Chapter 1016 Impact on the Future
Kahn was left sundered after learning that the Empress of the Beast Empire had sided with the Demon God after Maximus' death in the original timeline, the one he prevented in this new timeline by killing the Hero of Fire without knowing how his actions would affect the future.
"What bullshit?! She was that ruthless?
How come she joined the Demon God just because Maximus died?
Isn't the Demon God literally going to end the world?" asked Kahn with a befuddled countenance.
"Ah, you wouldn't know I guess. At this point in your life, you still haven't been pulled into the matters of Empires and Gods as a chosen Hero.
Remember, the chosen Heroes and Heroines aren't just the representatives of the Gods.
But they also represent the Empires that serve these Gods and Goddesses.
Both are mutually dependent on each other because no civilization would fight a war unless offered some grand motive for it.
Like wars in the name of religion or God. Nobody can rile up an entire empire's population for a war that would decide their fates just with words even if you're an Emperor or Empress." iterated future Kahn.
"Think of this as a crusade like a Holy War between the forces of the Good and Evil.
Heroes do the job of representing the will of the gods and whether we like it or not… having a chosen warrior sent by the Gods does a damn good job of giving hope and strength to the soldiers when on the battlefield.
That's something a simple cause for survival can't accomplish because deep down, people seek their own well-being rather than care for the future of the empire.
It brings them to despair and uncertainty about life which eats them away from the inside.
An army like that will crumble from within before the battle even begins and you will have people cowering in their boots instead of warriors believing that even their sacrifice will have a greater purpose in the grand scheme of gods than just dying a nameless death without any meaning to it." explained the future Kahn about the psychology about great wars.
The current Kahn also understood the meaning of those words because even on Earth, there had been many wars that had similar history throughout many millennia.
"As for Kaali's decision to join Demon God instead… It wasn't necessarily wrong or 'evil' as per se. Given those circumstances, many other empires and their emperors or empresses would have done the same. It was a very pragmatic choice from her point of view as the leader of an empire." iterated the Martial Emperor.
However, in the very next moment, his entire countenance turned grim.
"But as a result…
Our master, Romulus Lykaios, tried to stop her.
In the end, master Romulus killed Kaali Adisesha during the Trial by Combat.
Being once a former member of the 8th Hero of Darkness' party as well as an experienced leader… his main priority was to kill the Demon God and not aid the Demon Emperor in any way.
And he rightfully won the title as the next Emperor of the Nadur Empire." he revealed.
"Isn't that a good thing? How did I change the fate of the Beast Empire then?" asked current Kahn.
"That's what I thought too back then. But the world doesn't operate on our convenience or as we plan.
Instead of stopping the empire from forming an alliance with the Demon Empire during the Great War…
It ended up causing a civil war as all the other Heavenly Kings who usually followed the Beast Empire's customs now had no reason to stay their hand.
Most of them suddenly chose to act upon their ambitions given that Maximus was dead, Kaali too had died and they were without a grand purpose to fight the war itself.
As a result, the Nadur Empire ended up splitting between 4 regions under the 4 Heavenly Kings." said future Kahn with a sense of regret.
"And using this opportunity, the Elven Empire and the Vulcan Empire who joined hands later with Ervalen and Axel as their Emperors, attacked the divided Beast Empire.
At least half of the population died and only the regions under the Heavenly King of Fire, master Romulus, and the Heavenly King of Light, Haldor remained." revealed the future Kahn.
Shock!
Now current Kahn understood how his actions affected the fate of Beast Empire.
"At that time, I was only a 7th-stage saint who was still making a name for myself and had just established myself as the Emperor of the Rakos Empire." he iterated sternly.
"But my involvement in the Great War was simply too late.
Because I wasn't allied with any of the other Empires and couldn't help master Romulus because not only Rakos Empire didn't share any borders with the remainder of the Nadur Empire…, but his connection to me would have given others justification to massacre the rest of what remained of the Beast Empire." explained the Martial Emperor with an incredulous countenance.
"All the Heroes did join hands once for the namesake and I too fought against the Demon Emperor.
Among all the other Heroes, I was the only one who was equally matched with him.
Given that I fought only using my martial arts and was the emperor of Rakos Empire…
I soon gained the moniker of Martial Emperor as the whole world had now finally learned about Kahn Salvatore, the Hero of Darkness." revealed future Kahn in a stoic voice.
"But when I killed the Hero of Time many years later… the situation of the war was far more severe.
Because Axel, the Hero of Fire was originally a demonic creature from his original world.
He then joined with the Demon God too and received powers just like the Demon Emperor." he revealed.
This was a sudden revelation that made current Kahn open his mouth in shock.
One hero was dead, an Empress was dead and one hero joined the Demon God at the crucial time. Kahn could imagine the impact of these events on the Great War. "At that time, many years had passed and I hunted down all of those saints from that group.
Using their cores, I turned into a Peak 8th-stage saint myself.
If this bastard Gideon hadn't tried to kill me just because of his ego…
My next target was going to be Axel." explained the Martial Emperor.
"And do mind… At my peak, I was the only Hero who fought against the Demon God himself and still barely survived while 6 Heroes and Heroines were killed by him in a single day." revealed future Kahn.
Flabbergasted!
At this point, the current Kahn was simply too stunned to even react.
"If I'm not wrong…
You have saved more than 8 billion lives because of your actions in the Vulcan Empire, Zivot Empire, and the Nadur Empire.
The social reform in the Rakos Empire, because you faked your death, was just a cherry on top." spoke future Kahn in an almost praising voice.
"The most favorable outcome was you meeting a Royal Dragon like master Vildred.
Without even meaning it, you not only saved billions of lives but also created many allies that I would have never managed to do in the original timeline." spoke future Kahn.
"Even so… despite messing around a lot; you made many decisions differently and better than me.
Although very risky… you came out triumphant from many of the life-and-death situations.
Good things you have abilities I didn't have." stated future Kahn calmly.
"What do you mean? You're me from the future, right?" asked Kahn, slightly confused.
"Yes, I am. But unlike you…" replied future Kahn and made another grand revelation…
"I did not choose those 3 Divine Abilities."