The people heart jolted when hearing the voices and the three general were the first to enter the Palace while the people followed behind him.
However when they reached the stairs to enter the Palace, they alighted from their horses and carriage and walk humbly.
Even though they knew that the Death Monarch is inside the throne room, they could feel like they were being watched.
The stairs is carved from white jade of magical properties. With every single step anyone of them took, pressure began building up on each of their shoulders.
They all felt it.
The Death Monarch is looking at them!
They don’t know from where but probably he could see it from anywhere he wanted. No one forgotten how the Death Monarch usurps the Will of the World to wreck the Island of Peace
Other than the three general that is still walking leisurely, the people behind them, felt like there is massive boulders being put on their shoulders, making their every single movement heavy and exhausting
Then some of them could not bear it and plopped down. The Keeper of the Palace that watches this scene then said
‘Those that fall down could return back.’ The keeper of the palace said this coldly. Even though this keeper of the palace is weak, he is after all saying it with the authority of the Death Monarch.
Those ambassadors and representatives that fall down could not even get angry lest they anger the Death Monarch.
They just shake their head and return back to the Palace Gate.
Azief has his reason for doing this test. If people think any factions can speak with him regarding this matter they are entirely wrong.
If they could not even reach where he is, how could they be qualified to talk with him?
This matter of the Distribution of the world region has large consequences in short and long term effect. Azief only would accept a powerful and stable faction to manage the world.
The stairs is a test. If one didn’t possess a powerful will or powerful cultivation, they are not qualified to meet the Death Monarch
As they walked the street leading to the Palace Inner Gate, many more people falls down and plop to the ground.
The Three Generals ignore the people falling down behind him. They only walk forward but their face is not relaxed at all.
Instead they acted even more cautiously.
It is a test for those people, but for the three General it is a warning. And they also understand what Azief is doing.
Azief trusted Wang Jian…but Athena and Freya?
He still has some reservations about them. After this he need to undergo five more seclusions and it might take him a long time, so he needed to warn them first.
He is showing them, announcing to them “This is only a fraction of his power”
If you have any dark thoughts, better extinguish it!
That is his warning to the three Generals. And they all know this is his warning which makes the Three Generals even more cautious.
Even now, as far as he is, inside the throne room, he could force people miles away to kneel down to him.
As they come closer to the inner gate, the gate in front of them felt like a huge storm, and the closer they came the greater the pressure, threatening to pull apart their cultivation base outside their body.
All of the representatives had beads of cold sweat dripped down their forehead, their hands are trembling, and their clothes are soaked with sweat.
They all felt like this is the longest street they have ever walked and it felt like this street would stretch on endlessly to the end of the world.
The more they walked forward the more sweat trickled down their body, drenching their clothes
More people falls down to the ground and sound of panting and exhaustion could be heard from the people who are still walking.
The pressure weighing down on them continued to escalate, as though someone was piling mountains on their shoulders.
Because of this a dozen more falls down leaving only five people to remain following the back of the three generals.
They ask themselves ‘when will this test be over?’ They are truly too tired now.
Their energy and physical stamina were being drained swiftly like their entire being is being devoured.
Their limbs felt as though they were filled with lead, and their body felt slow and extremely cumbersome.
From their perspective, this walks seemed to last an eternity. Then suddenly they arrived in front of the Inner Palace Gate and the Gate was opened.
DONG!
A gust of power washes over them like a cold shower.
It was like something came over them and fills them with energy. They look at each other and felt joy as they no longer have to face that pressure.
They then walked into the palace, escorted by the Keeper of the Palace. And then they finally arrived at the Throne room.
The Keeper of the palace announced their arrival and then opens the throne room door.
The moment the door was opened an aura carrying the hint of an unparalleled being, majestic, authoritative, austere, and powerful, gushed straight at them, sparing no one, enveloping their entire world.
All of their heart trembled and they could not help but buckle down under that pressure and kneel down, their knees on the marble floor.
They take a peek upwards to look at the Death Monarch and saw the dark throne with dark red mist surrounding it.
The divine majesty and power radiating off at that person sitting on top of the throne chair is undoubtedly is the legend of the generation, Death Monarch
Even though the Death Monarch was already trying to restrain his aura, just its lingering force was enough to send them the shivers.
The entire throne room is silent. Azief gaze upon them. To them it was imposing gaze staring down at them from above.
It was like a beast, a predator staring at a couple of sheep. The Three Generals all bow down, not daring to meet the eyes of the Death Monarch.
‘Rise up’ the Death Monarch said gesturing the three generals to get up. The other did not dare to get up
The pressure is suffocating
Some of them gulped in fear. That gaze reminds them of the reputation of the Death Monarch. Unfathomable and unpredictable.
No one could see nay emotions from his gaze and no one could peer through the thoughts of this overlord that cowed the entire world.
They keep kneeling and the room was silent. Some of them could even hear their own heart beating loudly either because of fear or nervousness.
Azief look at them and knew they are too afraid to speak to him at this moment
So, he ask
‘So, what is it you came to me for?’
***
MOSCOW
THE REPUBLIC
It has been three months since the declarations of the Death Monarch in the Island of Peace and with that declaration the world was made to stir.
The Republic is hectic these days with many events that have unfolded since that day.
The Senate elected its first High Chancellor and then they were greeted with the news of another otherworldly threat.
However this time the news is not yet spread out to the general population for fear of inducing worldwide panic.
The scar of the last Weronian War has not yet healed. Peace….seems short. And it is because of that, they did not want to believe the claims of the World Government.
It is not until the Republic satellite also detects those fleet do they truly moved.
For the first time since the status quo of power was broken, the great leaders from the World Government and The Republic met in neutral place, Poland united in a single cause.
Poland hosted the meeting of the great leaders as they discussed this matter. However, the High chancellor is still on Moscow for some reason no one knows.
She did not attend the meeting. But she of course knew what is happening in her own administration. Her style of management is the same like Death Monarch.
She rarely interferes with the matters.
Only when it has something to do with her will she intervene.
People even speculate that when a person reaches the level of Death Monarch and the Ice Queen, they rarely care much about worldly matters.
To be entirely correct that is not entirely true.
Instead of saying they do not care about worldly matters it is more accurate to say they find it troublesome. Like Azief, Katarina believes might is right.
Even if you want to talk about ideals and protect those ideals, you first need to be strong. If not, one could just erase those ideals by destroying the people who are spreading those ideals.
People said ideals live forever. To Katarina that is wrong. If you destroyed enough people, just like ashes, that ideals with dissipates blown by the winds of time.
Katarina right now is walking along her Ice Palace courtyard enjoying the spring breeze and the smell of morning air.
And she is smiling and whistling, her face vibrant and her eyes sparkling, looking always like the beautiful woman she is.
Behind her, her maidservants all look around, clearly also enjoying the spring season.
She looks at the sky and smiles unrestrainedly. Even her maidservant is captivated and entranced by that smile.
This even make her brother even more worried. Boris is getting worried of her sister beauty. She has become too beautiful, maturing lie a flower blossoming.
If not for the fact that Katarina herself is strong, Boris shudders to think her fate in this era.
Why?
Because it is spring.
Beside her is her maidservant, Helva, a German slave soldiers from Iron Lord remnant army. She was saved by the Republic liberation Army
‘Why are you smiling my lady?’ Seeing her lady smiling so much, Helva could not help but ask her.
Helva have always admired her lady. She is not only beautiful, she is also powerful and the pillars of the Republic.
With her lady and Chancellor Jean united in actions and views, the Republic is now staying strong.
Seeing the leaves flying in the air as it is blown by the wind…Katarina smiles.
‘My heart is pounding. I rarely felt like this’ and she blushed. Katarina might be called the strongest woman in the world….but this is her first time falling in love.
It perplexed her and it drives her crazy at times. She didn’t know how to act and she act unlike herself.
She never knew loving someone could be…so fun
‘I don’t know whether he will come or not.’ She said to no in particular.
‘I hope he keeps his promise.’
‘Who my lady?’ Helva ask. The other maidservant just shakes their head. This Helva is young and also kind of dense in the matters of relationship.
But they all know who the Ice Queen is talking about.
Their love story is known to the world. Yet, both of these legendary figures did not meet each other after the Massacre of the Island of Peace.
Many people speculated the worse.
But both of them are calm like water.
Katarina just nodded her head toward Helva and whistle.
She traces her finger on the air as her hand emitting cold aura that freezes anything she touches.
Since it is spring, Katarina did not let snow falls. She is waiting. For him to come…to fulfill his promise.
The more she did not see him, the more she felt that this feeling is love.
And when she heard that Sofia left him, three months ago, unconsciously she was happy. She hated feeling like that.
But yet she felt happy.
It was a conflicting feeling. She admires the Divine Archer.
Not because of her prowess.
If she is talking about prowess, in this world other than the Death Monarch she doubt anyone could rival her.
It is because, she saw many women in her journey to Moscow during the initial period of the Fall, their lives and fate were terrible.
They either becomes sex slaves to some sex deviant people who gained some abilities, raped, or bait for the mutated sapiens.
After the Fall even woman could be stronger than man and even exceed that. But most women in the initial period of the Fall, take the opportunity late.
Men….sadly…were advantageous in this matter. Men were taught to be brave, to take risk while women were taught to do sewing and maintain ladylike behavior, to be mindful and read the situations.
While that would help a lot before the Fall and could even be advantageous in some matters, in the Fall, it is the Law of the jungle.
But Katarina since she was a child never learn those ladylike things. She has been beaten and scarred by her own father, more times than she can count.
She was broken and because of it she becomes stronger. With each scars she become stronger and tougher.
She is not ashamed of her scar. If there is one person she is ashamed of showing her scar, it would be Azief. She never wanted him to see her worse side.
In her journey and her experience in her life she saw and felt all of this cruelty and almost lost faith in all men.
Her experience with her father certainly did not help.
But…..as they are men like her father, and the scums she saw, there are also people like her brother.
His brother is a true man.
He protected her when he himself has to get beaten for her, the scars and broken bones were his proof.
He did not hurt her and above all else, no matter how hard, he would always try to fulfill his promise.
However the feelings he felt for Azief is different.
It is not the same feeling like her feelings for her brother. She smiles as she saw a few flower trees leaves falls down.
The clouds go away and the sun has comes out, and the warm sky embraces her. Outside the city people drink to celebrate spring after a long winter.
Butterflies fly around flowerbeds and the flower petals shyly opens their petals.
Spring has comes.
So she waited, like the day before it.
***
SOMEWHERE IN THE WILDERNESS OF ALEPPO
A woman comes out from a sand dune as she pats her magenta robe as the dust and the sand falls down from her robe.
There is a village here a few hours ago, full of trees and life with almost a hundred people living here.
Yet a few hours ago, after this woman came, the place turned into a sand dessert.
The people here also all died, their bodies, children or adults all turned into sand.
The woman shakes her head in regret
‘Not a viable experiment. Maybe I am approaching this wrong. I need to take more samples. This humanoid race seems to have some potential and link to the answer I am seeking’
She then laughed.
This woman have a five horizontal triangle shaped mark on her forehead and her eyes are runes of the Asgardian, shining with brilliance, hieroglyphs from the Eternal Sun Empire, matrixes from the Thrulsian race, and mathematical symbols that is unrecognizable.
Her webbed fingers seem to have a trace of blood.
She tilted her head and shakes her head.
‘I need more to restore my power. I need to maintain low profile for a while. There are still those pesky people hunting me. Then I need to try to seek this Death Monarch character. Seeing him, I believe his body would provide me at least a clue to the answer. Hehehe’
Then out of the sand dune, a young boy, bleeding on his face and blind in one eyes crying
‘Mommy, mommy!’ This woman tilted her head and saw the young boy.
‘Noisy’ she said as she put her finger onto that young boy as that young boy shrived up and turns into dust.
She then smiles
‘Ah, silence. I need to think more. For now, I hope no humans realizes my existence yet’
Then she walks away leisurely
This time she needs to find a new hunting place.
***
IN A CLUSTER ISLAND NEAR INDONESIA
A young boy is playing with a few black ravens, touching their beaks and then caressing their wings.
This young boy is surrounded by serpents of all sizes and they all slither around his feet, like a pet, tame and docile.
The boy doesn’t seem to be afraid at all, instead he looked extremely relaxed. His iris is green and all around his body green aura shrouded him.
As he was immersed in playing with his raven, suddenly his raven is startled and flies away immediately.
The shadows from the sunlight elongated and from the shadows a woman appeared.
The woman wears a Demon Mask and she slowly removes it, looking at Loki and shaking her head.
The boy smiles bitterly.
‘Are you addicted on appearing like that?’ This woman is Trisha, one of Three Sisters of Shadows. She sighed. Her lord is even more dramatic in his entrance than hers.
‘Lord Loki, I have news from the Inventor.’ Loki sighed. Trisha…..the longer she is with him, the more casual she becomes.
‘What is the news?’ He thought that The Inventor would surely ask for more ingredients or some ores or metal he need to complete the work.
‘He said he has finished the work’
‘Really?’ This time it was Loki turns to be startled.
‘He really finished it? That is fast’ Loki was smiling or ear to ear. He changes his form into a young handsome man with a suit.
Trisha nodded
‘Good. Good. Bring me to him’ Loki waves his hand as the serpents and the black ravens all disperse.
He took Trisha hand and they melded down into the shadows and they travel using Shadow Movement.
Azief also has this technique but he rarely uses it because his own speed is already fast.
They arrived at the lab in a matter of seconds.
Inside the lab, Loki saw the Inventor sitting on a chair enjoying a tea time and not far away from him is the large cave tunnel structure.
It is a large space that was built to accommodate his invention.
The Inventor saw Loki and his eyes beamed with excitement as he got up from his seat and put down his tea
‘Loki, I finished the task. Please check it.’
He is also impatient for this to end.
He made the deal with Loki to finish his invention. But the more he constructs this thing, the more he felt something was wrong with this thing. But after all he had made a deal with Loki.
And Loki himself has helped him exact his revenge. He is impatient for Loki to say he finished it so he could get out form this cave.
It has been almost four years since he is under Loki. It is not like he did not have freedom working for Loki but his freedom is limited.
Loki went to that area and checks the invention. As his finger traces the invention he smiles.
‘You have done well. You have done really well. This is exactly what I want. There are some flaws but I can fix it.’
Loki was ecstatic.
‘With this….I could make my next move’ He said in a whispering tone, his face is the kind of face he shows when he is planning something nefarious.
‘So, I can go right? I’m free now right?’ The Inventor asked, looking at Loki. Loki smirks.
‘Of course. I always respect my deals. We made a contract and you fulfilled it’ But that smile is still there on Loki face. And The Inventor is slowly feeling creeped out.
Then Loki added
‘But we after all have known for years. I want to say something before you go’
‘Are you trying to make an excuse for me to stay longer here? The Inventor face turns ugly. He has been with Loki for almost four years. He knows best how this Trickster takes advantage of people.
‘No, you misunderstand me. I just have an advice to give you. Some people know you were the one that killed the Merchant King. Some people will be searching for you. I will send one of the Three Sisters of Shadows to guard you’
‘I can protect myself’ The Inventor said coldly.
Loki smirks and then said
‘These people chasing you are not some Orb Condensing levelers. They are even some Seed Formation expert who came out of their seclusion to hunt you. That’s why I said to you don’t go overboard.’
‘He killed my people, my family’ The Inventor shouted
‘I did not mean the torture.’ And then that glint of mischievousness flash in Loki eyes and for some reason the Inventor felt like he has fucked up.
‘Why do you have to be so greedy? Why did you have to steal the Merchant King Key?’ Loki said and he chuckles a bit
‘You knew?’
‘Of course. Sometime you underestimated me too much. I am hurt’ Loki said giggling. But the Inventor has no mood to laugh right now.
‘Who else knows?’ The Inventor asks.
‘People who have enough interest and knows about what that Key holds all knew by now I guess.’ Loki said nonchalantly.
The Inventor shakes his head like he could not believe what is happening. He thought he had hidden the fact that he got the key very well.
He needs to know the source of the leak.
‘Who sell them the information?’ The Inventor asks. He is now feeling sour and has no time to think about his tea time or his hard earned freedom.
‘Who else?’ Loki asked, as he put a smirking expression on his face. The Inventor then understands. There is only one person
‘The Broker?’
Loki clapped clearly satisfied. Loki treated all of this like a game. Of course he would treat it like that. It is not his life in danger.
The Inventor sighed.
He knew the Broker job is after all to sell and buy information. He could not exactly kill or blames the Broker because of that.
After all he also uses the Broker service on certain occasion.
‘Who sell them the information?’ The Inventor asked again. Loki snickered
‘Why…it’s me of course’ Loki said and then he laughed like there was something funny about what just said.
The Investor face turns red.
‘You!’
‘Yes’ Loki said unashamed
‘Why?’ The Inventor ask
‘Ah, come on. Don’t be naive. There is only one reason I would sell my information to the broker. It is because I need to trade for equally valuable information.’
‘You betray me!’ The Inventor shouted in anger
‘Ouch. Don’t say it like that. I didn’t betray you. I never thought you wanted to keep it a secret. You told me nothing about it being a secret’ Loki said, like always smiling mockingly
‘You..! Damn trickster!’ The Inventor shouted but he did not do anything. He after all knew that what the trickster did is not something surprising.
Everyone buys and sell information from and to the Broker. The only thing he could blame was his lack of precaution against the Trickster.
‘Fine! This is the criminal underworld. We all know how the game is play. Just blame my naivety then.’
Loki smiles
‘I know you will see reason. Anyway, I am offering you one of my girls to help you. You see, whatever you might think of me, I am quite fond of you. I really don’t want you to die.’ The Inventor only scoffs.
If one takes the Trickster words at face value, they would be an idiot
‘Fine. I accept.’ The Inventor said. Then when he was about to go out from this lab, he thinks of something.
So, he turned around and then asks
‘Did you plan all of this? Did you know I would try to seek the Merchant King key?’ Loki looks at the Inventor and while he didn’t answer he smiles
That is as good as answering his question.
The Inventor then ask another question
‘What information did you trade with the Broker?’
Loki rubs his forehead and then he said
‘I guess it is no harm sharing it with you. You don’t know anything about it after all. I trade it in for a location.’
‘Location of what?’ Smiling Loki answer
‘A temple’
***