SAINTESS [Chapter 52: Soul Translator]

“Nonsense! What a load of rubbish!” Before Isatia could finish speaking, Cantarius roared in surprise. "How could this King be afraid of being overthrown by his own soldiers? They are nothing more than ants who obey and depend on this King, guards who must be loyal to the royal family! Without this King, they have no reason to exist, that is the law of Mars!"

“As for whether I am alone, what if I am? A truly powerful king, a king who ascends to the position of a god, does not need the support of others!” Cantarius shouted loudly. “Hah! Little girl, only a weak monarch like you will rely on the strength of your subordinates, and on so-called loyalty.”

“You are still too naive, human hearts change, and people are unreliable and uncontrollable. Only absolute power can make them eternally loyal to me!”

“If you don't even understand this principle, then you have no chance of winning,” Cantarius declared in a high-pitched voice.

“Barbarian King, you have been pushed to the brink. Your soldiers are merely making futile struggles, buying a little more time for you, an irresponsible monarch,” Isatia said, her tone devoid of emotion, like a judge calmly announcing the final verdict.

"Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, wandering souls of a thousand years past, do not linger in the world of the living. Return to where you came from, and let decaying things not crawl out of their graves again."

“Is that so? Black-haired little girl, you are far too presumptuous.”

“Do you think the great King of Mars, the King of Kings, who has already achieved divinity, can be defeated by a few mere slaves?”

“This King is not like you, who can only helplessly rely on your subordinates. This King understands that from beginning to end, the only one I can rely on is myself!” Cantarius let out bursts of wild laughter, raising his wolf-tooth club and sweeping it horizontally, crushing the remaining few of his own men who were still stubbornly resisting into smithereens.

Isatia's delicate brows furrowed at the sight. “Is that how you treat your subordinates who fight to the death for you?”

“If the King wants them to die, they must die. That is the rule I have set,” Cantarius shook his head, stretching his limbs. “The Queen of the foreign lands, in the end, you are nothing more than a little girl. You wouldn't think that with just these few tricks, you could defeat the great Cantarius, would you?”

Isatia remained silent. Her Imperial Heavy Knights, in telepathic communion with her, charged at Cantarius with their Imperial long spears and fine steel swords.

This was Isatia's [Divine Blessing], the resting place of the Lanteville family's history, the domain and empire of the Lanteville family. Whenever a battle commenced here, the Lanteville family was invincible.

The weapons in the hands of the Imperial Heavy Knights were no longer ordinary weapons here, but enchanted weapons, imbued with magic, striking fiercely at Cantarius.

The Imperial Knights' attack was perfectly coordinated, surrounding Cantarius, attacking from every corner, sealing off all his escape routes.

However, unexpectedly, facing the knights' subsequent pincer attacks, Cantarius showed no intention of dodging. He simply allowed the knights to swing their flails at his head and stab their enchanted longswords into his heart.

These heavy knights, who had endured countless battles and were hand-picked from across the Tyrell Empire, were exceptionally professional and skilled in killing enemies, knowing exactly how to deliver a fatal blow.

And in the next moment, all the Imperial Knights' enchanted weapons were repelled.

At the same time, a layer of flowing armor appeared on Cantarius. This gray armor flowed like water, covered in dim, eerie white bones, all maintaining a horrifying expression. They clearly had no skin, yet they seemed to be in agony, as if their souls had been drained at the moment of death.

After the knights' weapons fell and struck Cantarius, Isatia saw several soul-like entities fly out from within. These souls had distorted faces, as if suffering immense pain, and then, Cantarius remained completely unharmed.

Not even the enchanted swords of the knights within the [Everlasting Imperial Crown] could leave a mark on him?

Isatia's delicate brows furrowed tightly. This was clearly a situation she had never encountered before.

“Oh, by the way, little girl, I haven't introduced you to my Soul armament, have I?” Cantarius stepped forward a few paces triumphantly. “This is my Soul armament, a suit of armor forged from the national fate of Mars.”

“I am Mars itself!”

“National fate?” Is there such a Soul armament? Generally speaking, the manifestation of abstract concepts as abilities should be [Divine Blessing], not Soul armament. At least, Isatia had never heard of it, so she pondered for a moment.

Meanwhile, Winnie, outside the Mars Royal Palace, noticed the distant watchtowers in the circular city glowing with a purple luster, seeming to exert their authority.

Then, Isatia's eyes instantly pierced through the 'armor' on Cantarius.

“National fate? ...You are merely using your subjects as your human shields.” Isatia said in a deep voice. After understanding what Cantarius's Soul armament truly was, her voice couldn't help but sink a few shades of heaviness.

“Hah, it seems that being here, my Soul armament is transparent to you. Good, now that you know, you should understand, right? You cannot defeat me,” Cantarius sneezed.

“Even if I leave my divine throne, I will not die. My slaves will die in my place!”

“For the dead to die again is to have their souls scattered,” Isatia stared intently at Cantarius.

“What if their souls are scattered? It is their duty. They are born destined to give their all for their king,” Cantarius laughed loudly. “This armor is woven from their souls. Now, do you know why they dare not resist me?”

“Because their souls have long been controlled by me. They can never resist me, including those soldiers.”

“Aren't you acting all righteous and benevolent? Come on, cut me! No matter how much you attack me, you will only be cutting those lowly slaves. They will all die for me, hahahahaha!” Cantarius burst into laughter.

“I truly did not misjudge you. You are indeed a cowardly person who only dares to hide behind others, an incompetent wretch,” Isatia raised her eyes and said. “These poor souls were born at the wrong time, forced to be manipulated by someone like you their entire lives, and even after death, they find no peace.”

“All I can do is nail you, this tyrant, firmly into your grave and avenge them.” As she spoke, the Imperial Knights formed a phalanx, raising their spears to create a spear-and-shield wall, charging at Cantarius with irresistible force.

“Crack!!” The impregnable spear-and-shield wall crashed into Cantarius, and several more suffering souls flew out. After that, Cantarius caught the shield wall.

The moment the souls flew out, Cantarius entered a spiritualized state, invulnerable to blades and spears. Using this instant, Cantarius grabbed a spear and, with his terrifying immense strength, lifted an Imperial Knight, slammed him heavily onto the ground, and brought his wolf-tooth club down.

The Imperial Knight, after a brief moment of being caught off guard, instantly reacted, rolled away, and then kicked Cantarius's ankle, attempting to make him lose his balance.

However, Cantarius's lower body was remarkably stable, and such a kick was utterly impossible of making him lose his balance.

Cantarius continued to attack the knight. Just as the knight seemed unable to dodge, three brilliant golden spears formed a shield, blocking the attack for the knight.

Isatia had made her move.

Her Soul armament summoned golden spears that attacked in coordination with the knights.

These Imperial Knights, who could appear within the [Everlasting Imperial Crown], were also elites among the Lanteville family's guard knights throughout history. Having witnessed Cantarius's Soul armament become invincible for a period after being attacked, they made no further mistakes, denying Cantarius any opportunities.

“Boring. Do you think you can deplete the slave souls on my armor this way? Too naive. Since my ascension to godhood, my [Archon of Enslaved Souls] has absorbed the souls of all slaves, soldiers, and even common people throughout Mars' history. They have all been forged into my armor, becoming its components.”

“You cannot kill them all, hehehe.”

“You truly are an utter fool of a barbarian, constantly believing you can control the entire situation.” Isatia gazed deeply at Cantarius, her noble eyes openly showing disdain and disgust. This was the first time she had ever uttered such insulting words to someone; for Isatia's education, these were already the harshest words possible.

“I can even foresee how pathetic you will be when you lose power.”

“Little girl, what you should be thinking about now is not my loss of power, but what will happen to you if you are defeated later and lose the protection of your subordinates? What will be your fate?” Cantarius sneezed, speaking with an air of having seen through everything.

“Do you think you can touch me now?” Isatia said with a calm expression.

“Hey! Little girl, don't try to fool me. This King has lived for hundreds of years and been the King of Mars for hundreds of years. Do you think I can't see through you?” Cantarius mocked. “I have to admit, your trick is truly amazing. You can actually replicate my Mars Royal Palace here and imprison both me and my people within it.”

“Indeed, as you said, this is your territory. I truly cannot do anything to you, but you cannot do anything to me either.”

“Most importantly, your interdimensional domain can't be maintained indefinitely, can it?”

“You must be struggling to maintain it now, aren't you?” Cantarius sneezed.

“Can you really deal with me before you can no longer hold on?”

“Is that so? That's an interesting statement,” Isatia chuckled, seemingly dismissive of Cantarius's words. “Then let's see who gives out first.”

With a thought, Cantarius suddenly noticed a few familiar figures among the soldiers attacking him.

He glanced at them and couldn't help but sneer.

“Hah, are you still playing these tricks?” Cantarius mocked, looking at the Mars soldiers who had joined forces with the Imperial soldiers to attack him. “Don't think I don't know, these soldiers are all illusions created by your domain, just a bunch of mindless puppets. My soldiers will never disobey me.”

At the same time, not only were there more Mars soldiers, but behind the Imperial Knights, rows of Imperial mages in black and purple cloaks appeared. Surrounded by the Imperial Knights, these mages launch a barrage of magic attacks at the encircled Cantarius.

Cantarius was indeed right. Within Isatia's [Everlasting Imperial Crown], only the Imperial Knights and Imperial Royal Knights possessed consciousness; all other soldiers were generated as puppet soldiers, soulless automatons.

Furthermore, every building within the [Everlasting Imperial Crown] had its own function. For example, the frontline watchtowers granted Isatia the ability to perceive others.

However, a few generations ago, any enemy who entered the [Everlasting Imperial Crown] could not leave alive, but now...

This was also why Isatia had come here.

At this moment, outside the Mars Royal Palace.

“Strange, since this is Isatia's [Divine Blessing], why is the weather so bad? She should be able to control the weather, right?” Winnie shielded herself from the sky, then looked at the countless buildings in the distance, sighing with emotion.

The power of [Divine Blessing] was truly endless, limited only by imagination, the ability to contain such a vast city-state and royal palace, like a forest of bricks and tiles.

In summary, Mirexia's [Divine Blessing] was the transformation into a raging golden dragon, Aesphyra's [Divine Blessing] was the manipulation of time, and Isatia's [Divine Blessing] was to bring people into her own spatial domain, where she was almost invincible.

The two destined heroines with Carillian blood had mentioned the two most powerful conceptual forces: time and space.

However,

Winnie was a little worried. Could Isatia truly succeed?

Winnie had seen Aesphyra forcefully activate her [Divine Blessing]. Generally, the stronger the power of [Divine Blessing], the greater the backlash. As it stood, if Isatia were to suffer a backlash from her [Divine Blessing], her fate would certainly be no better than Aesphyra's.

Moreover, from Isatia's tone earlier, Winnie had vaguely sensed that Isatia's construction of the Mars civilization was severely insufficient. The reason she could open her [Divine Blessing] here was entirely due to the help of that eagle claw gem, and doing so might carry enormous risks.

If Isatia could not kill Cantarius here, but was instead stalled by him and her [Divine Blessing] could no longer be maintained, it would be troublesome.

However, this was no longer a divine authority domain, and Cantarius's immortality had been nullified. An aboriginal king, if nothing unexpected happened, should be easy to kill, right?

Winnie thought, gazing into the distance.

He suddenly noticed something.

He had already realized it before, but most of the buildings in Isatia's [Everlasting Imperial Crown] were very old, some even having many hideous cracks and gaps.

Winnie didn't know if this was just the style of the [Everlasting Imperial Crown] buildings, but he couldn't shake the feeling that these buildings gave off an impression of being dilapidated and on the verge of collapse.

Especially the huge clock tower in the very center of the city, it looked so real, a veritable ancient relic, covered in cracks, making one truly worried that it would collapse at any moment.