The Shining Star Above The Heaven-Chapter 480: The Discussion

"Your Majesty, there are several topics I want to discuss with you. The first is about Wilmar’s involvement with the devils."

At the mention of the topic, Emperor Raymond frowned. Then his expression turned solemn. The other two in the room also recognized that this would be a serious conversation.

"Your Majesty, I think we shoul—"

"No. You can stay and listen, and Baron Rosalind as well. There is nothing here worth hiding. Besides, I have something to give you all later, so you might as well hear what I’m about to say."

Before Baroness Weilmar could continue, Aldrian cut her off, leaving her silent.

"Is... is that bastard still alive?" Emperor Raymond asked the moment he sat on his throne.

"He is already dead," Aldrian replied after a slight pause.

Hearing that, Emperor Raymond and Prince Ferdinand were stunned. But then, the emperor inwardly sighed. In the end, bitterness remained in his heart. He believed that he had failed. He had failed to guide his second son, which allowed him to stray from the right path and work with devils.

If only he had paid more attention to his second son’s behavior earlier, all of this could have been avoided. They would not have had to go through this war.

Prince Ferdinand did not reflect as deeply as his father. The moment Wilmar betrayed them was the moment he severed all ties with his younger brother. He still remembered how Wilmar had mocked both him and their father, boasting about taking over the throne. That moment of helplessness had filled him with rage.

Although he had once seen Wilmar as someone he would compete with for the throne, there had still been a sense of family between them, because Wilmar was his little brother. However, once the betrayal happened, only hatred remained in his heart.

Baron Rosalind and the Baroness Weilmar were also quite astonished, though the result was not entirely surprising. Aldrian had already become Wilmar’s enemy, and it was only right for Aldrian to deal with his enemy in his own way.

"So I suppose that Grand Duke Donovan and Carlso Harris also...?" Emperor Raymond continued, but Aldrian simply nodded, understanding what the emperor meant.

There was a moment of silence before the emperor finally let out a quiet sigh.

"Alright. What did you get from Wilmar and those traitors?"

"Wilmar’s cooperation with the devils was deep and thorough, Your Majesty. Because of that, the devils managed to gain a foothold within the empire. There are so many of them here that they’ve formed their own network. And with the support of the Golden Swan Commerce network, they’ve also spread across the continent..."

Aldrian then explained more thoroughly what he had discovered after he looked into Wilmar’s memories, which he got after satisfying his desire for vengeance through various torturous methods in his mind. In fact, he had also looked into the memories of Grand Duke Donovan and Carlson Harris before sending them into nothingness.

Even the method he used to kill them was a first for him. He had made their souls incapable of reincarnation by crushing them with his death laws. The death laws he had comprehended were quite profound that he could even sever the karma of a soul from the reincarnation cycle or the underworld.

He remembered each sensation he experienced after killing someone. He knew that once he killed, the souls of the dead were sucked into the void and disappeared. It didn’t matter how he crushed the soul, no matter how many pieces, the fragments would vanish into the void.

He understood, that these souls actually traveled to the underworld to return to the reincarnation cycle. The speed of this process was so fast, a mere split second, that even those who knew about souls would miss it. The first time he felt this was when he killed the devils in Balin, although at that time, he knew nothing about souls.

By intercepting the souls from returning to the reincarnation cycle with his death laws, he essentially gave his victims the "true death," where their existence was returned to nothingness. They disappeared in the truest sense, their karma with both the future and the past severed.

Wilmar, Grand Duke Donovan, and Carlso Harris would no longer exist in this world in any shape or form—not now, and not in the future.

Aldrian explained that Wilmar’s first contact with the devils occurred a year before the church announced their prophecy. Like what the devils did with other collaborators, they enticed the prince to work with them, and in the end, Wilmar accepted. Along with Carlson Harris and Grand Duke Donovan, they made sure the devils could establish a foothold here by creating their own bases in several locations across the empire.

The devils made the Atria Empire the starting point for their operations across the continent. With the help of the Golden Swan Commerce, the devils gained more freedom to infiltrate other territories. It could be said that Carlson Harris, with the awareness of Wilmar and Grand Duke Donovan, played a crucial role in allowing the devils to spread across the continent without detection.

Aldrian also revealed the locations of all the devil’s bases within the Atria Empire, as he had already stored all the information in an information crystal, which he gave to Emperor Raymond. The emperor received it and examined it for a few moments before storing the crystal in his storage ring.

The emperor’s face grew cold after reviewing the details. Inside the crystal were comprehensive reports on the devils’ operations within the Atria Empire, spanning nearly two decades.

Their secret bases, their contacts within the empire, and the identities of every collaborator. Much of this information was new to the emperor, and learning that all of this had happened with his son’s involvement filled him with rage.

Emperor Raymond clenched his fist, unconsciously releasing his aura.

"That bastard," he murmured, filled with hatred.

The small sense of guilt he had felt for his son instantly disappeared after looking at the information crystal. Wilmar had already caused destruction not only to the Atria Empire but across the continent by allowing the devils to spread freely.

Emperor Raymond tried to calm himself with a few deep breaths before looking at Aldrian with a grateful expression.

"Thank you, young Aldrian. This information will truly help us. With this, we can purge everyone connected to the devils and those who aided them," he said.

"Don’t mention it, Your Majesty. This is what I should do," Aldrian replied. "Also, this is for Baron Rosalind and Baroness Weilmar. Inside these, there is detailed information about the devils’ operations within the Rosalind and Weilmar baronies." Aldrian said as he handed an information crystal to each of the two barons.

The two barons received the crystals and nodded in gratitude.

"Another matter I wish to discuss is the alliance I plan to build. As Your Majesty knows, the time of the prophecy is approaching, and we are uncertain about what will happen when it arrives. However, I have a hunch about what may occur, and I have a plan to minimize the destruction of the land as much as possible..."

Aldrian first explained what to expect when the prophecy’s time came, then elaborated on the role the alliance would play. He also spoke about those who had already supported his alliance and those who were set to join. What he explained was the same as what he had shared with Baron Rosalind and others he had extended the offer to.

Emperor Raymond and the others listened to Aldrian attentively, and once he finished, they understood Aldrian’s grand vision for the future. For the first time in history, all nations on the Barisan continent would coordinate under one large alliance.

"I see. That’s a good plan, young Aldrian, and I don’t see anything wrong with it. If others have already joined, then of course, the Atria Empire will join as well. Even if no one else joins, we will still participate. At the very least, this is what I can do," Emperor Raymond declared.

Aldrian smiled upon hearing this. With this, he had almost all the power on the continent agreeing to join the alliance. He was confident that the Demon Territory and the Ivory Empire would also join without hesitation, so he had no worries there.

"So, it’s only the Buddhist sect left," he thought.

He wasn’t sure if he could persuade them to join the alliance. He didn’t have any direct connections to the higher-ups of the Buddhist sect, so some doubt lingered. However, he suddenly remembered a monk he had met in the Forgeheart Kingdom. To this day, he still didn’t know the monk’s true status.

With his peak Emperor stage cultivation, Aldrian wondered if the monk might have been the leader of the Buddhist sect. But if that were the case, why was he in the Forgeheart Kingdom?

He set aside thoughts of the monk for the moment and turned to Emperor Raymond.

"Also, the last thing I want to tell you is that in the near future, my origin or my family may become known to the world. I thought it would be better to tell you now, so you won’t be surprised. I hope you can help me manage public opinion regarding my parents and family."

Hearing that Aldrian was about to reveal his origin, everyone listened more intently, as if they didn’t want to miss a single word from his lips. This was the secret they most wanted to know—how could someone like him have been born on this continent? Where did he come from? Who were his parents, the ones capable of giving birth to someone like Aldrian?