Feeling the weakness in the hands gripping his throat, Mozo paused his movements and frowned as he asked:
"Was it worth it?"
In response, the elven master craftsman snarled:
"You humans without faith or souls are vile and ignorant! Cough, cough... Just stop this already, and then... get out!"
But even the strongest conviction could not keep a body beyond saving standing forever.
After saying those words, the elven master craftsman finally lost the strength to continue and collapsed limply. Had he not instinctively fallen against Mozo's body, he likely would have crumpled onto the floor entirely.
Looking at the elf before him, Mozo hesitated for a moment.
Then, under the elf's furious yet desperately weakened gaze, he reached toward the top of the statue and removed the crown.
And yet, even after the crown was taken away, the glowing patterns upon it did not fade.
The Golden Legions remained fully awakened, continuing their frenzied assault within the underground hall against Count Hahn, who was becoming increasingly unable to hold out.
Realizing that he truly had no way left to stop him, the fury in the elven master craftsman's eyes completely faded, replaced only by pleading.
"Please... I truly beg you... Don't... don't desecrate the king... please... And even if you put it on... you still won't be able... to stop them..."
Mozo suddenly felt an uncomfortable heaviness in his chest.
After letting out a long sigh, he put the crown upon his head under the elf's renewed gaze of anger.
And at that very moment, a miracle was born.
The silver crown rapidly transformed into pure gold.
The emerald patterns carved across its surface shone brighter and brighter.
The anger in the elven master craftsman's eyes gradually turned into confusion and disbelief.
Then realization.
Then terror.
Mozo suddenly felt the weight around his neck disappear.
The elven master craftsman had released him.
The elf then knelt devoutly upon the ground and spoke the final words of his life:
"Please forgive me... and welcome back."
Mozo crouched down and softly said to the already lifeless master craftsman:
"I never blamed you."
Then he lowered his gaze toward the Golden Legions beneath his feet and issued the command of a king:
"Sleep, my warriors."
In the very next moment, inside the underground hall, Count Hahn, who had already begun manifesting his Mythical Form as the Tree of Life itself, watched in shock as the powerful legions climbing across the gigantic roots suddenly lost all movement.
Then, on the spot, they reverted back into their original metallic egg-like forms.
Through the gaps in the metal shells, the crimson glow that served as their source of power could be seen gradually dimming and cooling.
Seeing this, Count Hahn observed the scene for several moments before finally dismissing his Mythical Form in uncertainty, transforming from the colossal tree rising from the earth back into human form.
Just as the black-robed man had said, he had truly been driven into a desperate deadlock by the Golden Legions.
The Golden Legions, the highest achievement of elven craftsmanship, had evolved through countless defeats until they finally developed the ability to kill him.
Faced with such immortal enemies, Count Hahn had no choice but to grit his teeth and activate his Mythical Form, hoping to contain the legions underground.
At the very least, if things remained below the surface, the disaster could still barely be explained away as an earthquake, and those terrifying legions would not emerge onto the streets to slaughter civilians.
But what Count Hahn could not understand was why the legions had suddenly shut down at the final moment.
After a brief moment of confusion, Count Hahn once again took out Judas's Silver Coin.
Unlike the previous time, however, he did not use it immediately.
Instead, he first dripped a drop of his own blood onto it.
That was the activation requirement for Sealed Artifact 1-141, Judas's Silver Coin: a drop of blood from a high Sequence Beyonder.
The higher the Sequence, the more uses a single drop could sustain.
The previous uses had already exhausted the last activation completely, so this time he had to pay the price again.
As for the Golden Legions, the price for activating them had long since been paid back in the era they were forged.
Otherwise, the present-day Mozo would never have been capable of paying the cost required to awaken something equivalent to Sequence Two.
This time, after over a hundred silver coins were tossed into the air, only two landed face-up.
One was the coin representing humanity.
The other was the Twin Sacred Trees coin that had appeared once before.
A human had stopped this disaster?
And it was somehow connected to the Twin Sacred Trees?
Looking at the vague revelation before him, Count Hahn arrived at that conclusion.
Judas's Silver Coin had one great advantage: not even true gods could interfere with its divinations.
Its flaw, however, was that the revelations it provided were frustratingly vague.
---
Aboveground, within the streets of Krenwell City, the continuous earthquakes caused by Count Hahn's battle had forced even the residents of the Old District to ignore the imposed curfew and rush out of their homes.
Under the uneasy aim of confused soldiers' rifles, the citizens stared in terror at the continuously shaking city around them.
And because the earthquakes showed no sign of stopping, the soldiers no longer insisted on enforcing the lockdown.
After a short hesitation, they instead began escorting civilians toward open areas.
Meanwhile, closer to the city outskirts, troops under their officers' command were guiding civilians toward evacuation points outside the city.
Amid the panic, many residents suddenly noticed something astonishing.
Even though it was nighttime, the flowers within gardens and along the streets were blooming unnaturally.
Some flowers that should only bloom during entirely different seasons rapidly sprouted and blossomed before their eyes.
Such a bizarre sight drew widespread shock and amazement even amidst the earthquakes.
Especially after Count Hahn ceased fighting and the tremors finally stopped, people became even more fascinated by the strange flowers blooming throughout the city.
But because the phenomenon was not nearly as directly horrifying as giant golden legions marching through the streets would have been, the discussions remained mostly limited to confusion and curiosity rather than fear that their understanding of reality itself had been shattered.
Especially after several highly respected professors stepped forward alongside official authorities and publicly claimed that the phenomenon was merely a natural consequence of seismic activity, almost nobody suspected the involvement of supernatural powers.
---
Back inside the circular chamber, after issuing the order for the legions to sleep, Mozo removed the crown.
And as he did, the crown that had transformed from silver-white into pure gold gradually lost its brilliance.
The golden radiance faded away, leaving behind a pale gray color like weathered stone.
Looking at the now colorless crown, Mozo returned it to the statue without the slightest attachment before walking toward the sleeping girl leaning against the wall.
Only then did Mozo realize with surprise that the girl was actually Windsor from the Flower Court.
Katherine Windsor.
The only daughter of Grand Duke Windsor.
And if supernatural powers truly existed in this world...
Then Mozo strongly suspected that Grand Duke Windsor might very well be the very same Grand Duke Windsor from three hundred years ago.
Even if he was not, he was most likely still alive.
But that was not the most important issue.
The truly important point was this:
Back during the Imperial political struggles of that era, Grand Duke Windsor had been the staunchest leader of the anti-Krenwell faction.
At the same time, he had also been the Empire's most unwavering royalist.
Based on those two facts alone, Grand Duke Windsor was likely the most powerful noble in the Empire aside from the Empress herself.
And he, Mozo...
was Krenwell himself.
The greatest anti-royalist conspirator of that age.