CH 649-652: Cause and effect

While Sol was busy using multiple projections and taking steps to ensure Theresa’s safety, things in Lustburg were also slowly calming down.

Ever since Milia made a contract with Sol, her powers had been exponentially increasing as she did Sol’s bidding. Not to mention that the stronger Sol became, the greater she grew in strength. She had a grasp on the reason behind this growth.

She was Sol’s shadow. As the moon was to the sun, she could only truly shine by reflecting an infinitesimal part of his incandescent light. But that part, as small as it was, was enough to illuminate the whole world.

More than anything… it allowed her to share that glorious light as well.

***

In the depths of infinite shadows, a few figures with no features hid inside the clock tower. They observed the passing pedestrians with a gleam in their eyes.

“So, I need to ask again… Why do we have to stand on the highest building in the residential area?”

Edgar, one of Milia’s friends, queried as he adjusted the tight-fitting black uniform around his body. It had been some time since he did any sort of field work and he was feeling the aching need of exercises to loosen his body.

Still, more than his progressively expanding belly, he was more curious about why they had to waste time climbing such a high building when they would inevitably have to go down.

“Atmosphere. His Highness always told me that no matter what you did, the atmosphere was very important. He also told me that standing in a building, hidden by the shadow, under the moonlight was one of the best ways to bring this atmosphere.”

The list of things Edgar wanted to say might have been miles long, but remembering the fanaticism with which Milia viewed Sol, he wisely chose to shut up. One did not need to fear someone insane. However, they did not need to meddle with them either, provoking them for no reason.

“I see.” He simply cleared his throat and observed the surroundings once more. His eyes fell on the members of the new division Milia was building.

“So… Those are the hounds, correct?” The Hound had once been the name of their division. During those times, they were considered little more than slaves. Edgar did not understand why Milia would desire to back this accursed name.

“I can practically hear your thoughts, and all I can tell you is that. A hound's honor depends on its master.” Milia grinned maniacally. In the past, the Hound was only a shameful designation to them. They were nothing more than trained mutts. To be used and discarded at a moment’s notice.

Now though, “The hound will follow me on the hunt. They will be our official face to the world, the one that will strike fear in the heart of our enemy.”

The Crown’s Shadow would follow its name and stay hidden from the world, working silently, faithfully for the empire. But the hounds were different. They would be in the light. They would be known and they would be feared.

“Everything is still in the experimental phase. So I don’t know how much you can do. So let’s make it a game, shall we? The more you capture, the more reward you receive and the number one will be allowed to have a direct meeting with his majesty.”

Milia smiled as she felt the atmosphere become colder. The members of the Hound she had selected all had one thing in common. Something that made Milia worry far less about the chances of them ever betraying them or rather betraying Sol.

After all,

“May the blessing of the Moon be with you.”

They were all Elves.

***

Elves. One of the proudest races in the world. It was a race renowned for the beauty of its members and the naturally large lifespan they enjoyed by dint of their existence. Once the rulers of the world, the elves are both respected and hated by many.

What many people did not know was that the elven race was one of the most subservient ones in the entire continent. They would only bend their back for one master and one only.

Dragons. The focus of their worship.

Elves were fascinated by dragons. Their faith was so high that they started worshiping the four Dragon Kings and in many cases, one could say that they were more faithful to the dragons than the goddesses.

Lustburg, as the greatest melting pot in the world, had its fair share of elves. Be it elves born in the country itself or elves who came from the great forest. But, ever since the first time Sol showed his might to the world, the number of elf immigrants and wanderers who decided to settle in the capital skyrocketed.

It was estimated that at this rate, by next year, the elven population of Lustburg would more than triple.

They all had the same goal. Venture on a pilgrimage to Lustburg to offer their prayers to the Dragon Emperor.

How could Milia let go of such an occasion that was falling right in her laps? Fully trained, mature, and loyal soldiers wishing for nothing but to serve her lord.

Milia knew that she could not bring such a hastily made-up group close to the secrets of the Kingdom. However, it was possible to use them for less important things, and now it was time to test her new powers.

｢Famine -:- Hollow Pit｣

This was a very simple name. But Milia found it very poetic. What did it feel like to be hungry? Only those who once starved could understand. The gnawing feeling of nothing filling your body was not something that could be explained.

This power was not unlike a curse. But it also had many advantages. Using this power on her subordinates, she was able to greatly lower their inhibitions. Increase the strength of their senses to drastically lower the time needed for them to locate their targets and even increase their reaction time.

I should be able to hold this for five minutes before they really go crazy.

Milia mused as she observed the hounds jumping from the tower and rushing like starved dogs toward their target.

Truly, she found the sight amusing. This was a power she would have expected from Setsuna. Not herself. Still, Milia would not refuse a power that could make her more useful to Sol.

“Do you think just a few starved dogs will be enough? There are a few Dukes who also entered Lustburg this time.” Edgar asked as he prepared himself to jump as well.

“I will take care of the Dukes. They are not much of a threat and… do not underestimate them. They are not just mad beasts.” Milia smiled as her King’s name flashed in her mind.

『 Lunaria 』

This was a name personally bestowed on her by her lord.

Milia did much research about the King’s realm. She knew that a King would whisper destiny and power in the ears of the user. Those names represented legends and stories from the world beyond.

Lunaria was not such a name.

It was a name that concentrated on not just one legend but all legends that were related to the moon. A never-seen-before name and one that bestowed her with much power.

For example,

『Phantasm Domain -::- Moon’s Secret』

She was not yet a King. But her power was close enough. Under the moonlight, no deceit shall hide from her. Her powers spread, covering the entire capital in but one instant.

Crimson aura dotted the world below and only those connected to her could see those aura. This was a new power, a hint of the Concept of Night and Secrecy.

“Hunt down all the enemies of the crown. Permission to execute anyone who retaliates.”

She smiled and jumped from the tower, followed by Edgar. The hunt would be swift and merciless.

___

Inside an inn, the dwarven merchant family, the ones who had entered Lustburg recently, were ready to execute their tasks. A thing to note was that they were not clad in black. They simply wore their usual clothes. Experienced assassins as they were, they knew that the best way not to be noticed was to look like everyone else.

After a little research, they managed to collect information about Theresa’s whereabouts. Theresa was not particularly elusive or hiding her location after all.

After the war, she would either spend her time in some bar or stay in the Hermes mansion.

Duke Hermes had the blood of dwarves running in his veins and had kept many connections with Greed Dike, accumulated throughout his life. Even now he was one of the main emissaries lobbying for peace between the two kingdoms.

In their initial plan, they would have met Duke Hermes at his mansion under the guise of messengers from Greed Dike, and with a blitz attack, they would have either captured or eliminated the duke swiftly.

Even though Hermes was also in the Duke realm, there was just no way he could be their match.

Their first and main objective was to eliminate Theresa. Capturing her was only to be done if there was a decent possibility of that.

At least that was the initial plan. Now though, things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse before they had even made a move.

“How is the situation?” The mother dwarf asked. Her expression was taut and her hand was languidly resting on her dagger.

The deathsworn of Greed Dike worked in family cells. The Mother or the Father was the leader of their group. The children were the second rank and the guards represented the third rank. They were obviously not related by blood. But this was extremely useful when it came to infiltration.

“I do not know what happened. But that explosion of power was definitely from the Birth of a new King.” The father dwarf scowled as he looked at the direction of the Hermes mansion.

“Theresa?” The daughter asked, almost rhetorically.

“Impossible. Theresa is not even in the Duke Realm. She has not managed to advance in decades. Even if she did have some miraculous epiphany, she would at most become a Duke.”

Only those who had ascended to the Duke Realm could understand how far away the King Realm was. It wasn't something that could be attained with just effort and time. It was a power only those supremely talented and blessed with luck could hope to reach.

In every generation, the number of Kings that were not Blessed was extremely limited. In some generations, no such person would even exist. As long as one didn't count the witches, of course.

This was how large the disparity was between a Bless and Non-Blessed. The probability was so minuscule that it was inconsequential.

“For Theresa to become a King from nothing in one night. She would need to realize her Truth, build her Legend, and find her…” The more he talked, the weirder his expression became.

Realizing her Truth? Theresa was without a shadow of a doubt one of the most self-serving women he had ever known.

Build her Legend? Even if most people did not know the name of the creator, the Rangers were currently building a true legend for themselves. Everyone in the world knew about them. After all, this was the first time in history someone created a way for a mortal to actually face literal Dukes.

Even before that, Theresa was a household name in Greed Dike. She had so many feats to her name that, he wouldn’t be able to count them all even if all night went by.

“This… Really?” He asked out loud. Though the probability was minuscule… it wasn’t exactly zero, which only served to be against them.

He closed his eyes. “We abort the mission for now. Tomorrow we will go to the guild and take our certificate then act like normal merchants for some time. We will find a way to determine whether she had really ascended to the King Realm.”

There was no need to hurry. Deathsworn they might be but that did not mean they would mindlessly throw their life away. They needed to succeed and even if they failed, confirming Theresa’s current realm would also be a great service to the kingdom.

“Well. I thought you guys were only third-rate at best. But I see you are not so incompetent.” A feminine voice reached them abruptly.

The ten dwarves were elites, the ones with roles of Father, Mother, and Daughter were all bonafide Dukes. The seven guards were also very close to ascending to the Duke realm and could put up a decent fight against one if they joined forces.

The very moment they heard the voice, whispering so close to them, they all realized that the intruder was far beyond their level. In such a situation the first action should have been to flee. But they knew it was not the best option.

Attack!

They all moved simultaneously. The three Dukes were already prepared to release their Zones. No matter how strong that person was, as long as they weren’t a King there should have been some effect if they retaliated desperately enough. But…

“How cute.”

They found, to their horror, that they were completely unable to even move. They did not know when, but wriggling shadows were slowly climbing up from their legs and covering, nay devouring, their entire bodies.

The shadow did not just paralyze them, it also gnawed away at their mana, completely devouring their reserves. They were… powerless.

The mission is a failure.

Father Dwarf thought calmly in his mind.

Once they accepted that there was no escape possible, they only had one option left. All of them bit hard on their molar, breaking down the poison hidden in their mouth, and swallowing it in one fell swoop.

No one could ever say that they would stay silent in the face of torture. This was why all deathsworn had lethal poison on them. In fact, they had more than one type of poison as contingency. Just in case they were stopped from taking the first.

The poison was very effective, and Father Dwarf could feel death slowly creeping in, ready to take him in its embrace. He only had one question as his body lulled away toward death’s embrace,

But why did she not stop us?

Those were his last thoughts as the ten dwarves slumped on the ground, their bodies now devoid of life.

While the whole suicide spectacle took place, Milia leisurely watched their antics, sitting languidly on the bed. She had no intention to stop them. There was really no need to.

After all,

“I will leave everything to you. Miss Isis.”

They had a necromancer in their rank. Death was never an escape in front of Isis. Far from it, in fact.

It was the road toward eternal enslavement.

____

The hunt ended, the night receded, and a new day graced the world as the sun rose over the horizon.

In a memorial park that was being built and engraved with the names of all the people who died during the war against Wratharis, Sol was sitting with his true body and throwing seeds for the doves and pigeons to feast on.

The events of the prior night hardly disturbed any citizens, only a few were even aware of the happenings. Thus Sol watched as the people of Lujstburg continued their regular lives. Some families came to the monument with flowers and broke down in tears. Some people came with bitterness and resentment in their hearts. A few widows came holding their children or with their growing bellies, filled with a new life.

It was a bitter reminder, a sight that no amount of statistics could perfectly convey— the depth of emotions.

War was sad. War tore families apart. Forever separating them. The only profit it brought was to the ruler class of a country, but not regularly. Meanwhile, the commoners were left with facing the harsh consequences and subsequent pain and suffering that was left in a war’s wake.

I am sorry.

Sol apologized inwardly. His eyes left the wailing people and focused on the eager pigeons, they seemed to have gotten a bit too fat for their own good. This was the first true war that Lustburg went in after eighteen years. Unfortunately, it would not be the last.

Sol needed to conquer the world and even the entire universe to accomplish his selfish ambitions. For these ambitions, for his selfishness, many people would have to die. Even more innocents would have to suffer.

All he could do, to alleviate their suffering by even a minuscule margin, was become stronger so fast that very few people would even dare to face him and question him. That way, fewer people would have to suffer a sorry fate.

“Sol…” Lilith muttered.

The pigeons ignored the intruder, all too content in gorging themselves on the delicious food the stranger had brought for them.

Sol, meanwhile, smiled at the purple-haired woman. Lilith was as beautiful as always.

“Take a seat and feed them with me. I’ve found this to be exceptionally calming.” Lilith eyed the small bag of seeds. She could feel Sol's energy in them and wondered why he was wasting his power feeding pigeons.

However, she did not refuse the seat offered to her, sitting right next to her nephew on the bench. The pigeons promptly ignored Sol and flocked toward her as she started spreading the heavenly food.

“Traitors.” Sol chuckled, finding the way they immediately ditched him to be amusing.

The two stayed silent, not speaking for some time. Sol gazed at the sky, lost in thought, while Lilith fed the pigeons. Sol was right, it was indeed calming.

“What is happening?” She asked, confused.

“I infused this whole place with my power. In a way, you could say that this is a small holy ground.” Sol answered nonchalantly. He had been conducting many experiments to obtain better control of his power. [The World] had proven itself to be extremely valuable and the more his mastery increased, the more control he had over his dimension. Another thing worthy of note was that the goddesses were literally unable to detect his divinity.

Clearly, the Concept of Balance was at a higher level than ones related to emotions, such as the Seven Sins and Virtues. As long as he didn’t do things too overtly, he had nothing to fear.

“Well, I suppose you didn’t come here to chat about my new toys. Any questions?” Sol was in a very good mood.

“About yesterday. What happened?” She asked him.

“Everything got handled quite fast. Milia’s new division was very effective and with Isis as a backup, those guys had no way of escaping even in death.” He laughed. Isis was very handy to have around for these situations.

Sol could have inverted their emotions, but he was not certain how that would work on them. If they did not hate him in the first place, they wouldn’t start loving him now, would they?

“At the end of the day, the majority we caught were nothing but small shrimps. Sacrificial pawns that were sent to die in exchange for any information they could glean about us. This time though, we got a relatively bigger catch. Dwarves from Greed Dike.”

“Oh? What do you plan to do?” Lilith asked, but Sol shrugged, “Initially I hoped those guys would have some information about smiting or something that could help Theresa. Theresa is limited by her ability to multitask. No matter how fast her mind moves, she only has one body after all.”

“No luck?”

“No luck indeed. Isis did find a few interesting thoughts in the depths of their minds but nothing particularly useful for us.” Learning that the Prince of Greed Dike wanted to kill Theresa was one thing, but it was not very useful, nor would it negatively affect anything for them.

“I could use it as leverage. Affect Greed Dike even if only slightly, but that would ultimately be a waste of time. I am not inclined to play more games with them at the moment.” He snorted dismissively.

Lilith was pretty sure that only Sol could look down so thoroughly on an entire Kingdom. However, she had to admit that he had the capital to do so.

“Still, I know you. You are not the kind of man to take these things lying down.” Lilith grinned and Sol returned it with a toothy grin of his own.

He certainly was not going to let this slide. Selfish and vindictive were prominent among his middle names.

“I debated holding on. But if we hold on too much, people will start thinking we are an easy target. Furthermore, it will appear suspicious no matter how one would look at it. So, I asked Theresa if there was anyone she wanted dead, and she gave me a list.”

A list appeared in his hand, naming more than dozens of nobles and businessmen that Theresa wanted to be silenced. Many of them were part of Greed Dike’s councils and some of them were people who tried to steal from Theresa or have her eliminated, while a few others were linked to the Wings of Freedom and funded some of their activity.

Lilith was definitely intrigued by the list, remembering that Theresa was also quite the vindictive woman in her own right.

“So now what? Are you going to send the Crown’s Shadow? It would take a few days for them to kill everyone off.” She was curious about his next actions.

“No need to. I can simply kill them from here.” His voice was calm even though the words he conveyed could chill one to their very core.

“... What?” Lilith took a second to properly register what he had just said.

“Karma is a funny thing, you see. It links us all. Some way or another. Some links are very fragile, while others are pretty sturdy. Well, at the end of the day, it matters not. In the Mortal Realm. All those below the Demigod realm are ants compared to me.”

His eyes changed. For a brief instant, the sky blue color was replaced by a rainbow hue.

｢Divine Weapon -:- Eye of Akasha｣

If Isis or Camelia were present, they would have witnessed the slumbering giant that was Sol’s soul opening all its eyes simultaneously.

The world that Sol viewed with his eyes now was on a higher plane of existence. One where time and space were completely meaningless.

Below him was the river of time rushing without a stop, nourishing the colossal tree of endless possibilities. Meanwhile, the threads of Karma surrounded him from all sides, golden lines linking him to all individuals in the world.

The amount of information rushing at his mind at the moment was mind-blowing, and if he had tried this before becoming a King, he would have only lasted a few seconds before his mind was fried like a chicken. But now, all this amounted to was only a slight headache.

In this dimension, there was no Sol. Only a giant covered in a thousand eyes with a crown on its head.

The eyes moved, observing and ignoring the threads he had no care for. Simply holding one of those threads would give him all the information about a mortal. From the moment of their birth until the present moment and even the different futures and possibilities that their life would venture towards.

This was for all intent and purposes a power that entered the Divine Territory.

The giant was not worried. Slowly, but surely, he found all the threads he was searching for. The links were flimsy, but it was more than enough for him.

Gathering all those threads in one hand, a scissor appearing in another, the giant muttered.

Be proud. You are the first victims of this power.

｢Boundaries of Life and Death -:- Karma Severing]

One snip was all it took for dozens of people to die thousands of kilometers away from Sol.

***

Back in the real world, Lilith shivered, her eyes overcome with terror. As a near demigod with a concept related to Severing herself, she was more sensitive to powers affecting Karma.

Yet, her mind was unable to completely grasp exactly what Sol did. It simply; refused to.

“What just happened?” She asked with some difficulty.

Sol, appearing a little more tired, sighed to himself, “Nothing but a paltry trick. This was a power I used against Nihil during the Astral War. At the moment, I can only kill those in the Duke realm and can severely affect all King realms in the Mortal Realm. It’s harder to affect Divine Beasts regardless of their realm or those individuals related to gods like the Blessed.”

Sol waved his hand nonchalantly and stood up. He did not find such a feat to be particularly incredible. Powerful Kings could still partially resist his power, and there was nothing impressive about Killing Dukes anymore.

“Remember. In the future, our enemies will be demigods and even gods. You need to change your perspective.”

He laughed and took Lilith by the hand, prompting her to follow him in his stride.

“Enough about such trifling matters. Now, it’s time for us to go on a date and for you to honor your promise.”

Having fun with Lilith was far more important than a bunch of dwarves. As for that prince, he would make sure to kill him later.

A smiling Sol and a bewildered Lilith thus started a new day together, hand in hand.

___

As the sun rose in the skies above, illuminating the world with its incandescent light, a mournful air seemed to have washed over Greed Dike.

The usually boisterous council room was inordinately silent at the moment. Nearly half of the seats were empty and the remainder that were filled were seated by dwarves giving each other uneasy glances. It was as if a dangerous grip was tightened around them, ready to crush them at a moment’s notice.

Meanwhile, one knee on the ground, the current Crown Prince was recounting the harrowing events of dawn today to the current King of Greed Dike and the present council members. The more information the prince recounted, the worse all of their expressions became.

In one morning, fifteen high-ranked dwarves were found dead.

Death was nothing strange in Greed Dike. It was a country where parents killed their children and children killed their parents as long as it aligned with their interests or threatened them.

Assassinations were a common occurrence in this god-forsaken country, combats to the death as well.

This time though. Things were beyond their comprehension.

One councilman had his body age up so quickly that he died in his sleep. The autopsy conducted on him revealed that his body age had gotten nearly 400 years old, making him die of natural causes.

This was impossible. After all, that councilman was only eighty this year.

One noble died during a banquet. An autopsy conducted on the nobleman revealed that his body was riddled with a deadly disease for several years, ultimately causing his untimely death. Even traces of treatment had been found on him. His body was also considerably aged.

Another occurrence that could only be impossible. The noble was a strapping young man who never had to visit the doctor in his entire life.

The prince personally witnessed the horrifying death of a second councilman. The man's body seemed to crumble and twist in front of the prince's very own eyes. The body twisted and inflated, then burst out loud, splattering blood everywhere. Even now, the prince was riddled with the blood of said councilman.

Another autopsy conducted on the man revealed that the cause of his death was a road accident. This ludicrous statement was so incredulous that even a toddler would have a hard time believing it. Very much so if they directly witnessed his demise like the prince. But as more and more reports came to their attention, they were all forced to accept the reality.

The final nail in the coffin was the death of a minister. The autopsy revealed poisoning and his wife was the culprit. She had fed him a slow-acting poison that took ten years to completely fill the body, slowly weakening it.

If the incident just stopped there, they would have been relieved. At least this type of death was quite natural in this ill-begotten country.

However, things took a turn for the bizarre when the wife pleaded non-guilty. She had indeed brought the poison. But she had not even yet administered it to him. She had planned to only administer the poison to him if she caught him cheating on her.

The poison was found and records proved she had only brought the poison two days prior.

A dozen people died all at the same time, right where they stood. However, all the causes of death were completely different and incomprehensible without question.

Some thought that perhaps the royal family was messing with the autopsy results but their own agents reported the exact same information. That left no room for any doubts.

It was as if… the cause of the death for all of them, irrespective of time and space, was brought to the present.

They were unable to understand the means that were used to cause such an incomprehensible and incredulous phenomenon. And the unknown caused fear to ravage their soul and minds.

This was definitely a man-made event. So what would happen if the culprit or culprits decided to kill them as well?

The prince seemed to have seen better days. His forehead was sweating and his eyes were darting around.

“What is the common ground between all the dead?” The King asked his son.

He had also concluded that someone was behind this act. It was simply too precise to be a natural curse or accident. The How did not matter. But they needed to know the Who and more importantly the Why.

The prince gritted his teeth, as dim-witted as he was, he had been able to make the connections almost immediately.

“They are all enemies of Lady Theresa.”

Everyone started mumbling to themselves, livening up the council room. It might be a coincidence but it was too precise to be a coincidence.

The King’s eyebrows arched for a moment before he spoke in a nonchalant voice, “Theresa is in Lustburg. Let’s say she has the means to enact such an incomprehensible event or knows someone who can do it for her. The question is, why now?”

The prince closed his mouth, refusing to answer but that action alone was more than enough for all the councilmen to come to a conclusion.

One way or another, the prince had provoked Theresa, and now she was clearly retaliating. They looked at each other, utterly lost regarding this situation. They just could not decide on what they could even do.

Theresa was in Lustburg and while they weren’t her enemies, they were certainly competitors.

As if that wasn’t enough already, Lustburg and Greed Dike were currently in a bad relationship because of all the decisions they made until now.

“I will contact Theresa.” The King spoke in the end, causing all their eyes to light up. How could they have forgotten that the King and Theresa had a relatively amicable relationship compared to just about everyone else?

“Your majesty!” They all stood and bowed. The influence of the King had been waning as of late. Even more so as more people decided to follow the Crown Prince.

Now though, the majority of those who followed the prince were dead and the few who were alive would not risk their lives to follow the downward trend for no reason.

“The council is dismissed. I need to talk to my son. Nothing else should happen now, but if it does, do not hesitate to warn me.”

They all shared uneasy glances but did as they were told. The King held the power of salvation at the moment. There was no way they would antagonize him now when they needed him the most.

“Additionally, call the Supreme Daughter. I have to talk to her as well.”

Like sheep in a herd, they all trudged on, leaving the room empty save for the last two individuals.

A father and his son.