A month passed swiftly since Ash copied the essence of Origin after doing that he simply returned to his Kingdom and waited as everyone exited the Haven. Currently floating in the skies of the Capital of Velora he was standing in front of a little more than one hundred thousand S-ranks that hovered in perfect formation, the air itself warping under the weight of their combined presence.
At the very front stood Nia, Vaeloria, Thalion, and Seris. A dozen meters behind them, Sonna and Yonna floated side by side (one smiling gently, the other stone-faced).
Ash stepped forward, hands clasped behind his back, crown blazing like a second sun.
"My troops," he said, voice lazy and absolute, "I won't give you some long speech to rile you up.
Your job is simple.... eliminate everything that stands in your path. I don't care how weak they look. Leave nothing standing. Leave nothing alive."
He turned to his lovers and generals as he smiled.
"You four… go crazy."
Then his gaze settled on Sonna and Yonna.
"Once Kale shows up... I will make my appearance."
He knew well enough what Yonna was planning, and he had no thoughts of steering her away. But Sonna...
"…It's fine," she said, voice carrying to every soldier. "This is a world where power rules all. I'm old enough to know what happens next. He declared war on you… so whatever happens, happens."
"Well then," he said, raising one hand. "Go make a statement." A single wave of his fingers sent everyone away, as one hundred thousand S-ranks vanished in a ripple of crimson-white light.
Ash reappeared alone in the throne room, sprawling sideways across the throne like a bored King
"We can meet now, no?" he called to the empty air.
Silence answered for three heartbeats.
Then reality froze.
Every speck of dust hung suspended.
The torches stopped flickering.
Even the sound of his own breathing vanished.
Two translucent women materialized ten meters in front of the dais.
Sia, with her pale blue hair drifting in a wind that did not exist and eyes of clouds that slowly drifted. and Fay, with her blonde hair, and eyes of leaves that slowly turned and rotated.
Sia spoke first, voice soft.... but heavy as it rang inside of Ash's mind.
"Nice to finally meet you… anomaly."
Ash's crown flared.
He smiled.
----
The Battlefield of the War was not as one might expect. It wasn't how the Voss Kingdom marched onto the soil of Stormrend or how Ash's companions wrecked the Cyrsend Kingdom. Instead, the war was a declaration and agreed upon. This allowed for Kingdoms to experience minimum casualties and damage, but it also turned it into an all-out death match.
The battlefield was chosen by the Velora Kingdom... or more specific it was chosen by Thalion.... and what he chose was simply an open area. No where to hide, no high or low ground, nothing but space to live or die....
On the western rim, the Voss army waited. Three million bodies they were mostly A-rank, sprinkled with B and C that gathered below, the main legion stood in the skies on blood-red mist that crawled across the air like living carpet.
At the front: Sylvara, Rhea, Lyrin, and Seyra.
Rhea cracked her neck. "They're late... Are they scared... or just arrogant?"
Lyrin pouted playfully, teal-green hair whipping in phantom wind. "Who cares... they should just hurry up. I could still be wrapped in Kale's arms!"
Seyra scanned the empty eastern horizon, bronze fingers tightening on her sword. "Something feels wrong. The air is too still."
Sylvara said nothing, violet eyes narrowed.
Then it hit.
A pressure so violent, that fifty percent of the Voss army dropped instantly with everyone below A rank being grounded, foreheads slamming into the ground as knees buckled.
Even the four women staggered, before holding themselves firm with their own auras.
From the east, one hundred thousand S-ranks appeared in perfect silence.... no war cries, no drums, just the sound of the wind whistling.
Nia led the center, tricolored hair blazing.
Vaeloria walked beside her, ten tails fanned like living shadows.
Seris and Thalion flanked them, expressions unreadable.
And at Vaeloria's left (red-streaked black hair, crimson mist coiling around her ankles) floated Yonna Voss.
Sylvara's eyes widened. "Yonna…?"
Rhea snarled, spear igniting. "Traitor."
Lyrin's smile vanished. "Why is she—"
Seyra's knuckles went white on her sword. "One hundred thousand S-ranks… and Kale's aunt? How... is this possible?"
The weight of it settled like a mountain.
Thalion stepped forward, expressionless, and floated the crimson-white war contract toward the neutral stele hovering above the crater's heart.
Sylvara's hand trembled, but she sent the Voss contract to meet it.
The stele ignited.
Golden letters seared themselves across the heavens, visible from every corner of Elaris.
TOTAL WAR!
VOSS KINGDOM VS VELORA KINGDOM
BEGIN!!!!
The moment the final character burned into existence, the sky cracked open.
One hundred thousand S-ranks moved.
And the battlefield that was unnamed would soon gain one that would perhaps be etched into history.
---
About a month ago when returning to the Velora Kingdom from the Death Wall. Ash heard a female voice inside of his head that sounded cold and almost divine.... He couldn't explain it but the tone of her voice was different. At that moment she only asked for him to reach a secluded location and call out to her.
He already had a faint idea of who the being was so he decided to go ahead with it. Which brings us back to the Velora throne room.
Ash looked at the two transparent figures with the same casual smile. His heart sovereign had surprisingly begun to work as well. However, it was only at 1% and hadn't budged again.
"Anomaly, you say?" His voice was warm, amused, utterly unafraid. "Care to tell me why I earned such a cute nickname?"
He appraised them as they answered.
[Sia *Add last name from a High Human clan*
Age - 800 Years Old
Race - Prime High Human
Rank - First Calamity]
[Fay *Add Last name from a High Elven clan*]
Age - 800 Years Old
Race - Prime High Elf
Rank - First Calamity]
'Hmm? That's all I can see?' He thought as he was already intrigued beyond belief. However first he needed to see what these two wanted.
"Because... that's what you are.. an anomaly." Sia said before continuing. "From the day you died and were reborn, we've been watching. That was the first time we noticed something odd.... souls in this world don't return once dying. Theu add into the wall..." She took a moment too gauge Ash's reaction, but he didn't budge at all.
"Long story short, we've noticed everything you've done... and it's ruining the game us two are having." She said as her true personality showed as she pouted a bit.
Fay shook her head and elbowed her side as she begun talking.
"Right, your entire existence is something we cannot continue to allow."
Ash frowned and spoke.
"So... you've come here to what... kill me?"
Sia actually laughed... and it was bright, crystalline... and also terrifying.
"If we could touch you, anomaly, we wouldn't be talking."
Fay's eyes narrowed. "We can't kill you and we also can't bind you.... But we can offer something no number of stolen crowns will ever give you."
"Oh? and what's so irresistible?" Ash asked with an arch brow.
"The path to more power" Sia chimed in as she waved her hand summoning a projection. In the projection it was something Ash knew all too well. It looked exactly like the Elaris from Vaeloria memories... although there were faint changes but most of it remained the same. Continents were the same, yet different. The Silver Court of Vaeloria's memories loomed in the far north, nine moons orbiting it like obedient hounds.
Ancient forests of crystal sang in voices older than language. A sky was still violet mixed with colorful clouds.
"This," Fay said quietly, "is the other side of the Death Wall."
The image shifted.
A young woman (no older than eighteen) with scales of molten amethyst and wings of living fire stood atop a mountain that pierced the heavens. Her draconic eyes burned with the same cold certainty Ash saw in his own mirror.
"This is my champion," Fay continued. "Similar to Kale Voss. Both were chosen, blessed with the highest aspects, the strongest bloodlines, the most perfect perks we could grant."
Ash's smile finally thinned.
He had speculated before that this all felt like the chess board of higher beings... but to think... it was exactly that.
Seeing his frown Fay got to the point as the projections continued to change.
"What you call the world of Elaris… is not a world at all." She let the silence stretch, heavy as Ash's faced warped into one, he hadn't made ever...
"And for someone like you... it's nothing more than a decorated cage..."