The massive explosion leveled the entire Royal Palace, and the rising black fire scorched this area to a cinder, leaving intense pollution on the ground that made it impossible for anyone to approach.
Rod was initially surprised at how a show for entertainnt could be so realistic but soon found that inside the Royal Palace, not only had several people been blown to death but Horus was also injured.
He imdiately realized that this was not a staged plot but a real attack.
The Upper City imdiately entered a state of ergency, with countless High Rank Guardians rushing out from every corner, and a vast number of Fire Priests falling from the sky en masse. Their fiery red robes quickly beca the dominant color of the Upper City. The massive Holy Fire Sacrificial Ground quickly closed in, and Fire Guardians stood packed both inside and outside the ground.
The air tensed, and aside from the guards, not a soul could be seen on the streets and alleys, but Rod could still move freely.
He ca unobstructed to what was now a pile of ruins before the Royal Palace and saw the King in the plaza on the eastern side.
Many senior officials of the Royal City were also here.
To Rod’s surprise, it seed that the culprit had already been caught. A group of Judgers escorted several ragged individuals who were kneeling in the plaza.
They looked dispirited, their hands and feet shackled with shining Spiritual Energy manacles.
Horus lay nearby in a terrible state, with black flas swirling around his right arm, unable to be extinguished.
His consciousness was hazy, his soul being scorched by the Black Fire, and several Fire Priests transported him to the Healing Church.
Figures kept falling from the sky or materializing from the air, gathering around the King.
As soon as Rod approached, the severe gaze of the First Elder, Ando, swept over.
"Rod, what is going on? As the captain of the King’s Hand, how are you performing your duty? How could such a key site as the Royal Palace suffer an attack? With your abilities, how could you beco the flag of the Royal City?"
Before Rod could speak, the Great Judge, Manolo Bana, spoke up.
"Your Excellency Ando, Rod is after all young and inexperienced. It is very normal to have oversights. As long as we don’t entrust him with important matters, I believe there won’t be any serious problems."
As soon as these words were spoken, the brows of the people around the King furrowed.
This seed to be excusing Rod, but in reality, it was belittling him.
As a mber of the Royal City’s high echelon, not being entrusted with "important matters" wasn’t much different from being marginalized—an outright insult.
Talinus, one of the three Chief Governors, also said, "The attack this ti was indeed very covert; the Doomsday believers even used the Queen’s Secret Charm from Sigles. It’s not surprising that Rod failed to notice this. Luckily, Your Excellency Manolo Bana has the ability to interrogate souls and did not let those Doomsday believers escape."
Ando’s tone grew even colder.
"This is no excuse. As the captain of the King’s Hand, you should be able to protect against all unforeseen events. If a Queen’s Secret Charm can slip past him, what about the even more mysterious Book of Destiny? The Captain of the King’s Hand unable to guard the Royal Palace is a joke!"
Manolo Bana revealed a cold smile, but it vanished in a flash. He said with a sincere tone,
"Your Excellency Ando, please don’t be angry. I believe this was only a mistake... Rod, the new hero of Troli, has the ability to impress."
Ando replied coldly, "What do you an a mistake? This ti the mistake is the Royal Palace; what about next ti being the Holy Fire Sacrificial Ground? When the Doomsday believers co with Black Water to extinguish the fire, is he also going to make a mistake?"
Listening to their conversation, Rod frowned.
This explosion was so bizarre, and the culprits were ironically caught by his archenemy Manolo Bana. With these two eagerly slandering him here, he strongly suspected there was sothing fishy going on.
He glanced at the King.
The King shook his head subtly without a word, signaling him not to speak.
Indeed, after First Elder vented his anger, he no longer ntioned the incident, only arranging the follow-up work.
And he requested that Manolo Bana imdiately use special interrogation, directly dissecting the souls of the Doomsday believers to extract information, to clarify all the details and motives of this attack.
Only after everyone had left did the King speak.
"It seems the situation is more serious than we thought. So opponents are blatantly colluding with the Doomsday believers."
Defense Chief Talinus, also a participant in the Holy Fire project and one of the King’s staunchest allies, took one drag after another from his cigarette and slowly said,
"There definitely is a problem here. We were planning to attack the Royal Palace to create a pretext, and just as we were about to do so, the Doomsday believers really attacked it. Now that they’ve been caught, the pretext is useless; you can’t search anyone unconditionally."
Rod scoffed, "That Manolo Bana and Talinus are surely among the conspirators. Just raid them, and we’re bound to find evidence; we might even trace the whole network of those involved."
The King shook his head slightly.
"Not necessarily. The Doomsday believers are most adept at creating rifts among us. They have had a grudge against you, and they would naturally suppress you if given the chance. But that does not prove they are Doomsday believers. Treating them blindly as Doomsday believers will only amuse the real ones."
Talinus explained,
"Investigations into Manolo Bana have already gone through three rounds. Aside from minor issues, no evidence of collusion with the Doomsday believers has been found. Chief Governor Talinus, due to participating in bets concerning you, has lost 1.4 million silver coins, so it is quite normal for them to bear a grudge against you."
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