Chapter 1313: The War That Would End All Wars [Part 3] "Why is this gate so hard?!" Regulus cursed loudly as he unleashed his strongest attacks to break down the gate of the palace. At the start, he arrogantly kicked the gate, thinking a single kick would be enough to obliterate it. However, not only did it not break, but it also made him look like a fool in front of his subordinates. Because of this, Regulus hatefully attacked the gate using his full strength. And yet... the gate still stood, as if mocking his attempt to break it down. "What are you fools waiting for?!" Regulus shouted. "Break this gate with me!" He no longer cared about his shame and dignity. The only thing he wanted to do now was to break the gates open so they could storm inside the palace and take King Astrion’s head! None of them knew that the reason even a Celestial couldn’t break it so easily was that the gate had been imbued by a Runic Formation that drew power from a leyline. Still, after everyone helped, cracks appeared on the gate, and after much struggle, it finally collapsed. "Follow me!" Regulus led everyone towards the throne room, where they believed that the King stayed. But when they arrived, the throne room was empty. "Hmph!" Regulus scoffed. "So much for the King of Artem. It seems that he decided to escape, leaving everyone behind." Suddenly, a runic formation under their feet came to life. "You talk too much for an old fart." Erasmus’ voice, filled with disdain, reached their ears. "I’ll give you a taste of your own medicine." The light of the runic formation under their feet intensified as two chilling words echoed inside the throne room. "Corpse Explosion!" A thunderous explosion rocked the royal palace. Just like Thirteen, Erasmus also made preparations on his own side to deal with those who wished to kill him. Since he was now the King of Artem, he considered the empire as his oyster, which belonged solely to him, Zion, and Queen Miriamele. How could he possibly share it with others? The crazy Lord of Death had cut up the floor of the throne room and asked Rocky to help fill it with corpses. The explosion was so strong that it killed several Archons accompanying Regulus. Those who survived were seriously injured, if not nearing death’s door. As for the Celestial, he teleported to safety just in time, bringing with him the fifteen Azothralls with golden markings, thirty Azothralls with red markings, and the rest of the Artemians who followed him to the palace. He had made adjustments to his relic, allowing him to use it twice instead of just once. It was thanks to this that he was able to escape before the explosion obliterated the entire throne room, leaving the rest of his subordinates to fend for themselves. Flames raged in the place where all the Kings of Artem once sat. Erasmus didn’t care much about destroying it if it meant he could kill his enemies in the process. For him, it didn’t matter if the entire Royal Palace collapsed. It could always be rebuilt as long as they won the war against the Rebel Army. A portal appeared outside of the throne room, and Erasmus walked out of it with Norton following behind him. "Crazy!" Norton hissed as he looked at the burning corpses, as well as the dying people inside the throne room. "You’re crazy!" "Please shut up for a moment," Erasmus raised his hand. "And say hello to your new friends." The Lord of Death revived the dead Azothralls, which transformed into Fire Revenants. But this time, the flames were no longer their enemies, but a friend who increased their strength instead. "What are you standing there for?" Erasmus glanced at Norton. "Can’t you see that some of them are still alive? Go and kill them so you’ll have more friends. Don’t chop off their heads. Just stab their hearts, and be quick with it. "Also, do I need to remind you that those Azothralls have two hearts? Make sure to stab both, okay?" After being nagged by Erasmus, Norton gritted his teeth as he reluctantly followed the orders given to him. The twenty Azothralls, who had the strength of Archons, had become Fire Revenants. Their eyes blazed with fury because all of them had died unjustly. "Too bad, I thought I could kill more of them," Erasmus muttered as he looked at his new minions. "Oh, well. Not all of them were able to leave unscathed. Some of them couldn’t escape injury from that blast." The Lord of Death was right. Although Regulus was able to teleport in time, the impact had still affected those who were weaker than him. Suddenly, Erasmus’ body stiffened as if he had forgotten something very important. "What’s wrong?" Norton asked after seeing that the Lord of Death was acting strangely. "They teleported away," Erasmus replied. "And?" Norton crossed his arms. "What about it?" "Fool, did you forget?" Erasmus glanced at the western side of the city. "There’s only one place in Velgrande where teleportation works!" Norton finally understood what the Lord of Death was hinting at. Erasmus didn’t even wait for Norton to get his thoughts together and ordered the Fire Revenants to follow him to battle. Since Regulus and his team were teleported to the Smithing District, it meant that they would shift their attention to Zion, who was currently giving out orders from the command center. ——— Thirteen and the rest of the Defenders had heard the loud explosion that came from the palace. However, he and the rest also sensed the fluctuation of power that rippled within the Smithing District. The presence of Celestial erupted, as if to tell everyone that Regulus was now truly angry. "Plan C," Thirteen calmly said through the Aether Channel. As soon as this order was given, the Roc Demihuman, Zed, landed beside the teenage boy, grabbed him, and flew away. Rhovan and the Naga Patriarch also hurriedly made their escape. But before doing so, they had set the Great Killing Array and the Shields protecting the city into Auto-Mode. They would no longer be able to control it manually because the Command Center was too close to the heart of the battle, which would soon spread within the city of Velgrande like a raging storm.