I created my own system

Chapter 405: Its Failing.

There was a crack.

Something that should not have existed.

The absolute defense was now being dominated.

The dome of light over the capital had stood for nearly two thousand years.

It was supposed to be an unbreakable shield that protected the people.

Yet now, a new concept seemed to reign over it.

"What is going on?!"

Apollo rose from his seat and immediately checked the footage from the underground sewers beneath the capital.

Cold sweat began raising from neck while his mind refuse to believe what he was seeing.

"I was certain an imperial squad was sent there."

He said without any room for correction.

'Jeremiah, tell me Nova was sent there, right?'

Nova was a special squad created to eliminate high-profile enemies.

They were a group trained to kill as quickly and efficiently as possible.

'Check if anything happened below,' he ordered.

Jeremiah immediately responded.

[Creator, the squad was indeed sent. I confirm they clashed with Emilia a while ago.]

"Okay… I'll check as well."

The screens switched rapidly one after another, so fast that his friends felt dizzy just watching them move.

Finally, after several scrolls, the footage stopped at a dark recording.

Apollo unconsciously gritted his teeth as the footage began to settle.

At the heart of the capital—

Emilia stood.

Her hand pressed against the inner wall of the barrier.

Her breathing remained steady.

Her eyes—

resolved.

"Hurry, Gilgan. We must leave before this place collapses…"

She ordered as fragments of the magic circle flickered from being tampered with.

"Your Highness, the king has given word—"

Emilia simply nodded as they rushed outside.

They had succeeded and were now moving on to the next phase of their plan.

Contrary to their success, Apollo and the rest of the class were left shocked.

"What is going on? Why is Nova lying on the floor?!" Blair exclaimed while pointing at the unconscious figures.

"What exactly happened?" Agnes asked worriedly.

"Something's wrong." Apollo muttered.

Keith immediately looked toward him and asked.

"What do you mean?"

Apollo did not answer right away.

Because he was still calculating.

Still investigating.

"Nova doesn't lose like that," he finally said in a low voice.

"They are more than capable of dealing with a small infiltration force."

"If they're that strong, then why are they lying there like that?" Arabella reasoned while zooming in on the unconscious soldiers.

"You think they underestimated her?" Keith asked.

Apollo shook his head.

"No. Nova doesn't underestimate targets. They take proper precautions during elimination missions."

He paused.

Then added,

"Remember… they are used to killing people."

The room suddenly felt colder.

Blair frowned.

"Then how…?"

That was the question.

How did Emilia win?

Not just survive.

Win.

In a very overwhelming way as well.

Something was definitely wrong.

Apollo's calculation couldn't predict this outcome.

And he knows that a variable came in that immediately mess his plan.

'Jeremiah, check if you can interfere with the barrier's collapse while I continue investigating here.'

[Understood, Creator.]

After giving the command, Apollo's gaze sharpened as he focused on the feed again, tracing the residual mana patterns left behind throughout the sewer system.

He needed to ensure that whatever Emilia used could not be repeated again and cause another disaster.

As he activated a spell to analyze the fragments scattered around the unconscious soldiers, he sensed unstable mana lingering everywhere.

Whether it came from the weakening barrier or the aftermath of battle—

he could not be certain from this distance.

The boy couldn't help but click his tongue with his own helplessness.

Then—

a discrepancy.

"…An artifact," Apollo whispered while zooming in further.

Aaron leaned forward.

"You saw something?"

"Not directly," Apollo replied. "But the mana surge doesn't match Emilia's signature… or her attendants."

He tapped the console again.

"She must have used an artifact to incapacitate Nova after failing to defeat them directly."

Apollo continued pressing commands across the console.

His investigation was far from over.

"Now let's find out why the shield is crumbling."

A faint reconstruction appeared—

distorted and incomplete, yet enough.

The entire class watched silently as Apollo studied the remaining runes embedded deep within the sewer walls.

The grand protection.

The dome of light.

It had endured wars, calamities, rebellions, and the rise and fall of countless kings across the continent.

To the people of the Empire, it was absolute.

Eternal.

Sacred.

Unbreakable that symbolize the power of the imperial family.

Apollo move and more sigils emerge.

Soon the screen was filled with his magic. With the consoles guide his spell turns into a map that made everything clear to him.

The dome was strong.

But its weakness had existed from the very beginning.

Hidden.

Buried beneath the city long before the first stones of the capital had even been laid.

A flaw no one knew about.

A crack only one bloodline could awaken.

Two thousand years ago, when the capital was first being constructed, the first king of Aileen had personally overseen part of the magical circuit beneath the city.

To the Empire, he had been a loyal ally helping construct the capital's defenses.

After all, the destruction brought by the Era of Extinction had made humanity believe in unity.

However—

that trust had been a mistake.

The king had only been an ally against the monsters.

Never against the first Emperor.

So in secret—

he planted a fault line deep within the circuit's foundation.

A dormant fracture.

Invisible.

Untouchable.

Layered beneath centuries as cities rose and fell above it.

A weakness designed to remain asleep until one of his descendants called upon it.

And tonight—

Emilia had awakened it.

"Shit…"

Apollo could only mutter after realizing the sheer scale of the Aileenian plan.

"How insane can he be? Planting a flaw into the city's main defense just because he wasn't crowned the hero?"

The young man massaged his temple in frustration.

No wonder he had sensed nothing.

"That thing they buried has aged for two thousand years. They knew exactly what they were doing."

"The barrier…" Apollo continued slowly, "was never absolute."

He leaned back and exhaled heavily.

"It had a flaw built into its foundation."

Keith cursed beneath his breath.

"So the Empire built its strongest defense on something already compromised?"

"No," Apollo corrected.

"They built it… without knowing it already belonged to someone else."

A sigh escaped from Braiden, fearing that something catastrophic was about to happen.

"So basically they marinated the dome before cooking it," McKenzie muttered, earning an immediate glare from Arabella.

"Not funny," she replied.

"…That's enough. We should focus on countering them," Apollo muttered. "Aside from the artifact she used, they've prepared many things long before this war even started."

Understanding slowly settled over the room.

Heavy.

Uneasy.

"…A contingency," Samael whispered.

His eyes widened slightly.

"This was planned by the ancient king of Aileen, Joaquin. He created a dangerous obsession that was strengthened generation after generation. Meaning they probably have many more weapons prepared."

Apollo remained silent.

He had never considered the possibility that an entire kingdom would plan rebellion for thousands of years.

Yes, he had noticed Aileen's suspicious behavior over recent decades—

but never to this extent.

Never to the point where it became a plan nurtured across centuries.

"Shit…"

That was all he could say after another notification appeared from Jeremiah.

[Unfortunately, Creator, we cannot find the source of the dome's impending destruction. The runes used for the shield are too old and are not recorded in our archives.]

The young man had no choice.

He immediately commanded the Knight to move.

Using the Authority of Time, the Knight temporarily halted the dome's destruction.

However—

it would not last long.

Apollo needed to fully analyze the barrier's magical circuit if he wanted to completely stop its collapse.

Things were slipping beyond his control.

Something he could not afford.

As countless possible consequences flashed through his mind, Apollo bit his lip in frustration and anxiety.

His emotions spiraled further and further until the system intervened to calm him down.

At the same time, Emilia and her remaining soldiers moved to regroup with the surviving Aileenian forces.

"Your Highness, the barrier hasn't completely broken yet," Gilgan reported after they escaped the sewers.

The massive golden shield trembled every second.

Yet for some reason—

its collapse had begun slowing down.

The princess clenched her teeth, worried that their grand plan had somehow been compromised.

"Did they manage to repair the damaged circuit?"

Concern flickered across her face—

but only briefly.

She quickly calmed herself and placed faith in the abilities of her ancestors.

"Your Highness…"

Gilgan was panicking, but Emilia merely shook her head.

"Continue forward. Nothing is wrong."

Her eyes remained firm as she spoke.

There was no doubt within them.

Only unwavering conviction toward victory.

"There is nothing to worry about, Gilgan."

She looked toward her servant as if reassuring him to simply follow her commands.

"This war. This suffering…"

Her footsteps became steadier as she continued.

"All of this… ends here."

The princess had already made her declaration.

And now—

all that remained was for the shield to fall.