SAINTESS [Chapter 53:Forced extreme structure]

Winnie suddenly thought of a question, how long had these buildings existed within the [Eternal Imperial Crown]?

No, this was a different dimension. One couldn't judge it by the spatial and temporal logic of the Terraria continent. Were these buildings simply constructed to appear this way from the very beginning?

Yet they looked thoroughly weathered, as if genuine relics. If someone told Winnie this city-state was an undiscovered lost capital of the ancient Carillian Empire, he would have believed it.

This overwhelming sense of antiquity, was it a characteristic unique to structures within the [Eternal Imperial Crown]?

Winnie glanced back at Mars Palace and realized that wasn't the case.

Under rolling black clouds, Mars Palace still shimmered with brilliant gold. Clearly, the palace undergoes regular maintenance. Its bricks and tiles were as flawless as exquisite jade.

Strange, why wasn't Mars Palace like this?

Winnie looked at other buildings beside Mars Palace and found them all relatively new, especially when compared to the other structures within the [Eternal Imperial Crown], all of which bore deep cracks and marks of time.

Could it be that buildings within the [Eternal Imperial Crown] aged just like those in the real world, gradually deteriorating over time?

If so, by this logic, these buildings would eventually fall into disrepair and sustain damage. How would they be repaired then? Would people be sent to fix them? Or would some other method be used?

As Winnie pondered this, he stared toward the highest point of the circular city, the location of the clock tower.

The tower was extremely tall, visible from every corner of the city. Likewise, Winnie could see its current state was terrible.

Previously, Winnie had thought the tower was merely abandoned and severely damaged. Now, it gave off the feeling that it might collapse at any moment.

Strange. What was going on?

Winnie frowned, his eyelids twitching. He rubbed his eyes, feeling disbelief.

Was it an illusion? How could it be that the web-like cracks on the tower were visibly spreading at an observable speed? At this rate, they will soon reach the entire foundation.

“Creak... creak..." Before Winnie could confirm whether the tower was hurried toward collapse, a series of shaking sounds came from behind him.

Turning around, Winnie saw cracks gradually appearing on the walls of Mars Palace, rapidly spreading outward.

“What... is going on?!” Winnie stared in utter astonishment.

Was the battle inside so intense that it was threatening to collapse the Mars Palace constructed within the [Eternal Imperial Crown]?

“Construction level... too low.” Just as Winnie thought he was muttering to himself in confusion, a hollow, ethereal voice sounded beside him.

Winnie turned in surprise and saw it was the fully armored Imperial Knight, the one who had escorted him out, who had spoken. The voice carried a surreal, otherworldly resonance.

“Construction level? Are you saying Isatia's construction level of Mars Palace has become too low?” Winnie didn't understand. “But she's already gone through most of the records and archives inside Mars Palace, hasn't she?”

“The palace?” The Imperial Knight asked suddenly.

“The palace? Well, we didn't see most of it. We only had a little over an hour, we couldn't possibly cover the entire underground Mars Palace,” Winnie explained.

"...” All the Imperial Knights fell silent after that.

“These structures, whenever formed into a complete system, mostly belong to civilizations, families, or powers that were defeated and taken over by the Lanteville Family,” one of the Imperial Knights suddenly explained. “Structures created merely through knowledge, or even indirect understanding, only result in a few buildings like common houses. At best, they might include a few cultural totems.”

“This is the limit of constructing a civilization's architecture purely through understanding.”

These details, Isatia had never mentioned to him.

“Then... constructing a civilization's palace just through understanding?” Hearing the knights' words, a growing sense of dread filled Winnie.

“Nearly impossible. Unless the Princess uses the family's inheritance secret treasure,” the leading Imperial Knight said.

“Only with that method could one forcibly construct a civilization's core building. But such structures, forcibly created, have unstable foundations. Many areas and details remain unexplored, resulting in low construction synchronization.”

“It's like a building with an incomplete structure, it collapsed easily,” the Imperial Knight explained.

“The family's secret treasure... is it a crown gem surrounded by an eagle's claw?” Winnie asked tightly, his brow furrowed.

At this, all the Imperial Knights fell silent.

The fact that Winnie could even ask this question says everything.

“Your Princess might be in danger. Aren't you going back to help her?” Winnie asked urgently, seeing the knights still standing motionless.

“Our orders are to escort you out of this palace and protect you, remain here on standby,” the Imperial Knight replied, his voice devoid of inflection.

True enough. Isatia already had plenty of knights around her. Adding more wouldn't help.

In this crisis, Winnie instead grew calm.

“If a constructed building collapses... what happens then?” Winnie asked.

“Only buildings constructed within the [Eternal Imperial Crown] can serve as access points to it.”

“For example, this palace was constructed within the [Eternal Imperial Crown]. Being inside this palace allows one to use it as an entry point to open the [Eternal Imperial Crown].” The Imperial Knight gazed at the blue-haired youth. He didn't know the nature of this young man's relationship with their Princess, nor did he believe the man could assist her. Yet he continued explaining.

“Wherever you are, the condition for opening the [Eternal Imperial Crown] is that the [Eternal Imperial Crown] has constructed that location.”

“In other words, if the access point collapses, the [Eternal Imperial Crown] will be forcibly dispelled.”

“And that's not even the worst part. There's a chain reaction.”

“Chain reactions?” Winnie asked in surprise.

“When a building within the [Eternal Imperial Crown] collapses, it causes the ground to shake, destabilizing the foundation of the [Eternal Imperial Crown], which then affects other structures. The durability of other buildings will drastically decrease.”

Having said this, the Imperial Knight turned to look at the towering clock tower at the city's center behind them.

“If another collapse occurs, the clock tower will most likely collapse as well.”

“Does that clock tower have some special significance?” Winnie had felt this since earlier. He sensed the tower at the core must hold some unique meaning.

For instance, the ancient Carillian Empire had the habit of regarding clock towers as city landmarks, a tradition inherited by the Tyrell Empire.

When Winnie asked this, none of the knights present answered.

“This is urgent, everyone! Treat me like one of your own, please. If we delay any longer, your Princess will truly be in danger.” Winnie sobbed deeply.

"That clock tower is the foundation of the [Eternal Imperial Crown]. It cannot be destroyed by blades or magic. But once it collapses, the [Eternal Imperial Crown] itself will be erased. The [Eternal Imperial Crown] is akin to the Lanteville Family's 'spiritual world.'" It was still the same Imperial Knight who had escorted Winnie out who explained.

“So... can I understand this as, if that clock tower collapses, Isatia's spiritual world will collapse?”

“Far more severely,” the Imperial Knight gripped his weapon tightly, eyes fixed on the direction of the clock tower. “At best, she'll become a living corpse.”

“...” Winnie fell silent.

He now understood why Isatia was always in a state of chronic exhaustion, never properly rested.

The cause lay in the [Divine Blessing]. Isatia's spiritual world, the [Eternal Imperial Crown], was malfunctioning. The central hub, the clock tower, faced imminent collapse. Most of the buildings were long past their maintenance period. This caused Isatia's spirit to remain constantly tired, never able to recover.

This was also why Isatia had previously said things like, “It's not necessarily a bad thing you don't have [Divine Blessing],” “Every power has its own price,” and “Who knows whether it's blessing or curse?”

Without the burden of [Divine Blessing], Isatia wouldn't have these troubles.

As for why Isatia insisted on coming here, Winnie now understood. She must have wanted to take a gamble.

The central clock tower, the core of the [Eternal Imperial Crown], was already falling apart. Perhaps constructing a structure as large as the Mars civilization might alleviate the current state of the central tower.

Even if it failed, there was no other choice. It was better than waiting to die helplessly.

“Why has that clock tower decayed so badly? Is it because buildings keep collapsing?”

“It's simply due to the passage of too much time,” the Imperial Knight replied. “That tower was forged by the first head of the Lanteville Family. Passed down through generations, it's already been over a thousand years. Nothing can escape the erosion of time, not even things within another dimension.”

“The [Eternal Imperial Crown] is the Lanteville Family's guaranteed victory ground. As long as an enemy is dragged into here, we have never lost.”

Then the knight fell silent.

Winnie understood.

The Lanteville Family rose to prominence because of this. In the end, they will also pay the price for it.

Perhaps this was the reckoning, the price for cheating for a thousand years.

"The First head's Crown Knight, Eldri. The Second Patriarch's Crown Knight, Ferodi... Now, the ones standing beside the Princess are all the strongest knights who guarded past generations of Lanteville family heads."

“Any one of them, pulled into the real world, could fight against ten thousand armies. At the time of their passing, the lowest among them was at the Master realm.”

“The larger the [Eternal Imperial Crown], the more infinite buildings it contains, the stronger they become, and here, they can be resurrected.”

“Within the [Eternal Imperial Crown], no one dares claim themselves an enemy of the Lanteville Family.”

A group of knights, all at least Masters, with various enhancements from the [Eternal Imperial Crown], and infinite resurrection, how could anyone possibly defeat them?

“That golden lion-man and his subordinates are just a rabble. They stand no chance against them.”

“But... why haven't they been dealt with yet?” Winnie, having recovered some strength, asked the part he couldn't understand.

Clearly, not just Winnie, the knights themselves couldn't understand this either.

At that moment, inside Mars Palace.

Just as the knights had suspected, Cantarius was being beaten into a corner by generations of Lanteville Crown Knights, his soul fragments scattered.

The Crown Knights who had previously stood guard beside Isatia, ensuring her safety while others dealt with Cantarius, now realized something was wrong and had joined the fight en masse.

Yet even so, they couldn't kill Cantarius, couldn't even wound him.

Every soul across the entire Mars civilization sacrificed themselves for him. No matter how powerful these Crown Knights were, no matter how potent their magic, each strike against Cantarius only cost him one life. With the invincibility effect after each death, he was impossible to kill.

In a one-on-one fight, any of these Crown Knights could infinitely solo-kill Cantarius without letting him lay a finger on them.

But if they couldn't kill him, it was meaningless.

“Queen of foreign lands, how many times must I say it, you can't kill me,” Cantarius laughed loudly. “Do you really think my rise to supremacy relies on Divine Blessing?”

“You've got it backwards. It's because I achieved supremacy that the gods favored me, not the other way around. The gods favored me, so I achieved supremacy.”

“I admit, within your domain, I can't touch you. Even a god couldn't touch you here. But you also can't touch me.”

“With this Soul armament in place, you cannot slay a god.”

“I can see it, your limits are reached. Give up. You've already lost.” Cantarius's triumphant laughter seemed aimed at shattering Isatia's spirit.

Isatia frowned slightly, expression unchanged, and seemed still in excellent condition.

But

“Crack! Crack!” Inside the Mars Palace arena, the massive ceiling shattered into large pieces, crashing down toward Cantarius.

Unhurried, Cantarius raised a hand, crushing the debris into powder.

“Oh? Looks like you can no longer sustain this false palace,” Cantarius said, not angry but mocking with amusement.

Not just the ceiling, the arena's walls also began rapidly cracking, the fissures spreading continuously.

The “creak... creak..." sounds were grating, the telltale signs of structural instability preceding collapse.

Clearly, the constructed Mars Palace had far too many blank areas. Countless details remain undrawn, and only Isatia's sheer willpower has kept it from collapsing.

Now, even with Isatia's perfect composure, she had clearly reached her limit.

Tommorow's update will be early like in few hours.