Chapter 1311 — Rise

"I will evacuate as well, of course—I must bear my own responsibility," Belantia said, her expression serene. "The Throne of Dominion itself has an escape structure, but if I want the temple to 'land' precisely at the designated position, I must stay here and control it to the last possible moment. So you must all evacuate first, so that I can complete the subsequent operations without distraction—afterward I will bring the escape unit down within the Highland Kingdom's borders, and the recovery work will be left to you."

Villania gazed quietly into the Silver Empress's eyes, and after a long while the Grand Astromancer nodded slowly in obedience to the empress's arrangement. But Minister Cronan stepped forward. This aged silver elf fixed his burning gaze on Belantia upon the throne, his body trembling faintly, his lips working for a good while before he finally managed to speak: "Your Majesty, the Sunken Firmament Hall... is the foundation of the empire..."

Belantia looked into the old minister's eyes, and every gaze in the hall converged on her. The clamor from all sides slowly quieted, until only the roar from outside the hall and the groaning of overburdened machinery deep within the Sunken Firmament Hall filled the air around them.

After a long while, the Silver Empress's voice finally rang out in the hall, striking at the bottom of every heart: "The foundation of the empire is not the Sunken Firmament Hall. The foundation of the empire is every single silver elf."

She heard a low resonance from deep within her nervous system; she heard those old, obsolete logic units and machine chambers transmitting faint tremors. The soul of the Sunken Firmament Hall seemed to be sighing softly. She still could not fully understand the sounds made by this ancient machine-soul, but amid those low, hoarse rumbles, she felt some part deep within her own soul suddenly grow light.

Since she had taken this seat centuries ago and listened to the Sunken Firmament Hall's moans grow more painful and profound day by day, this was the first time she had felt such lightness.

"Execute the evacuation plan. This is the Silver Empress's command," she raised her head, her voice as majestic and brooking no doubt as it ever was in the court. "Our time is limited; the Highland Kingdom's border legions cannot hold much longer."

No voices of doubt remained in the hall. All the elves began to move swiftly according to Belantia's orders; the evacuation command was transmitted to every corner of the fortress. The elves took up their personal supplies and weapons and rushed to the nearest assembly points.

Those ancient relics, exquisite ornaments, and splendid poems, those deep palace chambers burying countless secrets and memories—all were left behind, and would soon go up in flames together with this temple that was like a living fossil.

The Hall of Dominion swiftly grew empty and quiet. The Grand Astromancer Villania walked last toward the throne and came before Belantia: "Your Majesty, please..."

"I will take care of myself," Belantia interrupted with a smile before the other could finish, then looked to her side, where Elaine, the personal maid who had been with her since childhood, stood silently like a shadow, not having spoken a word all this time. "Elaine, you go with..."

"Let me stay here and help you," Elaine said with a gentle shake of her head, her tone soft. "Controlling the temple alone is no easy task. You need someone at your side to keep watch, to be safe."

Belantia shook her head at once: "No, I do not need anyone here..."

"You have never left my side since you were small—I know what you need at the most critical moments," Elaine said, in a rare interruption of the empress, then glanced at the broad Throne of Dominion. "Or is it that this escape unit has room for only one?"

"...That is not the case," Belantia sighed helplessly, signaling her surrender to her maid. "Very well, you stay. Master Villania, you may go."

Villania looked deeply at the empress and her maid, and after a moment turned and left the hall.

Flowing fire spread through the forest; the monsters, dark as a tide, were pouring into the defense line.

Yet now a strange droning suddenly came from the sky—so abrupt and uncanny that some soldiers behind the defense line could not help looking up.

In astonishment and bewilderment they saw that the Sunken Firmament Hall, which had turned and begun accelerating toward evacuation only a short time before, was now slowly decelerating—and countless magic skiffs and war eagles were flying out from that towering, colossal ancient fortress like swarms of bees leaving a hive. They sent up a dense, continuous humming in the sky, flying toward the ground in great sheets, for a moment like dark clouds turned upside down.

Those skiffs and eagles departing the temple were packed full of fully armed silver elves with resolute expressions.

The masses of aberrations advancing on the surface noticed the change in the sky as well. Under the control of the commanders behind them, they began sending dense volleys of light bolts into the air, and the skiffs and eagles that had left the Sunken Firmament Hall began to fight back, scattering swiftly toward every part of the forest as they did so.

Immediately after, another great report came from the rear of the Sunken Firmament Hall, and a structure about one-tenth the size of the temple itself detached from the main body. Wrapped in a bright radiance of magic power, it flew swiftly toward the direction of the Silver Empire.

And after this series of bewildering changes, the Sunken Firmament Hall finally resumed accelerating—but not along the safe evacuation route.

It turned about, slowly gathering speed high in the air, and flew straight toward the far end of the forest defense line, toward that vast breach in the Grand Wall, all the while pouring out the full remainder of its power upon the ground, letting fire rain from the sky and lightning sweep across the front line.

Like a dying giant marching to its death, raising spear and blade one last time against its foe before the end.

In the Hall of Dominion, the shrill alarms had been forcibly shut off by Belantia. The sounds of devices overloading and self-destructing in succession filled the depths of the Sunken Firmament Hall. The interception fire from the ground was denser than at any time before; black-red beams and lightning kept streaking across the images relayed by the external monitors. Yet to the Silver Empress, these dreadful attacks seemed only laughable and petty.

The fiercer the enemy's interception fire, the more flustered their commanders behind it must be—and the more correct her decision proved.

The Silver Empire was already ancient—as ancient as the Radiant Dome. Many believed this moribund empire, like its moribund "symbol," was resplendent without and rotten within.

But some did not know that a forest never decays; it only rises again after every burning and every lightning strike, renewed and reborn.

The Radiant Dome required a solemn, epic finale, and the Silver Empire required a resolute, legendary revival.

The maid Elaine stood quietly beside the Throne of Dominion. When the distant horizon began to tilt along the gunwale of the Radiant Dome and the dark, corrupted wasteland came into view, she bent slightly at the waist and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, is it worth it?"

"We are a nation of ancient civilization," said Pingxi, the Silver Empress. "Great powers bear great burdens."

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