A few hours slipped by in the slow, satisfied quiet that follows a perfect kill. The throne room had emptied, courtiers dismissed with bright, empty smiles, and Kale led his little procession through sunlit corridors until they reached the private solar overlooking the gardens. He turned first to Shia's clone who was still blushing, still fidgeting like a bride-to-be and brushed a knuckle beneath her chin.
"I'll come to your chambers tonight, princess. Wear something worthy of a queen."
The clone's painted lips parted in a delighted gasp. "Yes, my lord."
Kale dismissed her and Caelum with a lazy wave. The broken king bowed and escorted the false princess away, already chattering about wedding preparations.
Only Sylvara and Rhea remained.
Kale's voice dropped to winter steel.
"Rhea. Find Prince Aster. Tell him his new lord requires his presence at dawn for a private audience. Do not take no for an answer."
Rhea's amber eyes flashed with predatory delight, greatsword humming across her back.
"Understood."
"Sylvara." Kale's gaze slid to the violet-eyed beauty. "Contact Mother. Tell her Solace is ours... and I want the next name on the list before sunrise."
Sylvara inclined her head, the black rose at her throat pulsing once. "As you command, love."
They left without another word, footsteps fading into the dying light.
Now truly alone, Kale wandered the palace grounds as though admiring the gardens, hands clasped behind his back, boots silent on marble paths. Yet every turn was deliberate, every pause calculated. He slipped past a forgotten servant gate, descended an ancient stairwell choked with ivy, and pushed open a rusted grate that should have been sealed centuries ago.
"It should be around here, according to the instructions," he muttered, breath fogging in the sudden underground chill.
The forgotten proving ground of the ancient Seraphiel Kingdom lay beneath the current palace like a buried god's tomb. Colossal pillars of star-forged obsidian rose fifty meters into darkness; their surfaces etched with runes that still bled faint silver light. The floor was polished voidstone—so black it swallowed reflections—cracked only by the roots of a single dead world-tree that had once pierced the ceiling....
Well, thats was how Ash had found it....
....Now it was wreckage.
Pillars lay split like broken bones, craters scarred the voidstone, shattered constructs littered the ground broken in pieces.
Every weapon, every pill, every drop of elixir was gone.
In the exact center lay a single scrap of black cloth pinned beneath a broken sword. Crimson ink, lazy handwriting, mocking.
'Appreciate the gifts, Mr. SSS ♡
Try not to cry too hard, golden boy.
– Sincerely... Who knows?'
Kale's fingers closed around the cloth until the fabric began to smoke.
"Dammit! I followed your directions, and this is what you leave me?"
Silence answered.
Then a woman's voice, ancient, amused, and cold as the void between stars, poured directly into his skull.
"Mortal, watch your tongue."
The words slammed him to his knees. Blood dripped from his ears. The floor cracked beneath him.
"An unexpected… anomaly has appeared in your world. The prince, Ash Solace… he must be eliminated."
"A-anomaly? What do you—"
"Never mind it. Continue conquering. This place was meant as a reward. Since events have shifted… accept a greater blessing."
The world froze. Not Elaris (only the buried chamber). Time became glass. Space tore open like wet parchment, and from the wound drifted a crown of living black flame threaded with starless void. It spun once, lazily, then settled half an inch above Kale's head, weightless and heavier than mountains.
Reality snapped back into motion.
A status window burned itself into his vision.
[Aspect: Crown of Ten Thousand Tongues (SSS)
Passive Effects
Absolute Dominion Resonance
-Every being who has ever verbally submitted to the user (through any agreement, oath, promise, or even casual "yes") is permanently registered as a "Tongue." Their voices literally become extensions of his own.
-The user can speak through any Tongue simultaneously, no matter the distance.
-When the user issues a command, every Tongue within a 500-kilometer radius hears it inside their skull as their own innermost thought. Resistance is possible only by SS rank or higher.
-The only way to break this connection is if the user dies.
Throne-Bearer's Echo
-Once per day, the user can manifest a perfect phantom copy of yourself at the location of any Tongue. The phantom possesses 100 % of his current power and lasts until the next sunrise. You can see, hear, and act through it as if you were physically present. Perfect for instantly crushing rebellions in conquered kingdoms without ever leaving the capital.
Active Effect – Let My Voice Be Law
-For one hour per week, the user can declare a single sentence as Absolute Law across every territory he controls.
-Every living creature (below S rank) who hears the sentence (directly or through a Tongue) is compelled to treat it as immutable reality.]
Kale rose slowly, fingers brushing the invisible crown, smile widening until it split his face.
"As promised… it will all become mine."
----
In a place that existed both infinitely far and impossibly close to Elaris, two women sat in a domain woven entirely from clouds.
Floors of storm-dense white stretched endless beneath their feet. Walls of cirrus rose and fell like breathing curtains. Thrones of cumulonimbus towered behind them, crackling with distant lightning. Even the tea in their cups was condensed mist that tasted of rain about to fall.
The blonde woman lounged sideways across her throne, legs dangling, eyes bright green with living leaves instead of pupils.
"Hey, isn't that cheating?" she asked, voice like wind through new leaves.
Across from her, the pale-blue-haired woman pouted, cloud-eyes swirling with tiny storms. "It's not fair, I'm stuck with an anomaly while you get to playhouse with your little dragon. This just evens the bet."
"SSS-rank Aspect as a consolation prize? This will be the second one you've given him." The blonde raised an eyebrow. "That's bit much for 'even'."
"Tsk. SSS rank is a trinket, and you know it." The cloud-eyed woman flicked her wrist. A screen of solid mist coalesced between them, replaying a scene, it was Ash's death under Draven's fists. In their eyes they could clearly see his soul leaving, then snapping back into the same body moments later.
The blonde sat up straighter. "That shouldn't be possible."
"It's the same soul," the other said quietly. "Not reincarnation. Not possession. Something different."
"Even still...." The blonde muttered under her breath.
More scenes flashed: Ash training, Ash vanishing and reappearing, Ash standing in the Seraphiel ruins months before Kale ever arrived, Ash laughing as he looted everything.
Then the final image: A fox-lady with ten black tails with white tips and dark moonlit eyes walking along with him
The blonde exhaled a single race that made the cloud domain tremble.
"A Celestial Fox?!…"
Back on Elaris
Far below the massive World Kingdom Stele, every Lesser Stele across the world flared crimson at once.
VOSS DOMINION SUBJUGATES 4TH KINGDOM IN 6 MONTHS
SOLACE FALLS IN LESS THAN A DAY.