The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Despite it being their first meeting, Sotha felt as though he had seen the dancer before, her appearance shifting over time as if mirroring the cycles of nature. The bountiful grace of prosperity giving way to the harsh winter in the blink of an eye, becoming stubborn, solitary, pure, and cold. Then the season of sorrow passed, and the furious season of harvest arrived, the season of war—the goddess, engrossed in her new role, had transformed into a raging warrior, her enemies cowering before her.

That anger, for some reason, he was also familiar with. It was intertwined with the anger of a mother protecting her children, the intense possessiveness of an overly indulgent mother towards her children, and the terrifying ruthlessness towards enemies and those she disliked.

Suddenly, Sotha felt something grab his hand. He turned to see Veronica frowning, her breathing becoming rapid, her fair skin flushed with anger, her other hand covering her lower abdomen, like an enraged lioness protecting her cubs.

The dancer on stage also changed her image, transforming into a Valkyrie clad in bone armor, one side a ghostly blue of death, the other a vibrant light green of life. Her right hand held a trident made of beast bones and withered bones, raised high above her head in a stabbing pose, both beautiful and terrifying, exuding divine power and the terror of death with every gesture. Light shimmered beneath her feet, and the trees in the background gradually withered, embodying the cycle of blossoming, harvesting, and decay.

Moreover, and more importantly, the dancer, with incredible muscular control, simultaneously displayed both loving and angry expressions on either side of her face, almost like a mask, and the light around her face also showed the colors of death and life.

Sword and blade, and bow in hand,

Demons wreak havoc, the die is cast on the land,

Melodies like music, devoutly praising the command,

Eternal glory, birthing the universe so grand,

Supreme and unsurpassed, holy visage so still,

Isha, Mother Goddess, we bow to thy will!

As the dancer slowly bent her knees and sat cross-legged on the spot, the weapons and armor in her hands disappeared, returning to her initial serene state, and the surrounding trees regrew lushly, showing the beginning of another cycle.

"Impressive, impressive. This feeling of power, grace, and divinity combined is not as flashy and obscure as a Harlequin's dance, nor as empty and impoverished as a Minstrel's dance. This is truly a divine dance, worthy of the name."

When the lights came back on, Sotha softly praised, and then took the lead in applauding. Veronica, after taking a moment to calm herself, also smiled and applauded. The others also applauded. The dancer then stood up, bowed to the Twin Saints of the Royal Court, and slowly exited.

There were more than a dozen subsequent dances and songs, but they were mostly straightforward hymns of praise, as well as the Wild Hunt of Kurnous. Overall, the level was very high.

However, Sotha became somewhat absent-minded later on, because some doubts arose in his mind. After the performance ended, as he was about to discuss his doubts with Veronica, Dolarn found him and reported an event.

The refugees from the Luna'sad Ark had been sent over from the Kolorr Ark.

Or rather, it wouldn't be accurate to say they were "found." Strictly speaking, they had come looking for them, and it just so happened that the Biel-Tan were doing some preliminary preparations on Luna'sad, planning to reconstruct the spirit core—since the Kolorr hadn't been able to find the Crow Souls, the Biel-Tan felt that there were no surprises, and prepared to cook the raw rice as quickly as possible. The Kolorr knew about this, but due to the Biel-Tan's tough stance, they didn't stop it.

As soon as the Biel-Tan were fiddling with their home, the group calling themselves the Crow Souls didn't say anything and immediately started fighting.

The Biel-Tan people also had fiery tempers. When the other side attacked, they immediately retaliated. The two sides fought from the bow to the stern. Although the Kolorr Ark people intervened urgently at the first moment, the Crow Souls didn't communicate at all, just fought, even attacking the Kolorr Ark people.

Just as the situation was about to get out of control, the Corsair Prince, Wind Chaser, arrived in time. Relying on his past relationship with the Crow Souls, he stopped the bloodshed in time—of course, another reason the Crow Souls stopped was that the Kolorr Ark was also annoyed and threatened to send heavy troops to wipe them out.

But stopping was stopping, the matter was not over, because there were casualties on all sides. The Biel-Tan died more than a dozen people, the Kolorr Ark also died nearly twenty people, the Crow Souls lost nearly thirty people. For the Biel-Tan, blood debts must be repaid in blood, they immediately sent the news to the Arkworld, and then hundreds of Swordwinds rushed out of the Webway to kill the Crow Souls.

The Kolorr Ark was also quite dissatisfied with the Crow Souls, but after all, they had some responsibility for this matter. When the Crow Souls wanted to go to Luna'sad, for some reason, the Kolorr didn't explain why the Biel-Tan were there, nor did they explain the Royal Court's arrangements for Luna'sad, and didn't even notice that the Crow Souls were obviously coming with ill intentions, easily putting them all on the Ark, directly leading to the bloodshed.

Perhaps knowing that they had caused trouble, the Kolorr Ark still suppressed the desire for revenge, tried to control the armed conflict between the two sides, and emphasized that both sides should stop first and discuss things at the Royal Court.

But the situation was already somewhat out of control at that time, the Biel-Tan's Warsmith was furious and directly threatened the Kolorr, saying that if anyone dared to stop them, then the Swordwind would show no mercy.

Fortunately, the Kolorr were not completely confused. They did not confront the Biel-Tan head-on, but tried to buy time, and then sent a message to the Royal Court, asking the Royal Court to send people as soon as possible. Dolarn sent the Goldwings at the first time after receiving the message.

Even the Warsmith, who was furious, had to put away his weapons after seeing the Goldwings holding the scepter.

The Crow Souls were also willing to disarm after seeing the Goldwings, but they said that they must seek an explanation from the Eternal Queen and the Phoenix King.

Even after seeing their only ancestral spirit, Anaris, who had become a Wraithseer, they still did not change their attitude. Dolarn personally met with the representatives of the Crow Souls at that time, and elaborated on the Royal Court's attitude towards the subsequent handling of the Luna'sad Ark, but did not directly state who the Ark belonged to, but emphasized the key issue—this Ark was personally liberated and purified by the Phoenix King, and even for it, the Phoenix King personally fought the terrifying Daemon Primarch Lorgar. The Crow Souls, these Luna'sad survivors, had not contributed anything to this Ark except for their so-called bloodline claims, and even watched it rot in the void for tens of thousands of years, perhaps because they were not capable.

Since they were not capable, what qualifications did they have to negotiate?