Death To Power VOL.5(Part 2)

Chapter 401 – Annoying interruption

“You talk as if you know the dungeon.” Rea said, narrowing her ruby eyes in suspicion, “Do you?”

“And how could I know such a thing?” Kaden brushed off her concern with a lazy smile, “I am simply curious about the dungeon. Do you know the rank and type of it?”

“From what I have heard,” Rea began, tucking a stray white hair behind her right ear, “it’s a dungeon at the Grandmaster level. As for the type, I have no idea.”

Kaden suppressed a twitch of his lips. To think that, as only an Awakened being, the Will had sent him into a Grandmaster-rank dungeon.

No matter how many times he thought about it, Kaden couldn’t help but wonder just how terrible his luck had been back then.

’Or was that even luck?’ He wondered, then smacked his lips in soft frustration.

“How long will it take us to reach there?” he asked, leaning back into his chair more comfortably.

At his words, Rea hesitated for a moment, then took out something from one of the multiple rings adorning her fingers.

A parchment appeared, bright yellow in color.

Injecting a wisp of mana into it, the parchment unfolded like a carpet, then hovered in the air between the two youngsters.

Arching a curious eyebrow, Kaden pushed himself up and leaned his face over the parchment, which turned out to be a map.

“Oh?” he exclaimed in quiet wonder.

“This is a rough map of the North of Fokay.” Rea said, standing across from him, on the other side of the map, her ruby eyes twinkling like jewels.

She raised a slender finger and pressed it against the parchment. “We are here.” She said, her finger touching the side where TheCelestialEmpire was written in bold golden letters.

Around the Celestial Empire lay the Wolves Kingdom to the northeast, and just beside it, The Pagoda.

The Church of Sorrow, marked by a greyish light, spread beneath the Empire, occupying numerous villages, cities, and territories.

Only now did Kaden realize how vast the Church’s territory truly was. It seemed, to him, that Silver City was quite close to the City of Sorrow.

And deep into the North, at the very edge of the map, stood an entire domain shrouded in frosted light.

Prometheus recognized it at a glance.

The Frozen Landscape.

A territory he had come to know during his Mythic Quest, by the hand of a man under Lord Silver.

According to that tortured man, it was there that Lord Silver had taken the idea to create the Doundous.

Even now, it remained a matter whose full depth Kaden did not understand.

After watching the Frozen Landscape for a few more seconds, Kaden peeled his gaze away and let his perception roam across the rest of the map.

He observed countless forests and terrifying mountain ranges, even frozen lakes. Some he had heard about through whispers in the streets, others he was seeing for the first time.

He watched it all, stroking his chin pensively, clear excitement burning in his crimson star-lit eyes.

Eyes that made Rea stare a little too long, only to snap her head away at the jealous voice of Einar.

“From the information I gathered about the dungeon,” Rea’s low, slightly shaky voice drew Kaden’s attention back, making him focus on the slow glide of her finger across the map.

“We will need to take the Frosted Bridge of the High North.” Her finger brushed along a thin blue line marking a freezing bridge, “then continue onward until the Fallen Bird’s Nest, cross it — or rather go deep underneath it — and then normally reach our destination.”

“Normally?” Kaden caught the word, giving Rea a sideways glance, “You’re not even sure of the path?”

“I am as sure as I can be.” Rea answered, “and I have waited years. I cannot wait any longer.”

Kaden fell silent, looking at her. Then he cocked his head slightly. “It’s quite a long way, Rea. We need to cross the Frosted Bridge, then go all the way to the Fallen Bird’s Nest.”

“And it’s a path we can only walk through, without any means of transportation.”

His brows drew down. “All of this for what?”

“I accepted you coming with me.” Rea’s voice came out colder than she intended.

Instantly, regret followed, but it was too late.

She clenched her jaw and continued, “Don’t ask me questions about what I am doing there. Don’t ask anything.”

“You said you would be like a shadow.” She paused, exhaling before adding, “If you can’t do that, then at least don’t question my motives.”

Kaden only stared at her.

Since the beginning of their conversation, neither of them had spoken about the relationship tying them together — the fact that they were fiancés.

It was as if they had reached a tacit agreement not to bring it up. Kaden didn’t mind. Talking about it meant addressing Meris... Vaela... and even Inara.

No matter how much he wanted to believe everything would be fine, he dreaded Rea’s answer.

Already, she was distant toward him. Not cold in the usual sense, but within her, Kaden could feel a struggle, a hesitation pulled between two things.

A dilemma.

One he knew nothing about.

Still, Prometheus understood that Rea had agreed to his presence not because of what he truly was to her — but because of what he was supposed to mean.

And that begged the question...

What did Kaden truly mean to Rea?

He had no answer. And Rea didn’t either.

Both of them were lost inside a relationship they had never been prepared to face.

So,

’Hm, a line between us. Fine then.’ Kaden closed his eyes, then opened them a second later, parting his lips,

“I am—!”

BOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!

The right side of the room they were standing in exploded into a rain of stones and dust in one frightening instant.

The ground quivered, churning as if something was moving beneath it, yet both Rea and Kaden remained steadfast. Like unmoving pillars.

They both turned their heads toward the destroyed side of the room, feeling something flash past them.

With one casual glance from Kaden, everything burned into grey powder, whipped away by the violent gush of air that slammed into the chamber.

Rea had already pulled the map back into her space ring, her face set in a deep frown as she stared with Kaden at the wide, gaping hole torn through their room.

Yet suddenly, both of them felt a sharp sense of unrest, snapping their heads behind them in perfect synchrony.

There, the duo saw the body of a human, half of it obliterated into a mess of shattered bones and blood.

“Oh, I am sorry for disturbing you.” A voice echoed, dragging their attention back to the hole.

Kaden and Rea looked at the man with wolfish features, seated atop a growling red-furred wolf, scars crossing its eyes, foaming saliva dripping from its outstretched jaws.

The man’s eyes were slitted red, his black hair and tail flicking lazily behind him.

He watched them with sharp teeth bared openly, giving far more attention to Rea than to Kaden, or even to the corpse behind them.

“Did I interrupt something?” he said, staring at Rea, his voice like the growl of a ferocious beast. “I am sorry. That human was quite slippery. I needed to kill so many beings just to catch him.”

Rea’s face went hollow at once.

It had been a long time since someone had dared to look at her the way that wolfkin was doing now.

Einar began to stir, but Rea silenced her without a word.

“And why were you hunting him?” Kaden asked, gesturing toward the mangled corpse behind them.

“Stay silent, stinky male human.” The wolfkin spat scornfully at Kaden without even sparing him a glance. “I am talking to the beautiful human here.”

He continued smoothly,

“I hate humans, beautiful woman.” He grinned. “And I hunt them every time I have the opportunity. But I always have a soft spot for the beautiful ones. Their tender flesh, the way they claw even better than wolves when I sink inside....Ahhh!!!”

His voice was disgusting to hear.

Rea smiled emptily. “What does that mean?”

“It means I am giving you the opportunity to stand by my side.” He answered. “We allow you humans to wander inside this city, but under our rule. Under our law. And the first law here is that wolves can kill without repercussions. So, what is your decision?”

From the very beginning, the wolfkin had spared Kaden only a single glance. And it was the very beginning.

Kaden observed the scene with calm eyes.

At that instant, information about the place they were in — sent by Blanche who was tasked a mission — poured into his mind.

The timing was perfect. He digested it in a heartbeat.

He suppressed a grin, briefly wondering how loudly the Asterion were cursing behind his back.

“Before we go,” Kaden said, turning to Rea with a small smile, “how about we do something together? Something to celebrate our meeting.”

Rea tilted her head. “Do what?”

He turned back to the wolfkin and saw him already seething with anger at the interruption, wrath erupting from both him and his mount.

Kaden grinned.

Reditha appeared in his right hand, shrieking with euphoria as lines of sword intent spiderwebbed across the room.

“Clean away some stinky wolves.”

Rea smiled.

“Sounds like an activity I will enjoy.”

Chapter 402 – Stars Rain

Everything became blood and ripped flesh.

The instant Rea agreed, Reditha was already grazing the flesh of the wolfkin, his skin sputtering then bubbling like hot water beneath the burning blade of Reditha.

The beast’s eyes widened — pure, unfiltered shock swallowing him whole — unable to believe Kaden’s speed.

Before he could react, Reditha sank deep into his neck, tearing flesh, bone, and sinew alike, severing it from his body with cold lethality.

In the same motion, Kaden’s right foot pressed down atop the wolf’s head. His blood control surged, and the beast was impaled by dozens of blood spikes erupting from its own body.

A pained howl, carried on a dying breath, barely escaped its splitting throat before death claimed its soul.

Kaden reached out with his right hand and took the severed head of the wolfkin. At a simple touch, it transmuted into a blob of blood.

The blood rose upward, where the rest of the wolf’s spilled blood was already waiting.

A cloud of blood formed.

From it, Prometheus created small flying insects shrouded in his own flame. They were numerous, buzzing with flapping wings like livid, living things.

Kaden ordered them forward, sending them flying out through the hole and straight toward the city below.

Soon, explosions began to echo.

All of this happened in less than ten seconds.

Kaden turned his head, sparing Rea a glance over his left shoulder. Wordlessly, he smirked tauntingly then vanished into a blur of crimson, Reditha in his right hand.

Already, roars of shock and fear were reverberating throughout the city, though they were rapidly silenced.

Reditha was hungry for blood.

Rea was left behind. She popped her head from side to side, a small, manic grin plastered across her lips.

“Einar,” she whispered.

“Yes, my beautiful Rea.”

“Did he just provoke me?”

“It seems so.”

Rea laughed, then took a step. Space blurred. In an instant, she was out of the hole, hovering high above the city.

The God-Touched looked like a goddess at that moment.

She gazed downward, watching blood burst and smear the world below, the carnage still spreading. Anyone who was a wolf was killed mercilessly.

Only humans were spared. And even then, Kaden mainly spared the utterly helpless and the elderly mortals.

The ground was soon carpeted with puddles of blood, then rivers...soon, a sea threatened to flood the city.

Buildings exploded into torrents of ash, the ground quivering with each of Kaden’s steps like a living thing writhing in pain.

He was impossibly fast.

Rea could only glimpse the blur of his body and flashes of his sword whenever he struck.

A chill crept along the back of her neck.

Then suddenly, the God-Touched noticed something.

All the spilled blood was converging in the air, suspended in complete stillness.

Just above her.

She watched in awe as crimson-gold flames linked each droplet together, forming a brilliant tapestry of dread and gore.

Already, she could hear the flapping wings of crows eagerly descending upon the city.

The fear emanating from below was staggering, the kind of fear Rea loved to bathe in.

As she watched the beak of a phoenix begin to form from blood and flame in the sky, she gathered all the fear of the city and amplified her power to impossible levels.

Mana. Endurance. Understanding. Strength. Even Will.

Everything surged.

Her body trembled in euphoric rapture.

The phoenix’s beak stretched wide, a ball of white fire coalescing deep within its throat.

The temperature spiked violently, waves of scorching air crashing downward.

Rea, hovering just beneath the beast, raised both hands and formed a sigil resembling a footless bird.

Her voice rang out as the phoenix’s breath erupted from its jaws and plunged into the city below.

“Bloom of Fear.”

The city became fire and blood.

Within those Rea targeted, something began to bloom inside their chests.

A flower.

A flower nourished by fear, feeding upon it while devouring everything within its host, like a leech siphoning life itself.

In the end, only skeletal remains were left behind, a beautiful grey flower blooming from each chest.

And then, even those remains were reduced to ash as fire flooded the city like a deluge.

Kaden stood amid the inferno, untouched, and even reveling in it.

With each kill, he extracted the Origin Core of his victims, intending to saturate his own.

He was in the midst of tearing one apart, his hand drenched in blood, when he froze mid-motion.

“HOOOOOWLLLLLLL!!”

A thunderous, mournful howl tore through the city.

Kaden and Rea snapped their heads toward the sound.

There stood an enormous wolfkin, eyes blazing with hatred as he stared at them.

The aura rolling off him was staggering. At a glance, Kaden knew it was Epithet Realm.

And he was not alone. Beside him stood a wolf of equal rank.

Two Epithet-rank beings.

Kaden smiled and cracked his neck.

“Well, no time to waste,” he muttered, deciding to end this quickly.

He straightened, closed his eyes, listening to the howls and growls as both wolfkin and beast charged him at searing speed.

Overhead, the sky above the city darkened unnaturally.

Crimson stars blinked open within the void like watching eyes, bathing the ruined city in red light as if it were already burning.

Rea watched, dread tightening her chest. Einar herself was frozen, unable to speak, staring in terror as...

“Stars Rain.”

Kaden’s voice echoed like that of a god.

The sky cracked open, as if torn apart by colossal hands.

Crimson stars began to fall like rain, cleaving through the air with shrieking force.

It felt as though the sky itself was collapsing.

Yet Kaden stood unmoving, eyes closed, welcoming the Stars Rain he had summoned.

They struck.

The ground ruptured. Earth surged upward, fire erupted. Thick clouds of crimson dust swallowed the city whole.

Rea’s heart leapt into her throat in utter disbelief.

...

Kaden stood amid rubble, ash, and blood, his eyes resting on the twin corpses of the wolfkin and its accompanying beast wolf.

There were no wounds on him, no strain on his clothes, despite the harrowing events that had just transpired.

Despite the ferocity of his assault, Kaden had once again let the innocents escape, unwilling to stain his hands with more blood than necessary.

Steps crushing stray rocks made his ears twitch. Kaden didn’t turn his head, already knowing who was approaching.

“You are stronger than I expected,” Rea said, now standing to Kaden’s right, her ruby eyes fixed on the same sight as her fiancée.

“Well, I guess you’re not so reluctant to let me tag along with you now?” Kaden smiled faintly.

“I admit it’s more reassuring to have someone strong beside me.”

“True. That talkative woman of yours is completely useless, I bet.”

“What?!” Einar bellowed, outraged. “I will have you know that—!”

Rea clamped a hand over Einar’s mouth, cutting her off. Still, Einar struggled, intent flaring as she tried to speak again.

A single hollow glare from Rea made her freeze.

A soft whimper escaped her before she dissolved into tendrils of smoke and retreated back into the earring.

Kaden, meanwhile, was already kneeling. If he noticed anything, his face showed none of it.

He was collecting the Origin Cores of both the wolfkin and the wolf.

Tilting his head, he pondered how the blood around might still be put to good use.

Among the information Blanche had provided was the fact that Sora’s coronation as Empress of the Celestial Empire would take place tomorrow.

Kaden couldn’t help but laugh, finding it difficult to reconcile the image of Golden Voice with anything other than a spoiled princess.

Nevertheless, since the situation in Silver City was largely his fault, he intended to take responsibility and leave a congratulatory gift behind for Golden Voice.

Having decided, Kaden began immediately, all while Rea watched him with heavy scrutiny.

Strangely, despite the city’s destruction, a song was still playing.

A song of regret and love.

Its voice sounded eerily familiar to Kaden.

With Rea urging him onward and no time to dwell on it, Kaden finished preparing his gift and vanished together with her.

Behind them, only blood and death remained.

As they traveled, Rea couldn’t help but voice the question gnawing at her mind.

“What was that?” she asked, eyes narrowed with clear displeasure. “And who was it for?”

Kaden didn’t seem to notice her tone and answered lightly,

“A gift,” he said. “For an aspiring singer.”

Chapter 403 – Meaning of Hero

The Silver City was once again destroyed. And after this event, the folks began to believe the city itself was cursed.

The folks who succeeded in escaping thanks to Kaden’s mercy babbled about seeing nothing except flashes of crimson, followed by utter destruction.

They said, almost like a preaching, that the culprit of such destruction could not be a man walking on earth like any of them, but a god that came to deliver punishment.

It was not all; they all witnessed a woman high in the air, visage too blurry to be seen from afar, yet all could hear the clacking sound that followed the movement of her hair, and the sentiment of deep fear eating them from within each time they looked at her.

It was harrowing.

In a span of time too short to ponder, the news of the state of Black Dwells, past name Silver City, traversed far away, reaching all who were interested.

As if fate was in a joyous mood, Rome was already on his way to Silver City in order to prepare for the great display of strength his lady planned to do on the day of her coronation.

He found nothing but tendrils of smoke and a heavy stench of blood and death, making the newcomer knights spill everything from their stomachs.

Rome almost went back, reluctant to stay in that cursed place any longer. But then, a bloody glint caught the corner of his eye.

He paused, taking a deep breath, heart hammering against his ribs.

At the back of his head, a song was playing. He paid it no mind.

Focusing back, he saw the origin of the light.

There, in the middle of the ashed city, was the corpse of a wolfkin and his wolf, he assumed. They were kneeling on the ground, their empty sockets burning with flickering crimson-gold fire as if alive.

In front of the two kneeling dead beings was a necklace with a moon swallowed by fire linked on it.

On the ground, words were etched.

Rome told his knights to wait, then he stepped away from them, approaching the necklace to read the words.

Thinking he was close enough, he halted and began to read.

An Empress now? Gods, I pity those under you, Golden Voice. Even so, take this as a small gift. It was a memorable day, wasn’t it?

The day we killed the Moon.

Rome read, and as he did, the song playing at the back of his mind increased in intensity.

He jerked, suddenly noticing that it was one of his lady’s songs.

But how? he wondered, looking around the destruction. And he seemed to hear something else inside the song.

Something...

“Bring it to me.”

Rome and his men froze in sudden panic, listening as the song shifted to convey Sora’s voice.

“Bring the necklace to me. And that, in the fastest way possible. I want it before the official coronation.”

Yes, that day was the day of Sora’s coronation into her new role.

As an Empress.

Listening to Sora’s voice, Rome sensed how his lady’s voice seemed to crack, as if holding herself from crying.

He looked back at the necklace and the display of horrors around, his mind unconsciously going to a young boy for no reason.

Black-haired and red-eyed.

But hey...

’A boy?’ Rome chuckled dryly, licking his dry lips behind his helmet. ’A boy no longer. A man even less. A god, a devil. It doesn’t matter the name. But...’

He breathed, squatted down, and took the necklace into his gloved hand,

’...he can’t be human.’

...

The second destruction of Silver City, this time, didn’t just mainly affect the Celestial Empire. No, there were those who had a plan behind the transformation of the city.

A plan that now crashed down all because of two beings.

“Are you still sulking?” a woman, a wolfkin with blue slitted eyes and a blue-furred body, whispered gently to the man sitting at the edge of the bed, chin resting atop his coiled fingers, eyes pensive.

His hair was a deep, unfathomable dark with such a luminescence it was a sight to behold. His eyes, pink and with pupils shaped like a heart, were staring at the void in front of him.

His beauty was staggering. If Sirius saw this man, the Prince would doubt his own beauty.

And compared to the wolfkin woman, the man was human to the bones, with nothing beastly in him.

“Sigh...”

The wolfkin sighed, took out the white bedsheet covering her naked body. She put herself on all fours, crawled slowly toward the man with a slow, steady pace.

The bed creaked under her movements, followed by soft shuffling sounds.

Soon enough, she was already behind him, her breath caressing the neck of the beautiful man.

“I don’t like to see you in this way, Dancer,” she whispered into his right ear, voice sultry. “If you want me to use my position and power, I can do it for you.”

She kissed his neck. Her tail flicked excitedly behind.

“You just need to ask.”

“I am just curious,” the man, called Dancer, said, his voice like a breeze on a beach. “How is it possible? It was not what was planned. That city was supposed to be destroyed either by the new Empress in a way to prove herself, or by the past Emperor who decided to end this farce.”

“In any of those ways,” Dancer continued, his voice deepening, “we would have obtained the desired result. For I know these arrogant men would want to make a display. But...”

He paused, exhaling softly to regain his breath and calm his stomping heartbeat.

“But all I got is a massacre, Sophie.”

“The culprit had left some people alive,” Sophie said, “and I managed to get some of them. However, nothing they have said could be of help to us.”

She clicked her tongue in irritation.

“All of them are nothing but old women, children, and such.”

“The most vulnerable,” Dancer scoffed.

“So you can guess what we have here,” Sophie followed, smiling faintly, pressing her chest on his back even further, her hands wandering all over Dancer’s body.

“It’s just someone who fancies the little act of a Hero,” Sophie continued.

“The type of being I dislike the most,” Dancer said, sighing.

“Oh, why?” Sophie murmured. “Aren’t you a hero in a way?”

She hugged him tighter, her voice loving.

“Finding me trapped in my gilded cage, yet you set me free, making me learn how to be a woman; making me aware that I deserve love. If someone should be a hero, it’s certainly you.”

Dancer shook his head, slowly grasping the soft hand of Sophie. She purred, her wolf fang sinking lovingly into his flesh.

“I hate heroes, and anything close to that,” Dancer repeated, his voice holding an obvious note of distaste.

“Why?”

“It’s always the same, Sophie. All of them are the same, and they all preach the same concept. Concepts of honor, of faith, of love, of loyalty.”

He made a gesture with his lips, almost as if he wanted to spit, but swallowed it back.

“Nothing else but ego-filled beings who need to do something, to be hailed, in order for them to feel important. But even all of that is nothing, Sophie, compared to the true issue.”

He paused, then turned to stare Sophie face to face. Sophie’s heart was at her throat.

What a beautiful man, she thought in a haze.

“Tell me, my love?” she leaned even closer to him.

“It’s a simple matter, really,” he said, eyes slightly distant.

“And it’s that the world only needs a hero for a specific amount of time. After that, what it needs is not a hero, but a legend. A myth for the generations below to follow.”

“Do you know what that means?”

He didn’t wait for an answer.

“The Hero of yesterday will become the Tyrant of tomorrow unless he crucifies himself today.”

“The Hero needs to die. If not, he will lose his Hero epithet.”

Sophie cocked her head. The words of Dancer were profound. But in all honesty, the only thing in her mind at that moment was the body of Dancer.

Not what a hero is, nor their eventual fate.

Still, she smiled and gave the most sincere answer she could muster.

“You are my hero. And I will not let you or anyone else crucify you.”

She leaned forward and kissed him.

“You are my light, Dancer. And I cannot lose you, for then I will lose my guidance. So tell me, what do you want me to do? If you wish, I will do my all to find the culprit. Hero or not.”

Dancer smiled at her words, knowing it was time he dropped the heavy subject of heroes.

Instead, “I just need you to do one little thing, Sophie.”

He kissed her lips.

“Tell me everything,” she moaned.

“Time to dance, Sophie. On your knees.”

Sophie grinned widely, licking her lips sensually. She approached Dancer even further, plastering her naked body on his own naked one.

“As you will, my love.”

And the moans began.

Chapter 404 – Meeting with the First Celestial [1]

Sophie mounted Dancer, looking at his face, so beautiful she still couldn’t believe she was holding him within her embrace.

It was incomprehensible, for she had never seen such a level of beauty in any man or even any woman.

She doubted, honestly, that even those famed angels were at his level.

The day Dancer came into her life was one she could never forget. But that moment, facing the man in front of her, was not one of remembrance.

It was one of action.

And Sophie could no longer control the wave of lust consuming her whole mind, sending jolts of heat through her body, making the space between her legs tingle.

Dancer grinned. And Sophie devoured his mouth, kissing him as if he were her only source of life.

Her hands grabbed tightly at his hair, pulling him slowly and gently, as if afraid of hurting him.

Already, she was moving her body slowly and achingly eagerly across the soft thighs of Dancer. She let out a moan, muffled by the act of devouring her lover’s lips.

The tension in the room was staggering. The echo of moans — of heavy breathing and shallow, ragged breaths that seemed to beg for oxygen their lungs refused — made a sweet atmosphere of lust sink into the deepest layers of stone in the room.

Sophie was at an all-time high, and Dancer was not one to be left behind. One could tell he was experienced by the way his hands moved across Sophie’s naked body.

How he kissed her neck, bit her wolfish ears, stroked her tail lovingly, and caressed her private parts.

He acted with slowness, yet the sensation was one Sophie had never felt elsewhere.

“I-I can no longer wait,” she moaned, forehead against forehead, beads of sweat trailing down her body, chest rising and falling, her right hand already moving to grasp Dancer’s dick.

“I want it, Dancer.”

“Then take it,” he said with a grin.

Sophie bit her lower lip, eyes glazing with overwhelming ecstasy. She grasped Dancer’s dick and guided it toward her wet place.

She gasped, head rolling backward when she sensed the tip of his dick brushing against her lower lips. Sophie trembled, then immediately went—!

Tok! Tok! Tok!

“Mother, I need to talk to you!”

The sexual tension in the room disappeared as quickly and suddenly as the death of a mortal.

Sophie’s slitted blue eyes widened, shock coursing through her veins like a lightning bolt.

In a time faster than thought, she got off Dancer, her private parts still dripping with juices, lips pressed into a thin line of frustration.

She was already wearing her string and nightgown when Dancer’s voice whispered into her ears.

“Not today then?” His voice danced with amusement.

Sophie cursed, “Not today, my love. But I will call you or I will come to you! I promise, Dancer.”

She snapped her head toward him, seeing him already dressed, one step from the edge of the open window, ready to disappear.

The beautiful man spared her a smile, then...

“Next time. And hopefully, we won’t be disturbed.”

Then he dove out, disappearing from sight as quickly as he had entered.

Sophie’s eyes were still fixed on the open window when someone yanked the door to her room open with obvious restlessness.

Her soft, loving, dreamy expression melted away. Instead, a face as cold as a monolith took its place as she looked at the unwelcomed visitor.

The sexual and lustful atmosphere of the room was wafted away by the wave of air from the window.

“What do you want, Bari?” Sophie grated, looking at the First Fang. “I have told you time and time again to stop—!”

“I know! I know!” Bari growled. “Next time I won’t enter your room unless you tell me to, mother! But right now, I need help.”

“The ring! I need the ring, mother! If not, Father will kill me!”

Sophie Adelina Fenrir — First Wife of King Fenrir and First Queen of the Wolves Kingdom — looked at her son with dilating eyes.

“Repeat that again?” she growled, aura erupting from her. “Who would dare kill my son?”

Suddenly, her private parts dried like cotton, her lust vanishing.

...

Meanwhile, in the very center of the Celestial Empire, deep within Asterion City, the coronation was unfolding.

The folks were ecstatic. Having a day of festivities with no thought of work nor burden was one they had been looking forward to for so long.

Now they had obtained it by the grace of The Celeste.

A day made for all of them to enjoy. And enjoy they did.

All over the streets, decorations unfolded, painting the roads and the city itself in gold. It was achingly shining.

Most people wore gold, as if participating in the theme of the day, yet others didn’t bother to blend in.

Food and drink were being circulated freely. Dozens of beings could drink from the same cup before the person it was meant for even took a sip.

Laughter boomed through the air, and portraits of Sora Asterion could be seen elevated on platforms.

It was a sight to behold.

Yet even amid joy, whispers didn’t stop. Well, it was especially because winds of joy were snapping through the air all around that whispers flew faster.

“Did you hear about Silver City?” one said in a hushed voice.

“Man, that city must be cursed! Twice! Destroyed two times! How is that normal?”

“I heard different. Yes, yes, yes. Want to know? Good. Damned bastards took out some silvers, will ya?” an old-looking man said, grinning with black teeth.

“Silvers?” one outrageously bellowed. “Scam! A scam, damn it!”

“My information is accurate, ya! After all,” the black-toothed man cackled, sounding like old carts scraping against cobblestones, “I was there! I saw Him! I saw Her! I saw Them, I tell ya! I tell ya! I saw!!”

He slammed his hands continuously on the wooden table where many drunk men and women with stinking breaths and muddled minds sat.

“Tell us then, old fart! Who? Who are They?”

“He was like a flash of blood, ya! I swear! And her! Oh, I saw nothing! But I saw fear! I saw my fears and the fears of the whole world in her! I tell ya!”

“But a hero he was! For he saved us! And scary as she was, she killed those wolves! She killed them with flowers, I tell ya!”

“And do you know?” another whispered. “I heard they did it for the new Empress. The Empress of the Sun! The Killer of the Moon!”

“The Killer of the Moon? Hahah, a smelly title. I like it, I say! I like it!”

“What are They called? How about—!”

And the discussions followed, filled with nonsense and lies, yet it was mostly in those places and times that legends were born.

While all of this was happening, inside Asterion Castle, Sora Asterion, in her splendid empress’s clothes, was standing in front of a portal swirling with all kinds of celestial energy.

Behind her, her father and mother stood, looking at her impatiently.

“Know what to say and how to say it,” Luminary advised, flaming eyebrows frowning sternly. “You will be in the presence of a god.”

The coronation of a new ruler of the Celestial Empire was always accompanied by one thing...

“Go. The god Aster, the First Celestial, Heart of the Sun, Mind of the Moon, and Body of Stars...”

He paused, and Sora’s body unconsciously tensed, her right hand grasping a necklace beneath her clothes.

“...is waiting for you inside.”

Chapter 405 – Meeting with the First Celestial [2]

Sora stepped inside the swirling portal of celestial energy of blue, gold, and white. The space shimmered like the haze of an illusion.

In an instant, she found herself in a completely different space.

The ground she was stepping on was made of unknown golden sand, soft to the touch yet glowing as if it were holding the very meaning of stars.

The surrounding space was flooded by a swirling, visible mass of energy, moving and twisting like the hissing and snapping of a snake.

Overhead, a mesmerizing sight flooded into the mind of Sora. Her breath was caught in her throat. Unconsciously, her mouth formed an O shape at the canvas.

There, the sun and moon were adorned in a spotless white sky, their lights glaring on her.

The golden light of the sun warmed her, while the silvery bluish light of the moon cooled her body. These two effects made her body be in perfect balance between hot and cold; between heaven and hell.

“A woman?” A voice, so old yet so young, boomed through Sora’s ears. She shivered, snapping her head toward the sound of the voice.

High in the sky, between the two celestial bodies, a body made of golden-white light with stars shimmering all over it was sitting on a thin line created from the very essence of the sun and the moon.

No facial features were on his face except his eyes, his left being sun-shaped, his right half-moon-shaped, while on the forehead was etched a mark of a star.

“Since when did I welcome a woman?” the incarnation of Aster spoke. “Oh yes, that little girl ApolloniaofBrightSky, right? Oh, no! I am confusing the epoch. This is Apollonia Shamsi, the first Empress of my bloodline.”

“And when it happened...”

He paused, looking clearly at Sora, whose very bloodline was shrieking, urging her to bow as if standing straight was the greatest sin to commit in that place.

She refused to bow. Her eyes held high and cold, lips pursed into a thin hard line while looking at Aster.

Aster seemed to laugh, although nothing of it could be seen with his featureless face.

“...the last time a woman ruled my empire, my dear Sora, everything was destroyed to the ground. The moon, no, my moon, died in the process.”

“Now, why should I accept your rule?”

“Why wouldn’t you?” Sora said, standing tall and straight, at least she tried. “I am the Heiress of the Sun, and the only one able to take up the throne.”

“If not me, then who?”

“I am the Origin of your bloodline, little girl,” Aster replied, “and there is something you seem to forget, or even be unaware of.”

The moment he finished the last words, Sora’s head ducked down, her back inched then cracked, her knees wobbled, creaked, then sank deep into the golden sand below.

Her eyes widened in absolute horror. There was no pressure on her, neither a kind of power forcing her to bow.

Yet she was.

It was as if her very existence was not made to stand tall in front of Aster.

“You are in the presence of a god,” Aster continued, making Sora understand one chilling truth right at that instant,

“And you are nothing but a mortal. So bow your head.”

No words escaped Sora’s mouth, her mind still dazed.

The First Celestial didn’t bother waiting for her to gather herself. He continued, now looking deeper into his descendant, noticing something he hadn’t before.

“Kol’Riku...” Aster tilted his head. “You have received the blessing of the Voice of Existence. Now, isn’t it interesting? Who would have thought a mortal would interest that recluse? And my descendant, no less?”

He barked a laugh, loud and proud, the realm shaking with him.

Sora remained silent, her eyes burning with wrathful fire. She gritted her teeth, balling her fists tightly, bursts of fire escaping the jaw of her mouth.

The fire steamed out of her body, moving upward like smoke on a chimney.

She parted her lips. “I will—!”

“I cannot stay in this place for too long. So let’s finish it,” Aster said, his voice now more serious. “An event happened, little Sora. An event in a timeline that evolved the destruction of my empire. Where Apollonia disappointed me.”

Sora trembled, her mind immediately going to the memories she had inherited from Lady Sora.

Aster saw it, and smirked. “So you know what I am talking about. Now, how? Oh, Sora... Sora...”

He grinned wider.

“Ah, Providence is such a whore lately. But it’s perfect.”

“Apollonia had failed me,” Aster said. “She was talented and cunning, her understanding of the Celestial Pathway above normal. But I see in you a more powerful talent, and I see in you a way to take back what I have lost.”

“W-What?” Sora managed to ask with a strained face.

“My empire has been broken, the White Phoenix I captured is now free,” Aster’s voice filled with hidden fury. “Even the Black Phoenix I especially sealed inside a being has been freed. And all of that because of one and only one being.”

The next name landed like a hammer blow on Sora’s mind.

“Prometheus.”

She forgot to breathe, listening to the words of Aster like a mortal listening to the preaching of her god.

“So here’s the thing, little Sora,” he continued, and there, Sora felt like she could lift her head.

She did. She saw a pair of celestial eyes glaring down on her, making her feel like a worthless stone barring the way.

“You will be the 2nd Empress of the Empire,” he decreed. “I will bless you with an increase in bloodline purity, enhancing your origin. And I want one thing from you.”

He raised his index finger upward, and the sky parted away like a cloak being pulled off.

“I want the Heart of Prometheus, the Flame of Humanity.”

“No!” Sora bellowed, her voice booming in anger. “I won’t—!”

“Now, who told you you have a choice to begin with?” Aster’s face split into an eerie smile, so wide it seemed to touch his eyes.

Sora shivered with immense dread. Her body froze, unable to move, while her mind started to become fuzzy and muddled, as if she had passed day and night drinking alcohol.

Soon, the surroundings began to blur, her eyes closing before she completely lost consciousness, the last thing she heard being the cold, arrogant voice of Aster,

“There is no choice for a mortal. Even less one of my own bloodline.”

Thud—!

She fell face-first. Aster flicked his finger, and a deep, liquefied golden light erupted before crashing on Sora, seeping inside her body like water on soil.

Aster smiled, then closed his eyes, feeling something no mortal could.

Yet meanwhile, under the fold of Sora’s clothes, the gifted necklace of Kaden subtly glowed.

...

Meanwhile, far away from the capital, two young people, man and woman, were running through a field of stony rock.

A silence, only cut by the wind lashing out at their faces, settled between Rea and Kaden.

A silence each one of them got used to.

Since they had departed from Silver City, no words were spoken between them except minimal ones.

Rea seemed to like to keep to herself. Sometimes Kaden could see her lips moving, as if speaking. He knew it must be with Einar.

He never commented on it, though sometimes he would try to strike up some discussion to cure the boredom of running.

Rea didn’t look enthusiastic about that, though.

So he gave up. And now...

“We will reach the Frosted Bridge in three days if we run fast, and around five days if we take it slow,” she said, then fell silent once more.

Now, she mainly spoke to give him information about their way.

Kaden sighed, wondering why he was always associated with weird women.

“Bloody hell!”

They said if you know where you are going, you won’t have a bad trip.

Those sages seemed to forget the important question about companions during the trip.

Kaden cursed once