierced through the black fog, stretching toward the abyss of the canyon.
And within that black vortex, a gigantic yellow pupil appeared, restlessly observing the entire world.
Around that eye, it was as if black ink had condensed into droplets, falling one after another.
Within just a few seconds, that black oil-like substance would seep into the carriage.
"Goddess… cultists!?"
Just a few days ago, Aurelian had seen those cultists at the banquet.
But their filth could not even compare with the terror before her now.
It was like a monster that covered the sky itself, bringing all fear and evil thoughts to the people of the world.
Outside the Empire, how could there be such a terrifying monster?
Suddenly, a voice that made Aurelian feel at ease sounded beside her.
"They linger around the outer borders of the Empire, waiting for a chance to slip in."
"Because they don't dare go deeper inside."
Aurelian raised her head and looked toward the source of the voice.
The sight before her made her momentarily stunned.
Viktor had his hands in his pockets, stepping through the air, slowly walking toward her step by step.
Five-colored magic gathered from all directions beneath his feet, condensing in the sky into transparent, flowing magical stairs of different colors.
It was as if the sky had opened a new path, quickly gathering from the clouds to become steps for him to walk on.
That stream-like staircase flickered continuously, making the entire sky seem to lose its color.
His steps were confident and steady, and his calm expression carried an easy composure, as if a quiet elegance could always be felt from him.
Aurelian raised her head and looked at Viktor walking toward her from the sky, momentarily dazed.
"The Empire is their forbidden land."
However, only Viktor knew.
In less than a year, Aubrey would no longer have the time to manage the Empire.
That would be the time when his life was nearing its end.
During that period, Aubrey would have no energy to interfere with anything.
And his heirs would reveal their cold fangs amid their struggles.
At that time, their fight for power would reach its most intense stage.
The second prince, Owiser, would be the first to open a massive breach in the Empire.
He would introduce demons, allowing them to flood the entire Empire.
Thus, the demon invasion would begin.
Because of the demon invasion, the Empire would fall into chaos.
The cultists would seize the opportunity to slip in.
They would complete their most fanatical ritual, turning Gwen into the human vessel of the Goddess of Justice.
Then, in the perfect form of a righteous knight, she would drive all invading demons out of the Empire.
———
At the same time, the Lesser family, who supported the first prince, in order to fight the demons and limit the cultists' actions, would create the ultimate weapon meant to protect humanity.
The most perfect form of Sapphyros would be born.
But even so, the cultists' infiltration had already polluted the very roots of the Empire. Like cancer, it could not be removed.
Unless Gwen died early, they were destined to welcome the descent of the goddess.
The Empire's gradual collapse in the future was something that could be traced.
So if he wanted to stop the beginning of all this in advance, Viktor had to support Aurelian's early rise to power.
"Rest for a while first, Princess."
Viktor spoke in a relaxed tone, carrying a sense of reassurance.
His hands were in his pockets, his voice gentle, making Aurelian feel as if she were bathing in warm sunlight despite the chaotic crisis.
It let her see hope.
"Once I deal with everything, we'll set off immediately."
Aurelian froze slightly.
Suddenly, the five giant hands behind Viktor opened at the same time.
The purple-black lightning hand stretched into the swirling black sky filled with clouds and clenched tightly.
In an instant, the clouds flipped over like dragons and serpents dancing wildly, gathering into a waterfall of gray chaos.
At that moment, Aurelian finally saw clearly.
Purple lightning, like a giant python stretching hundreds of meters, danced wildly in the sky as electric arcs flashed unpredictably.
The next second, that lightning suddenly erupted, falling from the sky and transforming into a massive lightning spike that pierced violently into the dark blasphemous creature.
The wind suddenly swayed as the air shattered from the violent shock, like a set of shackles locking the lightning spike onto the chaotic black creature.
The twisted monster, struck by this terrifying blow, let out a painful and ferocious howl.
Countless tentacles were pulled back from the depths of the canyon, twisting together.
Electric arcs rapidly burned the filthy body, and the pain forced its giant eye to shut tightly.
A terrifying power surged up as the black horror suddenly gathered together, trying to completely contaminate the entire world.
At this moment, its hatred was completely locked onto Viktor.
Viktor stared at the horrifying cultist before him, and a faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared on his calm face.
Because the monster's health bar and level had appeared.
[Goddess Believers ×10000]
[Lv60]
Tens of thousands of goddess believers had condensed their fanatical thoughts into a physical form. Like a mass of chaos, it had formed this twisted blasphemous shape.
Their goal was only one.
To summon the Goddess of Justice back into the world.
They were bound to come here.
They were bound to come for Gwen.
For the true lineage of the goddess.
When the council declared the goddess's legitimate status, these believers became even more anxious.
The reason they had begun wandering around the Empire was to reclaim the goddess's legitimacy that belonged to them.
However…
Vega's single eye gradually flickered with blue light.
At the same time, Viktor's eyes shone with the same light, rapidly releasing surging magic.
Connection successful.
The next second, Viktor's coat was quickly covered with purple-black stripes.
The enormous elemental hand shining with lightning was injected with endless magic and began expanding rapidly, becoming even larger.
"I don't want to see the era of gods descending arrive ahead of time."
"So…"
BOOM!
A streak of white tore open a crack in the black clouds, and lightning poured out from it.
Countless thunderbolts exploded across the sky, turning into wildly dancing silver serpents rolling among the black clouds.
Terrifying electric arcs flashed densely, almost lighting up the entire sky.
Several purple-black bolts of lightning twisted rapidly behind Viktor, as if connecting him to the entire sky.
Electric light began to glow around his body as lightning moved across him like fish in water.
Viktor's eyes burst with purple light, and his coat was lifted high by the chaotic air currents.
Floating high in the sky, his expression remained calm, his face under the lightning still completely composed.
Viktor kept his hands in his pockets, his gaze cold.
"Could you please..."
"Get the hell farther away?"