When the supreme scepter of the Great Stone Dynasty passed into the hands of Henry Bailey XV, this old empire was already struggling financially, with the national treasury running a deficit. Fortunately, Emperor Henry Bailey could be considered a ruler of restoration. During his reign, he doubled the territory of the Great Stone Dynasty across the grasslands, seas, and forests, earning a sliver of vitality for the empire to continue through wars of plunder.

　　It was during Henry Bailey's reign that the last great peak of magitech development occurred—a genius magitech engineer, whose talent was truly unprecedented, invented the Eternal Energy Reactor. The energy crystals required to build a single magitech weapon exceeded those needed for an entire magitech army of over a thousand mechanical warriors, so Henry Bailey XV had never ordered the construction of these new superweapons. The advent of the Eternal Energy Reactor reduced the construction cost of magitech weapons to less than a tenth, and only after this technology was fully matured did Henry Bailey XV order, with the well-being of the nation as the limit, the construction of one new magitech weapon per year.

　　The most expensive among them, the one that consumed the most effort in its design and could be called the highest crystallization of magitech craftsmanship in the Great Stone Dynasty, was named the Magic Emperor, becoming the supreme chariot of Henry Bailey XV.

　　However, even the wisest have their moments of folly. In his old age, Henry Bailey XV made a grave mistake: in a drunken fit, he raped the wife of a favored courtier. In truth, the lady was half-willing, and even the courtier took pride in his wife having caught the emperor's eye. But after the lady became the emperor's mistress, she conceived a dragon seed and gave birth to a boy.

　　As the emperor's illegitimate son, this boy of complicated status enjoyed many honors he should not have had, and also endured many insults that had nothing to do with him. He could not bear that his mother was such a wanton woman, nor that his nominal father was so disgraceful, nor that His Majesty the Emperor often summoned him to the palace and looked at him with ambiguous eyes.

　　At the time, he did not know that His Majesty the Emperor felt guilty toward his illegitimate son, nor did he know who his real father was. He even thought that this awe-inspiring emperor wanted to have both mother and son. Every time this man entered the palace, he was both shocked and angry, filled with resentment and fear. After coming of age, he resolutely joined the army, achieving repeated military successes and becoming a brilliant rising star in the Great Stone Dynasty's military.

　　Many stories happened in between, enough to fill a book a foot thick if written in full, but the ending was not a happy one. In the historical records Adam Bennett had read, countless people cursed that scandal full of licentiousness. Even Adam Bennett himself, when studying the historical materials, had many criticisms of Henry Bailey XV's later years.

Chapter Fifteen: Nether · Light · Doomsday

　　This man, seemingly cursed by abyssal demons, after gaining the support of a mysterious necromancy sect, raised an army in rebellion and personally slew Henry Bailey XV, ascending the imperial throne of the Great Stone Dynasty and proclaiming himself Emperor Brooks!

　　Not long after he seized the throne, the chaos of a demon invasion broke out.

　　During the reign of this emperor—who was never recorded in the official annals of the Great Stone Dynasty—he used seven hundred thousand undead demons and nearly two million vengeful souls of civilians who died in the chaos to create a magitech weapon. This magitech weapon, the only one built during the rule of Emperor Brooks, was, like its master, also called Emperor Brooks.

　　Compared to the Emperor, the Undying Dragon Emperor, and the Magic Emperor, Emperor Brooks had no technological breakthroughs; it could only be called the most mature product of magitech. However, its necromantic nature gave Emperor Brooks a poor reputation. This magitech weapon never had the chance to appear before the public and, together with the emperor who had only a nickname and no official title, was sealed away in the history books.

　　The one who overthrew Emperor Brooks's rule was a relative of the imperial family of the Great Stone Dynasty, supported by the largest magical sect on the Ice Continent, the Five Star Society, known in history as George Washington I. George Washington I never escaped the control of the Five Star Society throughout his life, and because of this, high-end magitech, originally monopolized by the royal family of the Great Stone Dynasty, spread into the hands of some magical sects, opening the precedent for magical sects to monopolize magitech.

　　Nevertheless, the Five Star Society's support for George Washington I was very strong; they even built a dedicated magitech weapon, the Light Emperor, for George Washington I. Before George Washington I ascended the throne, two palace coups and the chaos of the demon invasion caused many technologies to be lost in the turmoil. In terms of technology, the Light Emperor could no longer compare to the chariots of previous emperors of the Great Stone Dynasty, but because a treasured artifact of the Five Star Society was used in its construction, it far surpassed its predecessors in comfort, luxury, and entertainment functions. The purpose of building the Light Emperor was never for war, but to display royal majesty to the common people.

　　Soon, the story reached the last emperor of the Great Stone Dynasty, James Adams I. This final emperor of the Great Stone Dynasty may never have seen, in his entire life, the chariot that nominally belonged to him—the very Doomsday Emperor that Adam Bennett is now piloting.