"Who are you...?" Erlius’s voice cut through the hall like a blade, cold and lethal. "And what are you doing in my palace?"
Only now did the truth settle in his chest like a stone.
Marquis Vein had betrayed them.
There was no other explanation. The Imperial Palace was a fortress layered with countless protections like barriers, formations, guardians. No outsider should have been able to step inside so easily.
And yet... here an unknown person stood.
"I am Tasman Everlasting, King of the Everlasting Kingdom."
The man’s voice was calm, too calm. It carried an eerie stillness, as if everything around him was beneath notice. His eyes locked onto Erlius, unwavering.
"A calamity is coming. One that will swallow this world whole." A faint pause. "I ca to offer you a choice... Submit. Join the Blood Realm."
The air seed to grow heavier.
Erlius’s lips curled, his gaze hardening. "You speak as if we are already cornered." His aura stirred, sharp and defiant. "My kingdom will endure. We need no one."
A quiet sigh escaped Tasman’s lips.
"Then the Blood Realm..." His eyes dimd slightly. "...will simply take back what it has given."
For a heartbeat,
Silence.
Then,
BOOM!!
The ceiling shattered.
A deafening explosion tore through the palace as an overwhelming force crashed down from above. The entire structure convulsed violently, pillars groaning, walls fracturing.
The ceiling had collapsed.
Stone scread as it split apart. Massive slabs plumted downward, dragging clouds of dust and debris with them.
The ground trembled and the air howled.
Erlius and the others shot to their feet, their auras erupting instinctively, tearing through the falling debris before it could crush them. Rage surged through their veins, hot and violent.
An attack on the Imperial Palace.
Unforgivable.
And then, a voice echoed.
Soft. Reverent. Almost trembling with excitent.
"Ah... the Realm Lord of the Blood Realm has arrived..."
Marquis Vein.
His eyes burned with fanatic light as he stared upward.
"At last... I will witness his majesty."
Realm Lord...?
The words struck like a ripple.
Erlius and the others lifted their heads.
Through the collapsing void where the ceiling once stood, sothing blotted out the sky.
A shadow.
Vast. Suffocating.
A colossal hydra descended, its nine heads writhing like living storms. Each movent carried overwhelming weight, as if space itself bent beneath its presence. Its scales glead dark, tallic, and impenetrable, reflecting the faint light like blades of polished steel.
The air grew thick and heavy making it difficult to breathe.
Even without releasing its full power, the re residue of its aura pressed down like an invisible ocean.
Erlius’s pupils shrank.
’Advanced fifth stage.’
A monster that should never appear here.
Standing atop the central head was a man.
A humanoid figure, draped in shifting darkness and radiant light, the two forces twisting around his body like living entities. His presence was... wrong.
Unnatural.
Like sothing that did not belong to this world.
A chill crawled down their spines.
"That... is the Realm Lord...?" soone whispered, their voice unsteady.
All eyes locked onto him.
He stood above the hydra.
Which ant, he ruled it.
And yet...
Erlius’s brow furrowed.
Sothing didn’t match.
The aura surrounding that figure was only at the initial fifth stage.
It was obvious.
The figure standing atop the hydra had weaker aura. Far weaker than the advanced fifth-stage monster beneath him.
Erlius’s eyes flickered.
’Don’t tell ... He’s the sa as ...’
In the Bodam Kingdom, he was king, powerful, feared but not the strongest. That title belonged to another.
His father, the forr king.
A cold realization crept into his chest.
Then,
"ARGH!!"
A scream tore through the hall.
"What is this?!"
"It hurts!!"
One after another, the people around Erlius collapsed.
They dropped to their knees, bodies convulsing violently. Hands clawed at their chests, their throats, their heads as if trying to tear sothing out from within.
Veins bulged and eyes reddened.
Their screams twisted into sothing raw and primal.
Pain but not ordinary pain.
Sothing invasive. Sothing inside them.
It felt as though invisible drills were boring through their organs, grinding flesh and bone into nothing.
Too much... Far too much.
Erlius’s breath hitched as he looked around, shock flashing across his face.
"What... is happening...?"
His loyal subordinates, battle-hardened experts, were reduced to writhing figures on the ground, their dignity shattered in an instant.
And he couldn’t even understand why.
The next mont, a presence descended.
Slow and unhurried.
From the shattered ceiling, a figure stepped through the drifting dust and falling debris.
It was Souta.
He landed lightly, as if untouched by the chaos around him. His gaze swept across the hall before settling on Erlius and the others.
Cold and detached like a ruler observing sothing already beneath him.
"They are under my control."
His voice wasn’t loud but it cut through the screams effortlessly.
"Submit... or die."
Silence seed to press down beneath his words.
This wasn’t a threat.
It was a verdict.
Souta’s expression didn’t change.
In truth, he had never been one to provoke others without reason. He didn’t seek conflict. If left alone, he would leave others alone in return.
But that was before.
Before the calamity in the Land of Fire Light. Sothing had shifted. The world had shown him its teeth and now, he would do the sa.
If no one would act...
Then he would.
Even without orders. Even without purpose handed to him.
He would take control of the Depths of Banquet. Expand, dominate, and prepare. Because next ti, he wouldn’t be caught unready.
Erlius gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stand firm against the pressure.
"Why... are you doing this...?"
His voice trembled not from fear, but from fury barely held in check.
Souta tilted his head slightly.
"Tasman already told you... didn’t he?"
Erlius’s expression darkened.
Calamity? A world-ending threat? No. He refused to accept sothing so vague so convenient as justification for this.
This wasn’t salvation.
This was conquest.
And he would not bow so easily.
Erlius’s gaze flickered upward, past the shattered ceiling, beyond the drifting dust.
The monstrous silhouette outside.
The nine-headed hydra lood like a living catastrophe, its massive forms coiling in the sky, each head swaying with silent nace.
Then his eyes returned to Souta.
The aura radiating from him was unmistakable.
Initial fifth stage.
And yet, a chill crawled up Erlius’s spine. His instincts scread that there was danger. Not the kind that could be asured by rank or power. Sothing deeper. Sothing that made even the hydra feel... secondary.
’He’s not weaker... He’s just... different.’
Erlius’s fists clenched.
’Father is away at the Waterfield Clan... My subordinates are disabled...’
His jaw tightened.
’That leaves only .’
His eyes sharpened as he stared at Souta, trying to unravel the unknown.
He still didn’t understand it.
That invisible force, the thing that brought his subordinates to their knees, writhing like broken puppets.
A trait? A curse? Or sothing far worse?
"It seems..." Souta’s voice broke through his thoughts, calm and unhurried. "...you have no intention of submitting."
He slowly raised his hand and paused.
"...Hmm?"
His eyes shifted slightly, as if focusing on sothing unseen.
For a brief mont, silence stretched.
Then, a flicker of realization.
Finally.
A system window hovered before him, its presence unseen by all others.
[Quest Triggered!!]
[Submission: Make the King of the Bodam Kingdom acknowledge you as the True King.]
[Rewards: 10 Skill Points, 15 Free Attribute Points, 1 Random Card]
’A quest...’
Souta’s lips curved ever so slightly.
’After all this ti...’
Since arriving in the Depths of Banquet, nothing had responded, no missions, no guidance.
Until now.
A quiet excitent stirred beneath his calm exterior.
At last, sothing worth taking.
His gaze returned to Erlius.
A faint smile lingered on his face.
"King of the Bodam Kingdom..." His voice softened, but the weight behind it only grew heavier. "I’ll give you a chance."
He paused for a mont.
"Fight ."
The air seed to tighten.
"I’ll show you the difference between us."
He took a step forward, the ground cracking faintly beneath his foot.
"The Bodam Kingdom is already finished."
Another pause, deliberate.
"And the ’Secrets of Immortality’ you discovered..." His eyes glead faintly. "...ca from . I am the source."
The words landed like a hamr.
"The reason your subordinates are on the ground right now..." A slight tilt of his head. "...is because of it."
Erlius’s pupils shrank.
Shock crashed through him like a tidal wave.
’Impossible...’
That discovery, the treasure they believed would elevate their kingdom, ca from him?
No, it was worse.
It ant this had all been planned.
From the very beginning.
This monster...
Had already laid his hands over the Bodam Kingdom long before today.
Souta flicked his wrist.
Instantly, the invisible pressure vanished.
The screams stopped.
The writhing figures froze... then collapsed, gasping for air.
The pain was one just like that.
The hall fell into a suffocating silence.
The nobles and generals lay scattered across the floor, drenched in sweat, their faces pale with lingering terror.
They had all heard it.
Every word.
Their lives... were never theirs to begin with.
A single thought echoed through their minds.
’We are at his rcy.’
Souta’s faint smile remained as he looked at Erlius.
"So..." he step forward and asked, "What is your answer?"
Erlius exhaled slowly before he stood up. Rising from his throne, his movents steady despite the storm raging within him.
"Fine."
His voice was firm. Resolute.
"I hope you keep your word."
His eyes locked onto Souta, burning with defiance.
"Because I will defeat you."
He stepped forward, descending from his throne, standing tall, facing him.
King to king.
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