Kingdom’s Bloodline

as 'The Empire'.”

Thales gasped lightly.
He did not feel glory nor pride in his heart, only sadness and sighs.

'War made the state, and the state made war.' He quietly added a sentence in his heart.
He learned this during his past life from a great author's book.
'Coalescence and war.
These words can be spoken easily.
To forge an unprecedented, gigantic nation, how many battles were needed? How much blood was shed and how many massacres were involved?'

However, Gilbert's expression immediately became gloomy.
“Just when the Empire had ruled for almost a thousand years, a new race, so strong they were almost terrifying, quietly emerged among the humans.

“They are immortal and cannot be destroyed, with unparalleled strength and unmatched power.
The strongest among the supreme class were powerless to stand up against them, and even true Gods and demons were no match for them.
To make it even scarier, they have different thought processes and rules of conduct compared to other humans, or even other races.
They are impervious to reason, stubborn, insane, and hard to communicate with.”

Thales froze slightly.

It was as though the crazy figure in blue robes with brown hair appeared before him again, mouth opening and closing.
“The new-born Mystic made a foothold high above the Gods and watched over the other living things…”

Thales recovered his attention.
He saw Gilbert heave a sigh.

“They are like calamity.
Since they arrived in the world, they continuously brought about chaos and disasters, blood and massacre.
Having dealt with these huge blows, the once great empire slowly declined and, in the end, perished.”

'A new race? Emerged among humans? Impervious to reason? Calamity?'

Thales recalled something and his heart began beating erratically.

“During Tormond the First's era, which was the century the Empire Calendar was superseded by the Calendar of Eradication, the Empire had already perished for over three hundred years.
The world where the humans and other races lived had gone back into a state of chaos and dissension.

“'The Final Empire' where Tormond lived in was only a nation built by refugees of the former nation, one which took on the name of the Empire.
In terms of structure, territory and its people, it was a completely different nation.
Customarily, the historians label the previous great Empire as 'the Ancient Empire' and the latter, weak Empire as 'the Final Empire'.

“In the year 1509 of the Empire Calendar, which was the year the Battle of Eradication occurred, the Final Empire was only a nation of average strength in the world.
Instead of bringing them pride and legacy, the spiritual heritage and the name of the Ancient Empire became a source of burden and hatred.
They became the target of ambitious, past territories—eager creatures from other races, and a plethora of greedy nations.

“Although the Final Empire inherited the Ancient Empire's glory, they made enemies everywhere and was constantly engaged in battle.
Moreover, their taxes were high and internal disorder occurred for years on end.
The imperial family was incompetent and governance was weak.
It seemed that the glory of the Empire was about to end in the year 1509 of the Empire Calendar.

“However, on that same year, that race, along with those calamities, had bewitched a considerable amount of people around the world into becoming their believers and followers.
With an unprecedented strength, they formally declared war on the all civilizations in the world.”

Thales was slightly stunned.
With his clear grasp of logical reasoning, he had already caught a few illogical points within the narration.
However, he did not immediately point them out, and instead restrained himself.

'What exactly are the calamities? What does emerging among humans mean? Since they had such great strength, why didn't they continue working towards dominating the entire continent after they destroyed the Ancient Empire, but instead waited until the Final Empire emerged before they formally declared war?

'If they are completely impervious to reason, why did they want to recruit followers and believers like a true God?

'If their thought processes are completely different to humans, why did they want to declare war? To conquer the world? Is this a joke?

'This is basically a story full of loopholes!'

However, Thales was aware that this was not because Gilbert deliberately misled him, but because right now, there was a lot of information that Thales could not understand at all.

Just like those secrets about the Bloody Year from before.

“Those calamities,” Thales gulped and asked with slight anxiety, “what are they?”

Gilbert did not find Thales' question strange.
However, he did not notice that Thales' tone was less confident and steady compared to usual.

He heaved a sigh.
“After the Battle of Eradication, all information and sources related to the 'calamities' were sealed and banned.
This is an unspoken agreement between the Gods, demons, and humans; and also a countermeasure to prevent their numbers from increasing.

“As the years went by, the horrors of the calamities slowly faded away.
The names and existences of the people who were regarded as calamities were also slowly forgotten by many people.

“However, as the king's only heir, you will have to know about all of this sooner or later.”

Gilbert inhaled deeply and spoke with a severe countenance.
“All those calamities were either once humans, or a member of other intelligent races.
However, desire, greed, and ambition drove them to become a foreign species who had lost their innate character.
Even though they are no different from us most of the time and might even be hiding among us, they are truly an entirely foreign species.
According to folklore and most people, these calamities had a common name.”

Gilbert cleared his throat and enunciated each syllable clearly and slowly with a severe countenance.
“Mystics.”

At that moment, Thales had to use all his willpower and mind to suppress his body from trembling too much.

“In their eyes, Mystics are only another category of Psionics who are seemingly equal to strong warriors like the Knights of Eradication and Psionic Warriors.”

With a freezing gaze, Gilbert continued speaking, “However, only the countries and temples that participated in the Battle of Eradication know that these so-called Mystics are actually the fearsome 'calamities' that were a curse to history for thousands of years, had spilled plenty of blood on their hands, had eradicated both dynasties of The Empire, and almost destroyed the whole world.

“They will only notice that something is wrong and get a hint of the person's identity when they try to kill a Mystic.
At that time, it would often be too late… because these calamities known as Mystics are immortal and indestructible.”

“Young Sir,” Gilbert said sternly.
“In the future, if you are unfortunate enough to encounter a Mystic, you must first protect yourself.
When you are safe, try to seek help… We have a method designed based on the weaknesses of Mystics that can be used to fight them.”

Thales kept a straight face as he touched the wound on his left hand, but his teeth chattered slightly.
Unfortunately, he had already encountered these 'calamities'.

Even though Thales' heart was filled with questions, for his own safety, he could not question Gilbert too eagerly.
Who knew what he might reveal in his anxiety?

'However, this is still not right… If Mystics are such a fearsome existence, why do they have to go around contending for small gangs? Why does Constellation let their Blood Bottle Gang flourish in the kingdom?

'Another questionable point.
So many questionable points.'

Gilbert paused for a moment, as though wondering why Thales did not speak nor ask any questions.
However, he did not suspect much.
Instead, he shut his eyes and contemplated about something, only softly speaking after a few minutes.

 “There is no need to doubt their dreadfulness.
These calamities are truly too strong.
Over six hundred years ago, under the leadership of strong warriors, our most powerful and bravest army fought their underlings in a bloody and frenzied battle.
After breaking through their outer defense line, the most skilled knights and warriors besieged those calamities, but were killed en masse in battle.”

Thales thought of the play in Dark Night Temple.
On stage, along the path 'calamity' walked by, the actors fell one by one.

“The Gods descended one by one upon the world and then perished.
The demons rose on earth and were then destroyed.
Warriors of various races went to the battlefield and were then sacrificed.

“The battle continued for many years.
After paying a devastating price, we finally discovered their weaknesses and finally defeated those calamities.”

Thales clenched his fist tightly.
It was as though Asda's desolate words rang beside his ears, “We lost.”

Gilbert's words interrupted his flashback about Asda.

“However, the strength of those accursed calamities was too outrageously frightening.
In the final, decisive pursuit that surpassed the abilities of those in supreme class, those accursed calamities, those mongrels that could almost destroy the world…”

Thales, who had been carefully observing the charging Tormond, shuddered.
He suddenly knew what came next in the story.

Gilbert calmly uttered the next sentence.
“They sank the weakest peninsula in the center of the large continent, which connected all the peninsulas in all other directions.
All the living beings and materials there were completely annihilated. 

“After the peninsula sank, the residue of that power spread out, causing the entire continent to be pushed apart from each other in two different directions.
Within five short years, the depths of the ocean that was formed could no longer be seen, and it tore apart the land that we knew into the Eastern and Western Peninsulas, along with a countless number of islands.

“This is the famous 'Great Crack and Sink' that happened six hundred something years ago.

“The Battle of Eradication ended like that.”

Gilbert emitted a long sigh, and what he said next made Thales momentarily dazed.

“That sunken peninsula contained the entire territory of the Final Empire.
And the Final Empire…

“…was put to an end.”