Ebonreach Kingdom
A month had passed swiftly for the world of Elaris and as the old saying goes.... time waits for no one. Aster, sat in the throne room along with five individuals. The throne room of Ebonreach had never known true daylight. Eternal twilight poured through stained-glass windows the color of spilled wine, painting the black marble floor in shifting pools of violet and blood-red.
Night-blooming jasmine coiled around obsidian pillars, releasing a perfume so heavy it felt like a drug. At the far end, upon a throne carved from a single piece of star-iron, Aster waited.
Mia stood at his right hand, long white hair braided tight against her skull like fresh-fallen snow, thin silver glasses catching the dim light, red lips curved in the faintest, knowing smile. Her gown was midnight silk with her royal archivist crest on it.
Across the table waited the delegation from Lutharn Kingdom, all S-rank, all believing they were on the winning side of this negotiation.
King Maelor, skin parchment-thin, crown of pale moon-silver trembling on sparse white hair.
Queen Isolde, she looked much younger and firmer than the King, but now her beauty was sustained by layered illusions, while her eyes flickered nervously toward Mia.
And finally, Lord Marshal Draven, broad as an ox, plate armor veiled in shifting mirages.
Well, that brings us to the magnificence of the mastermind Aster. His rise had never been about slaughter. He had fattened his lower ranks by devouring hundreds of unranked kingdoms with smiles and contracts instead of swords.
His legions were swollen, bloated with bodies.
He was simply thin at the top.
Secondly, there was the beautiful royal archivist who was supposedly in possession of an SS-ranked illusion bloodline (a lie so perfect it had become their truth).
And lastly, Ebonreach sat higher on the board. Tying themselves to a higher-ranked kingdom was simply good business.
This brings us to now.
Between the two parties rested the Kingdom Oath… an Oath that could only be made between two rulers.
Between the two parties rested the Kingdom Oath... an Oath that could only be made between two rulers. One sheet of midnight vellum, letters written in liquid mana and Aster's own blood.
Aster signed first. The quill's crimson nib hissed as it carved his name; the ink ignited and sank into the parchment like a brand.
King Maelor signed next, hand trembling so violently the quill scratched. Queen Isolde signed with desperate elegance. Draven added his name in grim silence, believing the kingdom was gaining five times the manpower, avoiding a war, and securing an SS-rank bloodline through Mia.
Aster placed the quill down with deliberate slowness.
The instant the final drop dried, violet fire raced across every line of the oath, revealing the hidden clause in letters that bled shadow.
[By the signing of this Oath, the Crown of Lutharen acknowledges the eternal supremacy of the Ebonreach Kingdom. Upon completion, all sovereignty, territory, crowns, and loyalty shall transfer irrevocably to the Kingdom of Ebonreach]
The air inverted.
King Maelor's silver crown tore itself from his head with a sound like ripping silk. Queen Isolde's delicate circlet followed a heartbeat later. Both crowns streaked across the chamber as though yanked by invisible chains and slapped into Aster's waiting palm.
He closed his fingers.
Metal screamed, melted, and flowed up his arms in liquid night before vanishing beneath his skin.
Every torch guttered to black. When violet light returned, a new crown rested on Aster's brow: black iron braided with living shadow, the silver now corrupted to pulsing blood-crimson at its heart.
King Maelor collapsed to his knees, mouth working soundlessly.
Queen Isolde's illusions shattered; nine centuries crashed onto her face in an instant.
Draven froze mid-lunge, pupils blown wide as foreign loyalty rewrote his mind in real time.
Aster rose.
He turned to Mia, scooped her up bridal-style with effortless grace (one arm beneath her knees, the other cradling her back), and pressed his forehead to hers.
"It's time, my love," he murmured, voice velvet and victorious. "Ebonreach finally has its queen."
Mia's red lips curved into a full, radiant smile as she looped her arms around his neck.
"About damn time," she whispered.
Behind them, the three former rulers of Lutharen knelt in perfect, broken silence while the World Steles across Elaris flared crimson.
[Ebonreach Kingdom has annexed Lutharen Kingdom.
New territory: 39,005,000km
Current rank: 8,998]
In the eternal twilight, Aster smiled against Mia's white braids...
'Ah, the taste of stolen kingdoms is sweeter than any wine...' He thought.
------
"What news have you gathered?"
Kale's voice rolled through the crimson-black throne room like distant thunder, low and inevitable.
He rose from the throne, obsidian veined with living scarlet and stepped down the three stairs. The mist that perpetually clung to the floor parted before him as if even the palace itself feared to touch his boots.
Rhea, Sylvara, Lyrin, and Seyra knelt in perfect alignment, S-rank pressure thrumming from each of them like four different storm fronts. Sylvara spoke first, rising only to one knee, violet eyes lowered in deference.
Her voice was cool water over steel.
"Love, Velora currently has four confirmed S ranks. The first is the former princess of Solace Kingdom, Nia Solace. Second, Seris Kaelthar, she is the General of the previous Voss regime. Third is Thalion Eversight, from our findings, in their last battle his power remained vastly unknown. And lastly..."
She took a moment to speak as if finding the words to describe it.
"The fourth S rank... she is not normal... She has ten tails connected to her body along with ears.... and her power it's.... something even I haven't seen before.
Kale's eyes narrowed hearing this....
"And Ash?"
"I don't know... the last known appearance of him was months ago and he was a mere A rank... but I doubt that's the case now."
Rhea rose next, amber eyes burning with war-hunger, crimson runic tattoos flaring across her bare midriff.
"The information surrounding their army is outdated as well. Since the regime changed hands, there hasn't been any public sightings of any troops...."
Lyrin leaned forward from her kneeling position, teal-green hair spilling over one shoulder, voice honey and venom.
"Does it truly matter?" she purred. "The war has been signed already. Now that's the case, we won't have to go through the trouble of destroying the kingdoms… It will be a death match, so regardless of what they have, we will have to destroy them anyway."
Seyra's calm, regal tones followed, bronze fingers still resting on the pommel of her sword.
"Lyrin is right, knowing their top brass it what's most important. We can just take it as them having five S ranks just like us."
Kale listened in silence, arms folded, stolen winds swirling lazily around his ankles. Finally, he nodded once (slow, deliberate, the gesture of a predator who had already seen the ending).
"Good. Five S ranks... we will dominate them all. Except for the two women... Nia and the other one you mentioned.... I want to know more about her..."
Crimson mist thickened around the throne, coiling like loyal serpents. Kale turned back toward the dais, voice dropping to a murmur that still carried to every corner.
"One month more month..."
The four women bowed in perfect unison, the sound of their armor kissing marble echoing like the first rumbles of a storm that intended to swallow the sky.
------
In the cloud domain,
"Sia, you know he's walking toward his death, right?" The blonde-haired goddess asked, voice sharp with disbelief as the leaves in her eyes shone with a green glow. She sat next to Sia, on a similar throne made of clouds.
She couldn't understand why Sia would keep pushing Kale toward the blade.
"We've agreed that he's an anomaly already.... but you know as good as I do, that boy will die before he knows it!"
"Fay," Sia spoke for the first time, pale blue hair drifting in a wind that had no source, as the clouds in her eyes slowly drifted.
She watched Kale in the throne room below, her gaze piercing stone and sky alike.
"What's the possibility of the anomaly making it through the Wall?"
Fay fell silent for a long while, her eyes distant as she recounted every impossible thing she had witnessed from Ash over the past year.
"I don't know…" she finally breathed, the admission heavy.... "It should be near impossible, but he may have a chance."
Sia exhaled, a sound like the birth of winter.
"We need this anomaly removed immediately, or this game holds no value. I'm almost certain he has talents at the Ultimate rank or higher… I say we make a deal with him."
"What kind of deal?" Fay asked, voice suddenly wary.
"In return for him staying out of our champion's way, we will…"