For the past three days the four S-ranks from Velora had carved a burning path across the skies, arguing more than advancing... which kept them circling like hawks deciding which carcass to claim first. They could have reached their destination in a single sunrise, yet every hour brought new debates about glory and efficiency, voices rising over the roar of wind until the clouds themselves seemed tired of listening.
Three Days Ago,
The kingdom stretched beneath them exactly as they remembered it: One hundred ninety thousand square kilometers of rolling hills, azure-leaved forests, and white stone cities that gleamed under the afternoon sun.
Azure banners with a single white crescent moon snapped above every gate and tower, the same banners that had flown for centuries... Musicians played on street corners, children laughed in the parks, merchants called their wares, and the air smelled of fresh bread and distant rain.
Nothing had changed yet but knowing that a great change was approaching...It made it all the sweeter.
"So, what do you guys prefer we do?" Seris finally asked, voice quieter than she intended.
Thalion's tone was clinical, detached. "His Majesty gave us two months. Collecting unranked and low-tier crowns is the safest, most efficient route."
Nia scoffed loud enough to scatter a flock of birds' miles below. "Tsk. Absolutely not. I didn't sweat for thirty months just to pick on small fries."
Vaeloria's chuckle rolled out low and velvet. "Exactly. Now tell me … how would Ash do it?"
Nia's grin turned sharp enough to cut the sky. "Ashy would probably just pick the biggest, shiniest target and take the ranking for himself."
Thalion felt the conversation sliding off the edge he had feared.
Vaeloria's full moon eyes gleamed. "We're not wasting time. Let's get this done quickly."
Seris's spear was suddenly heavy in her hand. "Wait… you two are suggesting we attack a ranked kingdom… with just the four of us?"
Nia and Vaeloria snapped their heads toward her in perfect, terrifying unison.
"Hehe… Seris, I've noticed the way you look at Ashy…" Nia sang, voice dripping sugar and venom.
Vaeloria nodded once, slow and regal. "If you want even a chance at his side, you need to stand out."
Seris's cheeks burned crimson. "Fine. Let's go."
------
And now the girls, along with Thalion found themselves floating at the 10,000th ranked kingdom.
This place had shifted places the most it had ever done in the last few months (from the Voss Kingdom to the Ebonreach Kingdom, and now the current holder of the seat): the Crysend Kingdom.
A Kingdom of pure ice with crystals that floated beneath them, nine sky-islands locked together by massive pillars of pale blue ice crystals that hummed with sub-zero wind. The air itself was so cold it burned the lungs, and every breath left trails of frost in the sky.
Nia, Vaeloria, and Seris turned to Thalion as one.
"Come on, Thalion," Nia urged, summoning her sword in a flare of pure white light edged in crimson and black. "Use your path thingy. We need intel."
Thalion exhaled once, adjusted his glasses, and activated his Path of the Unerring Eye.
|Perfect Calculation|
The world folded into silence.
For one infinite heartbeat Thalion existed in a thousand places at once: standing in the throne room, drifting through the barracks, threading between the lightning chains themselves.
Futures bloomed and died inside his skull like fireworks made of pure data, each one measured, weighed, discarded until only perfect certainty remained.
His voice came back flat, rapid, merciless.
"Five S-ranks total. King Crysend Aurelith, Crown Princess Eira, Prince Fenris, Royal Guardian Maelis, and also an Ancestor in the central crystal palace... they have about four hundred thousand one hundred and eighty-seven A-ranks."
Vaeloria cracked her neck, face sliding into perfect, emotionless calm, a blade of pure darkness already forming in her grip.
"I'll take two of them," she said, voice cold as the void. "Nia… let our friends know they have visitors."
Nia stepped forward, tricolor hair flaring like a living banner, and the sky itself seemed to bow.
[Sol Invictus Ascendancy (S)]
Her aura detonated into a perfect sphere of white-gold light that swallowed the horizon, the fire inside it burning hotter with every ray of sunlight that touched her skin, cinderlight blooming from her pores like warm torch-glow made divine.
Then she raised her sword high.
|Heavenfall Cinderblade (S – 38 % MP)|
Above the Crysend Kingdom, space fractured.
A single, colossal sword of pure white flame edged in crimson and black, spanning fifty thousand kilometers long, forged from the perfect marriage of solar fire and cinderlight materialized.
It hung for one silent heartbeat, beautiful and terrible, then fell.
For one breathless second, it seemed like the entire Kingdom looked up at the descending blade.
Nia's voice rang out, sweet and terrible.
"Knock knock."
The sword fell.