"What the fuck is the meaning of this!?"

"That’s my line! What the hell are you bastards plotting?!"

Around the table, men and women wearing gray uniforms were arguing with the ones wearing black capes. Then they were both arguing with people wearing white togas. The reason for their argument this time was a variety of recordings projected on the table.

Each of the recordings showed succubi attacking vampires. It had only been three days since the attacks began, and it was now almost certain that succubi and vampires were at war.

None of those present had a clue what was going on, but each was sure of one thing; it wasn’t us. Each of the three groups was sure that they were not the ones who sent the assassin after the succubi queen. As a result, they pointed fingers and blamed the others as the treacherous schemer.

The marshal oversaw this chaos in silence. just watching the others argue. And alongside her, a few other gray-uniformed officers sat in silence.

They were the only ones who knew what was actually going on. They were the ones who planned this as well as the ones who sent an assassin.

Now they just had to wait a little bit longer, and then finally, after years of preparations, they would bring the dawn of the second empire, not in dedication to a dead vampire but as a proper nation serving its citizens.

As the argument was heating up, the sound of multiple footsteps was heard from the hall. Soon, the door opened, and an armed group dressed in gray entered.

"In the name of the empire, you are all under arrest!"

The arguing parties looked dumbfounded at the six soldiers brandishing their weapons at them. A moment of silence followed for a bit until one of the councilmen abruptly stood up, his face red in anger.

"Colonel, do you have an idea what are you doing? This is a–"

"Yes, this is a coup, Mr. Councilor."

The marshal and her fellow conspirators stood up and joined their brothers and sisters, who had begun arresting the others.

"You treacherous bitch! I knew you couldn’t be trusted!"

A woman covered in a black cape decorated with a gold wolf pin yelled out as she pointed at the marshal accusingly. The marshal merely glanced at her. That rich from you, you lunatic.

Bang

Bang

Bang

"Truly, it is ironic for such words to come from your mouth, lady ZERO."

Before the marshal could respond, a feminine voice accompanied by gunshots came from the entrance.

When those present in the room looked in the direction of the voice, they saw three of the marshal’s troops laying on the group with a bullet wound each. And over them stood a dark-skinned wolf girl holding a pistol, her face scared with a big grin on it.

Right after the grinning girl, four women with black armbands depicting the imperial crest entered. Each of them was visibly ready to kill.

"Keep the sarcasm and arrest these traitors."

Despite being irritated by her subordinate's remark, the ZERO was relieved by her unexpected appearance. Thinking that all would be resolved now, she started to get up.

But she stopped as a bullet passed near her.

"It appears there are still some that do not understand the circumstances."

The expression of the wolf girl darkened as she spoke. Everyone was shocked that she shot at ZERO. And of course, ZERO herself wanted to demand an explanation.

"In the name of the empire, all of you are under arrest for high treason and some for the attempted murder of her majesty."

The girl glanced at the marshal and her sister as she voiced out the last part.

"How preposterous! By what evidence do you dare accuse us?!"

"That’s right!"

"We are loyal followers of her majesty! Who are you to dare to doubt us?!"

The wolf girl’s declaration had united the rest of the room against her. Not that she cared. After all, everyone present was an enemy.

Marshal’s group was stunned, not participating in the latest round of arguing. Obviously, they expected some setbacks during their coup, but never did they expect that there would be another one going on.

But regardless, for the sake of the future, they had to do something. And so, a succubus from the marshal’s coup began chanting a spell quietly. targeting the wolf holding a gun.

"Ugh!"

But when she was about to finish her chant, an ice spear pierced her body and pinned her to the wall.

All went silent, looking franticly at each other to see where this ice spear came from. Only the wolf girl and her group didn’t search. They didn’t have to; they knew who launched it.

"Attempting to cast a spell against oprichnina officer acting under the order of the royal family, as well as betraying the law of the empire. And yet you dare to wear the uniform of my sister’s army."

A cold voice, accompanied by the clapping of high-heeled shoes, sounded from the hall. And from the hall emerged a short, silver-haired girl with clearly vampiric facial features.

Dressed in a black dress that resembled those worn by the vampire royal family, she scanned everyone in the room with her dark crimson eyes, which were as cold as her voice.

As her eyes landed on them, a deep sense of fear overtook them. The beast men present could hear their instincts scream: run! Run and don’t look back! as did the few succubi and elves present. And the rest of those present, the vampires felt their instincts scream at them to avert their eyes, and kneel down. not daring to make a single sound.

But none of them dared to move when the scarlet eyes of a predator landed on them.

Marshall stared at the girl. Confused, she wanted to deny what she saw. Right, that isn’t her; she has to be an imposter. She reassured herself.

"What a bold move to bring someone to pretend to be part of the royal family. Just how desperate you can be?"

Marshal found it hard to speak, but she forced herself to do so. all the while deep within her a voice saw yelling at her; shut up you idiot! You will get killed! She ignored this inner voice. After all, the one in front of her was fake. There was no way that the long-dead Imperatrix would suddenly come back to life. And the princess, after the last two millennia, should not be alive as well.

The air pressure increased as the temperature of the room decreased. Oblivious to this, the wolf girl pulled out a stack of papers and threw them on the table. Shortly after that, the marshal was pushed to the ground by the air pressure.

"All of these are carefully collected evidence put together by my agents. Conversations, meetings, transactions, etc."

The wolf girl spread the papers across the table as she spoke. Several of the room’s occupants went pale when they saw pictures of their secret meetings. Along with dates, each of their words being transcribed word by word. The wolf girl picked one of them up and began reading.

"22. 08. 2573 Anema, The marshal Likari: Not to mention that overaged brat… just how much did we invest in keeping her alive? And just because Miyako said ‘it is for the sake of her majesty’ no one is questioning it. It makes me wonder whether is this bunch even worth saving.

Colonel Tiena: Unfortunately, as long as everyone trusts Miyako we can’t do much about it. That is why we need to stick with the plan. On that note, there is a rather delicate problem. This report came from the capital earlier.

The marshal Likari: If they saw this… it would just prove that Miyako was right. It would justify everything we went through… and it would not matter that it would just be a delusion. It will be hard to make sure that doesn’t happen. And there is no way we can entrust Oprichnina with it.

They would most likely start worshiping her then… branding us as silenens and come straight for our heads.

Colonel Tiena: I may have a plan that… if successful could solve two of our problems. But I will need money, a lot of money.

The marshal: What for?

Colonel Tiena: A mercenary. With them, we can get rid of this obstacle, as well as resume the war while utterly avoiding oprichnina."

Marshal turned pale as the wolf girl read aloud the secret conversation between her and her sister, word for word. This, combined with her failed coup, clearly showed her treason. But seemingly not thinking that this was enough, the wolf girl pointed out a few pictures on the table.

A picture of Marshal’s younger sister hiring mercenaries The said mercenaries then set the royal palace on fire and left their headless bodies in the palace garden. But it was the last picture that everyone was focusing on. On it was a young, clearly vampire girl with silver-blonde hair. She was lying unconscious and bleeding from several wounds.

The silver-haired girl looked at the pictures. Soon her expression went dark, as she slowly turned her eyes toward Marshall and her sister.

"In the name of my divine sister. I, Nika shil Leranpe hereby sentence you to death. Based on my biased judgment, all members of the council of me agree with this sentence. And it should be carried out immediately."

The two sisters shivered under the cold gaze. As much as they wanted to fight their way out, they couldn’t even move, let alone fight. So they trembled as they watched two women approach them and hang a sigh on their necks. before dragging them out of the room.

…

On the "square,"  as the remnants of the crimson empire called the big meeting hall. Several soldiers and food producers stopped what they were doing to look at the balcony decorated with the flag of the Empire.

Two figures of a vampire woman were dangling from the balcony. Each was dressed in the uniform of the imperial army with their insignias ripped off. Around their necks a sign with texts: Silenen collaborator and defeatist. On one and: Silenen scum on the other.