Nerva did not care whether Minhyuk came to choose the talents he wanted to recruit or not. Knight Commander Don had tried to assassinate him, turning the entire Luvien Empire upside down.

Besides, although Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Empire could choose three talents from his empire, there were conditions that he had to follow. First, Nerva had to approve his chosen talent. Second, Minhyuk could not choose among the knights of the Swords of the Gods or anyone who had a title and a position.

After considering these two conditions, Nerva judged that the Beyond the Heavens emperor would not have an infinitely smaller pool of talents to choose from and would not be able to hire anyone useful to them.

Left in a chaotic state, Nerva did not even care about Minhyuk and threw him to his aide. But Minhyuk appeared before him now and said, “Don.”

“...Bastaaaaaaaard!!!” Nerva roared in anger, his voice rising along with his killing intent and covering the entire area.

Nerva’s knights and dukes, including Duke Vlad, were gathered in this place. It was also the capital of the Luvien Empire, a nation at war with the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The moment Minhyuk entered the hall, these notifications rang in his ears.

That was right. Minhyuk could only leave this place if he was given Nerva’s explicit permission. Otherwise, he could die, and he would be able to leave. In other words, he could enter as he pleased, but he would not be able to leave as he pleased.

And now, Minhyuk had entered the center of a nation at war with him. Not only that, but he was also committing an outrageous act by taking a traitor under his wing.

The dozens of Swords of the Gods raised their swords. And Duke Vlad? He watched the situation with his arms crossed.

In the past, the members of the Swords of the Gods–Beloch, Revor, Grat, and the rest–had become favorable to Minhyuk when they went to conquer Mandala’s Prison. Minhyuk had saved the dying Knight Commander Don and commanded and led them well until they came out of the dungeon.

But when Don suddenly moved to assassinate Nerva, each and every one of them threw a hypothesis and reported it to Nerva. Among those reports, there was naturally one that stated, When Nerva saw this report, he added more flesh and used it as the reason to accuse Don of treason. Even though it was a lie, it had now become the truth in the eyes of Duke Vlad and the Swords of the Gods.

This was a grave matter. Although the Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Empire were at war, things had not yet blown up. The two nations would now engage in an all-out war with this new development. Immediately after this, the troops of the Luvien Empire would be gathered, and all their allies would be ordered to invade their enemy's lands. Now that they had a justification, the Luvien Empire could take down the Beyond the Heavens Empire in just one day.

Minhyuk said, “The emperor that you believe in has risen to his throne by poisoning the members of Brod’s knight order!”

“Bullshit!”

“His Majesty Nerva had rightfully inherited his throne!”

Of course, none of the people present believed Minhyuk’s words. But Brod, holding on to Nerva’s wrist, said, “How far are you going to fall?”

There was a time when the Nerva, who Brod knew was a good and upright man. He was once a young man who declared that he would build a peaceful, relaxed empire without war. But now? This young man had turned into a monster.

“You’re the one who fell,” Nerva growled at Brod. “How dare you?! Do you know whose wrists you are holding onto, huh?!”

Nerva’s killing intent surged once more. Brod, extremely sensitive to killing intent, hurriedly raised his sword. Watching the scene, the Swords of the Gods thought that perhaps the Beyond the Heavens Empire was genuinely crazy. Did they think that they could survive like this?

But Brod stepped back and cut off the ropes that bound Don. This was the first shot. The Swords of the Gods, who had power close to that of a god, charged toward Brod. Those who were aware of the situation hurriedly closed the hall doors.

“Don!” Minhyuk shouted, throwing a sword toward the man.

Don swiftly grabbed the sword and parried the attack of the Swords of the Gods that charged at them.

“...Your Majesty, please forgive me,” Don said. The person that Don felt sorry for the most was Brod. He couldn’t even kill Nerva, who turned him like this. And that was not all. He even served Nerva for a very long time.

Brod smiled faintly at him and said, “I’m very happy now.”

“...”

Brod had already realized he could be happy even if he did not become an emperor. And this was all thanks to the master that he served now.

“I– I will make sure to protect your happiness.”

Knight Commander Don was the strongest knight among the Swords of the Gods, which is also why he was appointed one of the dukes of the empire. Even though his entire body was littered with injuries of varying degrees, he was still strong enough to deal with three Swords of the Gods simultaneously.

As for Brod? He was one of the strongest beings. Even Spear God Ben would not dare to fight against him.

The battle between Brod, Don, and the Swords of the Gods continued fiercely. At that moment, Minhyuk’s gaze passed by the Swords of the Gods built by players, including the God of Archer Miao. There were no less than ten people and they were all at Level 600.

Minhyuk thought as cold sweat started to drip down his back.

Although Brod and Don were both strong individuals, the three of them alone could not deal with Nerva, Duke Vlad, and the close to thirty Swords of the Gods present here.

Amidst this strange tension, God of Archery Miao raised her bow and nocked an arrow swiftly. Minhyuk immediately jumped toward where Summoner Bastien was.

“Guided Lethal Shot…” Before God of Archery Miao could finish casting her skill, Minhyuk had already wielded his swords and cut down Bastien.

Bastien, who was trying to summon his divine dragon, was cut and slashed 76 times in just one second.

“A- aaaaaack! Keuaaaaaaaack!”It only took one second, and one hit to kill him.

“Come,” Minhyuk said, his fingers curling in a come-hither motion as God of Archery Miao’s Guided Lethal Shot tore through the air and hit his chest. “Ugh!”

Despite the Transcendental Armor protecting his body, Minhyuk suffered considerable damage from the attack. Seeing this, the Swords of the Gods, who faltered for a moment, immediately returned to their senses and lunged at Minhyuk. Alex immediately cast magic and bombarded Minhyuk with attacks.

However, Minhyuk leaped to the skies, saying, “Ego Chain Sickle.”

The Ego Chain Sickle fixed itself on the ground and moved at high speeds to attack Minhyuk’s enemies. Of course, Minhyuk did not stay idle.

“Sword of Tempest.”

A sword with ego appeared as hundreds of blades appeared and blocked the Swords of the Gods. Minhyuk was doing an excellent job in dealing with the Swords of the Gods’ Second Knight Order in a way.

“Keuhaaack!”

A scream rang out in the hall. Minhyuk immediately turned to look in the direction where the sound came from. What he saw made his face turn ugly. Nerva’s sword had pierced Don’s abdomen. Meanwhile, Brod could not break away from the constant attacks of the Swords of the Gods and Duke Vlad. This was because Duke Vlad was said to be much stronger than Duke Ruffiso.

Brod could not even create a small gap to escape Duke Vlad's fierce attacks. But just when Minhyuk was about to move, another Guided Lethal Shot struck his back.

Another bombardment of attacks from the other Swords of the Gods immediately followed this attack. Minhyuk, forced to deal with the other players, watched as Nerva pulled his sword out of Don’s abdomen. Blood spurted out of Don as Nerva raised his sword and slashed at his former knight commander’s chest.“Keuhaaack!” Don screamed, his feet staggering from the blow.

At this moment, Minhyuk thought,

If Don died here, their plans would be thrown out the window. If that happened, the Beyond the Heavens Empire would face an all-out war against the Luvien Empire.

But at that moment, a spear pierced through the tightly closed doors and struck Nerva’s sword.

The doors were forced open, and two men strode in. One of the men was Valentino, who had now become the Beyond the Heavens Empire’s dog. The other one was Rålszd, who had been imprisoned inside the Prison of Indolence for a long time and sacrificed his vitality to survive longer.

Rålszd was supposed to lead the Swords of the Gods; he was their knight commander before Don came. He was even called Divine Spear Rålszd and was the only one who could wield the Guardian’s Spear, the same spear that he threw earlier.

However, for some reason, he was suddenly accused of treason and thrown into prison.

The ground shook as nine spears appeared around Rålszd.

He was not with Minhyuk after leaving the Prison of Indolence because he went somewhere to retrieve the Guardian’s Spear.

“Sir Rålszd?”

“Rålszd, why are you here?”

As mentioned, Rålszd was known as a traitor by the public and was sent to prison. That is why everyone was shocked to see him here. However, Nerva was the one who was most shocked.

Nerva was utterly unaware that Rålszd had sacrificed his vitality to endure and hold out inside the Prison of Indolence.

Then, Rålszd opened his mouth and said, “Your Majesty, until when will you act like a monster? Can’t you see? You’re the one eating away at yourself.”

Rålszd had decided to lend Minhyuk a helping hand because, just like Brod, he remembered what kind of person Nerva was before he gained power and became a greedy monster.

“Bastard! How dare a traitor like you talk to His Majesty like that?!” One of the Swords of the Gods shouted.

However, Rålszd just turned to him and answered, “Emperor Nerva had poisoned the Red Sword Knights and used such despicable and unscrupulous methods to climb his throne. Why do you think this young man over here has won the heart of the Battle God, huh?!”

Rålszd was once the idol of all the Swords of the Gods. He and Don both showed enough power and strength to gain the trust of all the knights. But suddenly, both of them were dubbed traitors.

The Swords of the Gods wavered and shook. They no longer knew what was true or what was false. They immediately turned to Nerva to seek for answers.

“Are you telling me that you believe the words of a traitor? And he’s even on the side of the Beyond the Heavens’ Emperor.”

However, Rålszd’s words failed to awaken Nerva from his stupor. Nerva continued to insist on his lies, leaving the Swords of the Gods at a complete loss.

While Minhyuk chewed an Almond of Subordinate, Rålszd made a move. With a wave of his hand, ninety-nine spears glowing with black light appeared and floated around him.

“You are no longer the Sun,” Rålszd spat coldly as he sent the spears flying toward Nerva.

Just when everyone thought that the spears would stab through Nerva, they flew past him and slammed straight into his statue, holding the sun that was standing right behind him.

The statue of the greatest emperor, a statue that no one could break, fell and collapsed. And Nerva? He was left shaking as he stood in front of it.“Summon.” Minhyuk opened his mouth and whispered, “Luo.”

With a flash of light, Luo appeared, standing right next to Minhyuk. Now, there were three witnesses present in this hall. Of the three, Luo, who was one of the Swords of the Gods up until recently, was the one who received Nerva’s orders to poison the Red Sword Knights. In other words, he was the living and breathing witness of the scene back then. If Luo testified here, the credibility of the words Rålszd and Don declared would become much stronger.

Minhyuk looked at Nerva and asked him once again, “Can I take Don with me?”

Nerva stared at Luo, Rålszd, and Don silently for a long time. Then, he finally opened his mouth and said, “You have my permission.”