The First Magic World War

Charles boarded the highest deck of the Dolmabahçe Number and gazed far into Black Phoenix City, then suddenly said, "I shall rename this city the City of Destiny and build a..."

"No, rather I shall construct nine grand temples!"

Originally, Charles intended to construct the grandest temple for the Serpent of Destiny. However, he immediately recalled the ancient Chinese wisdom of promptly correcting one's error, intending to build nine temples instead, with a full plan already in his mind.

Charles's main purpose in doing so was not only to please the gods but also to erase any trace of Black Phoenix. He even planned in the renamed City of Destiny to promote the Fars Language—naturally, he would not adopt harsh measures. Instead, he planned to implement full Fars education in universities while promoting free Fars literacy classes among the lower classes.

Even in those literacy classes for the lower classes, he would promote the Beast God Shapeshifting Art, just as he had done by the Red Dragon Sea.

A main language of the Fars Language, a secondary language of Inglima Language, widespread practice of Beast God Shapeshifting Art, and blending various residents' traits to form a new cultural heritage for the Duchy of Mecklen!

—This was Charles's future main plan for assimilation.

Charles believed he could accomplish this task.

Charles was reveling in the post-war future when something in his arms grew slightly warm; he pulled out his journal and flipped to "Agmillar's Labyrinth." Previously, it had only the title page left, but now an additional page had appeared, a thought penetrating his mind: Charles Meklen had tricked Agmillar fifteen times, summoned him, and shattered his essence, becoming enemies with Agmillar, the Evil God of the Agres Sea's Labyrinth, and had completed drawing ninety-nine labyrinths, mastering them readily, and acquiring the true map of Agmillar's Labyrinth! Please proceed immediately to the Agres Sea to challenge Agmillar. If you fail to go to the Agres Sea within 28 days, 3 hours, and an additional nineteen minutes and seventeen seconds, you will be forcibly thrown into the Evil God Colosseum.

Charles was slightly startled, looking over this newly appeared page. The true labyrinth of Agmillar wasn't a plain one; it was a ninety-nine layered three-dimensional labyrinth, with countless spacetime corridors making the ninety-nine layers bewildering. Even with a map at hand, Charles still found it disorienting, and that was with him harnessing a portion of the Labyrinth Evil God's power; a normal person seeing this map would have their soul sucked in.

Charles muttered softly, "Only twenty-eight days left, huh?"

He had arrived with the buff of the Power of the Evil God, and until now, he hadn't managed to remove it.

Although Charles had tried, he had only made the Power of the Evil God he controlled grow stronger without escaping the crisis.

Kahnstan, on the other hand, was moving progressively farther away in terms of the arrivals tied to Bloody Glory!

But Agmillar's arrival time, the Evil God of the Labyrinth, kept fluctuating. Now that Charles had fulfilled all the demands of "Agmillar's Labyrinth," there was no chance for further delays.

Just as he was about to put away the journal, Charles suddenly felt a thought stir, flipping open the "Holy Light Divine State Title Voyage Log" and noticed a message left by Amon. This message didn't indicate how much time had passed, carrying a somewhat lonely, pitiable flavor.

Charles was very wary of the nickname "Father." He raised his eyebrows and thought, "Amon is my son, and Omibella my wife? I surely don't have such bizarre family members."

"What exactly went wrong to give Amon such a delusion?"

Charles decided to take some time later to release the Holy Light Divine State Title and ask in detail what was going on, but for now, that could wait. Just being able to take a break on the Dolmabahçe Number was already the limit; he had to return soon to preside over the four-nation conference.

He immediately announced Flame Paladin Vigo as the captain of the Dolmabahçe Number, which left Vigo, the only Sacred level from Southseraph, overwhelmed with gratitude.

Though Vigo had a revered status in Southseraph, he had never imagined owning a Legendary Warship!

Charles did not hand over all the ships in his possession to Vigo, but instead appointed Black Dragon to handle them. Charles's Sacred levels were not professionally trained naval officers, hence unfit for the position of a Magical Alchemy Warship captain, a job demanding specialized knowledge and experience. He planned to recruit captains from the Fars navy, which also allowed him to expand his influence.

At the banquet hall of the Dolmabahçe Number, Charles hosted a simple banquet, inviting only his Sacred levels and main officers. After the banquet, he returned to Black Phoenix City.

At that time, although Black Phoenix City appeared calm on the surface, emissaries and representatives of the four countries, as well as nobles and even royal family members, were constantly exchanging numerous documents. They argued incessantly for various interests, and every day was filled with disputes, with some representatives possessing high martial abilities even engaging in violent clashes when arguments escalated.

Even Antonio took part in two duels, one with Count Constantine and another with Count Lamoralock.

Luckily, these duels remained within a sparring context; after battling fiercely for half a day, they would end peacefully.

From a distance, Charles watched coldly, not daring to interfere personally. He saw these duels as the countries testing each other's strengths. Although Antonio was also a twenty-fourth tier Holy Knight, possessing the Sacred level Dark Night Lance, he was still considered the weakest among the peak Sacred levels.

Sacred levels also vary in rank, as do the twenty-four levels.

The probing by the two earls, if it revealed the true capabilities of Antonio, indeed would not suffice to contend with a seasoned peak veteran, negotiations would inevitably become more demanding.

However, Antonio was a seasoned warrior, especially recently having battled fiercely with Georgiadi Hadrian, though he had joined forces with Kratos, he had accumulated a wealth of experience, which instead caused the two old peak Holy Order members to regard him with new respect.

At the Four Nations Conference, Fars actually had a considerable advantage!

Mainly because, although the Allied Army was defeated by Georgiadi Hadrian, Charles had launched a sneak attack on Black Phoenix City, capturing eleven of the twelve core counties directly governed by the Black Phoenix Dynasty, and even directly "repelled" Georgiadi Hadrian.

This made Charles's reputation very peculiar; everyone knew he was not yet of Sacred level, but the nobles of various countries took it for granted that he was one of the Old Continent's famous generals, ranking among the foremost.

In addition, Antonio's rise, breaking through the twenty-four levels, also gave Fars another significant bargaining chip.

Though Byron had persuaded Count Constantine to defect, he was ultimately an outsider, and Byron's trust in him was limited, especially since he had recently been defeated by Georgiadi Hadrian, which was a significant blow to the reputation of this former top champion of the Black Phoenix.

Count Ranmalock's proposal to evenly divide the twelve direct-governed regions simply wasn't justifiable enough.

The other two empires also had their schemes, providing very ambiguous support to Count Ranmalock.

At the time when the Emperor of Brittany was coronated, Count Dadanian, who had not exerted any effort, displayed polished diplomatic skills at the conference, achieving outstanding results through alliances.

As negotiations became deadlocked, Count Ranmalock realized his weaknesses and finally gave in, sending a document and calling for Inglima's foreign minister and another Count, Sumei, to rush to Black Phoenix City, handing over the main participants of the conference to professionals.

Once Byron's foreign minister from Inglima and the other Count Sumei arrived, they also brought their own minister of foreign affairs. The Lionheart Dynasty remained unmoved, still led primarily by Crown Prince Berenshil.

The arrival of the two foreign ministers to Black Phoenix City indeed sped up the negotiations.

In fact, the alliance of the Four Great Empires to divide Black Phoenix was primarily because the war had lasted so long that both Fars and Byron's economies could no longer bear it, with Inglima slightly better off, and thus holding a higher stance at the negotiation table.

The Lionheart Dynasty had not participated in the war initially, and although it later joined the Allied Army, it invested little resources and even intentionally avoided engagement during a surprise attack by Georgiadi Hadrian, suffering the least damage among the four nations, so Crown Prince Berenshil's attitude was the most moderate.

After tense disputes lasting several days among representatives, a breakthrough was finally made; Fars took nine of the twelve core counties directly governed by Black Phoenix, with the remaining three distributed among the other three empires.

The remaining territories of Black Phoenix, based on actual occupied areas, supported the exchange of lands among nations to prevent enclaves.

Fars made concessions on its remaining territories, and the Emperor of Brittany even personally invited Crown Prince Berenshil to visit Strasbourg and reached a secretive agreement with the Lionheart Dynasty.

Inglima soon declared its agreement with the new plan, but hoped that Fars would compensate some military expenses, which the Emperor of Brittany looked into.

Byron was not actually at a loss; Duchess Mesu occupied the North, an area almost more than half the size of the Black Phoenix Dynasty, although Duchess Mesu, nominally a Byron person, had too strong an independence.

But with the three countries planning to stop bickering, Byron could only strive for the best benefits, agreeing to the latest plan.

Soon representatives of the Four Great Empires, the three foreign ministers, and the emperor of the Lionheart Dynasty, Berenshil, signed a series of important documents aboard the Dolmabahçe, including the Four Nations Alliance and territorial agreement, completely dividing the Black Phoenix Dynasty.

Although by then, the Allied Army had not entirely occupied the entire territory of the Black Phoenix Dynasty and there were still resistant forces, this was no longer significant for the four nations.

The division of the Black Phoenix Dynasty, swallowing this once empire, would allow the war-participating nations of Fars, Byron, and Inglima to catch their breath and would enable the Lionheart Dynasty to thrive increasingly.

After the alliance of the four nations was reached, the Emperor of Brittany announced on board the Dolmabahçe the promotion of Charles to Duke Charles Mecklen and per agreement, transferred the Black Phoenix territories occupied by Charles, along with the former South Seraph Territory, to the Mecklen Duchy.

Charles Mecklen from then on officially held a seat of honor in the annals of history.