Queen Sonna made her way back to the carriage with a small smile on her face that wasn't fake.
It was the first genuine smile she had worn in years.... The morning breeze carried the faint scent of starlight-cured fruit from Velora's markets, and for once the sweetness didn't taste like ash in her mouth. She climbed the step, the hem of her gown whispering over polished wood and settled into the cushioned seat as though her body had forgotten how to carry weight.
Yonna's gaze snapped to her the moment she climbed inside.
'Hm? She's only been gone a few minutes…'
Yonna studied her sister like a battlefield map. Then she saw the smile and her breath caught.
Sonna looked at her and nodded her head.
"S-sister… are you fine?" The question came out softer than intended, almost afraid of the answer.
Sonna turned, eyes gentle, centuries of exhaustion finally loosened from their corners.
"More than I have been in a while…" She let her gaze drift to the window where Velora's ivory spires and floating azure lanterns were shrinking into the horizon.
"Change of plans… We're returning to Voss. I need a good rest."
Yonna's blue eyes widened further, confusion and wonder warring across her features. Yet when she looked again at the peace painted across her sister's face.... peace she had not seen since they were children, something fierce and tender bloomed in her chest.
'I don't know what happened in there… however this peace… I won't let anyone snatch it away again.'
A small, protective smile tugged at her own lips for the first time in decades.
-------
Ash had not moved from the throne. He sat frozen, golden-pink eyes half-lidded, rewatching Sonna's entire life again… and again… and again.
On one hand his human heart.... the part that still remembered being powerless, orphaned, broken... it ached with a sympathy he rarely felt. He wanted to reach back through time and wrap that warm fairy in his arms before the world ever touched her.
Then...on the other hand, the part of him that was Lust incarnate seethed with pure, volcanic rage.
'Lust is hunger, yes... But it's the hunger that's supposed to uplift, to inspire, to drive souls toward ecstasy and creation. Not to chain them. Not to feed on them. Not to torture one of the warmest hearts I've ever witnessed...'
The air around the throne shimmered with heat that had nothing to do with temperature.
He opened his eyes, exhaled slow and controlled, and stood. Right now, he was too weak…
Funny, right?
He, someone who wiped out five kingdoms with a simple sword stroke, was feeling too weak.
But the feeling wasn't wrong.
He had been in this new world (excluding time dilation) for a little over seven-eight months. In this time, he hadn't heard of any old monsters (aside from Vaeloria), no mentions of higher realms, nothing of the sort.
It was an oddity he had pushed away until now.
'It's starting to feel like everyone's on a big chess board…'
As he thought this his gaze lifted to the pastel violet sky visible through the high arched windows, then slid to the Wall of Death the biggest enigma of Elaris.
He turned away, shaking his head.
"Well, let's handle these minor things first…"
He stepped once and the throne room fell away beneath him. Wind roared past crimson-and-white robes as he took to the skies.
Sonna had given him twenty kingdoms to charm which were for Kale…
But who would be foolish enough to do that?
Now, Ash was no liar… he would always keep his word.
"My word is my bond…" he murmured into the rushing air, a little chuckle escaping him.
'Haha… said that one vampire guy who never kept his bond…'
A rare memory from Earth flashed behind his eyes... just some forgotten tv show from a now near forgotten life, and the chuckle softened into something almost fond.
Ten minutes after leaving Velora, Ash hovered high above the clouds over the Kingdom of Caldis.
He let himself fall.
No flash, no thunder, just a man in crimson-and-white descending through silver morning mist. Boots touched the grand plaza's mirror-smooth marble without a sound. Merchants froze mid-cry, guards' mid-step, children mid-laugh as glowing motes from the floating lanterns drifted around him like curious fireflies.
[Crown of Dawn |Cinderlight + Lust + Dream| – 35 % MP]
A gentle, warm radiance blossomed from his brow; soft gold and rose, spreading outward in perfect circles that rolled across rooftops, slipped through open windows, kissed every cheek within four hundred kilometers.
No one screamed.
No one ran.
They simply looked up, eyes widening, hearts stuttering, and felt something inevitable settle inside their chests like the first breath after drowning. A living crown of warm, shifting flame condensed above his black-white hair, delicate filaments of sunrise and desire woven together. Every soul that saw the light quietly surrendered a fragment of their core.
The pieces drifted upward like fireflies and became part of the crown that now burned brighter with every surrendered loyalty. Ash walked forward, boots silent on the marble, the gentle torch-glow trailing behind him like a bridal train of living dawn.
He reached the palace gates. Guards dropped to their knees without a word.
Inside the throne room, the royal family of Caldis (king, queen, three princes, two princesses) stood frozen as the second skill unfurled.
[Eternal Craving |Paradox + Lust + Phoenix Fire| – 30 % MP]
Ash spoke a single word, soft as a lover's promise carried on warm wind:
"Remember."
The word became fire.
Undying, golden-crimson flames blossomed in their pupils, licked across memories, burned away every oath they had ever sworn. When the fire died, they knelt as one, tears streaming down royal faces, because they suddenly remembered desiring him across a thousand lifetimes they had never lived.
Ash crouched before the trembling king, voice gentle.
"When Kale Voss comes asking for your support, smile and give him whatever he wants. But the moment he turns his back, remember where your soul truly belongs."
The king pressed his forehead to the cold floor.
"As you command, my eternal lord." Ash rose, crown still burning, and walked out.
Three more kingdoms fell the same morning.
In Lyrion, the dawn light painted the canals rose-gold while the entire court wept and swore allegiance to a king they had never met.
In Solthar, temple bells rang of their own accord as priests and priestesses collapsed to their knees in the streets, whispering his name like a prayer they had always known.
In Dravenholt's rebuilt capital, the reborn soldiers with silver eyes looked up at the warm crown passing overhead and felt their already-perfect loyalty deepen into something that hurt with how beautiful it was.
By midday, twenty kingdoms carried his light in their hearts.
None of them would ever raise a hand for Kale Voss again.... for now, at least.
Ash hovered above the clouds once more, the living crown flickering softly against the noon sun.
"My word is my bond," he murmured, with a sly smile ghosting across his lips.
"Well... it's time for phase 2 now... and S rank." He thought as by now he was well over the requirement for the rank. He was only missing his path and the next evolution.