Emperor Justinian's first speech, during the official funeral of Lia and Frederick. An event attended by thousands and broadcast to the entirety of the Empire.

Greetings, citizens of the Empire. At this point, many of you must be asking yourselves. What is going on? Some of you must be questioning how or why I came to be Emperor, even though I did not participate in the Great Race. Others among you must be confused about why am I even holding this funeral for two people who, ostensibly, should have been my political rivals. Others might simply fear for the future, since something like this has never happened before. To all of you I say this: Fear not, I will tell you now, all about the past and the future. I promise that your fears and doubts will all be dispelled.

Now, I must apologize to the more sensitive among you. The moment the funeral of my brother and sister was announced, you may have expected eulogies for the both of them. There will be nothing of the kind. Instead, I offer to you this eulogy, not just of a single person, but of a whole era that we must now leave behind to walk boldly into the promising future. My brother and sister were noble and admirable people, but they were forged by a culture that is dead and which will kill the Empire with it if it is not renewed with new meaning and new actions.

There was a time when The Great Race held real meaning! Great warriors clashed and one of them proved to be above all others, thus the most worthy of being charged with the defense of this great Empire. Over time, however, this great tradition has ossified into something resembling a game or a needlessly gruesome play. Instead of great warrior charging at each other with their great companions, the Great Race became more and more about brutal cunning, Assassinations and meaningless clash of people under each candidate. It warped and distorted into something that served the ego of each candidate instead of proving their worth.

Think about it, over so many races now, how many candidates to the Throne lost their lives in their beds, cowering in fear, as result of a scheme, compared to gloriously facing their opponent in battle? Too many to count. Ironically, the only race out of the last seven to conclude with more candidates dying in battle, compared to being assassinated was the one that just concluded. Due to this, it could be forgiven if some of you might believe that this marks a return to a time when the Great Race actually meant something. But I implore you. Please, do not be fooled!

The result of this Great Race is the logical next step in the degeneration of this once beloved institution. If one looks into the past, a more disastrous, destructive and sacrificial Great Race cannot be found. Never before, have so many people died in order to satisfy a grisly ritual that could be performed in a much more peaceful manner. Trestia, one of the great jewels of the Empire, eternally shining in the plains, as a beacon of hope that one day humanity might once again live outside walls, lies in ruins! Taken over by the Infected, it has now become a source of fear, death and decay, showing us a glimpse of a possible future where we fail to keep the true enemy at bay! Almost the whole of its population now lies rotting and aimlessly shambling its once prosperous streets, looking to pull any hapless victim they can find into the dark abyss that is the Infected! So many people killed, and how much more blood will have to be paid in the future if we are ever to have that shining beacon of hope back again?

And who, my dear citizen of the Empire, is to blame? I must tell you, with outrage in my heart and tears in my eyes, that it is our fault! Every single one of us! The Great Race made it difficult for my sister, Lia and my brother, Alexander, to work together for the protection of the people of Trestia. Their failure to protect the city cost Alexander his life, and Lia partly redeemed herself by taking as many as she could with her when she fled the city. However, how many more could not have been saved, if only the damned communications blackout was not such an important custom in the Great Race? Just so that those who participate in it can play at living before long-range instant communication, we have completely thrown away any chances of having changed Trestia's destiny.

But enough of ignoring the killing of people by people. One thing is the incompetence of being unable to defend against the Infected, it is an entirely different matter when recklessness and brutality claims the lives of people. Never before has there been such fierce fighting in the streets of cities, never before have people destroyed so much of people's homes and lives. Thus, I tell you this with certainty: This uncontrolled slaughter can be the only future if we allow the institution of the Great Race to stand. It has corrupted and taken the lives of too many people.

Take for instance, my brother, this brother of mine, who I had no choice but to kill. Frederick Freiburg. He was a violent and temperamental man. His preference for shows of strength and power was a characteristic that would have led this empire to ruin. However, this was not all that he was about, and I promise this to all of those who felt enamored by his vision, I will bring about true meritocracy in this Empire, from highest to lowest, all will have the chance to show their capabilities. Understand this, it was only the crumbling and rotting old order that brought the worst in my brother to the forefront. Blind as he was, he could not see any way forward, except violence, because it was all that the recent past could teach him. But I see it! A way to stride into the future without bathing the whole Empire in blood and leaving us vulnerable to those who would harm us from the outside! I will build a more healthy consensus, a more adaptable consensus. This, I promise!

Do not forget my sister, my beloved sister, who I avenged, but I which I could not have let sit on the Throne. Lia Freiburg. Cunning and manipulative, these are likely adjectives which will always be attached to her, sad as that may be. But how else could she be in this the forest of deadwood that is the politics of the Empire? Allowed to sit on the Throne, she may well have let the Empire sink into the swamp that it currently sits in, but that is not everything that she saw. I promise this, to all who were impressed by her administrative skills, I will not let the lessons that she taught us while governing Nessa to go to waste. However, instead of just bringing prosperity to a small, isolated city, then destroying most of it to stake a claim to the Throne, I will take this prosperity to the whole of the Empire. Not only that, I will make use of the same small light which she used to purge the parasites at Nessa, which she left behind, and I will turn into a great illuminating flare that with burn away all of the deadwood. This, I promise!

Right about now, some of you might be asking yourselves: Why have I not yet referenced or made an analogy with the Flame, the all-important and much beloved deity of the Empire? I have a confession to make: I dislike and do not believe that the Flame will lead us to the proper path of salvation.

How could it be any different? How could a faith that so brazenly defends human sacrifice lead to anything but the murderous and decaying society that we find ourselves in? Every day, more and more people cut pieces of their bodies, not only to substitute for mechanical parts, but also to feed the endless hunger of the Flame for human bodies, dead or alive. Some people, taking their devotion to the extreme, even give up any possibility of ever having children. It is time to remove the veil from the eyes of the people of the Empire!

From today onward, the Flame will no longer be the official religion of the Empire, their more barbaric practices will be banned, in addition to having any public functions heavily regulated. Their inquisition will no longer be allowed to run all over other people for the slight perceived offense or so-called heresy and their more toxic members will be properly arrested and prosecuted, according to their heinous actions.

Among the more innocent of you who worship the Flame, I would like to present an alternative: Over two-hundred years ago, a benevolent prophet showed himself among the people of the Empire. He talked of much the same problems as I am talking now, abuse, oppression, violence, destruction, among many other things that the Empire needed to purge from itself. Unfortunately, too many paid no heed to his words. Not only that, but he and his followers were bitterly persecuted by the followers of the Flame, in an attempt to stamp out what they saw as a great heresy, but the truth and good cannot be suppressed forever.

Today, I stand in front of you, ready to take up the truth, in pursuit of a better future for the Empire. Just like you, I do not know this wise man's name. It seems that only his closest friends knew of it, not only to protect him from the authorities, but also so people wouldn't get lost in it and worship him instead of his teachings. The sanctity of life, the importance of every human individual. I am sure that as you know more of them, all those of good nature will understand that it is a better and healthier faith than what we leave behind.

With all of this said, that is what I want all of you to understand: This is a time of renewal that we are going through. It is time to shed the carcasses of the past and the dead body that drags us down into the world of the dead with it. The lessons have been learned, and it's time to leave old teachers behind in order to carve a new path for us. Do not be afraid, for in shedding all of these things we are ready for the challenges of the present and future. I will show you a better future than the past and present, take my hand and believe in me, believe in the nameless man who loved humanity, not the Flame that threatened to consume it.

The Empire has endured more than a thousand years, walk with me and I will show you the path that will lead it to endure a thousand more!

\

The applause was deafening in the square. Ookami, Mercenary Prince of the Wildlands, covered from head to toe to hide his figure chuckled at it.

“Heh, Garbage really does talk a pretty good talk. But I wonder how will he be able to keep all the forces that probably don't like what he's saying at bay.”

The mutant next to him, equally covered, replied in hushed tones.

“Looks like we are going to be busy, but after all it's for the city of our children. Until Deliria is built, we will cut his enemies' heads. And if he one day decides to renege on his promise... Then his head will be the one to roll.”

Both left the square, to prepare for what came next.

END OF VOLUME I - The Last Race