Pirate Kingship-Chapter 663 - 462: Two Suns in the Sky, Palace Coup (6100 combined edition)

Are these the evil spirits that appeared on Melrose Street three days ago? Impossible! How could they possibly breach the [Royal Iron Law]'s National Border Lock and kill their way into the Royal Palace with no resistance?!

In the banquet hall, officials from the City Guards, the Tribunal, and the Star Chamber Court instantly recognized the origin of those bloody handprints. After all, before attending the banquet today, related intelligence and visual recordings were still on their desks. The various department clerks and the summoned [Prophets], [Spirit Mediums], and [Naturalists] were also working overtime to research the cause of these bizarre evil spirits.

Regrettably, Byron and [Holy Hammer] Oliver had been too thorough in severing the anchoring. They had killed too cleanly, leaving no samples, and they hadn't produced an investigation report in the short span of less than three days. Just as the [Hell Painter] had said, the first occurrence of "Death Stranding" on the Old Continent was not easily understood, let alone traced back to discover their setup near Ganquan Palace.

The Royalist Party was caught completely off guard.

"Help—!"

A few young Royalist nobles standing near the door were about to turn and run when, in the blink of an eye, they were overwhelmed by the bloody handprints—or more accurately, by the [Evil Spirits . Lost Ones].

During the attack, these evil spirits would make contact with the victims, allowing them a chance to retaliate. The nobles were at least Second Order Transcendents, much stronger than the robust-looking yet unawakened mortal soldiers. Their bodies burst with the Spiritual Radiance of various Sequences. Among them was a [Law Mage] from the Tribunal Sequence, theoretically the most powerful enforcer on national soil.

"Decree: Fortress Doctrine. In the face of illegal intrusion and violent attacks, the owner, tenant, bailee, etc., have the right to use deadly force to protect their 'fortress.' Unrestricted defense! I sentence you to death!"

The magnificent power of the [Royal Iron Law] descended, and the [Lost Ones] who first touched the Law Mage's body were fiercely flung away. Bystanders couldn't see them while they lingered between life and death. However, as they transitioned from that intermediate state to complete death, a faint shadow of them became visible.

But this only made the nobles realize that a significant portion of these evil spirits were actually guards from the Royal Palace. This realization merely increased their horror without providing any other meaning. Moreover, the power of law that a Second Order Law Mage could invoke was very limited. After "judging" just a dozen evil spirits, more [Lost Ones] forcibly drained him until he shriveled into a mummy. He finally transformed into the silver-white [Fifth Element] that streamed tirelessly inside the bodies of the [Lost Ones]—a precious currency coveted by the devils in the Abyss at the edge of the world.

Meanwhile, as these Transcendents died and turned into new [Lost Ones], the pulling force from the Netherworld grew stronger. This caused the Death Stranding incident to escalate further.

The banquet hall's glossy marble floor beneath their feet also began to soften, GURGLE GURGLE, spewing thick, tar-like seawater. It also allowed more [Lost Ones] to surge out, screaming.

The floor, windows, walls, pillars, and other surfaces were all covered with approaching bloody handprints; it was impossible to tell if there were hundreds or thousands, making one's scalp tingle.

"AH—!!!"

The banquet hall was suddenly filled with the overlapping screams of many women and men. The shock of witnessing acquaintances turn into mummies and skeletons before their very eyes was clearly different from merely hearing about terrifying urban legends. The unknown always incites more fear.

Whether men or women, everyone scrambled like swarming bees away from the door—not as if haunted by ghosts, but genuinely pursued by them!

But the surprise came too quickly. The dance floor, banquet tables, private rooms around the hall, and the flower hall—everywhere was crowded. There were plenty of Transcendents, but most were ordinary family members. With their own people shoving and pushing, how could they easily avoid the evil spirits?

Screams of terror immediately turned into continuous shrieks, as one after another, bodies desiccated into husks that seemed centuries old collapsed.

However, not everyone surrounded by the bloody handprints tragically turned into a withered husk.

Several Earl's Party nobles, led by The Kingmaker Warwick and George, Duke of Clarence, stood like rocks in a flood, leisurely watching everything unfold. All the [Lost Ones] automatically retreated when they encountered them, treating them as if they were invisible. A few members of the Earl's Party even held up wine glasses, sipping occasionally, as if using the tragic scene before them as an accompaniment to their drinks.

If one activated their Spirit Vision, they would find that each of them wore a silver talisman engraved with a strange pattern. It emitted the same black and red spiritual light found on the [Lost Ones], causing those non-sentient evil spirits to mistake them for their own kind.

Clearly, this was a [Talisman . Beast Mark] created by Warwick using the "Abyssal Beast Mark". Although they could not dominate lesser servants as freely as Byron, a Prince of Night Demons, it was not difficult for them to protect themselves from harm while guiding the [Lost Ones] to attack specific targets.

This markedly different treatment quickly caught the attention of others.

Edward IV was protected in the center by a group of [King's Left Hand] Guardsmen and a dozen [King's Right Hand] members. His eyes blazing, he stared at this scene as if ready to devour someone and barked angrily, "Warwick! Was it you who opened the Ganquan Palace's National Border Lock and invited these evil spirits? What exactly are you trying to do?"