The club erupted into chaos.
Velvet curtains snapped in the shockwave.
Tables flipped.
Players scrambled for cover as armored elites poured through the blasted wall, weapons blazing with neon mana.
Sai Ji rose slowly from the booth.
Not because he wanted to.
Because something inside him stood up for him.
A primal heat surged from his spine, burning through muscle and bone like molten silver. His fur bristled. His breath steamed. His heartbeat thundered loud enough to shake the chandeliers.
The silver-haired dancer backed away, eyes wide but glowing with fascination.
"My king… what is happening to you?"
He didn't know.
But the world did.
"SOVEREIGN AWAKENING — PHASE 1"
"ALL PLAYERS: SUBJUGATE OR FLEE"
A dozen armored players spread into formation.
"FOCUS THE TARGET!"
"KEEP HIM CONTAINED IN THE CLUB!"
"DON'T LET THE BOSS RESET!"
Sai's eye twitched.
Boss?
In a strip club?
Are you kidding me?!
The first swordsman charged.
Sai didn't think.
His body moved.
With a snarl that rattled bottles off the bar shelves, Sai lunged.
His clawed hand—massive, furred, shaking with instinct—swung forward.
CRACK—!!
The player didn't fly backward.
He disintegrated, pixel shards scattering across the club like burning confetti.
The others hesitated.
"He one-shot a tank."
"No way—what level IS he?"
"Spread out! CC him!"
Sai's vision narrowed.
Everything tinted red.
Shapes sharpened.
Heartbeats thumped in his ears—every player's pulse, every dancer's breath, every flicker of magic.
A mage tried to stun him with a lightning bolt.
Sai turned his head slightly.
The bolt stopped mid-air and fizzled harmlessly against his cheek.
He smiled.
A slow, wolfish, terrifying grin.
Then he moved.
BOOM — BOOM — BOOM
Each step cratered the floor.
He ripped a halberd in half.
Headbutted a rogue so hard they burst into pixels.
Grabbed a shield-user and threw him through the ceiling.
The dancer gasped, half terrified, half mesmerized.
"This power… so this is the King…"
Two more players launched fire spells at him.
Sai swiped his claws.
The air cracked.
A wave of invisible pressure blasted outward—shattering the spells, shattering mirrors, shattering every player who wasn't fast enough to dodge.
"This is insane," Sai muttered.
"I can't even control—"
Another boom cut him off.
A heavy, black-armored juggernaut stomped forward from the broken wall. His armor glowed with guild insignias and anti-monster enchantments.
"WEREWOLF KING!"
His voice thundered through the club.
"BY WORLD LAW, YOU ARE TO BE DISMANTLED FOR RESEARCH!"
Sai blinked.
"...Research? Bro, I'm not a toaster."
The juggernaut charged, shaking the floor.
Sai inhaled.
Deep.
Something ancient in his chest stirred—heavy, cold, powerful.
The club trembled as a black-red aura erupted from his body, swirling like smoke from a volcano.
The dancer whispered, trembling:
"Your… Royal Howl…"
Sai didn't even know what she meant.
His instincts did.
He opened his mouth.
And the sound that tore out of him was not a howl.
It was a command.
A sovereign's roar.
ROOOOAAAAAAR—!!
Music died.
Walls cracked.
Players collapsed to their knees, helmets rattling.
The juggernaut skidded mid-charge, armor screeching as he was forced onto all fours, trembling under an invisible weight.
System notifications exploded across the world:
"SOVEREIGN FEAR ACTIVE"
"ALL PLAYERS WITHIN 500 METERS — MORALE REDUCED BY 80%"
"PLAYER STATS DEBUFFED"
"YOU ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF A KING"
Sai's eyes glowed bright gold.
He stepped toward the juggernaut, claws flexing.
The entire club held its breath.
The dancer whispered—
"My king… finish it."
Sai lifted his hand—
And—
"PHASE 2 UNLOCKING…"
"NEW ENTITIES DETECTED"
A distant rumble shook the entire strip club.
Something bigger was coming.
Something that made even the players who survived look terrified.
Something that made Sai's instincts scream:
"Danger."
The floor vibrated and dust drifted from the ceiling.
Outside, distant shockwaves rippled the neon night like thunder made of magic.
Sai Ji's ears twitched.
"This… this doesn't feel like more players."
Sal Vera's eyes flashed silver.
"It isn't."
Before he could ask, the far wall—YES, a second one—imploded.
BOOOOM—!
A massive claw, dark-red and scaled, punched through the plaster.
Then another. Then a third.
Players screamed and scattered.
Sai felt his fur stand straight up.
"That's NOT a player!"
Vera stepped in front of him, arms out.
"Back, my king."
But he grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him instead.
"Are you crazy? Your job description is dancer, not meatshield!"
She blinked as if pleasantly surprised.
"My king… remembers how to protect. Good."
"Stop calling me king, I'm LEVEL ONE!" Sai roared.
Right then, the monster broke through.
A towering reptilian war-beast, three meters tall, covered in black obsidian armor plates. Its eyes glowed molten orange. Its breath melted the floor tiles.
"DISASTER-CLASS SUMMON: DRACARYN WAR-CHAMPION"
"HUNTING THE NEW SOVEREIGN"
Sai's jaw dropped.
"LEVEL ONE, LEVEL—ONE—WHY?!"
Two shadows slammed down beside him.
His NPC bodyguards.
Both kneeling.
Both deadly.
"Your Majesty," said Fern, "we must flee. This is Disaster-Class. Only Sovereigns can face them."
"I'M NOT A SOVEREIGN! STOP SAYING—"
The War-Champion unleashed a roar that shook the walls.
ROOOOHHHHHH—!!
The shockwave hurled tables, dancers, and players across the room.
Sai braced himself—barely—even that felt like getting hit by a truck full of microwaves.
"MOVE!" the second bodyguard barked.
They grabbed him—one arm each—and ran.
Vera followed, heels clicking on shattered glass as if she were weightless, silver hair scattering sparks of lunar light.
The War-Champion smashed after them, each step a localized earthquake.
Sai yelled as they sprinted down a ruined hallway:
"WHY IS A WHOLE KAIZER-LIZARD CHASING ME?! I JUST CAME FOR A DRINK!"
Vera's voice floated behind him, calm, sweet, annoyingly serene:
"My king, this is normal. You awakened the Sovereign Class."
"What—WHY—HOW—?!"
"Because you were born," she said simply.
He stumbled.
"WHAT?!"
Vera glided past him and grabbed his hand, pulling him forward without effort.
Her touch burned not with seduction but with binding energy.
His vision flickered—
Silver chains, a moonlit throne and a girl kneeling was all he saw except she was
Whispering:
"Welcome back… my wolf."
Sai gasped.
Vera looked over her shoulder, eyes glowing a deep lunar white.
"Yes. That memory was mine."
The War-Champion smashed through the corridor behind them, flames spewing across walls.
"KEEP MOVING!" the bodyguard shouted.
"WE ARE MOVING!" Sai yelled back. "AND YOU TWO ARE ZERO HELP!"
The bodyguard coughed.
"We… are built for protection. Not… cardio."
Vera spoke again, voice clear despite the chaos:
"The moment you were born into this world, my seal broke. I am bound to the Wolf King dynastically. It has been one hundred years since the last king."
Sai blinked through dust and falling debris.
"That explains NOTHING!"
Vera continued anyway, like a professor lecturing over an apocalypse:
"I was your companion. Adviser. Keeper of the Moonline. When you perished, I slept. When you awakened, I awoke."
"And you wait until NOW—IN A STRIP CLUB—TO TELL ME?!"
Vera tilted her head.
"I waited until your bodyguards properly briefed you, but your instincts pulled you to me early. You recognized me before your mind did."
Sai almost tripped.
Vera's steps remained silent, elegant, dangerous.
"You— what— my instincts dragged me into a strip club?!"
"You came because you were looking," Vera said softly.
"For me."
He choked.
The War-Champion roared behind them again.
The club's back exit finally appeared—glowing with emergency runes.
One bodyguard kicked it open.
"OUT! NOW!"
They burst into the moonlit alley.
A gust of cold air hit Sai's face as Vera closed the door behind them.
Inside, the War-Champion's roars shook the walls.
Vera finally turned to him, batting away dust from her dress.
"Now," she said sweetly, "let me explain your power system before something else tries to kill you."
Sai held up a trembling finger.
"No. No, no. I need a minute. I was flirting thirty minutes ago. I am not built for lore during trauma."
Vera stepped close, cupped his jaw, and whispered:
"You are the Sovereign Class… the highest class in Aetheria. Above Legendary. Above Mythic. Above God-tier."
Sai blinked.
"So I'm… OP?"
"No," Vera said, shaking her head.
"You are potential. Untamed. Wild. Level one. But feared by every race."
Sai looked back at the shaking strip club.
"Yeah. I can see that."
She smiled—soft, dangerous, familiar.
"Welcome back, my king."
Sai threw his hands up.
"STOP SAYING—"
The War-Champion tore through the building.
Vera grabbed his wrist.
"Explanations later. Running now."