Poulant Empire, capital city of Hershalem.

Inside the Parliament Building, a magnificent and long hall unfolds behind towering doors.

Senators whisper amongst themselves, their faces etched with complex expressions of tension, doubt, and curiosity.

In the dim light, the air seems to solidify, with only gray dust dancing in the interplay of light and shadow.

The atmosphere in the assembly hall reaches a fever pitch as the Prime Minister strides in.

Behind the Prime Minister follow his political allies and several trusted confidants, their expressions equally solemn, but in the depths of their eyes, one can see boundless trust and support for the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister's figure appears firm and decisive, dressed in a formal black suit. Unlike usual, a golden cross of holy radiance, or perhaps a stigmata of the Church, adorns his collar.

He walks through the crowd toward the podium.

Even as he stands on the podium, a low murmur of commotion lingers throughout the hall.

He waits for a long time.

"Although we have suffered losses in this campaign, we will never surrender, never yield; we will fight to the end."

Prime Minister Wilford glances around, takes a deep breath, and begins his opening remarks,

"In this campaign, our army has suffered casualties of up to thirty thousand soldiers, lost nearly a thousand magic-powered cannons, and the ports on both sides of the straits have fallen into the hands of the Honing Empire. The Honing Empire is poised to launch a new offensive against our country or neighboring countries, which has become an established fact. The fall of the neighboring Kingdom of Bliss is a tragedy for the ages, the power of the Kingdom of Fu Ke Luo has been weakened, and the army of the Kingdom of Bliss has been annihilated. In comparison, our army is relatively stronger."

"Now is the time to test the direct combat power of our allied countries and the Honing Empire. The soldiers who have experienced the first battle all believe that our army has failed to perform to its full potential and still has potential and spare capacity! In the days to come, we may face even greater challenges and more severe losses. The line of defense in the northern continent that we once firmly believed in has been breached in most places, and many valuable industrial and mining resources have been occupied by the enemy. From now on, we must be fully prepared to endure a brutal war."

His calm and steady voice drowns out all the noise in the lower house.

The painful truth tightens the expressions of all the senators, who dare not make any rash comments.

"The northern continental straits are our natural trenches, our battlements, and the widest expanse of water that the honored guests from the southern continent of the Honing Empire have never seen. We have the advantage of experience and geography. Even the Blood Clan would not dare to engage us in naval battles themselves, if not for the fact that these fellows who cannot bear the sunlight no longer have absolute security during the day."

"The Honing Empire's goal is to make it impossible for us to fight on the water and to blockade us from all sides. Aside from that, can you imagine that they have even greater goals? Apart from that, in terms of the entire purpose of the war, is there any greater military importance and military significance? They used to go all out, but now they cannot achieve it at all, because the Demon Realm and the Orc city-states are now on our side!"

Lanchi's voice starts off slightly slow, but as the speech progresses, it becomes more powerful and impassioned.

Reporters diligently record his words, and senators react to his speech in different ways; some senators appear surprised, while others remain deep in thought.

This is the second national address by the Prime Minister since taking office.

Lanchi's voice is impassioned, but still cannot move the conservatives. Many conservatives swallow their saliva from time to time, looking at the motionless Duke Moretti.

More than half of the seats in the entire Parliament Hall are eerily silent.

Duke Moretti, the leader of the Conservative Party, will only draw out the handkerchief representing approval from his chest pocket before others follow suit. However, they know that no matter what changes the Prime Minister brings to their Poulant Empire this time, Duke Moretti is unlikely to pull out his handkerchief.

Now, the Prime Minister has completely fallen out with Duke Moretti.

However, the conservatives find that the external cabinet members have already been moved, and all doubts and fears seem to be dispelled by the Prime Minister's words!

This makes them, as conservatives, start to hesitate a little.

"I know you harbor fear, hesitate, and cannot judge how each step will change the course of history, but I must tell you that the Honing Empire is not an invincible enemy!"

"Presumably, many compatriots present have heard of our Poulant Empire's 'Shalem Plan,' which is also the focus of investigation by enemy spies, but the Honing Empire has not been able to uncover the core of this plan to this day."

"But now, I can reveal its intelligence to you—"

Lanchi waves his hand, and plays back an audio-visual recording of something that is currently happening in another land through magic-powered equipment.

It is a border city-state of the Honing Empire, where the most elite vanguard army is stationed.

The perspective is in the hands of a demon general shining with lightning all over his body. He is riding a Demon Realm Flying Dragon, charging alone into the territory of the Honing Empire.

As the Demon Realm Flying Dragon speeds past, he drops a magic-powered sphere, which falls in the air, quickly shrinking until it is imperceptible, turning into a dot, and then the Demon Realm Flying Dragon begins to swerve away at the first moment.

Before the experts of the Honing Empire can react,

A small bright spot appears on the distant horizon, rapidly expanding, accompanied by intense white light.

Then, a deafening roar violently rises into the sky, blood dyeing the clouds, like the roar of a god!

City walls and mountains begin to distort and shatter in the face of this rampant shockwave, the huge energy turns the ground over, buildings are blown away like scraps of paper, and trees and vegetation are swallowed by the white light.

As time seems to be stretched, the white light constantly expands and rises, until it obscures everything in the sky!

Whether they are seventh- or eighth-order experts of the Honing Empire, they will only be reduced to ashes under this world-destroying flame, unable to resist and unable to stop it.

The people in the parliament open their mouths wide, but cannot make any sound.

They have never seen such a terrible tragedy. With the dropping of that small magic-powered sphere, the heatwave devours an entire province of the Honing Empire, along with the garrisoned troops!

Soon, even the Parliament Building in the Northern Continent feels a brief, intense tremor, causing them to instinctively cover their heads!

The senators look at the spectacle of strange lights and colors in the screen with lingering fear.

Is this a destroyer or a creator?

They cannot say, they only know that they have witnessed a taboo weapon capable of destroying gods!

Lanchi stands on the podium, gazing at everyone.

The fusion wolf core he left for the Demon Realm, combined with the fourth Progenitor Eduardo, who had been transformed into a summon by the demons, had been dropped over the Honing Empire.

Simply put, he blew up the fourth Progenitor Eduardo as a consumable.

No country can withstand the power of such a ninth-order epic spark.

"Meow meow meow?"

Cat Boss is in Lanchi's shadow, looking at the outside world in disbelief.

Could it be that……

Just now, pressing that button……

Directly annihilated a province of the Honing Empire……

Meow ah ah ah ah! I don't want to be a war criminal cat!!

Cat Boss immediately understands the cost of the high-level epic card—it has become the world's most vicious and evil executioner!

Its eyes are filled with tears. Although it is not as afraid of owing merit as Hugh, it may not be able to repay the merit it owes now, even in three hundred lifetimes and four hundred generations!!

The Parliament Hall is silent for a long time.

Lanchi speaks again.

"For all living beings in the world, death will eventually come, but no death is more noble than facing a strong enemy and dying to protect the bones of our ancestors and the temples of our faith."

"We currently have more troops in the Poulant Empire and the Eternal Night Lands alliance behind us than we had at any time during this great war, and we don't know how many times stronger we are!"

"This fact, of course, has a beneficial effect on resisting the problem of defending our homeland, but we cannot continue like this. We cannot be satisfied with fighting a defensive war. We have an obligation to our allies, and we must reorganize the Poulant Expeditionary Force under the command of our valiant Commander-in-Chief. All of this is in progress, but in the meantime, we must bring the defense of our homeland to a high level of organization, so that only a very small number of people can effectively ensure security, while at the same time maximizing the potential for offensive activities. We are now carrying out deployments in this regard."

"I will demand unconditional surrender from the Honing Empire! Otherwise, in one month, we will drop another Progenitor bomb on the Honing Empire! Until they surrender!"

"Although in the long expedition battles to come, we will fail once, twice, three times, or even many times, but we will never surrender!"

When Lanchi says the phrase "we will never surrender," his voice is full of determination, echoing throughout the conference hall.

This sentence is not only a declaration of war against external enemies, but also a judgment against those who hesitate domestically.

"We will fight to the end, we will fight in the Northern Continent, we will fight on the oceans, we will fight in the air with confidence!"

"We will defend our homeland at any cost, we will fight on the beaches! Fight at the enemy landing sites! Fight in the fields and streets! Fight in the mountains! We will never surrender at any time."

"Even if this island or most of this island is occupied by the enemy and is starving, the overseas forces armed and protected by the Poulant fleet will continue to fight!!"

After saying that, he walks down from the podium.

"Defensive warfare must never be regarded as the end! We must rebuild the expeditionary force, we must strengthen national defense, we must reduce the number of defensive troops at home, and increase the strike force overseas. In this great war, the Northern Continent will be our strongest backing. The Poulant Empire and the Demon Realm and the Orc city-states of the Eternal Night Lands are united together—"

With his back to the crowd, he walks forward alone along the aisle, raising his hands and waving them as if he were a performer completing a passionate and uplifting performance.

"We will never yield, never surrender! Long live Poulant!"

The meeting hall is silent for dozens of seconds.

Suddenly, thunderous applause erupts.

The applause lasts for a long time.

People raise their arms and shout, their fervent gazes following the Prime Minister's back.

Even the members of the Conservative Party no longer care about Duke Moretti, and stand up involuntarily, applauding the Prime Minister!

In the aisle, he puts on his hat, puts on his coat, and leaves the venue.

Never give up, never yield, never compromise!

The senators shout and throw their files, and the sky is filled with pages of paper falling like rain.

The figure walking toward the light is like a straight and sharp blade, piercing the darkness with the afterglow of the setting sun.

……

The Real World, the Old Briar Tribunal.

The entire venue is silent.

Some people also look at each other, making trembling sounds of shock that they cannot speak.

Loren's student seems to be a bit too much. The core of his speech is not only to incite people not to surrender, but also to demand unconditional surrender from the Honing Empire, and to declare that the Poulant Empire will sweep across the South and launch a sacred war of restoration.

People outside the Shadow World are already unable to tell who is attacking whom, the Honing Empire or the Poulant Empire.

They see that the various indicators are soaring like crazy.

The win rate soon breaks through the 1% mark.

This seventh-order Shadow World has undoubtedly been successfully passed.

Many of the judges on the bench are covered in black lines and even cold sweat.

One minute later, the entire Old Briar Tribunal is filled with thunderous applause.

"Great High Priest Loren! Wise and mighty!!"

"It turns out that we have failed to keep up with your pace!"

"All of this was taught to Lanchi by you, right!"

Unable to endure any longer, they rush up and embrace Loren.

Loren: "???"

He is still in a daze.

Suddenly going from hell to heaven, he no longer feels anything.

If he had to describe it, it would be that he is numb.

He finally covers his face and smiles sadly.

A thousand words are no better than this slight smile.

"……"

This feeling of no one to tell and no one to talk to, of having to bear it alone and carry it alone, is finally gradually understood by those surrounding Loren at this moment.

Sure enough, a lonely figure is engraved behind glory.

People in the public seating area also stand up and applaud Loren with sincere admiration.

"There are three stages in a person's life—questioning Loren, understanding Loren, and Great High Priest Loren is creating an immortal epic."

Ludwig, the secretary of the student council in the back row, wipes away tears of relief and writes this news headline.

Recently, the pressure that Dean Loren has been under has made Senior Asuna very worried, worrying that everything was caused by her willful desire to become a chef, which triggered the kingdom's impeachment of Loren.

Even many unscrupulous media have approached the restaurant where Senior Asuna works, guessing that the restaurant actually has an unspeakable cooperation with Loren, and may be a den for secret gatherings.

Now that the rumors have been dispelled, Senior Asuna can finally become a chef without any psychological burden.

A corner of the audience seating area in the tribunal.

"……"

The Ice Witch trembles and bites her finger.

"Loren... your plan to unify the world is one step closer, isn't it..."

She knows that it is becoming increasingly dangerous for her to stay by Loren's side.

But at this moment, she has no way to retreat.

As a secret agent, she has long been prepared to dedicate herself!

——

End of this volume, new volume tomorrow.

I wrote the ending of the Shadow World for two consecutive days on the first and second day of the Lunar New Year, writing eight thousand words a day. The child didn't celebrate the New Year at all, please give me your monthly votes!