Chapter 148: The Dead March
The warning sirens of the Velkrath Imperium shrieked into the night sky.
I stood in the center of the courtyard, the heavy scent of ozone and impending death washing over the towering iron walls. The sky to the East was completely black, choked by a massive, unnatural storm of pure necrotic magic.
Archlich Malacor had arrived.
"Sovereign!" Prime Minister Hardsteel shouted over the deafening sirens. "The borders are completely overrun! The dead are swarming like locusts!"
I did not panic. I looked down at my right hand.
I was still holding the iridescent Royal Core I had ripped from the Hive Empress in Strata 5. It pulsed with a heavy, ancient telepathic frequency.
I squeezed my heavy brass gauntlet.
CRRRRACK.
I crushed the S-Grade core directly in my palm. The ancient biological casing shattered, and the pure, refined telepathic energy violently surged up my arm, flooding directly into my Sovereign System.
DING!
