Tower of Heaven

The Dark Cult's goal didn't stop at the Ataraxia Empire. Ataraxia was only the first step in their grand plan.

What was contained in the notebook told Atlas everything he needed to know. As for the notes themselves, Yulian could keep them. Taking them back to his sect would give them enough evidence to act against the Dark Cult and bring them down.

If the world was allowed to progress that far through this mutated timeline, perhaps great things could happen.

The two of them read the notebook together to discover its truths.

'It is a preposterous plan.'

It was even more preposterous that their goals in the Empire of Ataraxia were only the start.

'According to this book, there is a great relic in the possession of the current imperial family. They plan to use this relic in their plan to resurrect a Demon God and destroy the continent.'

Once they destroyed the continent, they would move on to the rest of the world and destroy it as well. In the end, they would have a realm of death to rule over and an environment they considered to be paradise.

'The Third Prince…so he was truly never a bad child.'

He was a good child. A very innocent child who would trust anyone. There was a reason he was never allowed outside of the palace without supervision.

However, despite the protections put in place, they still reached him. The followers of the Dark Cult planted him with a seed of darkness that corrupted his mind and turned him into one of their puppets.

He acted according to their orders and poisoned the First Prince in order to destroy the existing line of succession. They planned to assassinate the Second Prince, but when he entered the Dark Forest, they stopped caring about him. He would die in their stronghold and they could use him to blind the eyes of the common people.

And when the day of coronation came, the one who gained the right to the ancient relic was none other than the Third Prince, who would hand it to them in the final act that destroyed the empire.

It was a flawless plan.

It was a flawless plan that would have been achieved flawlessly if Atlas wasn't in Kade's body.

"Yulian, take this information to your sect immediately and request reinforcements. For now, it is better for you to get as far away from Ataraxia as possible," Atlas said.

"I apologize, Your Highness, but I will not stay out of this conflict. I cannot allow the people to keep suffering to these scumbags," Yulian replied with hardened eyes.

Atlas shook his head, putting his hand on the man's shoulder.

"The best way for you to help is to call people who can defeat the Khan. If such people are not present, then we will never win. I will stall for time within the empire. When you return with aid, we will be prepared to face the Dark Cult together with you."

Yulian gritted his teeth in frustration, but he knew that Atlas was correct. With their current strength, neither of them could do anything to the Dark Cult. However, the Second Prince had status and influence. He could do more in the immediate future, while Yulian did have more of an advantage if he was given time to contact his sect.

'Technically, the original Kade Von Ataraxia also made it this far.'

He never arrived at the castle, but he gained relatively the same information. Only, while he was perusing the cult's documents, he was discovered and executed without the ability to fight back.

'Past this point, Kade was already gone.'

In other words, this was the turning point.

Atlas and Yulian used their disguises to escape the castle unseen, taking with them only a single item. Still, once they left the castle, they were bound to be discovered. They had to break the routine that the puppets maintained, after all.

They split up the moment they were discovered. After a short farewell, Atlas rushed into the surrounding brush, concealed himself, and escaped in a direction that led away from the capital.

He left small traces of himself throughout the forest that charted a "path that he used to escape." Those traces only stopped near the edge of the forest.

'I was unsure of how far the realm extended, but this is perfect.'

His tracks "naturally faded away" after he exited the forest, and while leaving his pursuers chasing ghosts, he completely hid himself and started in the opposite direction.

'This is probably a terrible idea.'

Atlas was confident that he wouldn't be able to do much if he returned to the capital now, but he had no choice. The Second Prince's body wasn't suitable for fighting and could be used for assassination at best.

'I have to hope that the scenario has not progressed too far yet.'

It had only been a day and a half. The Emperor was supposed to die almost a week from the current time according to the Tower System's first message.

'I must reach the capital again before the start of tomorrow, and in the next few days, I must set everything up so that the coronation cannot progress.'

It was a sound plan. If everything went as Atlas predicted, he would be able to pass this trial without being inhibited in the slightest.

Unfortunately, such a smooth flow of events was only possible if there were no unknown variables.

And in this trial, there was a definite unknown variable.

There was a man who stood beside the Third Prince's side. He had eyes that maintained the shape of crescents like a snake. His figure was lean and seemingly fragile, but he moved with a strange sense of smoothness that couldn't be found in an ordinary human.

But, if anyone was asked what his most defining feature was, they were sure to give the same answer.

The Third Prince's attendant used to be an unreadable person. He maintained a smiling expression on his sly face that made it impossible to see what he was thinking.

This reality only changed in the past few days, and it was what prompted the rest of the palace to realize the man's most standout feature.

His smile.

The dark, twisted smile he had on his face as he whispered into the Third Prince's ear.

"Kill the Emperor."

"Take the throne."

"Everything belongs to you."

He spoke these sweet words to a child corrupted by the seed of darkness, alighting a spark of madness in his eyes.

With his slick tongue, he brought forth an event that was already fated.

Only two days ago did the Second Prince leave for the Dark Forest.

In the past two days, the Emperor had been in his study, seen only by his most trusted aide.

"If the Emperor and the aide die, then who will know?"

Who would know that the Third Prince was the culprit?

Who would know that the Second Prince was innocent?

His lips curled up as he asked these questions. He couldn't hide his teeth anymore when he saw the look in the Third Prince's eyes.

"It is not your fault. It is his fault for being weak. Go. Kill him. Fulfill your desires."

Those were the words he spoke on the surface, but they were not the ones he meant.

'Now, my opponent…' he thought to himself.

'...how will you respond to this?'

That very night, the Emperor of Ataraxia was slaughtered in cold blood alongside his aide. They were found the next morning by the Third Prince's attendant, who went to the study to convey a message to the aide.

Nobody wanted to acknowledge it. Nobody wanted to admit it. But they could not ignore the facts.

All of the evidence pointed to a single place.

The Second Prince, Kade Von Ataraxia.

He was the villain who murdered the Emperor.