Crista stood frozen, staring at the carnage in the stone corridor.
Even with the soundproofing arrays embedded within the meeting chamber, an engagement of this scale should have produced enough vibration to alert her.
For the hallway to remain completely silent meant her eight royal guards had been slaughtered before they could mount any defensive measures.
Shuddering at the disparity in strength, Crista looked at the seventeen-year-old silver-haired girl with a sense of dread.
Leylin reached out, casually patting Blair's silver hair. The deadly, aloof expression on Blair's face melted away instantly; she lowered her head, leaning into his palm like a docile pet basking in praise.
Leylin studied her for a brief second, then turned toward the armored young man waiting by the exit. "Let us depart, Derick."
Stepping past the corpses, Leylin climbed into the waiting carriage, with Blair following closely behind.
From the shadows of the courtyard, the towering purple silhouette of the Vanguard of Requiem materialized, accompanied by the maid Kelly and Lita Raiz.
Lita gasped softly as she took in the bloody scene in the hallway and looked at the leaving Leylin.
Leylin paused at the carriage door, looking toward Lita. "Lita, you will stay here and assist your aunt. The imperial capital will descend into chaos over the coming days, and she needs someone she can trust at her side. The road aheah is far too turbulent, and remaining here is the safer for you."
Lita's eyes widened, a trace of moisture gathering at the corners of her eyes as a wave of reluctance washed over her. Yet she understood the reality: with her current cultivation, accompanying him would make her nothing more than a liability. Swallowing her sorrow, she nodded obediently.
Leylin leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Take care of yourself."
Lita stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his waist for a brief, tight embrace. Leylin stroked her hair before looking past her shoulder toward the Vanguard of Requiem.
"Ensure no harm comes to her," Leylin commanded the summon. Then, shifting his eyes toward an empty patch of space near the courtyard wall, he added in a flat tone, "And that instruction extends to you as well."
The moment those words left his lips, an invisible, mental collision detonated in the void above the courtyard. The localized spiritual clash occurred so fast that neither Crista nor Lita perceived the exchange; only the Vanguard and the Black Horrall Snake registered the pulse of energy.
Without waiting for an answer, Leylin stepped into the carriage alongside Kelly. Derick snapped the reins, and the carriage lurched forward, speeding down the road.
As the carriage disappeared past the estate gates, the empty space near the courtyard wall warped, and an elderly man stumbled out of the shadows. His robes were disheveled, and a thin trickle of fresh blood seeped from his nostrils and ears.
"Father!" Crista gasped in alarm.
"Grandfather!" Lita cried out, rushing to support him.
The old man was the pillar and hidden ancestor of House Raiz. While Crista had brought him along in secret to safeguard the meeting and evaluate Lucian Alistair's capabilities, the outcome had clearly been disastrous.
"What a monstrous entity..." the old man rasped, wiping the blood from his lip as he stared at the empty road with a mixture of terror and awe.
He glanced briefly at the silent Vanguard of Requiem stationed near Lita, breaking into a cold sweat as he recalled the suffocating pressure from moments ago. He had intended to test the young scholar's arrogance by releasing a thread of his Captain-stage aura, only to be struck by a vast, oceanic spiritual will that crushed his consciousness in an instant.
The fear of death a feeling he had not experienced in decades had paralyzed his entire body.
"Father, did that man injure you?" Crista asked, her heart sinking.
The old man ignored her question, turning his gaze toward his granddaughter. A faint, strained smile appeared on his face. "Little Rosie... it seems you have secured an extraordinary son-in-law for our house."
Lita's face flushed crimson. "Grandfather, it is not like that..."
Crista looked between them, her mind racing. She had assumed Lita was involved with the academy instructor Lucian Alister, only to realize her niece had captured the interest of the hidden master himself.
"Father," Crista asked, her voice trembling slightly. "His claim about securing the throne for Erwin... is it truly possible?"
"He can achieve it with ease," the old patriarch replied without hesitation. "His power is entirely beyond my comprehension. Even your husband, the Emperor, cannot project such overwhelming pressure. We should thank the heavens that he chose to align with us. House Raiz has a future after all."
Crista stood in silence, shaken to her core. Emperor Austin Felineca was regarded as the apex powerhouse of the empire, with her father being one of the few who could rival him. For her father to openly admit inferiority proved that Leylin operated on a plane far above an ordinary Captain-stage combatant.
Lita looked down at her left hand, gently tracing the silver ring Leylin had gifted her. While she knew a man of his ambition could never be tied down to a single empire, having a place in his considerations was enough. Wiping the lingering tears from her eyes, she looked toward the horizon, ready to carry out her duties.
Over the following seven days, a historic upheaval tore through the Felineca Empire.
With the continental war escalating along the borders, pressure to finalize the imperial succession reached a boiling point. While the nobility had largely anticipated the Fourth Prince's victory, the outcome defied every expectation.
Erwin Felineca, the Crown Prince, was formally crowned as the new Emperor.
The Fourth Prince was declared to have succumbed to an unexpected relapse of an old battlefield injury, passing away in his manor shortly before the coronation.
To the common populace, the transfer of power was merely another topic of tavern gossip. For the noble houses, however, the week was an absolute bloodbath.
In the span of seven days, dozens of opposition family heads, guild presidents, and high-ranking military commanders were assassinated across the capital. Entire noble bloodlines were dismantled overnight, their estates seized and their private forces scattered.
Throughout the purge, the former Emperor Austin Felineca remained completely uninvolved, watching the elimination of the rival faction from the imperial palace before issuing a public decree endorsing Erwin's coronation.
Immediately following his ascension, Emperor Erwin married France Greg, daughter of Ramon Greg and niece of Luke Greg.
Concurrently, Keith Henry resigned from his post as Principal of Rose Petal Royal Academy, having broken through to the Captain Stage, to assume the office of Grand Imperial Advisor.
With the combined backing of House Greg, and it's Patriarch Luke Greg, Keith Henry, the Raiz ancestor, and the protection of the Vanguard of Requiem, the new imperial court consolidated an unprecedented concentration of Captain-stage powerhouses.
In noble records, this brutal transition became known as The Blood Successor Incident.
Every surviving house rushed to swear fealty to the new sovereign. Rumors circulated through high society that the young Emperor was merely a public figurehead, and that true authority rested in the hands of an enigmatic shadow figure connected directly to House Raiz. Yet no one dared investigate further.
Far beyond the borders of the empire, untroubled by the mortal politics left in his wake, Leylin's carriage rolled steadily eastward toward the territory of the Four Great Dynasties.