Kale retreated into the king's private chambers alone, the heavy doors sealing behind him with a sound like a coffin lid. Crimson silk draped the walls, torchlight flickering across gold-inlaid floors, yet the room felt colder than any tomb.
He lowered himself cross-legged onto the bare marble at the chamber's heart, spine straight, palms resting on his knees, and forced every breath to slow until the world narrowed to the steady drum of his own pulse.
He was not like the blind rulers of unranked kingdoms who clawed uselessly at the A-rank ceiling; he had been chosen before he drew breath. A vague silhouette of starless violet and molten gold had appeared to him while he still floated in the womb, voice soft as poison, promising everything in exchange for every crown....
At the time he couldn't speak, couldn't think properly, but he heard well enough. The rest of the story is as you already know...
"All crowns…" he whispered, tasting the words like wine. Mana answered instantly, surging up from the floor in thick crimson ribbons that wrapped around his body, weaving tighter and tighter until they hardened into a cocoon of liquid ruby light. Inside, his voice rang out clear and merciless, echoing beyond the chamber walls themselves.
"My vow… I vow to devour every crown that does not belong to me, and I will never allow a single throne to exist outside my mouth… I vow to be the one true ruler."
[You have ranked up.]
[Rank - Low S rank | Existence Level - 20,300]
While he underwent evolution, he remained unaware that every action, every word, was being overheard by Yonna herself.
On the other side of the door...
'A path? Is that what's needed to take a step forward… to make a vow that defines your existence? she pondered, before silently before quickly leaving.
-----
A week later,
The coronation plaza of Ebonreach lay drowned beneath a sky that had forgotten the color violet entirely; only black storm clouds churned overhead, so thick and low they seemed to press upon the very stones like the lid of a coffin.
Lightning crawled across their underbelly in slow violet veins, but never once struck the ground, as though even the storm feared what was about to happen. No sun, no stars, only the weight of eternal dusk and the smell of wet ash on the wind.
Hundreds had been summoned from every surrounding unranked kingdom (kings, queens, dukes, high generals, merchant princes, high priests), all of them escorted here under banners of truce and curiosity, all of them seated now in tiered obsidian stands that rose like the ribs of some colossal beast.
They had come to witness the crowning of the gentle white-haired king who promised a new era of peace. None of them, except the twelve cloaked figures standing motionless at the foot of the dais, knew the truth.
Aster Solace walked the processional alone.
He wore absolute black, a long coat of living midnight silk that drank every stray photon, its high collar and hem embroidered with twelve shifting colors that bled into one another like oil on water, black always dominant.
Upon his white hair rested no crown yet; only the empty space where one would soon rest. His face was still the one they trusted: gentle, sorrow-touched, golden eyes soft with compassion. The plaza held its breath as he ascended the thirteen steps carved from a single piece of starless obsidian and turned to face the gathered rulers of a dozen lands.
He smiled the warm, benevolent smile they had all come to see, as his began voice rolling out eloquently and wise, the perfect cadence of a king born to rule.
"I thank all those for attending this coronation of mine. I won't make this too long, as it will be a short and sweet spectacle."
Polite smiles rippled through the stands; a few rulers even nodded in approval.
"For many decades the Ebonreach Kingdom has been looked upon as nothing more than a land drenched in darkness. For years we have been called lawless, feared, shunned."
He rose his hand, then a flicker of his light showed for just moment since he didn't use a skill.
"I the new King of Ebonreach will be the light. I offer all of you peace and unity!"
Cheers began to rise.
Mia, stepped forward from behind the throne and placed the dark Crown of Ebonreach upon his white hair. Aster turned to her with that same gentle smile, golden eyes warm, and the plaza roared its approval.
'Now... the grand finale...'
"Now, before I end. I would like to appreciate you all for your contributions!"
The moment he said that the twelve elites scattered as far as possible.
For weeks the twelve elites had walked among the guests as servants, cupbearers, and pages, pressing invisible runes into the rims of wine goblets, the undersides of plates, the embroidered cuffs of robes, even the salt itself.
Hundreds upon hundreds of faint grey marks now glowed to life simultaneously across the stands... on crystal stems, on golden cutlery, on the very food resting in royal mouths.
No one noticed the faint grey glow until it was too late.
|Ashen Sigil (A)|
BOOOOM!
The plaza vanished beneath a chained orchestra of grey fire.
Twelve became sixty became two hundred and forty as the sigils detonated in perfect thirty-second waves. Obsidian stands cracked like eggshells; protective artifacts flared and shattered in heartbeats; kings and queens who had ruled for centuries clawed at their own chests, trying to rip away the burning runes branded directly into flesh and soul.
A duchess in silver mail screamed as her personal barrier collapsed and the next wave took her head clean off.
A high priest channeled holy mana that lasted half a second before the sigil on his tongue detonated and painted the row behind him with red mist.
Six hundred lives ended in the first ninety seconds alone.... some vaporized outright, some left as smoldering husks still trying to crawl.... Screams turned to animal howls; the stands became a churning sea of panicked bodies trampling one another toward exits that no longer existed.
Every thirty seconds another wave rolled through, precise as clockwork, grey fire blooming like deadly flowers among the crowd.
[+12,000EL]
[Rank- Peak A Rank - EL 20,080]
Aster stood untouched at the center of it all, black coat fluttering in the furnace wind, crown perfectly seated, gentle smile never wavering.
Twenty-three crowns (twelve from the initial fallen kingdoms, eleven from the foolish rulers who had worn theirs here today) rose from the carnage on chains of shadow, orbiting behind him like obedient planets around a hungry new sun.
He tilted his head, golden eyes sweeping the ruin with scholarly curiosity.
'Now… to find the final requirement…'