"W-what the hell is going on, Thalion!" Alaric's roar cracked across the shattered sky, blood flecking his lips as he floated amid the drifting rubble of what had once been his palace. The entire time the old scholar had never raised a hand, only watched with those fractured lenses, sweat carving pale trails down his temples.
Nothing about this night had been a surprise; two weeks ago, Thalion Eversight had seen this exact moment in hundreds of futures, had watched Ash stride through the star-iron doors like he already wore the crown. Every contingency, every artifact, every layered formation had been born from those visions.
The necklaces hanging around their throats, were etched with ancient arrays that dulled foreign soul brands to a whisper, had been his design. The ninety-four percent certainty that the most repeated timelines always came true had been his gospel. And now every last one of those futures was ash.
"Thalion! What's the next move!" Queen Sara's voice cut through the wind, sharp as breaking ice, as golden-pink spheres of impossible flame streaked toward them like fallen stars.
FWOOSH!
BOOOOM!
The paradox balls detonated in perfect unison. Five bodies were hurled through the air like ragdolls, crashing in smoking heaps around the unmoving scholar. The fire that kissed their skin did not burn; it froze, crystallizing blood in veins, turning breath to hoarfrost inside their lungs.
With gritted teeth and shaking hands they forced mana through their meridians, shattering the paradox frost at the cost of five percent of their total reserves each. The price was steep, but the alternative was becoming statues of living ice.
Thalion's voice came out a broken whisper, barely audible over the howling void. "All paths are blurry… no, gone. The ninety-four percent certainty is zero now." He stared up at the monster in human skin who floated above the ruins like a god who had grown bored of mercy.
Absolute Sol Invictus had swallowed the night whole; every photon for hundreds of kilometers bent toward Ash alone. He was the only light left in the world, a solitary sun cloaked in flesh and paradox flame.
The five survivors staggered to their feet, ripping corks from elixir vials and swallowing mana-replenishing pills that glowed like captive stars. Ash watched with open glee, golden-pink eyes glittering with predatory amusement. He had already marked Seris and Thalion as interesting because of their talents, but interest was cheap. What he needed now was proof. Proof of unbreakable will, of grit that refused to bend even when the heavens themselves knelt.
'I need real grit.'
He spoke aloud, voice lazy and warm, as if he were complimenting the weather. "I gave you enough time to impress me. You did okay." His gaze swept the six of them like a blade across throats. "Now I want to see who's worth keeping."
He dropped.
No flight, no aura, just pure deliberate descent until his bare feet touched empty air above the rubble and the air held him as solidly as marble. Light condensed beneath his soles into a perfect circle of blinding day while the rest of creation drowned in perfect eclipse.
Round two began.
Ash dashed straight at King Alaric. The king bellowed, lunar and gravity mana erupting in a desperate sphere of crushing force. The moment it touched Ash's circle of absolute day, gravity itself ignited and burned away; the lunar light faltered and died. Ash stepped through the collapsing sphere like it was morning mist.
[Absolute Density] compressed into his right fist until the knuckles carried the weight of an entire mountain range.
BOOOM!
Alaric's sternum imploded. His massive frame folded inward and blasted backward, carving a three-hundred-meter canyon through the western wing before slamming beneath the collapsed bell tower.
Ash never broke stride.
Queen Sara and Prince Cael attacked in perfect mother-son harmony. Twin tidal waves of absolute-zero ice and crushing gravity spiraled toward him like divine judgment.
Ash raised one lazy hand.
Every photon in the surroundings answered. Light condensed into a single lance of molten gold hotter than the heart of a star and punched clean through both attacks. Ice sublimated into harmless steam; gravity shattered like crystal.
In the span of a heartbeat he was between them, left hand closing gently around Sara's pale throat, right hand around Cael's. For one frozen second he looked into their eyes. Panic. Fear. Uncertainty. The moment he saw those things, he smiled.
Cinderlight, his favorite expression of light, brown-black but beautifully bright all at once, blossomed inside their chests.
BOOOM!
Ribs exploded outward in a spray of superheated bone and blood. Organs flash-cooked in an instant. What was left of mother and son fell in smoking ruin, dead before they touched the ground.
Mirene screamed, a sound of pure grief and rage that cracked the night itself. Hundreds of perfect illusions blossomed, each wielding blades of mirage-light that could sever souls.
Ash exhaled.
Light folded into another perfect sphere around him. Every illusion that touched that sphere simply ceased to have ever existed, erased from sight and sound. He walked forward. Each step deleted dozens of Mirenes until only the real princess remained, trembling, tears freezing on her cheeks.
He stopped an arm's length away.
"You're beautiful," he said softly, almost tenderly. "But beauty without backbone is just decoration."
One finger flicked.
A needle-thin beam of golden-pink cinderlight pierced her forehead.
In real time, Princess Mirene Velora was unmade. No corpse. No blood. Only the faint scent of burnt moonlight lingering where she had stood.
Four down.
Seris and Thalion remained.
Seris stood wreathed in crimson ash, the Eternal Pyre Heart beating visibly beneath her skin like a second, furious sun. She met his eyes without fear, only raw, defiant challenge.
Thalion's fractured lenses finally slipped from his face and shattered on the rubble below. For the first time in five centuries the future was completely dark, and the relief in his ancient eyes was almost serene.
Ash smiled, genuine and bright.
He reached behind his back and drew a sword forged of pure light, no hilt, no guard, just a screaming blade of molten gold and paradox pink that hurt reality to perceive.
"Let's dance properly."
He blurred.
Seris met him head-on. Twin ash-forged greatswords ignited in her grip. She roared, and the battlefield became her domain as [Ember's Dominion] turned every speck of ash she had ever birthed into a storm of molten blades that could level cities.
Ash shook his head with a playful tsk. 'Tsk, tsk. Can't you see all light bowing to me?'
Yet that very defiance made something warm bloom in his chest. She knew it was futile and still swung with everything she had. That was the grit he needed.
He walked through the storm.
Every ember that touched his skin turned gold, reversed, and returned to Seris faster than thought. She crossed her arms, ash armor hardening into obsidian thick enough to stop siege cannons.
CRACK.
The light-sword carved through guard, armor, and the Eternal Pyre Heart itself, stopping a hair's breadth from her throat.
Ash leaned in until their noses almost touched, smile playful and delighted.
"Ding ding ding," he sang, voice light as a child announcing a winner. "Congratulations, you've earned yourself a spot in my kingdom."
He pressed two fingers to her forehead and activated [Eros Whisper - 10% MP].
"Now sleep~"
Seris's eyes fluttered shut. She collapsed among the ruins, crimson braids pooling like spilled blood, alive and claimed.
The blade vanished.
Thalion never moved.
Ash turned to the scholar, head tilted in curiosity.
"By now I know you're the reason behind this elaborate plan," he said conversationally, as if discussing the weather. "Tell me, in how many futures did you live?"
"None," Thalion admitted, voice steady. "I simply chose the one with the best chance.... but even then..."
Ash laughed, short, sharp, and utterly delighted.
"Welcome to the new regime."
He then deactivated his talents.
In the next heartbeat, light returned to the night. Lanterns flickered back to life across the capital. Stars reappeared in the heavens. The eclipse ended because Ash allowed it.
New banners were about to be raised.
Velora belonged to him now, crown, corpse, and soul.
[EL +200]
[EL: 7,392.5]
[A/N: 10-50 EL is universally gained for killing beings. Due to his physique, he earned 5x more.]