As the white light faded, the scene outside Londinium slowly revealed itself to those within the city.
Mountains had been ground into dust. Plains had collapsed into vast basins. As for the dukes' coalition army outside the city—there wasn't even ash left behind. Hundreds of thousands of troops had been annihilated in a single strike, wiped out in an instant.
What remained was a colossal crater, centered on Londinium and spanning hundreds of kilometers in diameter.
Staring at this sight—like divine punishment descending upon the mortal world—the soldiers on the city walls stood utterly stunned, their eyes vacant. This world-altering spectacle had long surpassed the limits of their comprehension.
At that moment, Jibril descended from the sky and returned to An Xora's side, openly seeking praise.
"Well, Master? I controlled it pretty well, right? That Heaven's Strike was right at the limit of not affecting other cities. The commotion just now should've been felt by pretty much every country on Terra."
"Indeed. Not bad."
Looking at Jibril—who was breathing evenly, face calm, clearly showing that the attack had cost her next to nothing—An Xora nodded in praise. Then he patted Talulah, who was standing beside him with the same dazed expression as the soldiers.
"Alright. With the dukes' coalition wiped out, you can arrange for the army groups to fully take over Victoria."
With the coalition gone, there were naturally no longer any obstacles to Talulah's takeover of Victoria.
Over the next ten days or so, she commanded the army groups—now fanatically devoted after witnessing a portion of Jibril's power—to make the rounds of Victoria's major cities.
Thus, the strongest nation on Terra formally changed hands.
Londinium, inside the royal palace.
With the Shadow Troops ferrying them over from Ursus and Kazimierz, Mebius, the Doctor, and Kal'tsit, who had come along with the Doctor, were now gathered in the council chamber. Together with Talulah and An Xora—who had brought along Eblana and Reed in their roles as close attendants—they were discussing the merger of Ursus, Kazimierz, and Victoria.
However, aside from An Xora and Mebius, the others' gazes unconsciously drifted again and again toward Jibril, who floated quietly behind An Xora and Talulah.
After all, the gigantic crater hundreds of kilometers wide outside Londinium wasn't just for show. Anyone who arrived here and wasn't blind could see it.
And An Xora had made no attempt to have Talulah conceal what happened that day. As a result, even those who hadn't been present—like the Doctor and Kal'tsit—had heard detailed accounts from the soldiers of what had occurred, and who was responsible.
The Doctor, being amnesiac, took it relatively well.
But Kal'tsit, with her vast experience, was deeply shaken by Jibril's power.
This was no longer something that could be described as a humanoid catastrophe or a colossus. The Twin Empresses of Leithania could unleash Originium Arts on the scale of natural disasters, but that required extensive preparation and territorial amplification. Even godlike behemoths had fallen under the siege of armies led by the True Dragons of ancient Yan.
Yet the Jibril standing before her had annihilated hundreds of thousands of troops with a single blow, leaving behind a crater more terrifying than any Catastrophe.
What was even more frightening was that, according to the soldiers' accounts, this kind of attack seemed to require no prior preparation—and perhaps not even much energy expenditure at all.
After all, Jibril currently showed not the slightest sign of fatigue.
Was this the confidence An Xora had spoken of—the confidence to destroy all nations on Terra even without implementing the Originium Project?
Kal'tsit cast a deep look at An Xora, then quickly averted her gaze before he noticed.
In the end, it was Talulah who brought the discussion back to the main issue.
"As you can all see, Ursus, Kazimierz, and Victoria have now all been brought under our rule. Kazimierz has already been integrated into Ursus's territory, but Victoria is different."
In name, Kazimierz was merely a defeated nation, and its incorporation into Ursus was reasonable—few would object. But Victoria, strictly speaking, had not been conquered in war with Ursus. Rather, Talulah had legitimately ascended the throne in Londinium and then eliminated the rebellious dukes.
In other words, Victoria was not a defeated nation. It still retained its sovereignty as an independent state—its only peculiarity being that its empress was the same person who ruled neighboring Ursus.
Under such circumstances, whether Ursus absorbed Victoria or Victoria absorbed Ursus, both options would provoke fierce resistance from their respective populations. This wouldn't be rebellion—it would be national sentiment, a natural unwillingness to suddenly become "lesser" than before.
This was also the first major internal issue Talulah faced after ascending the Ursus throne with An Xora's assistance—one that couldn't be solved by simply killing everyone who disagreed.
Thus, An Xora proposed that Talulah, as sovereign of both nations, merge Ursus and Victoria—along with Kazimierz—into a brand-new country, minimizing resistance from the populations of all three.
That was the reason this meeting had been convened.
"But if we announce the merger of three nations at a time like this,"
the Doctor said after a moment's thought,
"won't it severely provoke the other countries?"
If Talulah had merely led Ursus to conquer Kazimierz and become the dual monarch of Ursus and Victoria, that would've been manageable. Other nations would be fearful, but not pushed to the brink.
However, if two of Terra's top-tier powers were merged into a single super-empire, the surrounding nations would immediately explode in panic.
From the moment Talulah inherited the title of Duke of Chernobog and stormed the Holy Capital to become Empress of Ursus, the rest of Terra had come to see her as a fervent war hawk.
To them, any nation ruled by this Red Dragon Empress had only one guiding principle: relentless outward expansion.
And now, if the most terrifying war machine on Terra—Ursus—combined with the strongest nation—Victoria—into a single entity, anyone with half a brain could tell that this galaxy-class dreadnought of a nation would soon set its sights on them.
"So what?"
Mebius said, sounding bored.
"Jibril's attack on the dukes' coalition should already have been felt across all of Terra by now. Aren't those countries curious about what happened in Victoria?"
"After announcing the merger, just hold the founding ceremony in Londinium and invite representatives from all nations to attend."
The crater hundreds of kilometers wide outside Londinium was still right there. After witnessing such a sight firsthand, even the most irrational nations would calm down and look at the situation rationally.
"Agreed. Then there's only one final issue left,"
Talulah said.
"What should the new nation be called?"
"Why not call it the Holy Terra Empire?"
Sitting calmly in his chair, An Xora proposed a name that was concise, to the point—and guaranteed to make every other nation on Terra collectively explode once again.
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