We left the swamp and entered the forest, the zone of the Forbidden City. The light source was lighting up the sky just slightly but had yet to come over the horizon.

Just as dawn broke, I saw the Forbidden City to our South. The walls were like another city, but I noted multiple towers and cannons at the top of the wall. There had clearly been large scale investments into the defense of this place.

I saw soldiers standing guard and more on patrol at the top of the wall. There was also roads on the outside of the wall to clear the terrain and make it easy to see anyone trying to sneak over a section of the wall. They were clearly taking their security very seriously.

But the walls and cannons, were good against a large force or monsters. A single powerful person or a sneak attack, like I was doing right now would bypass all those defenses. They were intimidating, but once we were on the inside of the Forbidden City they would be useless.

As we approached it would all be up to Fuyuka now. I was just a spectator and assistant for this part.

Fuyuka

I saw the walls of the Forbidden City in the distance as we kept up the same pace we had for the last day and night. This was it. Time to go all out and save my life. Hopefully these idiots would buy into this monster being the Divine Empress.

There was an extra wide road on the outside of the Forbidden City to provide clear visibility of the surrounding terrain. No sneaking up on the wall or into the city.

I could see the soldiers stiffening as we approached. They were probably figuring out what to do. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly to get my head into the right space. The Divine Empress was here, and she could order anyone killed that slowed her down. She would not be slowed down. I spoke on her behalf.

We came in shouting distance of the entrance, and we were still not challenged. The Divine Empress kept up the same pace with Hei Nu right beside her. I noted the gate was closed, but we would not stop. That had been hammered into me. Don’t stop for anything. The Divine Empress stops for no one.

“Declare yourselves!” A soldier called out from his position in front of the gate.

“You dare! All kow-tow to the Divine Empress! Ruler of the West and East!” I shouted out confidently. There was a moment of stunned silence as we kept advancing. The soldiers all dropped into a kow-tow with their heads pressed against the ground.

The soldier in front of the gate did a leap to the side and was kow-towing. “Clear the path and alert the Divine Treasury to ready all tribute. You who spoke, alert the city of our arrival and make the preparations,” I declared in my most haughty voice.

“At once, Divine Empress!” he quickly got up and ran to the gate as we continued our advance. It couldn’t be that easy, could it?

“Open the gate! Now! The Divine Empress has returned.” We advanced to the entrance through the wall and moved through the tunnel. No one stopped us. We entered the city and kept moving forward.

The soldier from before rushed over and kow-towed. That meant no one was staring at the pig in clothing. Insanity. Complete and utter insanity. “The Divine Tresurary has begun preparations and all have been alerted to your return Divine Empress.”

“She does not wish to speak at the moment and has ordered me to speak for her as her Speaker. I trust there won’t be any problems,” I said. The soldier rose up in front of us and to the side.

“Of course not, Speaker of the Divine Empress. Divine Empress, welcome back, we are grateful…” he trailed off. I could see him staring at the Divine Empress’s face closely.

“Insolence!” I called out. The Divine Empress pointed, and the soldier screamed as he was smashed with that giant sword that Hei Nu was carrying. “To dare gaze upon her injury. Let none speak of it, so it is decreed!” I called out as the Divine Empress retracted her hand.

The Divine Empress continued forward, and we both followed her on either side. The buildings lining the streets were quite tall and no one dared look out the windows, but I saw the occasional movement. We continued along the street.

We had made it past the first obstacle. There was the middle ring, the inner ring, and then the people of the Divine Treasury itself. We were a quarter of the way there. We could do it. Just one foot in front of the other, absolute confidence.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

I saw swarm of people in white armor like mine rushing forward. They all kow-towed in front of us, blocking our path. “Move, the Divine Empress desires no delays,” I said and we kept advancing. The soldiers quickly moved. One with gold on their uniform approached from the side with his head bowed.

“Divine Empress, I am grateful for your safe return. All is being made ready for you at the plaza.”

“She wishes not to be disturbed by pointless talking.” The man’s head snapped in my direction.

“Declare-“

“I am Speaker of the Divine Empress. Who came to her in her hour of need along with Hei Nu! Only the Divine Empress may object to my words or presence, now leave her sight and cease this time wasting!” The man took a step back in surprise and then looked towards the Divine Empress.

“She has no-“

“Insolence!” I shouted. The Divine Empress pointed, and he tried to raise an arm to block but was smashed into a building. The Divine Empress retracted her hand and kept moving while Hei Nu beat the soldier to a bloody paste. “To dare question the Divine Empress!”

Hei Nu fell back into place besides the Divine Empress as we continued our advance through the Forbidden City. The soldiers had quickly moved the corpse away and hadn’t said anything about their superior’s death. It was completely insane.

We were rapidly approaching the middle ring. The gate was open, and the soldiers were kowtowing on either side. Not a single one dared to raise their heads and stare at the Divine Empress. No one tried to stop us at this gate, and we entered the middle ring.

The buildings here were all three stories tall instead of two. There were actual stores and shop fronts, but they were all closed, and everyone was kowtowing. Not a single person dared to look upon the Divine Empress. It was almost too much, and it was all I could do to contain my laughter.

We continued our advance through the Forbidden City without incident. But then I saw a burnt flesh ahead and a smell lingered in the air. The inner ring to the core part of the Forbidden city.

It was probably some super monster or weapon they were preparing to unleash. Or just a testament to the horrors that the Dragon Empire and the Divine Empress seemed to relish in. You could only make the Throne of Tortured Souls so big before you ran out of room to add more heads.

This burnt wall of flesh made me wonder how many of my companions had been put into it. I made sure to keep my face neutral, not even reacting to the smell. I had already grieved and we were two gates down, with another gate and then the heist itself to go.

Everything was going too well. I was just wondering when all this would come crashing down. I would play my role up to the bitter end, for I didn’t doubt Michael would carry through on his threats. It galled me to be replacing one monster with another, but it was the lesser of two evils and spared Ren from a horrible death. I could only hope that he was doing alright with the rest of the Rising Sun Alliance.

We were rapidly approaching the gate through the flesh wall, and I saw more soldiers present. There was a group of five standing in the front but not kowtowing. This was going to be the first real challenge to the authority of the Divine Empress on her return. I mentally geared myself up for a fight as we approached.

Michael

Fuyuka was doing a great job. Two people killed and nothing had really slowed us down yet. I could look side to side out from under my helmet. The people of this city were quite thin, but had decent clothes. If I had guess they were wearing their best to kowtow to the Divine Empress as she made her way through the city. Like Sunday church or a wedding.

This was a major event. For them just to slam their faces into the ground at her passing. This is why my Empire would have no kneeling or kowtowing. Just a bow and then people could look at me and gaze in awe.

It was remarkable how much this part of the Chinese culture had come back to haunt them. Kowtowing was for suckers who were all about to be victims of the greatest heist ever. I didn’t know what the largest heist was back on Earth, but this was going to top all of them.

As we approached the center of the city, there was a smell in the air of burnt flesh or cooking bacon, but I doubted it came from pigs. The buildings had clearly been used as scaffolding for large chunks of meat that had been packed into their lattice structures.

Most of the meat was burnt or falling down. This was clearly something tied to the Divine Empress, since it had gone up in golden flames when Purgatory had been destroyed. A trump card of hers most likely. I had no idea what it was or how it worked.

Even observing through my Sense stat was unclear. There were portions with energy, but it was like the energy of any person. It didn’t look like it was being repaired or fixed either. That was surprising, to let such a visible stain linger in the heart of the evil empire, a reminder of the Divine Empress’s defeat and missing status.

I could only speculate that they hadn’t fixed it since they were waiting on funds to be authorized for release and only the Divine Empress could do that. Too bad for them and her, I was about to take everything.

There were three soldiers in white armor with gold trim standing at the entrance to the inner ring. This was going to be a tough one. From my Sense stat I could tell they had enough stats it wouldn’t be a quick fight if I didn’t use my skills. If I used my skills, then that would make it obvious who was beneath the armor.

This was going to come down to how well Fuyuka could handle the situation and fast talk our way to the plaza to pull off the heist. I got ready to pay close attention for any of the key phrases she might say and act on them in an instant with both myself and Abs.

As much as it would be nice to kill everyone. A larger group like this would need to be handled directly and hopefully made to go away. I felt my heartbeat begin to quicken as everything became that much more tense.