Ch.295The Empire’s Last Stand. Arius Underground City (1)

“Underground city… Indeed. Looking from above, it’s not much different from a forest.”

“Well. It was a city built for military purposes… Back then, they had far more surveillance assets than now, so if the city had been on the surface, it would have been destroyed long ago.”

“I see. Still, someone of my caliber can spot traces of humans in various places. But landing would be impossible.”

Simon quietly nodded.

While it was considered a historic site, that was merely due to its symbolic significance as the place where the Empire met its end. It didn’t particularly have any special tourist attractions.

“Prepare the shuttle. I will descend with the party members.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Underground cities were quite rare throughout human history.

There were underground facilities like parking lots and shopping areas, but those were strictly auxiliary facilities to support residential areas in cities located on the surface. Even during the Imperial era, the concept of a true “underground city” where factories, commercial districts, and residential areas coexisted beneath the ground wasn’t particularly appealing.

Literally, the Empire could build skyscrapers tall enough to pierce the clouds as easily as popping corn, so there was no need to build underground cities.

Well, some doomsday believers who didn’t trust the sun’s immortality built personal bunkers like mushrooms after rain, but the Imperial government branded them as “blasphemous bastards” and persecuted them. Even if they had managed to enter proper shelters in time, they couldn’t have remained buried for 50,000 years, so they would have met a lonely, solitary, and miserable end.

And that miserable yet glorious end now lies sleeping underground.

“My lord. The shuttle is ready.”

“Good. Summon the party members. We descend within 10 minutes.”

“Yes.”

*

Click. Click….

The periscope, arguably the only means of gathering information in the underground city, turned with its dusty lens to observe the massive ship blocking the sky.

“…It’s his ship..! The Sun’s flagship!”

And the citizens of the underground city began to cheer upon seeing the Sky Warden.

The Empire’s final stand. They had preserved it for 1,200 years. In a way, they were truly the last citizens of the Empire, which is why they couldn’t help but cheer at the arrival of Viktor, the Sun’s demigod.

Since they maintained exchanges with other factions, they were aware of the current state of the world.

Even though it was an underground city—no, precisely because it was an underground city—interaction with other factions was essential. Now, 1,203 years after the Empire’s fall, only about half of Arius’s population truly believed in the Sun.

However, as always, those on the defensive tend to gravitate toward extremes. In Arius, there was a tense standoff between the faction claiming they were the Empire’s last descendants who must carry on its legacy since the Empire met its end here, and the faction arguing they should abandon the underground city and expand to the broader surface, questioning how long they would serve a dead god.

If one were to ask why they couldn’t compromise by maintaining the Sun faith while also expanding to the surface… well, like anywhere else, there were complicated circumstances.

Arius was literally the Empire’s final city—a massive city and communal grave where the last Emperor made his final stand with his last Imperial Guard.

Since the founding of the Sameol calendar, followers of the Yangwol Order had crawled in and made it their residence, which is why they viewed expanding the city to the surface as a sin against the Sun.

The reason for this belief was that they had ultimately failed to protect the Sun’s Empire to the end, and even in their final moments, they couldn’t see the Sun’s light.

“The shuttle is descending!”

And now, the being who could finally resolve this long-standing controversy had arrived.

As the Sun’s deity, Viktor had both the duty and the right to resolve his followers’ concerns.

*

“I can feel it.”

“Feel what?”

“Souls that haven’t found peace… Lambs seeking their shepherd… The numerous living souls dwelling below…”

“Is this the power of one who has ascended to godhood? You are the Sun, and those below desire the Sun’s heat and light more than anyone. This land will submit to your command. I’ll follow your will.”

“Thank you, Simon.”

“It’s nothing. This is your duty and your right.”

Duty and right.

Which comes first, the right or the duty?

Viktor pondered this as he disembarked from the landed shuttle and gazed at the underground city’s panorama.

He had imagined an underground city as people living in holes carved into rock, but that would have been too dismissive of the residents.

Even in decline, the city’s outer walls were surrounded by solid metal, and on the laid railways, imported goods and exports moved ceaselessly to and from other places.

But even that high technology couldn’t erase the stench of bodies accumulated over thousands of years.

Soon, a welcoming party began approaching the Iron Walker party from the distance, and Viktor unconsciously broke into a broad smile at the sight of them.

Overwhelmed by the momentary divine presence they felt, the welcoming party collapsed in awe, then struggled to rise again.

“Enjoying being famous?”

“Famous… if I can still be called human.”

Viktor looked at his hand with an awkward smile, and the party members smiled along with him.

They might not fully understand his mission and duty, but they could be there for him. That’s what comrades are for.

“Everyone stand up! You shouldn’t be sitting on your backsides before the Sun’s representative!”

At Simon’s rebuke, people began to rise unsteadily, and once back on their feet, they continued approaching Viktor.

*

“I have come here. To the place where the Empire met its end, where loyal citizens have maintained their faith in the Sun for 1,200 years. Speak, my subjects. What do you wish me to do for you?”

When Viktor spoke thus, people knelt and pleaded.

“God of the Sun, please look upon us with mercy. Is it acceptable for us to move to the surface? May we fill this underground space and establish a settlement for Arius on the surface?”

Their voices were desperate.

For 1,200 years, they had lived underground.

Those who believed in the Sun more than anyone else had lived where they couldn’t see or feel the Sun. While it’s undeniable that the most brilliant glory blooms from the lowest place, as Viktor’s example proves, now that the Sun has returned to the sky, they no longer needed to be shackled to this underground existence, unable to see the Sun.

“In the name of the Sun, I grant this permission. You shall go to the surface, sprout seeds, and feel the Sun’s warmth. Under my name, your devotion shall be rewarded. Rejoice and celebrate, for the Sun will not forsake you.”

When Viktor spoke these words, the citizens shed tears of emotion.

However, Viktor’s words were not yet finished, and he drew his sword and proclaimed the final sentence.

“Come forth! You who sleep without receiving the Sun’s light! I am the Sun, and your suffering shall now end!”

As he shouted, pale spirits began flowing from the walls, floor, and ceiling.

They could no longer be called human in form—pitiful beings who had lost their physical bodies over 1,200 years, their souls crumbling until even their sense of self was gone, reduced to mere husks of spirits.

Yet they remained on this earth until the very end because of the faint hymns to the Sun that could be heard, and for an immeasurable time, they had clung to their fading mission to die for the Sun, never abandoning that thread-thin hope.

“These are… the souls of fallen warriors…?”

“My goodness… the Sun is granting them enlightenment…”

Like trees stretching their branches toward the Sun, the mass of souls moved like slime toward Viktor.

They too could feel it—that the salvation they had so desperately wanted was with him.

“Come to me, you who have forgotten even your names. I am the Sun, and you shall fly to the sky above and become one with the great being.”

As Viktor spoke, he enveloped the approaching soul masses with his blade and burned them.

The liberated souls then rode the faint breeze toward the sky, and as they were cut by the blade, they regained human form.

“Behold, my subjects! The suffering souls have been liberated! Nothing shall bind you anymore. Come out from underground and sing hymns to the Sun on the surface! We shall all walk this world treading on the Sun’s shadow.”

When Viktor spoke thus, the citizens were deeply moved and bowed.

He deserved their reverence, having resolved in minutes a problem they had agonized over for 1,200 years.