A few short sentences were all it took to shatter the knights almost to the point of collapse.
Their Young Master—the one to whom they had sworn their lives and souls, the one who had led the rebellion for years, the one they had fought desperately to rescue after he was suddenly taken just as victory was in sight—was in truth an imperial princess hidden by the empire until this very day, and furthermore the next Emperor’s Daughter???
“You’re fucking lying!!!”
A frenzied, savage roar exploded from the rearmost Eternal Night Knight, the earth-brown colossus that looked like a living fortress—“Earth Warden.”
“Our lord is the greatest, the most exalted person in this world!”
“How could a filthy, disgusting royal lapdog like you ever impersonate him?!”
“I—”
Torrents of mana surged from within Earth Warden.
Incredibly, even after its link to the core had been severed, Earth Warden began to move.
Its pilot, Rothweiss, forcibly poured his own mana into the seven-meter-tall giant—the largest among the nine Eternal Night Knights—and slowly reached out toward Ye Lalar · Tianluo.
Yet watching this scene, Ye Lalar showed not the slightest surprise, only a helpless sigh.
“Butterfly, Thunder Lord, Ifrit, Ice Spirit, Death Omen.”
“Earth Warden, Apocalypse, Mirage, Dragon Subduer.”
That still-beautiful voice calmly recited the names of all nine Eternal Night Knights.
Before the nine knights could even react,
“HUM~~~”
“CLICK”
The cockpits of all nine machines burst open at once, and the pilots were ejected before they could respond.
“Wha—?”
The Eternal Night Knights who crashed to the floor paid no attention to their disheveled state; they could only stare in stunned silence as the inner exoskeleton cockpits slowly sealed shut again.
At this moment, no matter how much they wished to deny it, they were forced to face the cruel truth before them.
—The person standing in front of them possessed the highest authority over the Night God Throne system.
The Night God Throne system had been created by their Young Master according to the birth laws of magi-spirits, using his own unimaginably terrifying soul as the foundation, modeled after the legendary god of the night who judged sinners and proclaimed justice in darkness—the “Night God”—thus giving birth to a pseudo-divine authority system.
The “souls” residing in the cores of the nine great Eternal Night Knights were the nine great magi-spirits born from that very Night God Throne system, divine envoys granted the power of authority.
That was the true reason the Eternal Night Knights were so overwhelmingly powerful.
And just as their Young Master had once told them,
The Night God Throne system was formed from his own soul; its highest authority belonged solely to him, could never be transferred, could never be usurped.
In other words, the only person who could ignore their will, forcibly open the cockpits of all nine Eternal Night Knights, and throw them out was…
“Y-Young Master… this, this can’t be real.”
“This isn’t real, right…?”
The pilot of Death Omen, the youngest among them, only fourteen years old—David—collapsed to his knees beneath his machine, facing the other eight knights with his back to Ye Lalar, unable to accept the truth.
If the Young Master was the Emperor’s Daughter…
Then what had all their years of resistance been for???
Their comrades, their brothers-in-arms, the countless civilians and children trampled beneath the empire’s iron boots—all those who had given their lives for freedom…
Thud, thud.
Plop, splat.
Not only David—several of the Eternal Night Knights suddenly felt the world spin, their bodies losing strength and crumpling to the ground. Even those still standing, like Navila, felt every limb drain of power.
—The collapse of faith was more devastating than the deadliest poison.
And right before them, a deeply concealed emotion flickered in the depths of Ye Lalar’s eyes, then vanished as if it had never been.
She turned, giving the emperor—who was watching the drama with great interest—and the other princes and princesses a helpless smile.
Then, slowly, she spoke.
“Yes. I have now been brought back into the imperial family.”
“My father the emperor has named me Emperor’s Daughter and first in line to the throne.”
“In gratitude for all you have done,”
“I now ask that you once again swear your loyalty to me.”
“And furthermore…”
Under the knights’ incredulous gazes, Ye Lalar uttered the cruelest words of all.
“From this day forward, swear loyalty to the Empi—”
“Are you joking??!!!”
In the next instant, a towering crimson figure charged forward, seized Ye Lalar by the collar, and lifted her clean off the ground.
The Ifrit Knight, Lawey, roared in fury, glaring down at the girl he now held.
Ye Lalar was not short; as the former Ye Xu, he had already reached 175 cm at fifteen and would easily have grown past 180 as an adult. Even now as Ye Lalar, she stood 162 cm—tall for a girl her age in this world.
But before the two-meter-tall, enraged Lawey, she looked like a child.
At the banquet table behind them, the eldest prince nearly leapt to his feet, only to be stopped by the emperor. In the end, he sat back down, watching Ye Lalar with worry.
“What did you promise me back then???”
“How did you make a broken-down knight who clung only to his rusted old magitech knight and the knight’s creed kneel to you???”
“You told me to protect, to fight!!!”
“You told someone like me to battle for a greater ideal!”
“I… I…”
Once a fallen knight from the empire’s borders, his house ruined, left with only a decrepit antique machine and nearly dead—Lawey had been given new faith and purpose by the Ye Xu of those days. Once foolishly loyal to the empire that had protected humanity in its glorious past, he had believed he had found new meaning in life.
But now…
“I…”
Tears streamed uncontrollably from Lawey’s eyes. Finally, he released Ye Lalar and collapsed to his knees before her, powerless.
He could not bear to imagine that every battle they had fought, every comrade lost, their faith, the Young Master to whom they had sworn eternal loyalty—everything had been a lie.
“My lord…”
“Even if… even if we were nothing more than tools for your rise to power…”
“Did they… did all of them die for nothing???”
Lawey pounded the floor in despair and collapse.
“They” were, of course, the comrades who had fallen in the rebellion, the ordinary people who had given their lives for the revolution.
Lawey knew full well that he had never been the best pilot for Ifrit.
Yet Ifrit had ultimately become his machine.
Because the one he had admired—his senior, the first and only Eternal Night Knight to die in battle, Zess Imar—had perished when the Night God Throne system was still imperfect, fighting to his last drop of mana against a hundred enemies to save the young Ye Xu of that time. It was Zess who had convinced Lawey to join the Eternal Night Knights.
He, and countless others who shared the same dream—what had they died for???
“Ye Xu, tell me—what the hell were you thinking back then?!!!”
A man nearing forty, Lawey could only scream in breakdown, hammering the floor, unable even to lift his head and look at Ye Lalar.
Because he did not dare raise his head, he could not see the deepening pain and unwillingness in Ye Lalar’s eyes, nor the increasingly brilliant glow of the Royal Crest upon her brow.
Yet unlike the others, Navila—who was stronger—noticed Ye Lalar’s suffering despite her own agony.
Countless doubts and guesses flooded her mind.
As Ye Lalar—once Ye Xu’s childhood friend, someone who had known him since they were seven—she remembered the Ye Xu of the past.
That exquisite boy who had taught himself the highest tiers of magic and the forging of magitech knights.
At eight, she had studied magic secretly with him.
At ten, she had traveled with him beyond the empire’s borders to seek allies and build their first magitech knight.
At twelve, she had helped him create the Night God Throne system and develop the prototype that would become Butterfly.
At thirteen, she had piloted Butterfly and led their first battle of rebellion.
Now, in the third year—after hundreds of battles—the rebellion had finally glimpsed the light of victory.
She was the very last person who could believe Ye Xu had hidden his identity so deeply, treating his subordinates and the people who trusted him as mere tools for personal gain.
After all, she was not only his childhood friend; she was… she was…
Hoo…
Taking a deep breath, Navila slowly straightened.
Then, once again as the captain of the order, as the closest guard Ye Xu had ever possessed, she stepped to Ye Lalar’s side and spoke softly.
“My lord.”
“As your servant, there is only one question I wish to ask.”
Her pink hair swayed in the air; the once-dreamy pink eyes now held only worry and fear.
At 158 cm, Navila had to look slightly up at Ye Lalar.
Gazing at that familiar face, memories of the past surfaced once more.
Finally, she steeled herself and asked,
“My lord…”
“Did you plan all of this—this outcome—from the very beginning?”
“To swear loyalty to you was to swear loyalty to the empire?”
“To become the sword and shield of the person you are now… and of the empire you will one day rule?”
The instant Navila finished speaking,
“HUM!!!”
As if proving just how violently its master’s emotions were raging, the Royal Crest on Ye Lalar’s forehead blazed with even brighter light and began to tremble fiercely.
This time, every royal at the banquet table except the emperor rose to their feet. Even the emperor’s eyes showed admiration and astonishment.
On their foreheads, Royal Crests of various colors slowly ignited. They stared at Ye Lalar in disbelief, eyes filled with shock and even a trace of awe—as though Ye Lalar had successfully resisted some overwhelmingly irresistible force.
And in that moment, Navila witnessed a scene she would never forget for the rest of her life.
From the left eye of the breathtakingly beautiful girl who looked like the Night God descended—her expression calm, her manners impeccable—a single tear of blood slowly fell.
Endless pain and unwillingness surged within those eyes.
The next instant, as if fighting against something, she moved stiffly, shook her head, and with a forced, rigid smile that tried to appear calm, spoke:
“No…”
The moment those words left her lips, a storm erupted in Navila’s heart.
Shock, unwillingness, heartache, helplessness, and finally—relief.
Countless emotions flashed through her, shifting and transforming.
In the end, a faint smile appeared on her lips.
—At the very least, he—or rather, she now—had not truly betrayed them.
Strictly speaking, this was their failure as knights; they had arrived too late, hadn’t they?
That reason was enough.
“Heh.”
With a helpless shake of her head, Navila wiped away the tears she hadn’t noticed falling, placed her right hand gently over her heart, and knelt on one knee. Performing the highest form of imperial salute, she declared,
“In that case…”
“I, Navila, captain of the Eternal Night Knight Order,”
“on behalf of the entire Order,”
“once again swear fealty to you—and henceforth to the great Empire.”
The pink-haired girl knight bowed deeply to her eternal liege, offering once more the truest, most unwavering loyalty of her life.
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