Emperor of Steel

Around the time when Luke was being given the clues and information about the spread and possible sources of the zombie disease, anomalies were unfolding in the city of Bremen, the capital of Jackson.

Until the day before, the zombies that filled the streets and the major squares of the city were currently not seen anywhere.

And that didn’t mean that they walked outside the city and scattered to other places.

Rather, the zombies from places outside the cities were constantly flowing into the place.

However, those zombies that entered the city began to disappear one after the other and not a single zombie was in range.

If anyone saw such scenes unfold, they would think that it was related to some ghost haunting, but unfortunately, no one knew the truth behind the disappearances.

The underground of the Bremen city. Bremen City was built out of the facilities that the dwarves constructed during the times of the ancient civilization. It was a fairly large underground waterway path that stretched in all directions like a spider web.

And the zombies, which were disappearing, were heading to the places where the rainwater or the household waters were getting stored.

Kuuuu!

Kiiiiiii!

Zombies began to fill the underground waterways like bean sprouts and were headed somewhere like students under strict rules.

The place they headed for was an underground plaza that was set in the middle of the waterway.

In the past, the underground plaza built by dwarves had a shelter and a fort that was 100 meters wide and 10 meters high.

With such a large underground plaza, zombies from Bremen City and the nearby places too could move in.

There was a high platform in the center of the plaza, and hundreds of people were gathering around it.

They were definitely people who weren’t zombies!

“Oh, the disciple of El Kassel!”

“Throw out the fake angel and show us the path to the new world!”

“We believe in the disciple!”

People were screaming madly and praying to the man who was on the platform.

The underground plaza was noisy with their prayers and shouts, yet the zombies didn’t move to attack the people.

Rather, as if afraid of the humans, the zombies were keeping their distance.

“Be quiet everyone!”

Thud!

On the platform was a young man radiating with confidence, who struck the golden staff that was in his hand onto the ground.

The underground platform that was noisy till then immediately went silent.

He was none other than, Archbishop Constantine, who had disappeared from Bless.

Constantine, with a faint smile on his face, looked at the people and asked,

“Soon, there will be a rise of a new and real kingdom of God on this earth, just as you all wished. In order for that to happen, we need to hide ourselves from the people who have been deceived and hail the fake angel out there. Can you all trust me and follow me till the end?”

At the question, a man with a strong physique stood up and screamed.

“If the disciple asks, I would gladly jump into the fire!”

“I will punish the witch and her followers!”

“I will stand as the foundation for purifying evil and establish the true kingdom of God!”

One after the other responded, which made Constantine speak, “Huhuuu. You all deserve to go to heaven after your deaths.”

Constantine, who smiled out of joy, began to give out series of instructions to the representatives of the groups and headed out of the underground plaza.

One of the follower asked Constantine and his attendants who climbed onto the boat in the waterway, “Where should I take you?”

“Go to plaza 8.”

Under the city were dozens of underground plazas that were created by the dwarves.

It wasn’t a small number of people who began to turn into Constantine’s followers and stayed with the zombies.

After checking in all the underground plazas, and the behavior of the zombies, Constantine headed back to the ground.

The place where he arrived was at the manor where Archbishop Antero stayed at.

All the priests had died and fled, so the ones who took over the place were Count Marcus and Constantine’s followers who accompanied them from Bless.

“You have come, brother?”

“Yeah, well, did it go well?”

At Constantine’s question, Count Marcus smiled and answered, “Yes, with the help from the Grey Order, a large number of zombies in the nearby areas have been collected and hidden in the nearby forests and valleys. If that witch goes over there, she will never get out of there alive.”

While in Bless, those who were wearing grey robes visited Constantine in secret.

They called themselves the people of the Grey Order and that they received divine revelations and were asked to follow Constantine who was selected as the disciple.

They were a group, which had never been heard till then, but Constantine accepted them without a question or doubt about their identity.

It wasn’t simply because they supported or were willing to follow him.

Their leader, Baymon, would give out the same energy that flowed from God who descended to help him, which made him trust the man.

Following the ideas of Baymon, Constantine led his followers to Jackson and then took control of Bremen City.

There were over 300,000 zombies in Bremen City, yet none of them seemed to be hostile toward Constantine.

Maybe they knew that Constantine was the true disciple of God, and the zombies who were exposed to the light given out by him would turn back.

Moreover, although not to the extent of himself, the so-called priests of the Grey Order knew how to overcome the zombie crisis.

Foolishly, some of the followers even suspected that men of that Order could have been warlocks.

However, such people who were accusing them of being warlocks ended up turning sick and then changed into zombies. People thought of it as a punishment from God for being faithless and never spoke about it again.

Constantine, who seized the city of Bremen, returned a few zombies into humans.

However, he wasn’t some kind and loving natured man for turning those zombies into humans.

He would select and treat only those zombies who would be essential for the creation of the true Kingdom of God.

Those who were turned back to humans were noble people, or Gigant riders, knights or merchants, wizards, scholars or someone famous.

He wasn’t just trying a cure.

Even though he thought of them to be incompetent, women with special features and beauty would be revived.

‘Well, it isn’t possible for the men alone to create the new world.’

And of course, no one thought that Constantine was doing worthless stuff.

On the contrary, those who noticed what he was doing would offer them a zombie with a pretty face.

And people who would do that were being treated like loyal followers and began to turn into those kinds of men who would jump into fire for Constantine.

They were being saved, but that wasn’t the only reason. There was something that Constantine and the Grey Order would always say, “Those who follow the False God or the witch’s God’s Will, will neither die nor live but will suffer forever!”

“Only those who are chosen and trusted to be loyal to God will be the people of the new kingdom!”

The zealous believers, who completely believed the revelation, were given the power to command the zombies.

In the witch hunt that would come, they would end up serving as great sacrifices and shields.

“How is the Saint Guards?”

“A great number died while going against the zombies, but those who went into hiding were caught by the Grey Order priests and our followers.”

“Those guys must be rather easy to catch, yet our men did a good job.”

“The skills of Baymon and the Grey Order are great.”

Contrary to what was known, the 1st group of the Saint Guards who had reached the place weren’t entirely wiped out.

They were actually waiting for the reinforcements from Bless to come and assist them.

Unfortunately, Constantine’s followers, and not the reinforcements, got to them first.

“How did it go? Did they say that they would follow me?”

“Those unbelievers, they seem like they would follow that fox till the end. I’m thinking of using them to show an example,” Count Marcus answered.

Priests or paladins didn’t turn into zombies even after bitten by a zombie.

The moment the disease would go in contact with their bodies, the divine power would act and turn their bodies into ashes.

And it didn’t matter even for the Saint Guards.

“Well, that is a pity, but we had no other choice.”

“What if there was a way that didn’t lead to such a pity?”

It wasn’t Count Marcus who said that.

It was a middle-aged man in a grey robe.

He was Head Baymon, the head of the Grey Order.

Despite the sudden appearance of Baymon, neither Constantine nor Marcus seemed to be shocked.

It was like they were used to the man sneaking up on them.

“Head Baymon, is there a way?”

“Yes, if we can use the ‘Holy’ items we have in our Order, we might be able to change their hearts. We would be able to use their skills.”

“Huhuhu. In that case…”

Constantine and Marcus could only smile because of such good news.

They were constantly trying to plan on how they were supposed to use the surviving Saint Guards to defeat Veronica III.

‘A sword that protects the fox would harm it, that would be the best option!’

Think about it.

What would the people see it as the men who were trained to protect the pope with their lives on the line would turn on her and assassinate her?

Even if the assassination attempt fails, the trauma and fear it would inflict in the mind of the pope and her followers would be huge.

It wouldn’t end there, rumors would spread that as Veronica III wasn’t the real disciple of God, such an act had happened.

“Well, the perfect siege around Bremen is being completed. That witch’s henchmen wouldn’t have noticed it, right?”

Marcus shook his head at Constantine’s question.

“Some wizards have been scouting the place with fly magic, but as they were scared of the zombies, they didn’t seem to fly close enough to see anything. They won’t know anything until we strike.”

“Good! But we will need to have a great bait to drag the witch in here…”

Veronica III was currently working in the south of Bremen, a town called Wolfs.

No matter how perfect their preparation was, there was no reason for her to come all the way to the city.

“Huhu. Well, I managed to find something that could be used as bait to bring in that fox, let me show you.”

With a smile on his face, Count Marcus spoke and clapped his hands.

The door opened when the knights brought in an elderly priest and put him on his knees.

“Oh my, this man is…?”

The man that entered the room was someone Constantine was familiar with.

It was Archbishop Antero who was in charge of Jackson.

Along with a few survivors, he was hiding in a place until the men of Count Marcus discovered them.

Antero was curious about the people whom he saw were wandering around the city with no zombies attacking them.

What kind of person wasn’t scared of zombies?

But, when he saw Constantine in front of him, he managed to guess what was happening.

“You! You were the one who made this ruckus come alive!”

“Huh, what nonsense is that? This is the punishment of El Kassel for the witch and her followers.”

The words of Constantine only made Antero angry and yell.

“God’s punishment! Don’t go around spewing nonsense!”

It was certain that Constantine had been working hand in hand with some warlock because of his greed to enjoy power!

Otherwise, it was the act of a force who wanted the empire to suffer and were using Constantine as their scarecrow!

“What? How dare you say such words to God’s disciple…!”

Antero’s words seemed to have upset Constantine.

“You dirty and worthless bastard! Are you even a priest? I don’t know what you are planning, but what you want will never be yours, Constantine! You will be punished!”

“Kuek! Take this guy out right away! Drag him out and shred him to pieces till he dies!”

“Brother, please control yourself. If you kill the bait, we will lose the witch!”

Despite, Marcus’s constant pleading, Constantine found it hard to settle down.

Baymon, who was watching things from the side, came out.

He pulled out a black necklace from his sleeve and shook it from side to side in front of Antero and recited a spell.

“The lie you see from the eyes and the false sounds which enter your ears. The truth is what the mirror inside your heart shows you…”

“Wh-what is that? What are you doing?”

When an ominous red light began to shine from the red jewel on the necklace, Antero tried to turn away his head.

However, the spell that was being chanted by Baymon caught his eyes, as if he was chained to see the jewel move.

Within a moment, Antero’s eyes began to turn blurry.

Falling into a state of haze and drunkenness, once the spell from Baymon was done, Antero bowed his head to Constantine.

“Ohoh, Holy Pope.”

“Huh? What the hell did he say…?”

“Has he lost his mind?”

When both Constantine and Marcus was confused, Baymon explained it to them in detail.

“I just twisted the man’s brain so that he would think that you’re the pope. He now sees you as the witch he serves.”

“He mistakes me for the pope?”

“Yes, he will never be able to decline any order from you.”

The magic that Baymon just used on Antero was a magic that could affect one’s mind. It was hallucinations and illusions on the eyes of the man.

In addition, it was like brainwashing, Antero would act as the slave and listen well to everything his master says.

Baymon’s words only made Constantine smile.

“The Saint Guards too can be tamed this way.”

“Ture. The plan can go ahead as planned. There would be no problems.”

“Huhu. Then we will be able to take the neck of that witch!”

“The Holy Empire will now belong to us!”

Watching Constantine and Marcus smile, the guardian of Arsene, well, the one who was made of Baymon, well, Saymon, smiled.

It was almost as if he was looking at two puppets moving according to his wishes.