《Reincarnated Hero Kills The Summoner》 Chapter -1 - Equipment Levels Equipment Levels are same as Human Power Levels You can wield the full power of any equipment at your level. A Master Level Equipment will require you to be at the Master Level to fully wield its power. If you are at Expert, you can only wield half the power of a Master Level Equipment. At Novice, you can only wield 1/4th the power of a Master Level Equipment. Thus , if you are one stage below you can wield half the power. If you are two stages below you can use 1/4th the power. If you are three stages below you can 1/8th the power. Chapter -2 - Magic and Skill Explanation Magic - You can learn magic through magic books you can absorb, through bloodlines and innate magic you are born with. You can also combine magic you already have to create new magic. Magic Upgrades every 10 levels into a stronger form of magic. Practicing Magic would result in learning attacks, attacks will level up with the base magic they are derived from. --- Skills - You can learn skills through practice only. Skills completely max out at Level 10 Skill Drain - You can only drain levels from enemies that you kill that are 10 levels higher than you. At Level 1 you can only drain 10% of the levels. At Level 2 you can drain 20% of the levels. At Level 100 you can drain 100% of the levels. Destruction God''s Intimidation - This will intimidate and suppress everyone below your level completely, and the people above your level will have a varying range of suppression but won''t be completely immobilized. At Level 2 - Suppresses 10% of the power of people above your level. It completely suppresses people below your level and forces them to kneel. At Level 3 - Suppresses 15% of the power of people above your level. It also makes them afraid of you subconsciously as a primal instinct of fear towards a God. It completely suppresses people below your level and they can''t physically move at all. At Level 4 - Suppresses 20% of the power of people above your level. Destabilizes their soul and decreases their resistance to mental attacks.It makes people below your level see you as their worst nightmare , and their soul will start cracking and break and thus killing them if exposure is prolonged. Chapter -3 - Glaze Lockhart Profile Last Updated - Chapter - 11 Name - Glaze Lockhart Race - God Level - 13 ( Novice ) Mana - 50,000 Mana Recovery - 500/second God Blood - 5% unlocked. Magic - Holy Destruction Magic: Level - 2 Divine Slave Magic : Level - 1 Magic Attacks - Beam of Holy Destruction: Level - 1 | Mana Cost - Half of all mana at any level Skills - Level Drain Skill: Level - 1 Destruction God''s Intimidation: - Level - 2 Unique Skills - Heaven - Slaughtering Sword : Level 1 Blood River Blade : Level 1 Passive Skills - These level up automatically with your level Hero''s Luck Hero''s Charm Hero''s Wrath Chapter -4 - Power Levels , System and Points Everyone uses Magic or Skills or Both. You get a magic point every Level. You get a skill point every 5 Levels. Levels - Level 0 - Normal Human with no Magic or Skill Level 1-9: Apprentice Level 10-19 : Novice Level 20-29 : Expert Level 30- 39 : Master Level 40 - 49 : Legend Level 50 - 59 : Beginner Demi-God ( Start comprehending a law of magic ) Can use Pseudo Divine Magic Level 60 - 69 : Low Demi-God Level 80 - 89 : High Demi-God Level 90 - 99: Peak Demi-God / Half Step God Level 100+ : God ( Complete comprehension of a type of magic and becoming a God of that magic ) Can use Divine Magic that can bend the laws of the world to your wish. --- Destruction God System - Shop - Can buy Magic Books and Equipment from the magic shop with gold from the real world. Certain Items and Magic can only be bought by completing specific tasks. Chapter 1 - God of Destruction and King Everheart Glaze Lockhart died in peace, after spending the first half of his life building the biggest business empire in the world he died spending his hard-earned money and living a peaceful lavish life. As his vision darkened he was awakened in a white room and sitting in front of him was a man in a purple robe with long flowing purple air in his twenties and pitch-black eyes that gave a feeling they could see through your soul. "Who are you ?" I asked "I am the God of Destruction," said the man in the purple robe. "You are right now being summoned into a world of magic ruled by human kingdoms and demon empires that are at war with each other. The King of a Kingdom is summoning you and is planning to use you to save the kingdom and the world at large," said the God with a smile on his face. "But I don''t want you to just be a hero, but be my successor and carry on my legacy. I was betrayed by someone and I don''t have much time left." said the God with an air of sadness and regret. "Before I go, I want to pass on my powers to someone and I think you are the perfect candidate." the God said floating in the air. "Summoned? Another world? Be your successor? What are you talking about ? " before I could comprehend what was going on the god in front of me disintegrated into purple light and went into my ?h?st, I felt a weird sensation throughout my body and mind and my mind went blank. When I opened my eyes again I was standing on what looked like a magic circle in a spacious hall and was surrounded by people. In front of me was what looked like a throne with a man who looked like in his 40s with blonde hair looking towards me. *God of Destruction System Activated* --- Name - Glaze Lockhart Race - God Level - 10 ( Novice ) Skill Points - 1 Magic Points - 1 Magic - Holy Destruction Magic: Level - 1 Level Drain Skill: Level - 1 Destruction God''s Intimidation: - Level - 1 Passive Skills - These level up automatically with your level Hero''s Luck Hero''s Charm Hero''s Wrath --- *Would you like to spend your skill points?* A female monotone voice rang in my head A system ?, and it looks like I have a magic point and a skill point that I can spend. I''ll spend the magic point on Holy Destruction Magic and the skill point on Destruction God''s Intimidation, latter should be more helpful at the start. *ting* Holy Destruction Magic : Level 2 Destruction God''s Intimidation : Level 2 * Your magic line and skill line is leveled up * I should focus on my surroundings for now, let me give that new skill a try. With just a thought I activated the Destruction God''s Intimidation Skill , suddenly I could feel the ground shaking and the lights flashing , and everyone else suddenly got on guard. Even though they were taking precautions against me I could see their hands shaking as they focused on me. The king got up from his throne, " Stay your hand soldiers, this is the esteemed hero that I have summoned, stand back and let me talk to him" "But your majesty h-he looks very dan- dangerous," said a soldier with his hands shaking. The King ignored him and walked towards me, I decided to check his stats. Name - Ronald Everheart Race - Human Level - 38 ( Master ) --- He is quite strong compared to me, but it''s not like I am a normal human either. " Welcome to the Everheart Kingdom Esteemed Hero, we are grateful to have you here, My name is Ronald Everheart and I am the King of the Kingdom of Everheart. What is your name, my hero ?" "Glaze Lockhart" I replied after lowering my intimidation skill a little. He was strong but was nevertheless visibly shaken seeing such power from a hero that was summoned recently. "My purpose of summoning you, the esteemed hero was to ask you to save this world, we are being attacked by demons and soon they will destroy everything and take over the world, only you can save this world, would help us ?" Save the world my ?ss, so the purple robe guy was saying the truth, but isn''t this a bit too cliche? I am the only one who can save the world? Anyways, for now, I''ll just go along with it but I have no intention to become a minion of this king and save his sorry ?ss for no reason. " I am honored to be given such an important task, I shall do my best and do what I can to save the world," I said while activating Hero''s Charm. The king looked convinced and the soldiers relaxed, "In that case, I shall bestow upon you the title of Lord and give you a piece of land and people to take care of it, and anything else you need I shall provide Lord Lockhart" said the King with a smile on his face. Saving the world, now what''s fun about that, how about taking it over and ruling it instead with power and fear " Thank you, my King " I said with a smile on my face. Chapter 2 - Holy Demonic Empress As my castle will take some time to be built, I was given temporary quarters within the Kings Castle. I was being shown around by the Commander of the King''s Guard, Alesia River, a tall strong looking woman with long brown hair and big br??sts, wearing a very skimpy armor or is it a bikini? I don''t know, this looks like the world where the more skimpy the armor is the stronger it is. She was wearing a black armor that was like a bikini , which had straps around her back and covered the sides of her br??sts and was completely open from the front showing a big cleavage though I am not sure if its still just a cleavage as her t?ts were just spilling out just b?r?ly being held on, the straps went from her front to a circular golden ring with many strange characters engraved on it on the center of her ?h?st and then from that ring straps went around her neck forming a sort of a choker. She was wearing a black skirt with gold outlines with a cut in the middle that showed her long toned legs and allowed her more flexibility. She was wearing black heels with strange glowing engravings on it. "You are probably going through a lot, it must be weird to be pulled into another world of magic, though you seem quite good at using magic even though you have no experience with it," she said as she walked by my side with soldiers following behind her. That display in the throne room probably shook her too, she seems like she is starting to trust me though I still feel her skepticism. "It was just my instinct, I had no idea what I was doing" I said with a smile, " I will need your guidance and training Commander River " "If you have any questions feel free to ask." She said, looking a bit more relaxed. Is this the effect of Hero''s Charm? "I want to know a bit about Everheart, and the surrounding world, and the situation with the demons." "Everheart is one of the biggest and oldest human kingdoms," said Alesia with pride, " There are around 5 Million people in Everheart, our economy mostly depends on producing and exporting food and magic crystals." "What are these magic crystals?" I asked. "They are crystals that are formed naturally that contain magic which can be used to recover your magic during a battle, not only that it has a lot of other uses, like in forging equipment, machines that use it as a power source, and to power the engravings on your equipment." "Are these strange characters on your shoes the engravings you talk about? What do they do ?" I asked curiously. "These are magical engravings that increase my speed by 10 %, you need to use magic crystals to charge these engravings. It may not seem like much but in actual battle, being 10% faster has a huge effect on the outcome" said she pointing to her black heels. "There are many engravings that do different things, like increasing your magic, health, magic resistance, attributes , even some that allow you to use magic that you don''t know" she continued. "Though we don''t have a lot of craftsmen that are very skilled in engravings , so I am afraid I do not know much about them, there are more skilled craftsmen in the other Kingdoms which is why we import our equipment from them" she said. " And what about the other Kingdoms, and the Demons ?" I asked. " There are 6 other Human Kingdoms, the strongest human kingdom is Neverwinter, they are ruled by their Queen, a Legend Mage, Queen Olivia Neverwinter, along with 5 Master level mages. They also have the strongest army," she said with a somewhat distressed look. "You don''t look like you like Neverwinter that much?" I asked. "They have been suppressing us for decades , trying to hinder our progress , looking down on us , during the wars with demons they ask the weaker kingdoms to go to the frontlines and if they refuse they start branding them as traitors to the human race and use that as an excuse to go to war and annex those nations. They act as the leaders of the human race and pretend to be fighting for a righteous cause but they are just ruled by a Selfish Queen who just cares about increasing her powers and someone who would do anything to make that happen" She said with anger. Though she looked very serious and angry, her bouncing big t?ts in her very skimpy and revealing armor and her swaying h?ps due to her wearing high heels made it difficult for me to pay attention and take her seriously. " I apologize, I got a bit carried away, we have a very bad history with them," she said with an awkward smile. " You don''t have to apologize, Commander, I can understand your pain being continually suppressed for so long," I said with an empathetic smile, " Though I expected the humans to be more united against the threat of the demonic race, can you tell me a bit more about the Demons ?" She sighed and continued " The Demons are ruled by the Holy Demonic Empress, at least that''s what she calls herself though there is nothing "holy" about her. The Demons weren''t always united like this, they were scattered just like the human kingdoms but just a decade ago there was a huge civil war among the demons and one female demon killed everyone in her path and declared herself the Holy Demonic Empress and united all the demons with fear and power. The Demon attacks before her were strong but they never worked together and only attacked and co-ordinated with their tribes with their agendas, and all of them had different goals. But after the Holy Demonic Empress came into power and united the Demonic Race, their attacks have become much stronger and all the different tribes have started coordinating with each other, and their Empress is also very smart, using tactics of the human race against us , and developing strategies that suit and enhance the powers of the Demonic Race. The human race is on the losing side of the war since her appearance, that is also the reason why the King thought it necessary to summon a hero to protect the Kingdom in these dark times. " Protect the Kingdom? not the world? , as I thought these people are quite selfish, they may not reveal it openly and say they want me to save the world and bring peace but in their hearts they just want me to protect them against the demons and the other kingdoms, using me as a shield. As I wanted to ask her more about the world we bumped into a onee-san looking blonde. Chapter 3 - Ara Ara Crown Princess In front of us was a m?tur? looking onee-san with long flowing blonde hair and huge br??sts that were almost coming out of her bodysuit. The bodysuit was white with golden shiny outlines that covered her huge br??sts until just above the n?pp??s like an arrow ^, creating a huge cleavage. The bodysuit connected below her cleavage with a golden V and right below it was a huge zig-zag opening until right above her private area that showed off her jade white skin and her toned naval area. Below that, she had tight blue pants that were looked like they were made out of latex with faint crisscrossed black lines giving it an effect of a net. She also had a very long scarf that went behind her neck and twirled around her arms. She also had white bracers with golden outlines that glowed with strange engravings and a glowing green ring with very minute engravings on her right index finger. Her bodysuit covered her body tightly and hugged her voluptuous curves and showed it off perfectly but at the same time was glowing with some mystical energy that kept me slightly on guard. And she was wearing heels, I am not even surprised at this point. She approached us with a smile on her beautiful m?tur? onee-san face, Commander Alesia by my side slightly bowed to her, " Your highness, this is the esteemed summoned hero, Lord Glaze Lockhart, he was just summoned by the King, I was showing him around and making him get slightly used to this world" she introduced me to the woman. She turned towards me and said " This is the Crown Princess of Everheart Kingdom, Crown Princess Charlotte Everheart" "It''s nice to meet you, your highness." I said bowing slightly, the blonde princess came towards me and put a hand around me and said " Ara ara Alesia, I will show the hero around the palace and his quarters, you have a lot of work to do, you can get to it" The Commander bowed slightly and said " Thank you, your highness. I shall take my leave." and she went away along with the soldiers. Huh, the crown princess has no soldiers accompanying her, that''s a bit weird, shouldn''t she have like an armada surrounding her? And she is way too close. The Onee-san with her hand around my neck and her other hand twirling on my ?h?st , "Ara ara, dear hero, I heard you caused quite the commotion in the throne room, good that you showed father you''re not just a pawn for him to play around with" she said with a smile and her huge br??sts pressing against my back. It''s hard to concentrate having this busty princess putting her arm around me, aren''t you a bit too close, you are the CROWN PRINCESS, shouldn''t you act like a pompous bitch? I tried moving a bit to make some distance but, Huh, I can''t move. System, show me her stats. *ting* -- Name - Charlotte Everheart Title - Crown Princess of Everheart Level - 29 ( Expert ) -- What the fu?k? She is almost a Master. No wonder I can''t even move, I am just a level 10 novice. " Being in that situation, my first thought was to test out my powers, after all, it all just felt like a dream" I said to the Onee-san who wouldn''t let me go. Is this really Hero''s Charm? or is she just a predator? "I wish I was there to see you put my father in place, he may look kind but he''s just a cold-hearted king who just cares about power," she said looking at me, seriously this time. "I just don''t want to see you become a pawn, dear hero." she continued. Dear? Aren''t you being a bit too familiar? And she is being very direct about disliking her father, you sure you wanna say that to someone you just met? And your br??sts are completely leaning on my back now, show some decency princess. The King being cold-hearted and power-hungry is the last thing I would be surprised with. This princess though is the exact opposite of what I expected her to be, I can turn her to my side when taking over this Kingdom. I just need to fan the hatred she has for her father. "Thank you for telling me that, your highness." I said looking towards her, " I also do not want to just become a shield for someone else, I want to live my own life for myself and not just become a tool for war. With someone m?tur? like your highness helping me, I think I would be fine in this world" I said with a smile looking into her eyes. Her eyes brightened up and she loosened up a bit, " Ara ara, Lord Glaze, you can count of me, I will teach you everything about this world and train you so that no one can push you around, fufu." Uh, what''s with that laugh at the end, and that smile, that tone on training was a bit weird, I have a bad feeling about where this is going. As we were walking through the palace towards my quarters with Charlotte still having her arms around me, the people around me were keeping a distance, but it was not out of respect for the Crown Princess, it was just straight-up fear. Along with that fear, there was a hint of arrogance in the people, as if they were looking down on THE CROWN PRINCESS. She is not only the Crown Princess but also a Level 29 Expert that''s on the verge of becoming a Master Mage. What''s there to look down about? There''s more to this than meets the eye, I need to level up my Hero''s Charm and make this princess open up. "We are finally here, Lord Glaze. This is your temporary quarters. The land that the king gave you had a castle on it already but it didn''t suit your stature, and after your display in the throne room, father is being more careful when it comes to treating you, fufu. The workers are building another castle but that will take some time, later on, I can take you to the place and you can tell them if you want anything specific or any changes to be made" said the Crown Princess finally letting me go. Ha, a breath of fresh air. The temporary quarters was huge, it had a huge bed in the bedroom, detailed lanterns on the ceilings with glowing lights powered by what I ?ssume are magic crystals. A huge pool which looks like is the bath. A wardrobe with some clothes. And a glass table with some strange looking fruits and potion like bottles on it. The walls were covered in green patterned paint and right at the entrance, there was an emblem with a hammer on it. "What is this emblem, your highness?" I asked "That is the Coat of Arms of the Royal Family of Kingdom of Everheart," she said, " The royal family uses primarily the Sky Shattering Hammer Skill that has been passed down since the founding of the Kingdom, that is where this emblem comes from." "These are some robes you can wear, the clothes you are wearing are quite tattered and will stand out in this world, these new robes are engraved with magic, you just need to say Equip and your clothes will be automatically switched," she said looking towards me with a mischievous smile. "Equip? For rea-" before I could finish my sentence the clothes I was wearing were magically removed from my body and in that short moment, the princess saw my n?k?d body in all its glory, before it was covered by the magical robes. FUCK should have given me a warning it would remove my clothes, I thought it would just cover me with some mystical light then change my clothes. "Ara ara, dear Hero, you have quite a HOT body," she said while holding her chin with her long fingers and ???k?n? her lips and looking towards me with a devious smile of a predator looking at a prey. Oi, God of Destruction, this isn''t what you promised, I am a helpless lamb about to be devoured by this lion. God of Destruction System my ?ss, someone send help. Chapter 4 - Onee-san wants to be praised? After somehow getting out of that dangerous situation, Princess Charlotte finally left me alone. I went over to the mirror to take a look at my appearance. I had a good looking face, nothing that would make a man gay but not something that would make a cow run away from me. I had slightly long hair till my neck, completely pitch black except for a few streaks of shiny purple hair here and there that completely stood out. The robe I was wearing was white with long collars with golden engravings on the edges, long full sleeves and went down till below my knees. The pants were plain black but were quite tight and flexible. The shoes I was wearing were black with golden highlights and the golden highlights had some engravings on them. System, what do these engravings do? *ting* --- The engravings on the collar of your robe increase your magical defense and serve as a shield to any incoming magical attacks. The engravings on your shoes increase your evasiveness and speed by 10%. --- I went over to the glass table and took a look at the various potions. I lifted a potion that had blue glowing liquid in it. System, what is this potion like thing? *This is a potion of mana, drinking this would recover your mana by 100 points* Mana? But I don''t see my mana in my stats? *You have yet to use any magic which is why it is not unlocked, many functions in this system will remain unlocked unless you discover them or complete a specific task to unlock them* What''s with these restrictions O God of Destruction, I guess I''ll just have to live with this system. *Yes, you can access the inventory with your thoughts and place all your items there with no limit. The Mages of this world also use Storage magic so you don''t have to worry about trying to hide it.* Now, that''s convenient. The Princess asked me to come to the armory after I had rested for a bit to choose a weapon, I am also itching to try using magic for the first time, as much as I want to try it right away, after what happened in the throne room I probably should be a bit more careful with my skills and magic, they are lot stronger than I ?ssumed them to be, don''t wanna accidentally destroy the palace or something and have an army at my neck. I wore the ring that the Princess gave me that acted as my ID as Lord Lockhart. It was a black ring with burning red engravings on it. I steeled myself having to deal with the scary onee-san and walked towards the armory, the guards bowed slightly and moved aside. As I checked their stats I realized their levels are quite low, Level 6 and Level 7 respectively. I imagined myself to be weak at Level 10 but so far I have only seen 5 people stronger than me. Everyone else who works in the palace is less than Level 10. I have some idea about the power scaling and Levels but I should ask the Princess about it to get a better idea. The busty princess was sitting on a nearby wooden table with her long white legs crossed over each other and her heels dangling in the air, she slowly got up and smiled when she saw me coming. Her huge br??sts bounced with every step she took and I just hoped she wouldn''t crush me like a bear, like last time. "Fufu, Lord Glaze, you look quite handsome in your robes, they suit you very well," she said tilting her head slightly with that same smile she had when saw me n?k?d. As all the hair on my body stood up straight, I replied " Your highness has a good taste when it comes to these things, I am grateful for having these engraved clothes, these should help me out a lot in getting started" "Ara ara, you don''t have to be so formal and stiff all the time, Lord Glaze. We have a good number of weapons here, why don''t you take a look and see what type of weapon suits you, you can take a few swings here, this room is made of a very strong material and has a magical barrier surrounding it so don''t worry about damaging anything." "As you are at Novice level, you can only wield the full power of weapons at the Novice level, and half power of an Expert class weapon," she said spreading her hands towards all the weapons in the racks. It was indeed an impressive collection, and it turns out I can only use the full power of the weapons at the same stage as me, and half of that of weapon that is a stage above mine. *ting* *Yes, you can only use half power of a weapon 1 stage above you and 1/4th the power of a weapon 2 stages above you and so on* So that''s how it works. As I was taking a look at the various weapons I asked the princess "Can you explain to me a bit about the levels? I have some idea of how the power scaling is by checking the stats of the people I have come across since I was summoned but I would like to know about it in a bit more detail." "Ara, you should be quite confused with how the levels and stages work, you probably have some idea about the progression of novice, expert, and master. Level 0 are normal people who can''t use magic or skills. Level 1 - 10 are Apprentices, they are the guards that you see in the palace and most mercenaries and guild adventurers. Level 11-20 are novice, they hold the more important positions in society and have a lot more power than Apprentices. " "The difference between every level is huge, someone just a level above you is a lot stronger than you are, of course, it doesn''t mean they can totally suppress you, you can still beat them it''s just gonna be very difficult." "Above Novice are Experts between Level 21-30, they are a lot stronger than Novice and have very high positions in society and have a lot of say in all matters. They are the true strength of any kingdom and are treated with the utmost respect, or at least should be," she said, looking a bit sad ending that sentence. "How hard is it to level up ?" I asked curiously. Not everyone has the level drain skill that I have and I have no idea how it works and what restrictions does it have yet, though I can ?ssume it should be very difficult to level up. "It is very difficult to level up." she said, shrugging off her sadness, " I am at Level 29 and it took me 20 years to get here, I have been training since I was kid and you could consider me a prodigy," she said with a bit of pride and a smile on a her face that was asking me to praise her. Wait, 20 years? isn''t that too much, and she is considered a prodigy? Doesn''t that mean leveling up is extremely hard?. That probably explains why there are not a lot of high leveled people here. "That is quite impressive, you are so strong at such a young age. I wish I would become as strong as you soon" I said looking at her. She brightened up and put an arm around me. Ah shit, that was a terrible idea. "Ara ara, calling me Young, are you trying to flirt with this onee-san, my hero. It took me 20 years but you are the Hero, blessed by the gods, I think you will catch up quite quickly. I have heard stories of heroes being summoned in the past, all of them had very fast growth and were incredibly strong. I have no doubt you would be able to do the same." she said very close to my ear. "So..have you decided on a weapon?" she asked me curiously. I walked over to a pitch-black looking blade, this thing caught my eye the second I walked in here and I had already made up my mind. *ting* --- This is a Novice Class blade, Nightwing Blade. This blade has engravings that give it a chance to temporarily make an enemy blind filling his eyes with darkness with every strike. --- "Eh, this seems like the perfect weapon for someone like you Lord Glaze," said Princess Charlotte walking towards me. "This is called the Nightwing Blade, its a Novice Class blade so you should be able to wield its full power. As expected you like swords, would you save this princess when she is in trouble like a knight with his sword?" she said with her hands covering her face showing just her eyes. What with that fantasy? You are a Level 29 Expert prodigy, who do you even need to be saved from? "Uh, of course, your highness. Though I think I would be the one who will be saved instead" I said with a laugh. "Fufu, let''s go and test your new blade and your magic, you should be itching to use it since you were summoned," she said and put her arm around my arm and dragged me out of the armory. "Uh, where are we going princess ?" I asked. "Its time to go kill some monsters, my dear hero," she said with a scary smile. Chapter 5 - Beam of Holy Destruction We were now outside the gates of the city of New Heart, the place was filled with a lot of people, most of them being mages who were probably hunting monsters too. Apparently, you get experience from killing monsters and improve your skills by using them and that is how everyone levels up. As I walked into the area with the Princess''s arm in my arm, everyone was staring at her. "What is Princess Charlotte doing here? This is a low-level monster area." said one of the adventurers. "Who is that guy with her highness? He is a level 10, why is the Princess walking hand in hand with him? " said his other party member looking at Glaze confused. One of the more powerful looking groups who looked like nobles stood out because of their superior looking equipment, one of them, a woman named Karen Aqulia, said" What is that common blood princess doing here? And with a level 10 guy, that''s fitting for a commoner like her that got into royalty by luck" with a disdainful gaze towards Princess Charlotte. "Ssh, she might hear you, she is a level 29 Expert Karen." said her friend who also looked like a noble. "Huh, so what if she does? I have been pushing her around since we were kids, she might have lucked out and found a way to level up so fast but she has no guts to actually do anything for the sake of keeping the peace in the Kingdom." She said, not hiding her contempt even a bit despite being only at Level 19. As we went into somewhat of an open area, the Princess said," Don''t mind these people, Lord Glaze, try using your new magic here freely." I tried activating my Holy Destruction Magic, instantly it created a shockwave with a sound of a sonic boom followed by purple streaks of lightning all around my body with my hair floating upwards. I could feel a strange sensation throughout my body, it was like lightning flowing through my veins but many times faster and stronger. It did not make a crackling sound but constant sonic booms, it was like I was in the center of a cyclone. Holy Destruction Magic was flowing throughout my entire body. The princess was standing on the side with a smile , " You are able to access the entirety of your magic so easily Lord Glaze and it looks like a type of destruction magic though I have never seen any destruction magic look like this or cause such an effect, now try concentrating the magic from your body into your hands and try to control it." As I tried to feel the power of destruction rushing through me, I felt an impulse, the d?s?r? to destroy. It was like my subconscious mind was telling me to cause destruction, my entire body was itching to cause destruction. I somehow managed to control the impulse with great difficulty. I raised my hands and tried to concentrate the magic into my hands. As the magic went from my entire body and towards my hands the cyclones calmed down and the sonic booms too but it caused the light in the surroundings to start flickering, creating an effect of light and darkness again and again very quickly. The ground beneath my feet started cracking and then sunk with a loud boom. The ground started breaking into small rocks that started floating in the air with purple lightning cracking everywhere and my hands were not even visible and were just a blinding purple light. Princess Charlotte said, " Lord Glaze a few Level 10 Monsters are coming this way, you can test your power on them, fufu." despite the effect of my magic she remained calm. The people around us were in shock at my display of magic. "Hey, is that guy really a level 10? Has this old man finally gone crazy and is seeing things?" said one of the older looking mages. "No, he is level 10, but there is no way that''s a Novice class magic, is he an expert that is hiding his identity? That must be it", said the other mage. Karen Aquilia who was initially looking down on Princess Charlotte and Glaze in contempt had her mouth hung open and was in a state of complete shock. Princess Charlotte said few monsters, but those are like 100, ONE HUNDRED LEVEL 10 MONSTERS, Oi, are you sure I can handle that even with this display? I haven''t killed a single monster since I was summoned, I have no experience with this. I looked back and she was still calm and unmoving. The people around us finally realized that there were 100 Level 10 Monsters running towards them and they started panicking and running away. "Why the hell are there 100 Level 10 Monsters rushing here for? Wasn''t this a low-level area? How come there are a 100 of these gathering and attacking at the same time ? " said a Level 7 Adventurer, she was running away though the scene looked comical as she was so small and was carrying a huge greatsword, is this what you call a loli? " Is that guy crazy, he is just level 10, even if he can use powerful magic, there is nothing he can do about 100 Level 10 Monsters, even Princess Charlotte would find that difficult to deal with. Is he just counting on the Princess to save him?" said Karen, while taking a defensive posture and taking out her daggers. "Oi, that guy with flashy magic is still standing there, does that guy has a death wish, what can a level 10 do against a horde of level 10 monsters?" said a mage wearing white robes, with his staff out in his hand getting ready for combat. " With Princess Charlotte around this won''t get too bad, this is a great opportunity to level up for me," said the guy with a determined smile. I could not hear any of these people, at this moment my survival instincts kicked in, I was just focused on the Holy Destruction Magic concentrated on my hands and the Monster Herd rushing towards me. As I completely focused on the Holy Destruction Magic and gave in the urge to destroy, I felt the entire world slow down and the ground beneath me start quaking, as my hands moved forward towards the monster herd , the purple light got smaller and smaller and concentrated into a small orb. Then, for an instant the crackling purple light , the sonic booms , the cyclones , the earthquakes completely ceased. There was an eerie moment of complete silence. As the world came to a halt, I felt the entire magic in my body concentrating to the tip of my hands, and with a thought, I released the building dam of magic and in that instant, it burst forth. This caused the blinding purple light to shine and with a loud sonic boom and shockwave, the Holy Destruction Magic from the tip of my fingers turned into a beam of purple light with crackling purple lightning coiling around it, it then rocketed towards the monster herd, in its path it annihilated the entire surrounding forest creating a huge crevice, with loud crackling sonic booms , and the light itself in the world was destroyed creating a temporary darkness in its path. The Beam of Pure destructive power zoomed towards the monster herd and completely covered all of them. There were no screams, no blood, no booms, no falling dust. There was just emptiness left, the magic attack was completed. The beam of Holy Destruction Magic destroyed everything in its path and didn''t leave anything behind, not even light. It was like nothing ever existed on that piece of land. Chapter 6 - Poison Kraken King The onlookers were completely shocked, not to mention they were on the ground, huffing because the concentration of Holy Destruction Magic on my hands was so strong it suppressed all these people even though they were several levels higher than me. I could see them looking at me with fear. Karen Aquilia and the guy in the white robe felt their minds spin and their worldview crash, " A level 10 novice killed 100 Level 10 Monsters in a single attack? " They just could not comprehend what was happening. As I came to my senses I heard several notifications ringing from the system. *ting* \--- Congratulations, you have taken your first kill, and 99 more. You have also used magic for the first time and unlocked mana. New attack created - Beam of Holy Destruction: Level 1 Congratulations, you have unlocked System Shop, you can now purchase magic books, equipment, and other items from the system. \--- Huh, new attack? So using magic you can create attacks that you can use easily in combat. Uh, right, I unlocked mana, let me check my stats. *ting* \--- Name - Glaze Lockhart Race - God Level - 10 ( Novice ) God Blood - 1% unlocked. Magic - Holy Destruction Magic: Level - 2 Magic Attacks - Beam of Holy Destruction: Level - 1 | Mana Cost - 5000 Skill - Level Drain Skill: Level - 1 Destruction God''s Intimidation: - Level - 2 Passive Skills - These level up automatically with your level Hero''s Luck Hero''s Charm Hero''s Wrath \--- 10000 mana? That''s a lot of mana, and that attack took out half of my mana. Huh, what''s this God Blood? 1% unlocked? *ting* *You don''t actually increase the mana in your body like everyone does but unlock the mana hidden inside your body. Because your godly body has an unimaginable amount of mana, if it were released at once you would probably go crazy and blow up so most of it sealed until you become strong enough to control it.* *Your God Blood will unlock the more you level up your Holy Destruction Magic, this will also give a boost to the sealed mana you can access.* Wait, where''s my experience? Why didn''t i get an experience bar? How do I level up? *You can only drain the levels of beings that are 10 levels higher than you.* What''s with that restriction, are you kidding me? You want me to die you purple haired ojisan? While I was cursing that god in my heart, the Princess came towards me and said" I knew you would be able to finish them off with ease." she said with a smile with her hands together, I had a weird feeling that she planned all of this. "That attack looked quite powerful, do you have enough mana? Do you want this Onee-san to heal you? " She said coming very close to me. "Uh, no it took out half my mana but I am fine. I was curious how much mana does someone of my level should have? " I asked backing away from her a bit. "Ara, someone of your level should have around 1000 mana, the amount of mana gained every level isn''t the same for everyone, it depends on their skills, magic, body, and bloodlines. How much mana does the hero have ? " she asked curiously. *gulp* Let me check again just to be sure how much mana I have. It''s 10000, for real. "Uh, it''s 5000," I said, deciding to be a bit careful with this scary onee-san. She didn''t look surprised, as if expecting me to not be normal. " As expected, the hero can''t be judged by normal stands." she said happily clapping her hands, " How much experience did you gain? I am curious if being the hero will let you level up faster?" she asked. "I didn''t gain any experience, I don''t have an experience bar either," I said with a shrug. " Ara ara, now that is very unusual, how are you supposed to level up then? , she said looking confused. Just at that moment, there was a huge boom in the distance that came from the direction of the now non-existent monster herd, from the dust there came 8 tentacles and a huge monster that looked like an octopus. As soon as it came out, there was a huge shockwave and I instantly felt a huge pressure. System, what''s the stats of that thing. *ting* \--- Name - Poison Kraken King Abilities - Can use explosive poison attacks that can drain mana. \--- That thing looks terrifying. Every swing of that monster''s tentacles destroyed the surrounding area, as it came towards me his aura was destroying everything in its path. The surrounding people got out of their stupor and this time, they were truly scared and ran away. Not even that Karen stood behind. She kept a distance and was ready to run for her life but still kept some attention towards that monster. The mana of that monster was truly terrifying. A Level 25, that is 15 levels above me. But the only way I can level up is to kill beings 10 levels higher than me, this is a chance and I have to risk my life or be stuck. My mana is recovering, its already at 8000. And I haven''t even used the Nightwing Blade. I have to take this chance. "Get back, Lord Glaze. That monster is too powerful for you to handle." said the Princess, finally being serious for the first time since I saw her. She took out what looked like a hammer, as soon as she lifted it in her right hand, the hammer hummed with a loud sound and the engravings on it started glowing with green light, the surrounding area trembled and the ground started cracking and the pressure of the Octopus monster decreased a bit. On her left hand, there were crackling pitch-black flames, and the surrounding temperature suddenly went several degrees higher and it felt like my body was on fire. Chapter 7 - Heaven - Slaughtering Sword "I want to take this on Princess Charlotte, leave this to me, don''t interfere," I said looking towards her. She didn''t look convinced and was worried. "If I am in danger you can save me, but I wanna take this chance to level up, I have a theory I need to test," I said. Still not very convinced, she reluctantly decided to give me a chance and took a step back. The full brunt of that monsters aura fell on me and my heart started beating faster. This is the hardest fight ever since I got here. I need to use everything to take this thing down and level up. I took out the Nightwing Blade and took it in my right hand and rushed towards the Octopus-like monster. Activate Destruction God''s Intimidation *ting* *Red Kraken King''s Level suppressed to Level: 22* As a tentacle came towards me, I poured my mana into the blade and slashed towards it. A black light came from the blade and it cut the tentacle halfway through before it got stuck and I was swung around by that monster and went crashing backward. I was stopped by the walls of one of the Adventure Guilds Halls, completely destroying it in the process. *You have sustained heavy injuries,* *Asclepius''s Healing Magic Activated* *Your body will recover completely in 1 minute* Its level went down by 3 due to my skill and though its level went down 3 levels it''s still terrifying. I slowly got up already feeling slightly better, having the body of a god is convenient. My mana is completely recovered. Most of the surrounding people had run away but a few powerful ones had stayed behind at a distance and were watching the scene. One of them, Karen Aquilia thought, " How is he even alive after taking a direct hit from that Expert Monster? This isn''t just being talented or showing off powerful magic, this is straight-up defying the natural law" she said being completely shocked, the series of events today shook her so much she didn''t know what to think anymore. Most of the other people had similar reactions, the white-robed guy with a staff thought " Why is Princess Charlotte not doing anything, isn''t that purple streaked hair guy her friend? Why isn''t she helping him?" The Kraken appeared to be concentrating his mana into a small green orb of green light near its mouth and then released it into the air , I tried to move away but I had no magic that helped me with evasiveness, and my body was in a terrible state coupled with the monsters aura that was suppressing me that already made it difficult to move. The green poison like light fell like rain all over the place and on top of me too. *ting* *You mana is being drained at 100 per second, your rate of recovery is equal to that so you are currently fine* Fine my ?ss, I thought as I was crushed into the ground once more, doesn''t this mean I have only my current mana to win this fight? As I got up again the Kraken was nearly over me, as his huge tentacles came crashing down on me intending to crush me, I held my hands up weakly and with a thought activated Beam of Holy Destruction. As the magic from my entire body rushed to the tip of my hands and was unleashed in just an instant, the force of the monsters aura instantly went away and there was a loud boom along with a lot of blood splattering all over me with broken pieces of red flesh of the Kraken monster spilling everywhere. The attack managed to chop off half of his tentacles and a chunk of body. The monster screamed in agony and was even more enraged and as a result, his monster aura flared. This was my chance, I used the remaining physical strength I had and jumped off, as I rose high into the air I equipped my Nightwing Blade again and poured my magic into it, as it hummed with black light I struck at one of the tentacles of the Octopus, this time my sword attack went straight through and cut the entire tentacle off. As I crashed onto the ground below I was directly below the Kraken with his huge tentacles all around me, my body was healed halfway through but I only had 5000 mana left and I was still under the effect of the mana drain poison. The Kranen released a concentrated and strong poison magic attack and it came straight towards me, if I use the Beam of Holy Destruction here the monster would be still alive even though I would counter his attack , I need to do something else, something that doesn''t completely destroy his attack but manages to counter it somehow and consumes less mana. I straightened my index finger and middle finger and concentrated my Holy Destruction Magic on just those two fingers, as I raised the fingers I imagined a sword made of pure destruction. As the magic in my hand responded with my will it started condensing into the form a long sword that looked illusory while at the same solid. As the world around me went still, and Princess Charlotte who got ready to save me, I raised my hand, with my broken body and half remaining mana. The surrounding lights started flickering and the heaven and earth were shaking. I combined the limited knowledge I had of sword arts that I learned during this fight and everything I knew about destruction into this illusory sword strike. The purple light of destruction on the illusory sword started flickering and turned into a blood red sword radiance, at that moment, the entire world trembled, the heavens and earth shook and the seven seas went into turmoil. At the moment I didn''t realize it, after all, it wasn''t anything that strong or terrifying in terms of pure power but without realizing I had given birth to something that was not terrifying in raw power at the moment but something with a concept that went against the natural law, against the heavens, it was as if the universe recognized this and was terrified and tried to stop the birth of such a concept. But it was too late, with just a swipe of my fingers , the illusory sword radiance burst forth and in a straight arc went straight towards the terrifying magical attack of the Kraken , as it touched the greenish-red attack of the Kraken it sliced it in half and the magical attack deflected and went towards my sides , but the blood-red sword radiance did not stop and went straight through and cut off the two tentacles of the Kraken that formed this magical attack clean in half. The Kraken with only two remaining tentacles could not hold its weight and fell with a loud boom, the explosion blew me away. As I caught my breath, after b?r?ly surviving that situation, I heard a notification. *ting* *You have created an unidentified skill/magic: unnamed | Mana cost - 2500 mana for every strike* *System will categorize this separately* In another unknown location, a purple-robed and purple-haired man was seated in a lotus position floating in the void, at this moment he suddenly opened his eyes. "Haha, such a terrifying sword mind. As expected of my successor, this will make all those old gods come out of hiding, how long has it been since someone caused such an effect in the universe." the man said with a smile gazing in the distance. x----x Back to the Kraken, What was that feeling, I thought as I stared at my hands, it felt like the entire universe was against me in that one moment. I shrugged off my thoughts and focused on the current situation. This is it, I need to strike it now. Princess Charlotte who was about to strike and save me just stood dazed, for the first time since I was here she seemed genuinely shocked. She stood back and watched me continue. I shall name this sword the Heaven - Slaughtering Sword. I got up and rushed towards the writhing Kraken, even though it was immobilized it was still terrifying and I could feel the huge undulations of its power, the effect of Destruction God''s Intimidation was fading and he was gaining his levels back, I only have enough mana for one sword strike. I jumped high into the air and straightened my index and middle finger and unleashed the Heaven - Slaughtering Sword once again, as it went straight towards the head of the Kraken, it could do nothing but await its doom. With a sharp shrill sound, the sword cut through space and sliced the Kraken''s head in half, finally killing him. As I fell down after that attack, I had no mana left and was about to crash when Princess Charlotte came underneath me and caught me in her hands as I fell down. Though I was grateful for not crashing into the ground, being princess-carried by a Princess was a weird feeling. Chapter 8 - HE IS THE HERO ? *You killed a Level 25 Monster* *Level Drain Activated* From the corner of my eyes I saw blue colored light coming from the dead body of the monster, after that, it looked like the dead body was drained of all of its vitality and started drying up and cracking, the blue light then went into my body and was absorbed by it. I heard several notifications ringing in my ear. *ting* *You have drained 3 Levels from your enemy* *You have leveled up to Level: 13 ( Novice )* *You have 3 Magic Points* *Your new unique skill registered: Heaven - Slaughtering Sword Level - 1 | Mana Cost - 2500 every strike* *System has no way to level up your unique skill, the only way to level up is comprehension and practice by yourself* *Your body and mana have completely recovered because you leveled up* As I was still being carried in the arms of the princess, I was greeted with the spectacular view of her br??sts spilling out of her tight armor and on my face along with her worried face while she was casting healing magic on me constantly. "Uh, princess, I am fine, I just leveled up and completely recovered," I said as I got out of her arms and slowly stood up. "Are you sure? Onee-san can carry you and take you back to the palace. That was a brutal fight, you almost lost your life" she said with a slight pout. "And looks like you leveled up, and 3 levels at a time, looks like your theory was right," she said, after making sure I was truly healed and finally eased up a bit. "What was that sword Lord Glaze? I couldn''t quite comprehend it, but I could feel how terrifying it was" she said, looking at me curiously. " I am not sure actually. In that moment of life and death, I came up with that sword to protect myself," said I shrugging. I truly did not know what happened at that moment, just thinking about the universe being against me still gave me chills. "Let''s go back to the palace, I think that was more than enough testing of your powers," said the Princess grabbing my arm. /----/ /-- I am going to switch to third-person POV from now as the number of characters are going to increase (''o_o) -- / /----/ The surrounding people had just become rocks at this point. It was a miracle their souls didn''t destabilize and shatter from experiencing today''s events. Karen, who was standing there was shaken out of her stupor by her friend who said "Hey, Karen, look at his stats" said her friend with shaking hands. As Karen checked Glaze''s stats she was shocked to see him at Level 13, "He gained 3 Levels from killing that monster? That''s impossible!" "Was he hiding his stats on purpose ?" said another noble girl. "Hey, look at his title ?" said another noble guy. "Lord Lockhart? I don''t know any noble house with that name" said the noble girl confused. "No, look above that." said the noble guy At this point, Karen finally realized what the guy was talking about and said, "HERO". As she said that quite loudly without realizing, everyone else finally noticed the word HERO written in Glaze Lockhart''s stats. The title of HERO can''t be faked with any skill in the world, it is something that is bestowed by the gods and is not something mortals can hide or change or fake. As everyone realized this they were shocked and realized that the guy they were looking down on who later went against the natural law was the HERO that was going to be summoned by King Everheart. So the rumors of the King trying to summon a Hero were true?, thought the guy in a white robe with a staff, with a calculating look. Karen on the other side was shocked that the King actually managed to summon a hero. She knew the summoning ceremony was going to happen today but didn''t expect it to finish so quickly. Not to mention, according to her information, all Heroes that were summoned in the past were level 5 or less. They had very powerful skills and leveled up faster than anyone else in the world, but she had never heard of a hero that started at Level 10. Given the time of summoning and how they were practicing, this was his first time using magic and killing monsters. Which means he really was summoned being directly at Level 10, isn''t that terrifying. And he actually leveled up to Level 13 so quickly. I don''t think any of the heroes of the past leveled up three times on the first day of being summoned. And he seems too close to that Commoner Princess, this is not good. She is already powerful by herself but she has practically zero support in the Kingdom. But this is the Hero, if she gains the support of the Hero, no one will be able to take away her title of Crown Princess. Karen was spewing venom with her dark aura flaring at this point, but she knew her limits , there was no way she could take on the Hero, even though he was 6 levels below her she saw the terrifying strength of the hero and his sword , not too mention the King and Princess wouldn''t just sit by and let her kill him. After all, there was a huge amount of wealth of the entire nation invested in the summoning ceremony to summon the hero. I need to talk about this to Aunt Avery, we need to do something to get the Hero away from the Crown Princess. They can''t be allowed to be together. As Karen walked back to her house, Glaze was being dragged by the Princess with his arm being held between her huge t?ts as she ran back to the palace at high speeds. "Princess, you told me about the levels till the Master Stage, but you didn''t talk about the Legend Stage, Commander Alesia told me about the Queen of Neverwinter, Olivia Neverwinter, who apparently is a Legend Stage mage? " asked Glaze trying to wiggle his hands out of the Princess''s t?ts. "Ara ara, are you interested in that Queen, Lord Glaze ?. She certainly is quite beautiful but she is not as curvy as this onee-san you know?" she looked at Glaze with a teasing smile. Glaze just looked at her with a blank look, after spending so much time with her, he expected such a reply. "Fufu, I don''t know much about the Legend stage, there has never been a person from Everheart to reach the Legend Stage so there is not much information about it, or how to get them. She is the only known Legend Mage in the Human Realm. "Human Realm?" asked Glaze confused. "A long time ago, the world was split in two, as to how that happened, no one knows. When the world split, the side of the world where there was an abundance of magic was occupied by the Humans who could use it to become stronger , this side is called the Human Realm, the other side which permeated with Devil Qi , which the demons use to become stronger is called the Devil Realm." "The Human Realm and the Devil Realm together are part of the Greater World where everyone lives, there are other realms that are part of the Greater World but they are much weaker compared to the Humans and Devil realms, or at least that''s what was taught to us since we were kids" said the Princess as we reached the castle. "What is the difference between these stages? Is it just that they can use stronger magic?" asked Glaze as he was finally let go by the princess. "Its not just magic strength, it''s the abilities that you gain when you advance stages. The reason why Queen Olivia and Neverwinter is so strong and feared is because, at the Legend Stage, you can form your own domain. Anyone in your domain is subject to your own laws. Queen Olivia''s Domain is the Ice Domain, anyone within the domain, regardless of the number, will be suppressed by multiple levels and be constantly damaged by the Absolute Zero level temperatures, and inside her domain, she is invincible, this is why no army can match Neverwinter, as long as Queen Olivia uses the domain, the advantage of an army decreases greatly, then her army who is not at a disadvantage can easily take care of the enemy." she said looking at Glaze carefully. "That sounds quite terrifying," said Glaze," Are there special abilities for every stage ?" he asked. "Yes, at the Expert Stage you can fly, but the consumption of Mana is high so not everyone can do it for a long time so most people avoid it at the Expert Stage but it is used more by people at the Master stage who have a lot more mana." "At the Master Stage you become one with magic obtaining the Divine Magical Pattern, you can then use the magic in your surrounding area and convert it to your magic, thus being able to unleash large scale area of effect magic," she said putting her arm around Glaze''s arm and walking into his temporary quarters. "Ah, you can fly your highness?" asked Glaze surprised. "Ara ara, did you want me to take you in my arms and fly here instead of walking with me ?" she said looking at Glaze mischievously as she closed the door of the room behind. Chapter 9 - Princess Charlottes Past Princess Charlotte came and sat by the bed along with Glaze,"There was something I wanted to ask you princess." said he looking into her eyes. "What is it ?" she asked, looking a bit surprised. "Ever since I came here, I have seen people looking at you weirdly, at first I thought it was respect but it felt more like disdain and disrespect. Today while we were testing my powers. There was this one woman who was looking at you with pure venom and undisguised disdain. I was surprised at such a reaction when you the Crown Princess and a Level 29 Expert just a step away from becoming a Master." She looked reluctant at first but after a while sighed and said" Its because my mother was a commoner. Before my mother, no one in the royal family married outside the noble houses, it was a long-standing tradition that the ruler should take a wife or husband from one of the noble families. My father broke that tradition and married my mother Veronica who was a commoner." she said with difficulty. "I am sorry, you don''t have to continue if you don''t want to," said he, taking her hands into his. "No, it''s alright. Even though I have only met you today, I feel like I can trust you." she continued. "My mother was killed by a noble family when I was 3. My father found out and in his rage destroyed the entire noble family and killed everyone involved. But after that, he didn''t do anything to change the longstanding opinion of the nobles that the royalty should marry the nobles only. So they started to target me, of course, they didn''t dare to do anything physical after seeing my father''s wrath but continued to make my life miserable." she continued with her hands squeezing his harder. "My father, after mother''s death became very cold. He was only focused on increasing his powers and the kingdom''s. He stopped looking after me and didn''t do anything to those nobles for the sake of maintaining peace in the Kingdom." she said, with a bit of hatred in her eyes. "That girl you were talking about was Karen Aquilia, she is one of the strongest members of the Aquilia Family, one of the most powerful noble families in Everheart. Since we were kids she would always mess with me, and disrespect me and bully me. I hated her so much I worked hard to become strong. Once I was stronger than her, she decreased her antics but remained disrespectful and disdainful anyway. She would call me and my late mother horrib- " He stopped her there,"You don''t have to continue, I get it. ", said he putting his arms around her. "Yes, I just didn''t want a civil war to erupt, after all, shouldn''t peace be the priority? Father wouldn''t want me to-" "That piece of shit father who left her daughter alone and didn''t care for her after her mother died? When she needed him the most? Why do you listen or care about someone like that" said Glaze with a bit of anger. She looked surprised, then smiled "Ara, do you care that much about me when you have just met me ?" said she, her mood relaxing a little. "Every time those people looked at you the way they did, it made me angry. You may be fine with it, your highness. But I am not. I think they should pay for what they have done." said he standing up. "You are right. I should do something about it rather than just sitting and accepting it." she agreed with a sigh. "Don''t worry too much Princess, you have me now," said he taking her hands into his and pulling her up. "Do you not feel the same way as those people? You are the esteemed hero and I am just a Commoner," she asked with a sad look in her eyes as she looked into his. "No, you are the most beautiful thing I have laid eyes on since I came here. You are not just a Commoner. You are the scary strong Crown Princess Charlotte" said he with a determined look. She smiled, not a mischevious smile or a devious smile or a teasing smile. That was an unrestrained smile that came from her true feelings, from feeling liberated, from finally finding someone who accepts her for who she is. Chapter 10 - Master Stage Weapon As the princess went back, Glaze was finally alone for the first time since he got here. Let''s take a look at what this system shop is, he thought. *ting* *You have unclaimed rewards* Unclaimed rewards? What are those? *You have a reward from the system for leveling up for the first time* *Blood River Blade - Master Stage Sword: Absorbs the blood of the enemy and heals your body and mana* A Master stage weapon? So I can use 1/4th of its power. That should still be much stronger than anything I currently have. As he kept the sword in his inventory, he took a look at the rest of the stuff available in the System Shop *Assassin Magic Book - Beginner ?ssassin magic that can be later upgraded once mastered and can kill enemies multiple levels higher if not detected: Cost - 100000 Gold* This isn''t very useful for someone like me but I can give this to my underlings, maybe make a team of ?ssassins? that should be very useful. *Divine Slave Magic - Can enslave anyone under your level whose mind is weakened. You can track that person anywhere and contact them and kill them remotely. This doesn''t affect their mind or hypnotize them but their life is in your hands. Cost - 200000 Gold* That''s very useful and more expensive than Assassin magic. I''ll take these for now and take a look at this later when I have more gold. --- As the days passed, the news of Lord Glaze Lockhart, the newly summoned hero who killed a Level 25 Expert Stage monster while being only at Level 10 spread throughout the Kingdom, and the fact that he gained 3 Levels straight away and became Level 13 added fuel to the fire. The entire Kingdom was in a huge uproar. The common people were happy that they were now protected by a strong Hero. The nobles, on the other hand, were on edge, because along with that news, it was a piece of news that greatly disturbed them. The newly summoned Hero seemed very close to the Crown Princess. The common people didn''t care. But for the nobles who cared so much about bloodlines, did not like seeing the Crown Princess with mixed blood gain so much power. They wanted to bring the Hero to their side instead. Though most of the people thought this way some nobles who were on the sidelines started to shift towards the Crown Princess knowing that the Hero was on her side. And thus the scheming began. In the past few days, Glaze was visited by many nobles, many of them asking him to marry their daughters, not to mention a lot of girls would be willing throw themselves at him. After all , Glaze was a rather good looking guy with purple streaked hair and was terrifyingly strong for his Level and the fact that he was the Hero made all the girl''s fantasies spin out of control as they imagined him as their dream guy. Glaze was getting used to his new magic and abilities in the past couple of days. Leveling up was a lot harder than he expected, considering he had to kill beings that were 10 levels higher than him every time he wanted to level up, which would undoubtedly become a life and death fight. Even though he would gain several levels he would still need to risk death if he went head to head with someone 10 levels above him. He was slowly getting used to the Blood River Blade , it was truly a powerful weapon , just taking it out caused a huge amount of pressure to descend on everyone around him and made the area blood red, being a Master Level weapon it was one with magic, though he couldn''t use its full capabilities and area of effect magic, every strike created a river of blood that would kill everything in its path while restoring his mana and health. This resulted in creating the new skill: Blood River Blade Level - 1 He was really curious about what could this already powerful skill do at a higher level. Princess Charlotte became closer and closer to Glaze over the coming days and was spending most of her time with him. Glaze also managed to break her stance on those nobles down and fanned her hatred towards her father. "Ara ara, Lord Glaze, your swordplay has improved so much in just a few days," said Princess Charlotte sitting on the sidewall of the training grounds within the Palace while looking towards Glaze who was practicing with the Blood River Blade, with an admiring gaze. "Ah, it is all thanks to you Princess for guiding me", he said as he came towards her. "As expected of a hero, carrying a Master Stage weapon at the Novice stage, this should help you a lot in leveling up considering you need to fight stronger opponents," said the Princess. "Yeah, it''s quite a pain to level up even though I gain multiple levels at once," said he sitting by her side. "We don''t know if you have to kill the enemy by yourself completely, what if you just need to take the final blow taking his life? I could just burn someone around my level to half death and you can rapidly level up by easily taking its life," said she bringing her hands together with a lightbulb expression. "Fufu, leave it to this onee-san, you''ll level up in no time" "Haha, that''s a brilliant idea, your highness, I would love to try it out but I don''t want to trouble you too much," said Glaze with an awkward smile. "Ara, you are being too polite, after you did t-h-o-s-e t-h-i-n-g-s to me that night," said she with a shy expression " I just touched your hands, why are you being so shy at that, Your Highness? " said he with veins popping on his head. "So it was nothing for you Lord Glaze, are you the type of person who would just use someone and cast them aside, you are so mean," she said crying with fake tears. "Ah, that''s not what I meant, alright, I''ll count on your help in leveling up then Princess," said Glaze reluctantly. What a troublesome Princess. Chapter 11 - Aquilia Family Strikes After spending a few days training, Glaze sat down in his bed at night and was ready to spend his Magic Points and was curious to see what would happen. *ting* *You have 3 unused Magic Points, would you like to spend them now ?* Yes *What Magic would like to spend it on on ?* I don''t want to spend it on Divine Slave Magic as I feel Level 1 should be enough for my needs right now. I can only use one type of Magic right now, I need to loot the treasury and get something good from the System Shop. Though, for now, I need to increase my powers right now, this is my only magic so I want to spend all the points on this as I need to be stronger for what I am planning to do with the nobles as they are probably gonna come after me considering I am with the Crown Princess. *ting* *Your Holy Destruction Magic has been leveled up* *Holy Destruction Magic: Level - 5* *Your raw destructive power has increased 3 times and your control of Destruction Magic has become finer as it has become tamer towards you* I should be able to create some new attacks now, Beam of Holy Destruction is not a good idea in a City, don''t want to destroy half the city in a fight. *God Blood - 5%* *Your mana is increased to : 50000* *Your godly body has strengthened* *Your mana recovery is now 500 per second* Glaze could feel a hot liquid pouring through his veins and a burning sensation, he felt the power of destruction but this time it was a lot more tame and he could control it with more ease, unlike the previous time when it went almost out of control. He could feel his physical strength increasing greatly as he formed a fist and his understanding of destruction magic deepened. /--- In a dim-lit room in a palace in New Heart City, several people were sitting around a long dining table. In the main seat of the dining table sat Varen Aqulia, the current head of the Aquilia Family, who was a powerful woman at Level 25 Expert stage. As she heard the account of what happened a few days ago with the Hero, she had her spies gather more information about the Hero. And she realized that the Hero was indeed very close to the Crown Princess. She was a pureblood supremacist and this fact greatly disturbed her. She came up with a plan, as she couldn''t kill the Hero as she would face the wrath of not only the entire Kingdom but the entire Human Realm as the news of the Hero being summoned spread. The Hero, since ancient times was a holy existence that protected the Human Realm and was the de-facto representative of the common folk and those humans of lower levels. This was because the First Human Emperor, who ruled the entire Human Realm was also the First Hero to be summoned. He united the entire Human Realm and protected it against the Devil Realm. He also worked hard for the betterment of the Human Race and was and still is greatly respected after almost an eternity. This trait was found in all the Heroes that were summoned thereafter and they always had the support of the populace as a result. The common folk, regardless of race, or nationality greatly respected the Hero because of this to this date because of the feats of the previous Heroes. Anyone going against the Hero would have to take into account the reaction of the Human Populace coming at their neck. The more powerful people cared less and didn''t treat the Hero as some holy savior of course but some of them were still waiting for a Hero to appear to lead the Human Realm in these dark times with the appearance of the Holy Demonic Empress who now ruled the Devil Realm.Thus they still couldn''t blatantly oppose the Hero if they didn''t have the power to withstand the backlash. Thus, Varen Aqulia had to be very careful with her plan, her daughter Karen was the second most powerful member in the family and was the perfect candidate to carry this mission out. She gave her the Purple Night Lotus poison which would greatly destroy the entire mana of the person who comes in contact with it and completely paralyzes their body. She also gave her the family''s Expert Stage treasure, Shadow Piercing Daggers to severely injure the Hero. In a one on one fight, her daughter wouldn''t stand a chance against the Hero, but when he is sleeping at night and his guard is down, attacking with the poison , then paralyzing him and then destroying his body and severely injuring him should teach him a lesson not to be with the Crown Princess. He is a newly summoned hero who has no idea what''s going on and is probably overwhelmed she thought to herself. He may be powerful and started with level 10 but he''s still just summoned and this world is new to him. This should be enough to greatly shake and scare him. Then we can lure him to our side and away from the crown princess. "So, do you understand how important this mission is my daughter? We must not let the mixed-bloods gain power in this Kingdom. With the Purple Night Lotus poison and the Shadow Piercing Daggers, you should be able to overpower him. Give him this letter, this should make him realize his mistake. You must get in and out without being seen." she said looking deviously with a smile. This should be enough to take care of that Hero, I wasn''t confident before but with these, I can take him on she thought as she walked towards the King''s Palace. /---- In the quarters of the King''s Palace, a certain Hero was sleeping in peace not knowing at all that someone was after him. As Varen Aqulia used her family''s sneak magic and sneaked past everyone in the castle and reached the room where Glaze was staying, she quietly walked into the room, with no sound of her footsteps or her presence. She went close to the bed where Glaze Lockhart was sleeping and looked at him deviously. "You have such a beautiful face, too bad you are too close to that Commoner Princess," she said with an evil smile as she took out the bottle that contained Purple Night Lotus poison and splashed it on top of Glaze Lockhart and took out the Shadow Piercing Daggers. These expert stage weapons unleashed only half the power as she was in the Novice Stage but were terrifying in her hands as she used Assassination Magic and slashed those daggers towards Glaze. Chapter 12 - Princess Charlotte Snaps Glaze wasn''t actually in deep sleep, he had sensed Karen come into the room and was prepared to take action at any moment. The moment she dropped the Purple Night Lotus poison on him the system ringed a notification. *ting* *You have been attacked with poison* *Your godly blood has resisted the poison* With 5% god blood unlocked, his body was a lot stronger now and more resistant to poison, the moment the sound ringed he equipped the Blood River Blade and slashed down towards Karen''s attack. The Master Stage weapon was terrifying even though it unleashed half the power, it completely overpowered Karen''s Shadow Piercing Daggers which unleashed half the power of an Expert Stage weapon. Karen was shocked to see him being able to move after being poisoned with the Purple Night Lotus, but it was too late to withdraw her attack. As the river of blood met Karen''s attack, it knocked one of the daggers away and slashed Karen''s ?h?st in the middle and slammed her outwards. Glaze did not waste any time and crushed the protective crystal given to her by the Princess to use when in danger. She was notified and was on the way. Karen got up and knew she had to shut him down now or she would get in a lot of trouble. She rushed forwards towards Glaze and attacked with her daggers, she was very fast being just a step away from the Expert stage. With his right hand holding the Blood River Blade, he slashed down once again towards her while he straightened his left hand''s middle and index fingers and formed the Heaven - Slaughtering Sword and unleashed it. The river of blood once again countered her strike and the terrifying Heaven - Slaughtering Sword Qi went straight towards her arms and cut one of them off and left a huge scar in the other. If not for being protected with a protective magic and a powerful armor, she would have lost both of her arms. As she screamed in agony over losing one of her arms, Glaze did not waste any time and activated Destruction God''s Intimidation which suppressed her 2 levels and brought her level down to 17. Being already injured she slammed down unable to withstand or heal the injuries she had with her current suppressed level. Glaze went straight towards her and crashed his foot down straight on her ?h?st, his physical strength was much greater than before and was able to destroy her ribs as her ?h?st caved down and she spurted blood. At this moment Princess Charlotte came into the scene and was shocked to see Karen was the one who attacked Glaze. "Are you out of your mind, do you not know the consequences of going against the hero? Do you hate me that much? That you would go through such lengths." said Princess Charlotte angrily towards Karen. Even though she was pressed under my legs with her body completely broken she was still filled with venom as she looked towards the Princess " Commoner s?uts like you and your mother should not be allowed to rule this sacred Kingdom , people like you and your heretic s?ut mother would ruin this kingdom , we were just teaching the hero about his mistake." she managed to push these sentences out as Glaze put more pressure on his foot. Princess Charlotte was shocked and angry at being called such, especially her mother as she walked towards her the almost dead Karen spoke again " What are you gonna do? Kill me? Would you risk destabilizing the peace in the Kingdom? Your father doesn''t speak to you already, what is he gonna think of you after this? Let me go now and we can forget about thi- " before she could complete the sentence Glaze kicked her head and she thrashed halfway across the room. "Are these the people you wanted to let go? These people who think such things of you? For the sake of peace? For the sake of a bastard father who doesn''t even care about you or your feelings" said Glaze coming over next to the Princess. "She needs to die, Princess," said Glaze looking into her eyes, "You need to kill her", "And everyone who wronged you," he said looking at her seriously. Princess Charlotte was huffing , in anger, hate, shock, and hesitation, she just needed a push, to finally let her d?s?r?s burst through, to finally deal with the anger and frustrations she had since her mother died, all of the hate and blood ?ust that she bottled up for her father , she just needed a push , and Glaze, gave her exactly that. "Kill her, your father and everyone who wronged you, and we will rule the world, together. You would do this for me wouldn''t you Princess?" Glaze said looking at her with an evil smile and his eyes wide open. As Princess Charlotte walked towards the twitching Karen, her hesitation started to fade away bit by bit, on her left hands a pitch-black fire started to form, the entire surrounding temperature went up and even though it was pitch black it felt like you were in the middle of the Sun. Seeing her coming towards her, Karen stuttered " W-what are you doing? If you k-kill me do you know what will happen? T-there will be a c-civil war, millions of people will die, yo-your father wouldn''t want you to do." she said finally being a bit scared as she wimpily slid further and further away. At this point, Charlotte had no shock, hesitation, hatred. Just a smile , the most evil and terrifying smile you can imagine , as she walked towards Karen she said " You have always bullied me since we were kids, you said things about my mother that made me cry in my room all night, you have tortured me and hindered me in every possible way , so '''' said the Princess as her hands covered with Pure Yin Fire Magic went towards Karen''s Chest, "How do you feel ? Knowing you will be burnt alive." said the Princess enunciating every single word with a complete cold look on her face as her eyes bore deep into her. As Karen looked into those eyes, for the first time in her life she felt fear, complete and utter fear. Karen screamed in fear and tried to run away with all her might but it was too late, Princess Charlotte unleashed the pitch-black flames and as they hurled towards her, the surrounding space was burnt and the walls started melting, as the black fire touched Karen''s body she howled in agony and in an instant was burnt to a crisp with just her head remaining. In that eerie silence, Princess Charlotte laughed, she laughed out loud with her hands holding her stomach, for the first time in her life she felt free, she felt unrestrained, she felt happiness. She walked around and back towards Glaze and said " This feels amazing, I have never felt better in my life." she said looking towards him giddily. "She was just one of the people who wronged you, we will kill every one of those bastards together, my prince-" before Glaze could finish his sentence, Princess Charlotte put her arms around him and kissed him on the lips. After what felt like an eternity, when they separated, Princess Charlotte said "Don''t call me that, call me by name, Glaze" said she looking towards him with loving eyes. "I love you, Charlotte," said Glaze as he took her in his arms and kissed her again." I love you too, Glaze." she said as they kissed again in a room filled with blood, melting walls and a head with a terrified expression on the ground. Chapter 13 - Becoming the Strongest Faction Overnight In the throne room after the incident. As the Princess carried the severed head walking into the throne room, everyone was shocked as they recognized the head. After the attack on the Hero, the guards were alarmed and they notified the King, as a result, he called in an urgent meeting in the throne room with all the powerful nobles in the country. As they stood in front of the King, Glaze took out the letter he got from Karen Aquilia and showed it to the King. As the King read the letter he was shocked and so was everyone else, especially Varen Aquilia who was the most shocked to see the severed head of her daughter but also the fact that the Hero was completely fine with not a single scratch. How is this possible? The Purple Night Lotus poison can''t be resisted by anyone under Level 25, she thought as she panicked. Princess Charlotte then explained the sequence of events that led to her killing Karen Aquilia. "I know you want to maintain the peace father, but attacking the Hero is unforgivable, and if you don''t do anything and let the Aquilia family go then I will take things into my own hands.," she said with a cold expression looking straight into her father''s eyes. "This is a misunderstanding, Your Majesty , let me explain" said Varen Aquilia as she came forward but before she had the chance to speak there was a blinding light coming from the Princess and a shockwave spread throughout the throne room. There was a blue aura surrounding her entire body with strange runes floating in the air , the next instant , the roof of the throne room broke down and from the gaping hole came a river of blue light that looked like mana, as the river of mana descended on her she floated into the air. The mana in the entire area started quaking and everyone present could feel it , there was a strange pattern that began to form in front of her ?h?st which was blinding and was completely pitch black, the same as her Pure Yin Black Fire Magic, as the pattern formed , it descended a terrifying pressure on everyone present and everyone soon realized what was happening. The King, who was the first to notice spoke up "Divine Magical Pattern, she has broken through the bottleneck and has reached Level 30 becoming a Master and One with Magic" As she was right beside Glaze, he realized it fairly quickly too, it looks like killing Karen and finally letting go broke her mental bottleneck, she was powerful enough to breakthrough but her past blocked her from doing so, now that she is free, it is natural that she would breakthrough. As the Divine Magical Pattern started to burn with black fire, the River of Magic poured an enormous amount of mana into it and was also nourishing and making it stronger as her entire body was covered in Pure Yin Flames and her hair seemed like they were made of black fire, soon it quieted down a bit but the huge pressure remained the same as it felt like the entire throne room was not burning on fire but was fire. As her burning Divine Magical Pattern went inside her soul, she opened her eyes and descended as everyone looked at her in shock. As she reached the Master Stage everyone looked at her in fear, you have to realize that there were very few Master Stage Beings in the Human Realm, and within the Kingdom, including the King, before Princess Charlotte, there were only 3 Master Stage beings. Before anyone had the chance to recover from the shock and continue towards the case of the Aquilia Family, Princess Charlotte held up a crystal , it was a memory crystal that can be used to record any event, as she poured her mana into it and started playing it , it displayed the entire scene that happened after she reached Glaze with Karen on the ground. As the scene started to play in the throne room, everyone was even more shocked, hearing about the matter and having a visual proof is a completely different thing, as the scene reached the point where Karen insulted Charlotte and the late Queen, everyone stopped breathing. As Varen Aquilia saw that, she knew it was too late, she flared her magic and started to run but at this moment, the King stood up with an icy expression on his face as he held his hand forward and made a gripping motion. The entire throne room started shaking as if there was an earthquake and a terrifying pressure, one that was many times stronger than what was caused by the Princess descended on top of everyone. Varen Aquilia who was running away just stopped in her place as if time was frozen as she was pulled backward by an invisible force. This was the power of a Level 38 Master who was 2 Levels away from becoming a Legend, for the first time since he came here, Glaze finally saw a hint of the true strength of the King. As she came towards him screaming, the King looked at her with a murderous raging look in his eyes, he might have neglected his daughter but he still loved the late Queen, why else would he go against all tradition to marry her. He took out a giant hammer that hummed with power, this seemed even more terrifying than the one Princess Charlotte had, as he raised it, the sky itself started shattering and reality itself was distorting, the terrifying energy released from the shattering of the sky was concentrated on the hammer, the King then slammed this hammer down on the frozen Karen Aquilia who felt like the entire sky was crashing down on her and could do nothing but regret her fate. How did it come to this? My plan was perfect! she thought in her last moments. This was the Sky - Shattering Hammer skill, and in the King''s hand, it was terrifying, the hammer smashed Varen Aquilia, who was a Level 25 Expert, like smashing an ant, and in a single hit, she turned into just a paste on the floor. As the King''s rage subsided a bit, he sat down on the throne, he then said " Varen Aquilia and the Aquilia Family committed the most grievous crime against the Kingdom and the Human Realm by attacking the Hero when his guard was down, as such, as the King of Everheart, I take away all the titles, lands and rights of the Aquilia Family " said the King in a loud voice that reverberated throughout the entire Kingdom and every living soul in Everheart could hear the King''s verdict. He looked towards Glaze as he got up and slightly bowed towards him " I am ashamed this has happened within my Palace, I have failed to protect you from my people, I apologize and hope you would give me another chance" "As long as justice is served, I am fine with it, Your Majesty," said Glaze slightly bowing towards the King. "And Congratulations, my daughter on reaching the Master Stage," said the King looking towards his daughter, but she didn''t reply to him and just looked him dead in the eye and said, "I am going to go with the Hero and kill off every last one of the members of the Aquilia Family, taking their titles and lands isn''t enough, they must pay in blood for trying to harm MY hero," she said looking towards her father with an icy gaze. "Of course, you and the Hero can give them any punishment you see fit," said the King sighing as he realized how distant he and his daughter had become. "Well, we shall take our leave then, Y-o-u-r M-a-j-e-s-t-y." said the Princess towards her father without bowing as she tilted her head to the side with a tinge of sarcasm as she took Glaze''s arm in hers and flew out of the Palace. The surrounding people gulped hearing that , they did not expect such a change to occur in the Crown Princess who always prioritized the peace of the Kingdom, but was now eradicating one of the oldest noble families in the Kingdom out of existence , they might have been scared before but were still condescending towards the Princess as they didn''t think she would actually do anything drastic despite being powerful. But after today''s event where she cut off Karen''s head, broke through to become a powerful master that could suppress anyone below that stage, which was all the nobles in the Kingdom, and the memory crystal that caused the King to rage and take away the rights of the Aquilia Family, they didn''t feel condescending, they just felt fear. And they soon realized the reason for the change in the Princess'' attitude, the Hero. But they couldn''t do anything, they didn''t dare do anything, especially after seeing what happened to those who tried to mess with the Hero today. They sighed and walked back to their homes, realizing that the Kingdom of Everheart had seen a huge change today that will completely change its direction and the plans of all the nobles. No matter how much they cared about bloodlines and tradition, when facing absolute power, anyone would throw their principles and values in the trash. The Princess who had a non-existent faction and no support suddenly became the strongest faction in the Kingdom overnight. Chapter 14 - 9 Black Suns in the Sky Princess Charlotte flew towards the direction of the Aquilia Family''s palace in New Heart while holding Glaze with one hand. This was the first time Glaze experienced flight in this world and saw the city from a bird''s eye view. The sprawling city was filled with castles and palaces that looked very old, this was the capital which is why it was mostly populated by noble families and other rich people. As they flew towards the Aquilia Family, they were already trying to escape, they heard the king''s verdict after all and knew they no longer could stay in the Kingdom as they no longer had any protection from the law. As Princess Charlotte saw them running away she raised her right hand and started to cast a magic, "This is the new attack I have learned after breaking through to the Master Stage , let me what you think , fufu" she said with a smile Her right hand was covered in black fire and the entire area trembled as the black fire rose above from her hands and the surrounding temperature started rising rapidly, and soon the entire area above the Aquilia Family''s palace was covered in pitch-black flames and completely blocked the sunlight. The members of the Aquilia family felt like they were pressed under the sun as they looked upwards, after that the black flames started to gather towards several points in the sky and converged into small balls of concentrated black flames. As they hung in the sky they looked like 9 black suns, they descended a huge pressure over the entire city and the onlookers were scared seeing such a scene happening above their heads, then with bated breaths they watched these 9 Black Suns come crashing down like meteors towards the Aquilia Family''s house. There were many experts of Novice stage in the Aquilia family but they could do nothing to defend against a Master Stage attack and could only try to run , the black suns hammered the entire area like 9 nuclear bombs dropped one after the other and the entire area turned pitch black and the surrounding temperature started scorching to unbearable degrees, the surrounding onlookers started to run away and increased the distance . The entire palace of the Aquilia Family was completely destroyed without a trace. Most of the people who were running away either got caught in the blast and got burnt to a crisp or boiled to death due to the scorching hot temperature. But there appeared to be someone still alive, an old man with grey hair held up a strange seal with a lotus on it which created a barrier that protected some kids under it. "Hm, so the Aquilia Family had hidden another Expert Stage among them and it looks he is protecting the talents of their family," said the Princess as she looked at that old man with a chilly smile. The barrier was filled with web-like cracks and was b?r?ly holding on, after all, even if he was an Expert, he was only Level 23. "I''ll go and deal with him, you can take care of the remaining survivors," said Princess Charlotte looking towards Glaze as she descended and dropped him on the ground. "Alright , take care" said Glaze to the Princess who flew away to fight that old man, "This Princess is seriously broke" thought Glaze as he walked towards the Burning Palace remains with a smile while everyone else in the area was running away from the area. This was the first time they had seen a Master Stage being fight and it turns out it was the Princess who had recently leveled up. They were scared out of their minds as this fight was happening in the middle of the city. "Agh, ugh, go on ahead, run away to Neverwinter," said a man coughing blood as he dragged two girls along with him trying to run away from the black flames, his body was scarred with burn marks and his armor was completely destroyed, the girls'' condition wasn''t any better. "Trying to run away are ya ?" said Glaze with an evil smile as he walked towards them, he had never truly let loose since he came here, and he was now itching to shed blood. The man was Level 19, the girls were Level 16 and Level 17 respectively. The trio was, in terms of Levels, stronger than Glaze, they couldn''t take him down but could at least get away from him, or so they thought. They started to channel their magic to the fullest in this life or death situation as this might very well be their last fight. "Sorry, did you think I was gonna let you fight?" laughed Glaze as he raised his right hand and made a finger gun, Holy Destruction Magic started to form on the tip of his fingers filling them with blinding purple radiance that shook the entire area. "Bang," said Glaze as the energy shot from his fingers and disappeared, then the entire area behind the Aquilia trio was completely destroyed leaving not a trace, even the burning black flames that felt like they were inextinguishable disappeared. The trio appeared shocked but then realized one of the girls had a gaping hole in her ?h?st, she looked down as her mouth spurted blood and she fell with a thud and died on the spot. The other two were dazed, they didn''t even get the chance to fight, the guy screamed "Alana, no noooo, aaaaahhh" said he as he shook the body of the girl with an anguished expression. The attack went straight through her ?h?st and crashed into the ruins behind her so quick that no one could even see or predict it. The guy then jumped in rage and roared into the sky and flared all the mana in his body as he rushed towards Glaze " Aaarrgh , I WILL KILL YOU BASTARD , YOU BASTARD HER-" before he could finish, his ?h?st was pierced with what looked like a vine that came from the ground , the vine was glowing with purple light and pierced straight through his ?h?st and stopped him in midair. This was another attack Glaze came up with that used the Holy Destruction Magic as vines or threads that could pierce multiple opponents at once. As he flared his mana into the vine of destruction magic, it started to glow brighter and destroyed the entire body of that Level 19 Expert Stage man into nothingness. *ting* *You have learned new attacks* *Destruction Bullet - Can fire a burst of highly concentrated destruction magic into a precise and concentrated bullet | Mana Cost: 5000 per shot* I am down by 10000 mana, thought Glaze as he walked towards the last girl alive who was on the ground, she was scared witless seeing her two friends die so easily in front of her and knew she couldn''t resist this Hero at all. "P-Please, spare me, esteemed Hero, I - I don''t like the Aquilia Family, I was never loyal to them, I o-only joined recently just because they were powerful, I-I have nothing against you. I-I w-will do anything, sp-spare me" said she looking towards the Hero with pleading eyes and tears as she wimped away from him with the blood of her friends on her body. Glaze looked at her with no emotion on his face, " I''ll spare you" said he as he walked away from her. "Huh, really, T-thank you so much," said she shocked not expecting to be spared and got up slowly and started to walk away with a limp. "From burning to death by Charlotte''s flames that is, I''ll give you a quick death instead," said Glaze with an evil smile as he raised his fingers in the form of a gun and pointed it towards her back as she tried to get away. "Bang" Chapter 15 - Building an Organization As Glaze killed all the survivors who were running away he reached the place where Charlotte went to. The few talents that old man tried to protect were dead on the ground and the old man''s legs were burnt to a crisp with only his upper body remaining b?r?ly alive, as he got closer she said "Ara, have you taken care of everyone? I have preserved this pig for you to test your Level Drain Skill, why don''t you give it a try ?" said she pointing towards the b?r?ly alive man with a smile. "Thank you Charlotte , let me give this a try" said Glaze with goosebumps seeing a Level 23 Expert in such a state, he took out his Blood River Blade and slashed the blade towards the old man, the river of blood cut the old man''s body vertically and split him in two as he died instantly. *ting* *You have killed a Level 23 Expert* *Level Drain Activated* As the notification ringed the dead body of the old man started to dry up as it disintegrated into a blue light that surrounded glaze and was absorbed by his body. *You have gained 2 Levels* *Current Level: 15* *You have gained 2 Magic Points and 1 Skill Point* *Your Blood River Blade skill has leveled up, Current Level: 2* *The river of blood can now affect already dead people and absorb their mana and life force to replenish yours* "Looks like I leveled up, thanks Charlotte," said Glaze with a smile looking at his hands "Fufu, don''t worry about it, I said didn''t I? I''ll level you up in no time" said she as she dusted off her hands "While I was coming here I overheard the escaping members trying to get to Neverwinter, is there any connection between the Aquilia Family and Neverwinter ?" asked Glaze recounting that trio. "Hm, there have been some marriages between the Aquilia family and the noble houses of Neverwinter, but Aquilia family is far older than Neverwinter itself so it''s hard to believe they would bow to them," said Charlotte as she rested her chin on her thin fingers. "Yes , Neverwinter is not very old , they only became so powerful in the past 1000 years, before this they were just a small state in the north, afterward they started to rapidly gain power and started expanding but since they were small the rest of the Kingdoms didn''t pay much attention and this negligence cost them a lot. By the time they realized the potential and power of Neverwinter, it was too late, they had become so powerful that they soon became the Strongest Human Kingdom in terms of military strength" said the Princess in deep thought. "They could have spied for Neverwinter. If Neverwinter is as powerful as you say then it''s not that hard to imagine a Noble Family who is stuck in a position for generations would fall to their side for power" said Glaze as he walked away from the ruins with Charlotte following by his side. "We need some sort of information gathering network, we can make an organization," said Glaze as he thought back to the Assassination Magic Book in the system, "Charlotte, how much money is there in the royal treasury?" asked he. "100 Billion maybe, somewhere around that. Don''t look so shocked, we are a very old Kingdom after all," said she without even hesitating to share such information, she no longer cared about the Kingdom, the only one she cared about was right beside her. "100 Billion Gold, that''s a lot of money," said Glaze as they walked towards the market area. "Ara, it''s not 100 Billion Gold, its 100 Billion Magic Crystals, as for gold there''s probably Trillions of it in the treasury, fufu," said she nonchalantly while Glaze by her side had a mini heart attack. "So, why not just steal that money? You''re the Crown Princess, we can use that money to build a foundation in this Kingdom, make an organization that can gather information in not just the Kingdom but the entire Human Realm and kill everyone who stands in our path" said he as they continued walking while everyone else got out of their way completely terrified. "Alright, leave it to me. I''ll take care of that gold, who''s gonna stop me now?" said she with an evil smile as she put her arm around Glaze and walked happily. "Where are we going? Anything you need ?" she asked as she looked at Glaze curiously. The owner and everyone working there got a heart attack the moment they saw these two entering, these two just eradicated one of the oldest noble houses in the Kingdom and were now casually taking a stroll in the Market and shopped as if nothing happened. The owner gulped as he went to receive them and got on his knees, so did everyone else as he said " Your Highness and Esteemed Hero, thank you f-for gracing this humble m-market, what can I-I do for you ?" said he with his hands shaking. Glaze had not even activated his Intimidation skill, "All your slaves are now mine." said he as he activated Destruction God''s Intimidation , these poor chaps were less than Level 10, they were completely suppressed with no power remaining in their bodies as they plopped down and were completely terrified with fear. "You c-c-can take everything d-dear hero, everything is you-yours, don''t kill this o-old man," said the owner scared out of his mind thinking he was about to be killed and was wondering how he offended this ruthless hero. "Hand over your magic seal and all of you get ready to transport everyone to Lord Lockhart''s Palace, it has recently finished construction," said Charlotte with a glare as the owner weakly handed over his magic seal and everyone got to work. Why use money when you can just threaten people, thought Glaze with a smile as he walked inside to the place where all the slaves were held, all of them being women, as he walked in they wimped away further , they had seen how terrifying this guy was as he suppressed all the slave traders who had oppressed them for their entire lives, without lifting a finger, they did not dare say a word. "You all, are now working for me, Lord Glaze Lockhart, the Hero," said Glaze as he looked at them as he unlocked their slave collars with the Magical Seal of the owner. System, show me their stats in brief. *ting* *Hero''s Luck* *You have unlocked a new function of the System by checking the stats of so many people, you can now check the talent of people* Hm, was that because of Hero''s Luck, so it affects even the System? thought Glaze as he channeled his mana casting the Divine Slave Magic on all of these slaves, his hands were covered in a red light as it pierced the ?h?sts of all the slaves , they were shocked thinking they were about to be killed right after they were released from their collars, but then realized nothing happened , then they saw a pattern appear on all of their ?h?sts which glowed red but then completely disappeared. "You all are under my magic now, if you disobey, I can kill you with just a thought. Do you understand?" said Glaze in a loud voice. "Yes, Master," said everyone with a shaky voice as they were still terrified and were uncertain what this new Master was going to do to them. "Follow those traders to my palace, I will meet you there and tell you what you need to do from now," said Glaze as he turned back and went out of the market. As he walked back he thought back to one girl who was completely calm among the group of slaves, she was scared , he could feel it but she did a good job not showing it , she was one of the two who were above Level 5, a Level 7 girl with long black hair , she wasn''t curvy at all and was completely flat but there was something in her eyes that caught him by surprise, something that no one else had, hope. Chapter 16 - Strongest Kingsguard in Existence The next day Glaze met the Princess in the King''s castle, she threw a magical pouch at him, as he looked into it he saw 100 Billion Gold coins, "Fufu, is this enough?" she said smiling towards Glaze''s shocked face. "Yeah, definitely enough." said Glaze shocked at how easy this thing turned out to be, "You said someone wanted to meet me ?" he asked while still inspecting the 100 Billion Gold. "Hm, the Captelli Family sent one of their women , Marzia Captelli to act as your aide , helping you in any administrative work or any task you have that doesn''t need strength, the current Prime Minister of this Kingdom is Marco Captelli , he is the Head of the Captelli family" said the Princess twirling her blond hair with a finger. "Marzia Captelli? wasn''t she the one they sent asking for a hand in marriage? Now they are sending her as my secretary?" asked Glaze curiously. "Yes, the Captelli family isn''t strong in strength but are very smart and cunning , their skills are communication and leadership , they have been the Administrative heads of this Kingdom holding the Position of the Prime Minister for a very long time , they have political connections everywhere and are the masters of politics , that girl they are sending is also not bad , they probably want to have some member of their family with the Hero and in extension with me after what happened I guess , to maintain a connection." "She probably wasn''t considered talented enough for administrative work in the Kingdom so she was sent as a marriage candidate in the first place , now I guess they are just trying to get rid of her" said she with a calculative look. "In that case , she can be useful to us if we can bring her on our side, turn her against the current Prime Minister " said Glaze as he recently found out the current Prime Minister was quite close to the King and would become a problem in the future when it was time to take the King down. "Your highness, Lady Marzia Captelli is here," said one of the guards outside our quarters. "Let her in," said the Princess As the doors opened, a woman with long brown hair walked in, she was wearing long yellow robes with brown highlights that touched the ground with brown heels clacking with her every step , she had a monocle that was floating in the air with strange runes in front of her left eye and she had a scholarly aura around her. There were 10 guards behind her, all of them being Level 10. She bowed slightly as she entered and said" Your highness, Lord Lockhart, I hope you are doing well" "You too, Lady Marzia, what brings you here ?" asked Glaze "As you might have heard, I have come to serve as your aide, helping you handle your political and administrative matters so you can focus on becoming stronger and more important things, I would be honored to be by your side" said she as she bowed once more, "One more thing, these are some guards sent by the Prime Minister , they might come in handy for you" "If you would be willing to work for me I would be most grateful, Marzia," said Glaze as he put his hand forwards. Marzia shook his hands, being relieved, she did not want to go back to her family being rejected again. --- Level - 14 Novice Talent - Leadership, Administration, Illusion Magic --- Illusion Magic? thought Glaze with a smile, so she does have some talent for magic, that would be useful. "Marzia, my palace was built recently, and I have some slaves that I got recently currently staying there, I want to turn them into my subordinates, I need to get armor and clothing made for them, and some basic equipment for a place to work for them," said Glaze looking towards Marzia "Also, you can create an administrative division and a logistic division and any other supporting divisions that would help you in your work, I also need a trainer for training them for information gathering work, I don''t care about the price I need the best you can find, pick any place you want, hire anyone you deem fit, and get this thing going as fast as possible , don''t worry about money , I need the best , just let me know how much you need" She appeared a little shook at such a demand, "Uh, getting armors and clothing at Level 15 and basic equipment for 20 people would cost 1 Million Gold, creating an administrative and logistics division and an information gathering expert trainer, that would cost a huge amount of money as talent is rare and the training and equipment for all these people would also be very expensive" said she looking uncertain, not wanting to mess up her first job. "How much do you need? I have no problem if you hire within your family" said Glaze as held the pouch in his hands. "100 Million Gold," she said as she gulped, not knowing what he was gonna say , she had work experience and knew quoting price was the hardest part of her job as most people don''t realize how much things cost at a scale and thus she was worried this ruthless hero was gonna flip out. Princess Charlotte on the side was struggling to control her laughter seeing this scene as Marzia misunderstood all of Glaze''s reactions. As Marzia looked down waiting for an eruption, Glaze threw a pouch towards her, " Is this enough?" he asked as he looked at her. She took a look inside and her mouth hung, it was 1 Billion Gold, even she had never seen such wealth before in her life, her hands were shaking as she spoke " T-This is too much my Lord, I just need 100 Million" "You can keep this with you, I trust you would make good use of it to help me handle all my tasks" said Glaze as he looked in her eyes with a cold smile , Marzia seeing those eyes felt a chill, of course, no one would betray the Hero''s trust seeing the Aquilia family''s example. She gulped and bowed as she said" I''ll get to work then, I will let you know when I am done" and walked out of the room. The 10 Guards remained in the palace, as Glaze walked towards them he released a bit of Destruction God''s Intimidation, the guards were scared as they looked at this ruthless hero, as he looked into their eyes he asked "Do you want to be strong?" "Yes," they said instinctively as they were suppressed by him, "I can give you strength, magic that can destroy all your foes, no one will ever look down on you, you will reach heights you never imagined," said Glaze as he inched closer The guards gulped, they knew how terrifying the hero was, they saw it with their own eyes. If they could gain such power they thought with temptation. Glaze opened his right palm and a magic book appeared on his hand, it was a Master Stage Magic Book - Lava Magic, he opened his left palm and it shined with a red radiance as he channeled Divine Slave magic. The 10 guards had their heads spinning , they were poor and didn''t have much talent or resources , they were stuck at Level 10 even after training for years and still used Apprentice Magic at Novice stage as they could not afford stronger magic or get trained by an expert, and now in front of them was a Master Stage Magic Book , that was actually terrifyingly powerful as well. To these people who had no hope of improving or getting a better life, this was something that could change their and their family''s life and affect their entire future generations. In exchange, they were asked to submit to the Hero, with Slave Magic, and make him their King and thus making them traitors to the current King. Their lives were at a risk every day anyway and they had not much to lose, seeing this opportunity in front of them was like seeing an exquisite wine when they had never even tasted grapes, this made them irresistible to this temptation as this was their chance to rise above being just another commoner. One the guards got up and touched Glaze''s left palm willing injecting himself with Divine Slave Magic as he took the Master Stage Lava Magic book from his right hand and then kneeled in front of Glaze and said "I shall serve you in life and death, I shall be your sword and slay all that stand in your path and shield against all that dare harm you, I am honored to be your Kingsguard, my King" Glaze smiled, this was just what he needed, as soon as one person gave in the rest of them quickly lined up and started injecting themselves with Divine Slave Magic and took the Master Stage Magic Book from his right hand. All ten of them lined up and kneeled in front of him as the Divine Slave Magic pattern glowed on their ?h?st , " We shall serve you in life and death , we shall be your sword and slay all that stand in your path and shield against all that dare harm you, we are honored to be your Kingsguard, my King" . Chapter 17 - Medusa and Celeste The next day Glaze sat down as he decided to spend his magic points and skill points. *Where do you want to spend your points?* Two magic points in Holy Destruction Magic and one skill point in Level Drain Skill *Holy Destruction Magic: Level - 7* *You can now cover your body with destruction magic using it as a weapon or protect yourself from attacks* *Level Drain Skill: Level - 2 | You can now drain 20% of the Levels of all enemies you kill* *God Blood - 7%* *Your mana is increased to 70,000* *Mana recovery rate increased to 700/second* Glaze felt the increased god blood pouring through his veins and his physical strength increase once again and it became a lot easier to control destruction magic. Show me all equipment in the shop related to Assassin Magic *ting* --- Assassin''s Armor Level: 20 - Boosts Vanishing and Level Conceal | Cost - 500000 Gold Assassin''s Boots Level: 20 - Boosts Void Step | Cost - 300000 Gold Assassin''s Blade Level: 20 - Boosts Assassin''s Strike| Cost - 350000 Gold Divine Assassin''s Armor: Level 30 - Can Vanish and Conceal against everyone below the user''s level and +5 above the user until Level 35 | Cost - 1 Million Gold Divine Assassin''s Blade: Level 30 - Can use Assassin''s Strike against anyone who is 3 Level''s above user. --- So it looks like Vanishing, Level Conceal, Void Step and Assassin''s Strike are magic attacks and skill from the Assassin''s Magic Book. /---/ After a few days Glaze got a message from Marzia that the work was done, he went to his newly built palace for the first time to check how things were going. His palace wasn''t anything too extraordinary like the rest of the architecture in this city, this kingdom wasn''t famous for its architectural skills after all. It was just another palace from a fantasy story with the only striking feature being it was made from purple stones. As he walked in he was greeted by his "Kingsguard" who were for now just acting as normal guards, he made them train for the last couple of days by forcing them to kill monsters while testing their magic, giving them some pointers and replenishing their mana with magic crystals , this cycle went on again and again and these guards managed to level up to Level 13 in just a few days, they had been stuck in the bottleneck for so long, with some proper training , magic and magic crystals they were able to level up easily. He walked in to see everyone hustling bustling, it felt like he was in an office from his previous life, he walked in and met Marzia who was busy managing everyone''s tasks. "My Lord, good to see you again," said she as she bowed. "The Administrative and Logistic Divisions are set up , basic necessities and clothes and armor and other furniture are done for your servants, though they were quite reluctant to actually use anything given to them ,you may have to talk them yourself as they wouldn''t listen to anyone else" said she as she sighed clearly stressed out from this work. "The information-gathering team is set up, we have a trainer from Elsenia who is an expert in that field and she has agreed to teach any recruits, you just have to select the candidates now," said she continuing. "Because we did so much at a scale we managed to get a discount and when people realized its the Hero who is paying they gave a bigger discount, the total expenditure of everything came down to 80 Million Gold," said she as she handed Glaze the receipt of all the expenses. "You have done an amazing job Marzia, you are far more capable than I thought you were, managing to get this done in just a few days, I wonder why they just didn''t send you as an aide right away," said Glaze impressed. "Uh, haha , you are praising me too much my lord , there is still a lot of work i need to get done , if you need anything let me know , I shall take my leave" said she awkwardly as she left. Glaze proceeded to the garden area where all the slaves were held, as they saw him coming they all stood up straight, afraid to anger him, they were still in their tattered clothes as they refused to listen to anyone else afraid they would offend their master. "These clothes, rooms and other basic amenities are yours, you are free to use it," said he looking towards the group of 20 women. The Slave Magic did not actually control their mind or hypnotize them, just gave him the ability to kill them with a thought from anywhere. "I-Is this really ours?" said one woman with fear as she looked at these expensive clothes and armor, she had only seen from a distance before not believing they were hers now. "Yes they are yours," said Glaze with a smile, this became more of a headache than he realized. Everyone including those two was a little scared as they were called out, as they stepped forwards Glaze asked them their name. "We don''t have a name, Master," said the both looking down. System, show me their stats again. *ting* ---/ Name - X Level - 7 Apprentice Talent - Assassination, Leadership ----/ Level - 7 Apprentice Talent - Speech, Leadership, Charisma ---/ Glaze looked at the one who had the talent of Assassination as he said" I''ll give you a name then, I name you Erebi" thought he as he based the name on Erebus, the Greek God of Darkness. As he looked at the other who had the talent of speech and charisma he thought she would be perfect to lead the information gathering and intelligence organization, " And I name you Athena" said he naming her after the Greek Goddess of Wisdom. They appeared shocked as they were named He walked towards Athena as he said " Take this armor and clothing" as he personally gave her her armor and clothes "You will form and lead the Organization Celeste, go and talk to Marzia and start your training" said he as he looked at the remaining women standing behind just staring curiously at what was happening. He used the system to find out the talents of all the remaining women who were all very low leveled, he picked 9 who were talented in Speech and related skills and pulled them aside, "You will now work under Athena, get your clothing and armor, and start training , this palace is your home from today" said he as he looked at them. They bowed and left with Athena to meet their teacher and were still under shock that they got such a life they never dreamed of. Now, only 10 people remained, "Erebi , you will form the secret organization Medusa, your job will be ?ssassination, all of you have a talent for ?ssassination and related skills and I will train you to become the most terrifying ?ssassins to have ever existed" said he as he looked into their eyes. "W-will you really make us strong? Can I become strong?" asked Erebi as she looked into Glaze''s eyes for the first time with hope. "Yes, I can make you strong, so strong you can kill everyone in your path, everyone who wronged you will die under your blade, if you follow me," said Glaze as he pulled back the long hair of Erebi and looked into her eyes with a smile. "I will follow you, Master, I will follow you to the depths of the underworld, I will train hard and won''t disappoint you," said she with a determined look "Very well, take this armor, this is just for you as you are the leader of Medusa and the strongest out of everyone," said Glaze as he took out the Divine Assassin Armor, Boots, and Blade. As these Master Stage weapons appeared they had a terrifying aura but it was not all suppressing like the other Master Stage weapons but only to those who noticed it or looked at it, it was very peculiar. As Erebi looked at this Master Stage weapon and equipment she was shocked, not sure if she should take something so incredibly expensive but then she looked into the calm eyes of Glaze and took the armor, boots, and blade. "Equip it," said Glaze As she equipped the Divine Assassin''s Armor, Divine Assassin''s Boots and Divine Assassin''s Blade her entire aura vanished, it felt like she didn''t exist to the rest of the people even though they could see her right in front of them , Glaze smiled as he looked at this pitch-black armor with purple highlights. She truly looked like the merchant of death in this armor. "You won''t be able to use these properly without this , take this" said Glaze as he took out the Assassination Magic Book that was pitch black and had a dark aura around it , as she took it out of his hands and started inspecting it he turned towards the rest of the 9 women who were shocked and amazed looking at their older sister, "So, are you willing to follow me ?" asked he. "Yes, we will train hard and kill your enemies, Master," said they as they came forward. "This is all for you," said Glaze as he took out the Assassin''s Armor, Blade, and Boots. They came forward excitedly as they took these and started to equip them. As they came together they truly looked like a terrifying group of ?ssassins, without any actual skill yet of course. "Take this Assassin Magic Book, and take this crest to identify yourself, it is imbued with my magic so it can''t be faked," said he as he gave them the Magic Books and the crest which had a 9 headed serpent in purple with a black background and a golden outline as it flowed with his mana. "Start experimenting by yourself for today, I will show you the basics tomorrow," said Glaze as he walked out. "Yes, Master," said they as they bowed in unison. . Chapter 18 - Neverwinter Chapter - 18 It has been a week since Glaze created Medusa and Celeste, in this week he trained Erebi and the rest of Medusa with Assassination Magic, he found out that there is another way to level up apart from killing monsters which is to increase the comprehension of magic and leveling it up which raises the Level of the user. Sadly he could not level up using that method but by teaching these women the information he got from the system and practicing their ?ssassination skills on monsters they managed to level up quite a bit. Erebi leveled up to 10 and managed to break through to the Novice Stage. ---/ Name - Erebi Race - Human Magic - Assassination Magic - Level: 2 Magic Attacks - Skills - Vanishing - Level: 2 Void Step - Level: 2 Level Conceal - Level: 2 ---/ Erebi managed to make all her magic attacks and skills to level 2 in the past week while the remaining women managed to start learning the magic and get used to it, reaching Level 7 Apprentice and Level 1 in all skills and magic attacks by forcing them to practice non stop with magic crystals. To level up from here they would have to carry out actual real-world ?ssassinations thought Glaze as he looked at Medusa with pride. "You all did a great job this week, you have become a lot stronger than before but you still have ways to go but you are now ready to carry out your ?ssignments," said he. "Yes, Master" they bowed in unison. They no longer had the nervousness and fear they had but just cold determination. ''Athena, how is your training going?'' asked Glaze as he went into Celeste''s office. "Our training with the instructor is finished, we just have to train by ourselves now, we are ready to carry out any tasks you want us to do, Master," said Athena as everyone else in the office was sifting through the information they had gathered. They had a lot to learn and work through as they also were not very knowledgeable about this world before but they had managed to train enough to the point they could now carry out infiltration and do intelligence work. The Deception Magic allowed them to learn skills like changing their appearance, lying and tricking people, negotiation, threatening and the like. "I want you to infiltrate the Captelli family, I feel like something is going on with Marzia and her uncle the Prime Minister''s family, I need you to gather anything you can. " "Yes, Master," said Athena as she bowed. /----/ As Glaze was walking around the city at night he overheard some people talking in an alleyway near his Palace, he looked over to find Marzia being cornered by another woman. "Marzia, what is the Hero doing, 80 Million in just a few days and that incident with the Slave market, you were just sent as his aide by uncle to gather information so speak up," said the women looking at Marzia threateningly "You-" said the woman as she pushed Marzia''s shoulder when she heard a voice. "Funny seeing you here, Marzia," said Glaze as he walked over. The woman who was threatening Marzia was shocked as she backed off and saw the guy who walked into the alleyway, with purple streaked hair and glowing purple eyes in the middle of the night there was a pressure coming off of that man that scared her. "Lord Lockhart, it''s good to see you," said Marzia as she got out of this situation and walked towards him. That woman got even more scared as she realized who it was, " Lord Lockhart, it''s nice to meet you, I am Celia Captelli, Marzia''s cousin" said the women calming herself down as she bowed, "It''s nice to meet you Lady Celia, is something the matter? I need Marzia for a task, I am afraid I would have to take her from you" said Glaze with a smile. "Oh, of course, my Lord, we were done talking, I shall take my leave then," said she as she walked away afraid that he might have heard their conversation. "So, she asked you to share my information with her but you didn''t? why? " "I don''t like them, they are my uncle''s family, the Prime Minister, they have always suppressed my parent''s side of the family and used us as their pawns, getting us to do their dirty work," said she with anger. "I can help you deal with your uncle''s family, you don''t want to be stuck as an aide for the rest of your life, do you? You have the talent to do much more" "Deal with them? What do you have in mind my lord?" she asked curiously. "I am gonna take over this Kingdom," said Glaze softly in her ear with a smile. Marzia was shocked and panicked for a second before she calmed down. This was the opportunity she needed , she was a smart woman , she knew when to take risks and when not to, if someone else said this to her she would never agree but the one before her was a Hero who have always ruled as Human Emperors in the past, the Hero taking over the Kingdom was not unrealistic. "What do you need me to do ?" she asked with a determined gaze. "Work with Athena to gather more information on your Uncle''s side of the family. Your family depends a lot on reputation and secrets instead of strength, information is their power but also their weakness, we will exploit that to slowly whittle away your Uncle''s influence and when time is right, we will strike them down" said Glaze with an evil smile. "I will work with them and share any information I have with her," said she with excitement. "Work for me Marzia, be my loyal subordinate and you might become the administrative head of the most powerful kingdom that''s going to exist," said Glaze as he walked out of the alley and disappeared leaving Marzia with her heart beating. /----/ "Your Majesty, we have a report from Everheart," said a Level 20 man kneeling in front of the throne. ''What is it ?'' said a woman with pale white skin who was wearing white robes with blue highlights, she had white hair with a few streaks of blue hair mixed with them, she wasn''t that curvy but looked very beautiful as she sat on the throne and held her chin with her long fingers. She had a terrifying aura around her that gave everyone in the throne room chills. "The Aquilia family that we were working with has been completely eliminated by the Hero," said the man with a shaky voice. "What did you say? The Hero was just summoned, he is the child of the Mana Sea and the Human Realm, he should be naive and righteous, at least at first, you are saying he eradicated one of the oldest families in Everheart in a week of being summoned?" said the Queen with an icy expression. "Y-Your Majesty, he has completely ensnared the Crown Princess, and not only that, after the Hero was summoned she has broken through the Master Stage, with her on his side he has basically become the strongest power in the Everheart apart from the King," said the man feeling the pressure from her Queen as his body felt like it was drying up from the cold. "You are saying he has seduced the Princess, eradicated the family who we had on our side and has become the strongest faction in Everheart in just a few weeks of being summoned? and you are telling me this now ?" said the Queen with a cold expression as she held her hand up and the Level 20 man kneeling in front of her was grabbed by an invisible force up into the air as he was choked by the woman as his entire body turned into ice and in the next moment he shattered into a million pieces and died. "I have no use for idiots," said the Queen leaning back as she looked at the rest of the court who were scared. "The previous summoned Hero''s were cunning and smart but not at first but after a long time when they experienced what this world was like. They are children of the Mana Sea and the Human Realm, they don''t have any bottlenecks, the Mana Sea acts like a doting parent who has a single child and will push away all obstacles out of their way," she said as she was in deep thought. "Your Majesty, is the Mana Sea going to be a problem?" said one of the people in the court who was a Level 35 Master. "The Heroes just have to be strong enough and the Mana Sea will welcome them with open arms" said the Queen looking serious. "We need to stop the Hero from progressing so quick, we can''t outright kill him or we will face the wrath of the Human Realm. But we can significantly slow down his progress at least until we can take control of the Mana Sea" said she with a devious smile. . Chapter 19 - Demonic Invasion One of the people in the throne room was a powerful Level 38 Master, she was the head of the Gristia Family, one of the most powerful families in Neverwinter. As she saw the scene, she spoke" Your majesty, we have the fragment of Levistar Emperor''s Crown that we got from the Demon Lord we killed in the last war. They had guarded it intensely and put up a huge fight for it." "The Demons have opened portals from the Devil Realm to Human Realm near Everheart''s region, if we get this in Everheart, there is a chance they might attack them," said she with a smile. "That''s a good idea, there have been a lot of low-level demons coming after Neverwinter after we picked up that fragment and it seems like they want it badly, very well. Take this fragment with you while you go in the vicinity of the portals to the Devil Realm and then take it towards Everheart and place it there. Make sure no one sees you, no one can find out we did this or we will have a huge civil war in the Human Realm" said the Queen looking at Lady Gristia seriously. "I will do this task with utmost precaution, your majesty," said she as she bowed and left the throne room. /---- It had been a few weeks since he had Marzia and Athena work together against the Captelli family, Celeste had managed to infiltrate the Captelli family and was able to gather a lot of evidence through memory crystals that Glaze provided to them and found out a lot of connections they had to the Kingdom of Neverwinter. They could be framed as traitorous to the Kingdom and thus they were able to suppress the Prime Minister''s side of the family via blackmail and started breaking their connections and decreasing their power and influence. Glaze was spending his time practicing his magic and skills on the monsters in the surrounding areas of New Heart while looking for people who he could exploit that would help in taking over this Kingdom, he had set up the basic infrastructure, he just needed an opportunity. As he was going back to his palace after practice he saw Princess Charlotte flying towards him, as she hovered in the air above him she said" There is an emergency, Glaze. You need to come with me, the Demons are preparing to attack Everheart" said she with a tensed expression. "Alright, let''s go," said Glaze as he held her hand and they both flew towards the King''s Castle. As they landed, Glaze saw a lot of people already gathering around the War Council Room, they were the King, Kingsguard Commander Alesia River who was Level 31, and another guy who he had not seen before who gave off a powerful pressure. "Lord Lockhart, Princess Charlotte, you are here." said the King as he welcome us but he was clearly very tensed. "Nice to meet you, I am Alex Lenorte, Supreme Commander of the Royal Army," said the man in white shining armor with gold highlights as he put his hand forward. --- Name - Alex Lenorte Race - Human Level - 34 --- "Nice to meet you Supreme Commander," said Glaze as he shook his hands. "Call me Alex, no need for formalities, not in this situation," said he as he sighed. "Let me explain the situation , there had been several portals from the Devil Realm opened a few thousand kilometres from Everheart but they were benign and not in use , but just a few days ago the scouts had seen massive amount of Devilish Qi enter that area and a huge activity of Demons , the army went on guard and in an active state when we realized that the target was Everheart as they started to form the Army and started heading towards our direction" said he points to the large map of Everheart and its surroundings on the table. "Can you tell me about Demons? Do they have the same power levels as us?" asked Glaze looking at the map. "It''s not the same as us completely. The first 3 stages from 1-9, 10-19 and 20-29 are called Low-Class Demons, Mid Class Demons and High-Class demons respectively, their strengths are similar to us Humans but they are stronger in terms of physicals strength." "The Demons above that are called Demon Lords between 30-39 , they are comparable to the Human Master Stage beings, the few above that are the most terrifying of them all , they are called Demon King/Queen , they are between Level 40-49, comparable to Human Legend Stage Beings, which right now from what we know is only Olivia Neverwinter." "The army that is attacking us is constituted of several Low, Mid and High-Class Demons forming a sort of hierarchy between them, the entire army is leaded by a Demon Lord of Level 39," said the Supreme Commander rubbing his temples. "That''s a terrifying army, why are they suddenly attacking Everheart? " asked Glaze "We have no idea, but we need to tackle this situation and defend Everheart, this will be the first time you will be fighting Demons, my Hero, do you have any suggestions as to what we should do? You are the Hero, after all, destined to fight the demons. " said the King looking at Glaze with seriousness. Glaze smiled in his heart, this was the opportunity he needed to get rid of the King, " Your Majesty, we can take on the Demon Lord together. With you, me, and Charlotte, my magic should help kill that Demon Lord, we should be able to take it down for sure" said Glaze as he channeled slight destruction magic in the room and the lights started flickering. "The Supreme Commander can take care of the High-Class Demons and the army and Commander Alesia can stay in Everheart and hold the fort" "That''s a good idea, everyone going after the Demon Lord is not a good idea as it will leave the city vulnerable," said Alex as his gaze lingered on Glaze''s hands that were covered in Destruction Magic. "With the Hero, we can definitely take care of the Demon King," said the King, more relaxed now. "Raise the banners, Alex, we are going to war," said the King in loud voice. In the top room in his palace, he sat with the Princess in the bed, "Charlotte, this is our opportunity" he said with a serious expression as he looked into Charlotte''s eyes. "I have waited my entire life for this day, to take revenge for mother. I am ready to kill father, Glaze" said Charlotte tilting her head with a smile. "That''s my love," said Glaze as he smiled and pulled her blond her back with his hand as he kissed her with the moonlight showering through the glass window on the roof as took her in his arms and slowly removed her robes and saw Charlotte''s beautiful body in all her glory. She started opening his robes and saw his toned and strong body that was nourished from godly blood as she rubbed her long fingers all over his ?h?st, then with the smile she had when she first saw his n?k?d body when he was just summoned, she pushed him on the bed as she climbed on top and they started making out before the dawn of war. If someone could be present that day and see the look in their eyes, they would say without a doubt, no matter how hard Glaze might try to hide it or keep a facade, when they looked at each other, the only thing that remained in their eyes was love. Chapter 20 - Slaughtering through the battlefield The next morning Glaze and Charlotte were standing on top of the city walls of New Heart overlooking the direction of the Demon Army. The Royal Army had gathered outside and was in formation ready to defend the city from the demons with the Supreme Commander Alex Lenorte leading them. They saw dark clouds taking over the clear sky as they could sense devil qi starting to spread near the area. The people in the city were in a state of panic as this happened so suddenly, the city was closed down due to the war and the nobles were tensed as this attack happened on New Heart. The Demon Army was now very close to New Heart, they exuded a terrifying aura , Glaze had never seen an army of this world before in action and having a bunch of powerful beings together was indeed terrifying, it was like huge swath of black dots with black mist surrounding them as it covered the entire sky above New Heart. As the demon army grew closer, the King said " I shall go on ahead and find the Demon Lord, Lord Lockhart can come in later after we have some idea of the Demon Lord''s powers, you are the trump card after all." as he levitated in the air and flew in the direction of the demon army. "I''ll go on ahead too, this is the first time you are seeing and fighting demons, you can fight the lower leveled demons to get an idea then come find us," said Charlotte as she followed the King. Looks like I am all by myself, thought Glaze as he saw the Royal Army engage with the Demon Army, he jumped down on the battlefield and put his foot down as he dashed forward, after leveling up his physical strength was terrifying with the increased godly blood which had increased his speed as well , he went springing forward faster than a bullet as he left a small crater behind and zipped past the Royal Army who saw a purple light flashing right past them. Glaze finally got a clear look at the demons, he expected them to look like monsters but worse but they looked very human, they had pale skin with a slight purple tint and two horns on their heads that glowed with strange runes and pitch-black eyes. The rest of their bodies looked very human apart from their long nails. The Royal army was currently fighting this demonic army, the Supreme Commander Alex Lenorte was dealing with the High-Class Demons while his Second in Hand Natalia Phoenix who was a Level 29 Expert was dealing with Mid Class Demons and preventing them from causing too much damage to the army. Glaze went straight past them as he aimed for a High-Class Demon who was coming towards Natalia as she was struggling to deal with this horde of Mid Class Demons. 4 Mid Class Demons of Level 18 came forward and attacked Glaze to defend their leader. "Its time for action" said Glaze with a smile as he straightened his left hands index and middle finger and formed the Heaven - Slaughtering Sword Qi and slashed towards the four incoming Mid Class Demons horizontally , as the blood-red Heaven-Slaughtering Sword Qi was unleashed it released a terrifying shockwave as it created a shrill piercing sound as it slaughtered everything that stood in its path, his comprehension of the Heaven-Slaughtering Sword Qi had increased a lot and he was on a cusp of breaking through to Level 2. Seeing four of his subordinates die so easily the Level 25 High-Class Demon was in shock as he turned around and decided to deal with this pesky human first then going for Natalia, as he gathered his Devil Qi on his hand the entire surrounding area shook as his physical strength increased by several magnitudes. "Can your sword tackle this punch of mine, human?" said the High-Class Demon with arrogance, as he punched towards Glaze, it felt like the entire heaven was crashing down on top of him, the vast physical strength of demons was terrifying by itself and the Devil Qi just multiplied that. Glaze had already taken out his Master Stage Blood River Blade as he slashed down and the river of blood covered the dead bodies of the four Mid Class Demons and absorbed their energy and his mana was now back to 70000. He channeled Holy Destruction Magic on his left hand and unleashed the Destruction Bullet towards the incoming Heaven Shattering Punch. "Haha, I''ll just brute force my way through you" said Glaze as he laughed as the Destruction Bullet traveled at a speed that could not even be seen and went straight through the Heaven Shattering Punch of the High-Class Demon as it pierced his fist leaving a hole straight through his fist and out of his elbow stopping his punch midway. "Aaargh, you filthy human, how dare you" said the High-Class Demon as he held his arm, it wasn''t just like a bullet piercing your entire arm, but a bullet of destruction magic that not only left a gaping tunnel but started destroying the entire surrounding flesh as it ate his arm from inside out while he was unable to even regenerate. He gathered a terrifying amount of Devil Qi with all his rage and raw destructive power as he prepared to unleash it against Glaze but it was too late. The Blood River Blade was already next to him as the river of blood slashed his entire ?h?st , the Master Stage weapon''s terrifying power swept through him even though it unleashed only a fourth of its power in Glaze''s hand but he was already severely injured and thus wasn''t able to resist the river of blood in time and was drained of his power and was weakened even more. Glaze pierced the High Class Demon''s ?h?st with the Blood River Blade as it absorbed the latter''s essence as he put his right hand on top of the High-Class Demon''s head and said "Who''d you say was filthy?"and with a smile he crushed the latter''s head with his b?r? hands and killed him instantly. Glaze had killed a High-Class Demon, just like that. *You have killed a Level 25, High-Class Demon* *Level Drain Activated* The body of the High-Class Demon started shriveling up and was converted into blue radiance as it entered Glaze''s body. The surrounding Demons and Humans were shocked at this scene as they saw Glaze just rushing through the battlefield and killing everyone he encountered with such ease, Natalia who was about to fight the High-Class Demon was also surprised as she smiled and said, "His Majesty killed them with such ease and finesse, oh, and he has leveled up too?" "What did you say Natalia ?" asked Alex who could not hear her properly on this battlefield and was also shocked looking at the scene when he realized that Glaze had leveled up right after that fight. Glaze heard several notifications ring in his mind. *You have gained 5 Levels* *Your body and mana have completely recovered* *You have 5 Magic Points and 1 Skill Point* Chapter 21 - Expert Stage - River of Mana As Glaze saw the ringing notifications he felt his body lightening up as if gravity did not affect him as his body started levitating in the sky and the entire area trembled at this moment and all the surrounding demons and humans in the expert stage who were flying started falling under the great pressure. The sky tore open with a shockwave as the river of mana started to pour out from it as it covered the entire area and surrounded Glaze as he levitated in the air and started to pour an enormous amount of mana into his soul and it felt like it was singing in joy happily as it saw its child grow up and become stronger. All the surrounding demons and humans stared in shock at the appearance of the River of Mana , this was something that happened when you broke through the Master Stage not the Expert stage, then they realized this guy who was Level 15 had broken through 5 Levels and jumped to the Expert Stage causing such a phenomenon, the River of Mana suppressed everyone in the area and they lost their ability to fly temporarily. Glaze felt his body become stronger every second. He felt his pores open and he felt the accumulation of a vast amount of mana in his body and felt the mana being absorbed by the strange seal on his soul that sealed his godly blood. *ting* *You have reached the Expert Stage* *You are absorbing a huge amount of mana* *The seal on your godly blood was loosened with the increase in mana* *Godly Blood: 10% Unlocked* *Mana increased to : 100,000* *Mana recovery rate: 1000/second* *Physical body strengthened* *You have gained the ability Flight* *It will consume 100 mana/second of flight* As the river of mana receded the surrounding people gained the ability to fly once again , the demons quickly grouped together and attacked Glaze , they wanted to kill this terrifying human off as quickly as possible who could become so powerful so quickly , 4 High Class Demons attacked him together this time , all of them being Level 25, they exuded a terrifying pressure as these Expert Stage Beings grouped together and attacked. Glaze asked the system to spend 3 Magic Points in Holy Destruction Magic. *Holy Destruction Magic: Level 10* *Magic will upgrade next time you use it* *God Blood - 13% Unlocked* *Mana increased to - 130000* *Mana recovery rate - 1300/second* He decided to save his 2 Magic Points and 1 Skill Point for later. Alex Lenorte rushed after these demons after realizing what they were after, Glaze saw these four incoming demons and smiled , he coated his fist in Holy Destruction Magic as the entire area trembled , the purple radiance of the Holy Destruction Magic started to undergo a change as it covered his fist and turned a shade darker with streaks of pink lightning appearing here and there, as he formed his fist there was a shockwave that made the entire ground quake as it gave in and brought the entire battlefield down a few meters under. "Why don''t we see who has a more powerful punch huh?" said Glaze as he smiled and punched forward , as he did that the space that surrounded his fists shattered as it left scars through which one could see the void, as his fist moved forward the entire world seemed to halt and come to a stand as his fist moved in slow-motion and shattered the entire area in front of it, wherever it passed, everything was destroyed, even space-time itself. The four incoming High-Class Demons were terrified seeing the scale of this power , they wanted to back down and dodge but they felt stuck in place and could not move as the surrounding space-time came to a halt in face of such pure destructive power, they felt the world slow down as they saw the incoming fist covered in purple radiance and pink sparks as it destroyed everything that stood in its path . Glaze''s fist contacted the four demon''s bodies and ripped them into shreds as they were erased into nothingness with a loud bang as the space they were in shattered and collapsed inwards and the surrounding matter started rushing in to heal the wound in space. *ting* *Holy Destruction Magic Upgraded* *You have unlocked - Pure Destruction Magic: You now control destruction magic that can destroy not just physical objects but also non-physical concepts* *Pure Destruction Magic: Level - 1* As Glaze looked at his fist and felt the terrifying Pure Destruction Magic and his physical strength he smiled as he held the Blood River Blade in his left hand and slashed, as he reached the Expert stage he could now use half the power of this Master Stage weapon, as the river of blood went forward and su?k?d the energy out of the four dead High-Class Demons another notification rang in his mind. *ting* *Blood River Blade leveled up* The river of blood absorbed the four High-Class Demons then gathered together and formed a pillar that went straight into the sky as blood-red clouds started to form on top of the battlefield, and then it started to rain blood. Everywhere the rain touched, it would corrode it. The Demons who saw the rain coming down on them started to retreat but could do nothing to protect against such an area of effect attack as the most powerful of them all were still just High-Class Demons. This was indeed an area of effect magic of the Master- Stage Blood River Blade, which Glaze could now unleash after reaching the Expert Stage as his comprehension of this blade further improved. *ting* *You have absorbed all the mana and life from the surrounding area, your mana recovery rate has temporarily increased under the effect of this area of effect attack.* *Mana recovery rate: 5000/second* Glaze thought the Royal army could now handle the rest of the Demonic Army with the effects of this energy-draining rain of blood and the Master Stage Supreme Commander Alex Lenorte. He made eye contact with Natalia Phoenix, the second in command as she nodded her head and then Glaze left the area. This mana recovery rate would be useful in fighting that Demon Lord, thought Glaze as he flew straight into the direction of Charlotte. As he was on his way to the Demon Lord, he decided to spend his skill point on Destruction God''s Intimidation. *Destruction God''s Intimidation - Level: 2* *You can now suppress 15% of the power of your enemies and cause unconscious fear in their souls towards you. Anyone below your level is completely suppressed and are immobilized* . Chapter 22 - Cronus Leviathan Meanwhile in New Heart City in Everheart. Medusa was tasked to eliminate the Captelli family that wasn''t on Glaze''s side amidst the chaos of war. Erebi was walking towards the King''s Palace to kill the final person left, the Prime Minister. She had leveled up to 15 after carrying out the ?ssassinations with other members of Medusa on the Captelli family and had managed to eliminate everyone who opposed Marzia. Her ?ssassination magic was already at Level 7 along with her skills at Level 3. With her void step and vanishing skill she was practically invisible as she walked through the crowd of tensed people in the King''s Palace. She did not even have to try to hide as at her level, no one present was powerful enough to detect her walking right in front of their eyes. She was truly talented in Assassination magic , the rate at which she was growing was ridiculous as she could now ?ssassinate someone who was 5 Levels higher than her as her Assassin''s Strike at Level 7 was effective on 2 Levels higher than the user and the Divine Assassin''s Blade had +3 Levels effect stacked on top of it. She walked to the quarters of the Prime Minister which was guarded by two guards, as she walked towards them they could not see her or sense her , she took out the Divine Assassin''s Blade and slit their throats as blood spurted out and with a shocked expression of being killed out of nowhere, they dropped to the ground. She opened the door. "Hm, what is it? Didn''t I tell you I need some privacy with this war going, can''t even get my mind off of this for a bit-" said the Prime Minister who was at Level 20, he was n?k?d and was surrounded by women as he lied in his bed, it looked like he was indulging in his d?s?r?s while the Kingdom was at war. He then noticed who came in and was instantly shocked, he pushed the women aside as he got ready to fight, "You, who are you? How dare you trespass the Prime Minister''s quarters? Do you not know who I am ?" said he angrily but his eyes widened as he saw a scene that seemed impossible, Erebi who was standing in front of him looked at him with her cold black eyes as she disappeared from the spot in front of his eyes. The next second he felt a cold blade on his throat, Erebi with her Void Step and Vanishing at Level 3 could make herself completely invisible to not only everyone below her level but also anyone who was at max 5 Levels higher than her but only for a temporary period of 10 seconds. The Prime Minister felt an immense threat in his soul as he felt Erebi activate Assassin''s Strike, he shivered as he realized he could not get out of this situation with this blade on his neck, he asked " W-Who? Who are you? Why me?" "Master wants you to die, that''s it," said Erebi with a cold look as she unleashed the Assassin''s Strike and slit his throat, the Assassin Magic in an instant reached his soul and shattered it as he fell down with a thud and died in an instant. Erebi at Level 15 Novice Stage had successfully killed the Prime Minister who was a Level 20 Expert. As she looked at the rest of the women in the quarters who had their bodies sprayed with the Prime Minister''s blood they were scared witless, "W-we had nothing to do with him, we were just sleeping with him for money, we w-won''t tell anyone about t-this." said they as they backed away from Erebi in fear as she walked closer to them. "There can be no witnesses," said she with a cold smile as she wiped the blood off of the Divine Assassin''s Blade. If one was standing outside, they would hear the screams of the many women inside with sounds of blood spurting and bodies dropping followed by an eerie silence. After finishing them off, Erebi used the Voice-Projecting crystal to contact Athena, "I am done on my hand, you can proceed with the plan." Before she walked out, she took out a seal that had 9 serpents on it engraved in purple with a black background and golden highlights and placed it on the body of the dead Prime Minister. This was the seal of Medusa, they were tasked to leave these behind after every task to instill fear among the people for Medusa. As she walked out there were several people rushing in after hearing the screams, they saw the two guards lying dead, then the Prime Minister dead and the rest of the women in a pool of blood n?k?d. As Erebi walked out with blood all over her body, the surrounding people who rushed into the room to see what was going on could still not detect her, she walked between them and got out of the King''s Palace. She was greeted by the 9 other members of Medusa who had finished their job as she entered Lockhart Palace, they all bowed as they said " We have finished the task you have given us Leader" "Good, Master would be proud if he saw us," said Erebi as she smiled. Their job was done, the first step towards taking over the Kingdom was finished. /---- Kingsguard Commander Alesia River who was atop the walls of the city of New Heart heard what happened in the King''s Castle and rushed back. As she entered the King''s Castle expecting a lot of crowd there was no one there, as she and the rest of the Kingsguard entered they saw bodies of soldiers lying dead on the ground. She was shocked, how did this happen within the King''s Castle? who was powerful enough and would dare do such a thing? As she walked further she saw 10 men standing in front of her, she recognized who they were, they were the low leveled guards that the Prime Minister had sent to the Hero to act as meat shields. But she was shocked as these same people she saw a few weeks ago who were just Level 10 were now Level 20 Experts, every single one of them, except the one man in the center, he was a Level 24 Expert Stage and gave off a terrifying aura. This was indeed the 10 men Glaze had manipulated into willing injecting themselves with Slave Magic for the Master Stage Lava Magic Book. These guys were a lot more determined than he expected. They wanted to become even stronger after he finished training them for the first week, they did not stop once and kept training harder and harder, Glaze seeing such determination continued to pour resources into them using the stolen wealth and the system shop while training them in magic. This resulted in them transforming from good for nothing level 10 guards to an actual powerful Kingsguard. "I am Cronus Leviathan, Commander of the True King''s Kingsguard," said the man standing in the center with a smile as he looked at her. He had black hair and was wearing purple-tinted armor which had minute engravings on it. All of them gave off a terrifying aura despite being in the Expert Stage. Chapter 23 - Six Meteors Alesia was a Level 31 Master Stage Being who should not be afraid of anyone in the Expert Stage, but when she looked at these 10 people especially Cronus, her soul jerked and she felt uneasy. She could not comprehend how an Expert could possibly seriously threaten her. "True King? Are you out of your mind, you have become traitors to the Kingdom. I don''t know how you have become so strong quickly though, was it the Hero who made you this strong? " she had a hunch that the Hero put them to this but she wasn''t sure, would the Hero really do such a thing in the midst of a war against demons? she thought as she started flaring her magic and the entire palace started shaking as she released her strength. The rest of the Kingsguard also got ready to fight. Cronus did not answer as he flared his magic and got ready to receive the attack along with the rest of the men. Alesia floated in the air as she casted Master Stage Earth Magic along with the rest of the Kingsguard, as the ground started rising below her, her size increased, as she stood in the air now she destroyed the entire castle''s roof. She had become a huge giant several times her initial size with the others using their magic to support her. She looked like a giant who was made of the earth itself. She wanted to go all out and finish this in one go as she had an uneasy feeling and did not want to give them a chance. As she struck her fist, the ground moved and the earth itself split in half as it rose in the air creating mountains as they came straight towards Cronus and the rest of the New Kingsguard who were in the dust. Cronus did not panic as his black eyes turned slightly purple and started flickering and so did his hair, the same happened with the rest of the Kingsguard. As soon as this happened, a terrifying pressure descended upon everyone as the aura of destruction started to spread from the New Kingsguard. Glaze had actually given them a drop of his God Blood. This had caused them to become terrifyingly strong very quickly and their physical strength and mana increased drastically as they cultivated that one drop of blood. It did not matter if they had no talent before, right now they could be considered prodigies of prodigies with the effect of the god blood. As Cronus raised his hand a strange-looking red rock appeared on his palm, the rock had black engravings and it glowed with a bright light as it shook the entire area and the temperature went up several degrees and the radiance from the strange rock gathered on his hands as he directed it and created a pattern in space as it went through all of the Kingsguard and connected at the center in the palms of Cronus Leviathan. This was the Volcanic Destruction Formation taught to them by Glaze which utilized the strange rock, which was a piece of one of the 7 Stars in the Greater World, the Sirius Star, he had obtained this from the system shop, by itself it couldn''t do much but with the Volcanic Destruction Formation that extracted its full power and combined with the Master Stage Lava Magic of the Kingsguard, it formed a terrifying pressure that surpassed the pressure exerted by Alesia''s attack. All of them poured their magic into the formation increasing its power as it gathered towards Cronus in the center, temporarily increasing his level. As his power kept rising the rock mountains and Alesia''s fist came crashing towards him, he activated his Lava Magic with both of his hands. With the Volcanic Destruction Formation and the fragment of Sirius Star, his attack''s power increased dramatically and it actually reached the Master Stage. The surrounding mana was converted into a sea of lava as it gathered towards the Volcanic Destruction Formation and surrounded it, with the fragment of Sirius Star at the base it formed a horizontal volcano directed towards the incoming attack. The volcano erupted and went straight towards the mountains crashing on top of them, it was like a terrifying volcano on the surface of the sun had erupted horizontally ,the force it released was terrifying as it crushed the mountains that were coming towards them and melted them into lava and crashed against Alesia River who was a huge giant as it hit her ?h?st and she went crashing backward several hundred meters behind destroying the entire King''s Palace with her. Cronus and the rest did not waste time as their Master Stage Armors and Blades hummed with power as they attacked the rest of the Expert Stage Kingsguard, they were no match for this new Kingsguard who were powered by the Volcanic Destruction Formation that made them several times stronger as their magic crushed these Expert Stage Kingsguard. Alesia was severely injured as her ?h?st was covered in blood and burns and was melting by the Lava Magic that she got hit straight with. "You traitors! You will die a horrible death" said she as she rushed towards Cronus with anger unleashing her magic once again. Cronus raised his right hand as he channeled his mana again, but it wasn''t lava magic this time but something different, several pieces of rock floating around him, they started to become bigger and bigger then they lit up on fire and started burning fiercely as they were covered in Lava Magic, as they hovered in the air around him they ground they were standing on further crashed down as the entire royal palace was about to come tumbling down. He then unleashed these 6 rocks towards the incoming Alesia River, as the 6 burning rocks went towards Alesia, they turned into burning meteors as they came crashing down towards her at a terrifying speed causing several sonic booms. This was the magic he had comprehended recently being inspired by Lava Magic, it was the terrifying Meteor Magic, right now it was very low leveled but one can imagine how terrifying this could be at a high level. These 6 Meteors slammed against Alesia at a terrifying speed as she could not evade in time as she was injured and already in motion. The first one hit her and stopped her mid-air as she slowly went forward with momentum, the second one hit her as she went backward in the air slowly, the third one hit her as her armor broke completely and her blood and flesh started to spill out, the fourth one hit her and she went crashing backward, the fifth one hit her as she was flung backwards and her ?h?st caved in as her ribs shattered , the last meteor hit her and completely shattered her body as her head and legs separated as they caught on fire . Chapter 24 - Trident of the Netherworld Sea The Royal Army had 1000 Apprentice Stage soldiers, 100 Novice Stage soldiers, 10 Expert stage soldiers and 1 Master Stage Being, the Supreme Commander Alex Lenorte. The Demonic Army that was invading had 1000 Low-Class Demons , 100 Mid Class Demons and 50 High-Class Demons, they had no equivalent of a Master Stage being here because it was fighting the King and Princess right now but having 50 High Class Demons compared to 10 Expert Stage soldiers on the Royal Army''s side balanced out the presence of the Master Stage Alex. There were high casualties on both sides but the Royal Army was winning thanks to the rain of blood that was still pouring that made the enemy slightly weaker giving them a slight advantage. The Supreme Commander raised his Sword and casted an area of effect magic, "300 Swords Strike" said he as his mana flared and his sword will resonate in the entire area as there appeared 300 swords that hung in the sky that descended a terrifying pressure among the Demonic Army. Then these swords came crashing down on the horde of Mid Class Demons. The remaining Mid Class Demons were weakened from the rain of blood and the continuous fighting as they tried to defend against this area of effect attack with their remaining Devil Qi They were able to defend against the first strike but the second strike pierced through the barrier of Devil Qi and the third killed them on the spot. With a single attack, Alex had killed the entire Mid Class Demons taking advantage of their current weakness and striking fast. He was also very tired and injured fighting the horde of High- Class Demons, they had the least effect of the energy drain from the rain of blood as they had vast pools of energy. His mana was depleted by a lot and he had to finish this quick. On the other side, the second in command of the royal army, Natalia Phoenix was fighting the high-class demons, as she used her Aqua magic, she formed spears made out of water that went straight towards the High-Class Demons and left deep cuts and severely injured them. She fighting a battle of attrition, gradually weakening the enemies and then striking at once and killing them. Her blue hair flowed freely in the air as she was surrounded by ribbons of water floating all around her, a High-Class Demon who was severely injured decided to kill her by risking his life, he dashed towards her with his body lighting up as he was preparing to explode his soul taking her down with him Natalia, seeing this concentrated Aqua magic on her right hand as it formed several droplets in front of her palm, in the next moment, these droplets burst forth at a terrifying speed and went towards the incoming High-Class Demon. Natalia continued killing the High-Class Demons with the help of Alex as they slowly dwindled their strength and kept striking them down. Below on the ground, the Apprentice and Novice stage soldiers that were still alive were fighting the remaining Low-Class Demons, even thought the Low-Class Demons were the equivalent of the Human Apprentice Stage, their physical strength was several times stronger. These demons were not very capable of using Devil Qi to form spells and thus used it to strengthen their body further as they attacked with their terrifying physical strength, disregarding any damage suffered. This resulted in huge casualties in the royal army at these lower stages as they could not properly defend against such physical attacks as their bodies were so weak. They had to kill these demons before they had the chance to strike or they would be severely injured or may even lose their life. The Low-Class Demons were soon starting to loose as the effect of the rain of blood combined with the continuous fight drained them of all of their devil qi as they just relied on their physical strength to defend themselves now, they were killed one by one by the Royal Army who now had the upper hand. Alex was severely injured as he was ganged up by most of the High-Class Demons as he had not enough mana left for another Area of Effect magic attack, he acted as the tank, soaking up the damage while Natalia killed of the High-Class Demons one by one. Alex decided to descend to the ground to conserve his mana as he didn''t have much left and there were only 2 High-Class Demons remaining , but those two, seeing so many of their comrades die were angry and lost their cool as they decided to take this bastard down with them as they both started glowing with black light preparing to blow up their soul as they came crashing towards the descending Alex. Alex who did not have much mana could do nothing to defend against this duo''s self destructive attack, he channeled what remaining mana he had into his sword to defend against this attack but resolved himself for death at the same time. As this trident left her hands, it burst with power as it left a shrill sound and pierced one of the High-Class Demons in an instant as the dark green water corroded the entire flesh of that demon-killing him on the spot. The other demon continued forward but was met with the sword strike of Alex as he used every single bit of mana left in his body to conjure this magic attack , it was terrifying how much power people could unleash on the verge of death. As he slashed down his sword, the sword radiance converted into a huge long sword that appeared hung in the sky and slashed down on the neck of the High-Class Demon like a guillotine as it cleanly chopped off his head and killed him. Alex who had no mana left at all crashed down to the ground. Chapter 25 - True King "You alright commander?" asked Natalia as she landed and held the trident in her right hand. "I am fine, but I have no mana left," said Alex as he huffed, he was severely injured and could not fight any longer. He had been a little suspicious of Natalia in the past few weeks as she had looked at him weirdly, he had an uneasy feeling but he could not place it. This time she had saved his life and he was relieved to have such a fine Vice - Commander. "Thanks for saving my life, Natalia," said Alex as he looked at her. "Where did you get such a powerful treasure, it looks like it''s in the Master stage," said he as he looked at the Trident. He was shocked at its power but even more surprised that Natalia in the Expert stage could use its power to such an extent. Natalia smiled as she held the trident in her hand, "Oh this, this was given to me, by the True King" said she with a smile as her mana flared and the entire surrounding area shook, the ground started to crack and the sky turned dark as the blood-red clouds were replaced with storm clouds as it suddenly started raining. "Y-you, you have reached the Master Stage? When?" asked Alex who was shocked as he realized her level jumped twice suddenly and she was now Level 31, he realized she had used a deception skill to hide her level all this time. "True King? What do you mean Natalia?" asked Alex as he panicked seeing the Trident aimed at him. Glaze had bribed a lot of soldiers in the Royal Army a few weeks ago , the Lenorte family was one of the oldest and most powerful families who specialized in military , their family members had been the heads of the Royal Army and occupied all of the important positions in the army. The Phoenix family, who was also a military family was always sidelined by the Lenorte family and only got secondary positions like leftovers from the Lenorte family. While there was no open resentment or rivalry, they secretly hated the Lenorte family and wanted to take their position. When Athena brought this to his attention, he decided to exploit this hatred. He gave the people on the Phoenix family''s side Magic Books, High Leveled Armors and Weapons and training. She was reluctant at first but the temptation of being able to use Holy Aqua Magic was too much for someone like her who was stuck in the Expert stage bottleneck for several decades, and the promise of being the Supreme Commander of the Royal Army after Glaze took over the Kingdom was just icing on the cake. So she accepted his offer. "His majesty is so terrifying, he trained me for a week, taught me Holy Magic and as a result I broke through my bottleneck reaching Level 31, finally reaching the Master Stage " said she as she laughed, "And of course, he gave me this trident which contains the water from the Netherworld Sea" said she as she poured her mana into the Trident once again as it hummed with power. The rest of the army had also finished their battles and had wiped off the Demonic Army, they had seen the commotion caused by Natalia revealing her Master Stage status, and they also heard her talk and saw her aiming the trident at their Supreme Commander. "Protect the Supreme Commander, the Vice Commander has become a traitor," said the soldiers from the Lenorte family in the army as they rushed forward. "Why?Why would you choose to become a traitor?" asked Alex as he was pressured by the Master Stage Trident that unleashed all of its power in the hands of Natalia. "Traitor? Me? You are the ones who are traitorous to the True King, The Hero, King Glaze Lockhart" said she loudly as she laughed and slammed her trident down on his ?h?st. The Trident surrounded by dark green water released a terrifying power at the Master Stage as it shattered the armor worn by Alex and pierced straight through his heart as the Netherworld Sea Water corroded his flesh. He could do nothing to defend himself in his current state as his body filled with the dark green water as he was corroded from the inside out, he screamed in pain and died. "For the One True King," said one of the soldiers who was rushing with the Lenorte family as he stabbed their backs with his sword and equipped the Expert Stage equipment given to him by Glaze. "For the True King" screamed the other soldiers as they fought the other side. Their aura increased tremendously wearing such powerful armor as the army split in two and started fighting each other. The Lenorte side of the army did not stand a chance against the Phoenix side as they were using powerful magic that they shouldn''t have and used numerous magic crystals like water to recover their mana and keep fighting. As the Demon Army was defeated, the battlefield was filled with one side screaming as they lost their lives and the other side completely butchering them. Glaze''s Royal Army had eliminated the Everheart Royal Army. --- Sorry for the short chaps , been busy with stuff. I''ll try to make the next chapters longer. . Chapter 26 - Extreme Spiritual Divine Monkey Meanwhile, Glaze had gotten closer to where the Demon Lord was, she was a Level 39 Demon Lord, she had dark blue hair and wore a golden armor as she fought the King and the Princess. Charlotte was injured from the fight but the King was in a worse condition as being the strongest out of the two he faced the brunt of the attacks from this Demon Lord. Glaze released the Destruction God''s Intimidation which was now Level 3, it suppressed 15% of the enemy''s power. *ting* *Demon Lord''s Level suppressed by 6 Levels* *Enemy Current Level: 33* The Demon Lord looked at Glaze as she sensed him and he felt a huge amount of pressure descend on him despite she being suppressed, he did not give her a chance and channeled Pure Destruction Magic on his right hand , he was still under the effect of the Rain of Blood as his mana recovery was sky-high , this was the perfect time to use that attack. This was something he had only used once since he came into this world, an attack that took out half of his mana, he was about to unleash the Beam of Pure Destruction. In the next instant, this burst forth from his hands as it traveled as a beam of purple light surrounded by pink lightning twirling around it. Space-time shattered wherever the beam of Pure Destruction Magic passed as it went straight for the Demon Lord, she was stronger than the High-Class Demons and was able to move despite space-time coming to a stop around her but that was not enough for her to be able to dodge , she channeled her Devil Qi as she crossed her arms as a huge ape appeared in the space. This huge ape had blue fur and released a terrifying aura formed from her Devil Qi, as this huge ape put both of his palms forward , it felt like it held the entire world back with just his palms, as the Beam of Pure Destruction Magic met this Ape , it managed to stop the beam for a second. But in the next instant space-time shattered as the huge ape''s arms vanished into nothing as the beam destroyed the entire projection of the Demon Lord''s Devil Qi and went straight towards her physical body. It hit her straight on the ?h?st as she went crashing backward shattering space itself leaving scars through which one could see void space behind. She was terrifying indeed, despite being suppressed and being hit with a 65000 mana worth of Pure Destruction Magic, she was still alive, though she was gravely injured as her armor shattered and she spilled blood. "Aaarrggh, you filthy human" said she as her Devil Qi flared and she jumped back to attack Glaze , but the King who was also injured was a step faster as he slammed his hammer down channeling the Sky Shattering Hammer skill as the sky which was already destroyed due to Glaze''s attack started shattering more and the terrifying power released from the Destruction gathered on his hammer as he slammed on the Demon Lord''s Head. She reacted quickly as she punched towards the King channeling her Devil Qi as a huge ape''s fist appeared in the space and it crashed against the King''s hammer and they both went crashing in the opposite directions. Princess Charlotte channeled her Pure Yin Black Flames on top of her head as the surrounding magic converted into a sea of black fire which then condensed into a tiny lotus on top of her head. The lotus was tiny but it had a terrifying power that started destroying the space they were in as they felt they were in the middle of a star. She unleashed this terrifying black fire lotus towards the Demon Lord. The Demon Lord roared as she clawed at the incoming fire lotus, her physical strength materialized in the form of an ape''s claw, she could not avoid it so she tried to rip apart the lotus as it ended up exploding, while it still damaged her, the damage it caused was less than if it had directly hit her. As she was in a weak condition she decided to go all-in and channeled her remaining Devil Qi through her entire body as she used it to increase her physical strength to another level. Her size increased as it felt like she was a giant ape in the sky as she roared. The entire Kingdom of Everheart shook as this roar resounded. This was her true form, her race was the Extreme Spiritual Divine Monkey. As she released her true form her strength increased several times as she slammed her fist towards Glaze. As she struck her fist, the entire space in front of it was shattered as the entire area started shaking at such terrifying physical strength. Glaze''s mana had recovered back to 100000, he straightened his right hand''s index and middle finger and channeled the Heaven - Slaughtering Sword Qi, and with his left hand he channeled Pure Destruction Magic preparing to throw another Beam of Holy Destruction at this Demon. As the Heaven - Slaughtering Sword Qi appeared on his right hand, it started flickering from real to illusory, this was the same that happened when he first created it, he was now on the verge of leveling up the Heaven - Slaughtering Sword to Level 2. He released another Beam of Holy Destruction from his left hand as it annihilated the space-time making the area extremely dangerous as it went straight for her fist, as her fist met it this time they canceled each other out but her first actually turned out stronger this time as he was only able to use 50000 mana this time. In the next instant, he sliced his Heaven - Slaughtering Sword as the radiance remained illusory and went towards the fist of the Demon Lord. The radiance released a power that was many times terrifying than when he had used it in the past, it was unimpeded in its illusory state as it sliced the entire arm of that giant monkey in half as she roared in pain. Charlotte unleashed the Nine Black Suns as they came crashing down on the Demon Lord like meteors as she severely injured her and the giant monkey crashed down, the King did not waste any time as he slammed the Sky Shattering Hammer putting every ounce of his energy into it as he slammed on the monkey''s head. The Extreme Spiritual Divine Monkey race''s Demon Lord was finally dead. The King descended as all of his energy was spent in this fight as he sighed in relief. Charlotte and Glaze also descended at the same time. *ting* *Your unique skill: Heaven - Slaughtering Sword has leveled up* *Heaven - Slaughtering Sword: level - 2* "Your Majesty, are you alright ?" asked Glaze as he held his hand forward. "I am fine my Hero, just very weakened, I have b?r?ly any mana left but I''ll be fine. Thanks to you we managed to get out of this calamity" said he as he held Glaze''s hand. Glaze smiled, in the next instant, he channeled Pure Destruction Magic on his hands as his physical strength soared several times and he pulled both of the King''s hands and held them behind his back, making him unable to move. Chapter 28 - Reincarnated Hero Kills the Summoner Charlotte channeled all her remaining mana and created a terrifying lotus of black fire as she aimed it at her father. "W-what is the meaning of this my hero? What are you doing ?" said the King in rage as he tried his best to breakthrough but he couldn''t as he was low on mana and the Pure Destruction Magic was starting to destroy what remaining mana he had, not to mention the physical strength that Glaze currently had was no less than a Demon. "Charlotte what are you doing? My daughter is this really what you want" he asked with a pained expression as he looked at his daughter aiming for his life. "I never loved you, you let mother die and you shall pay for that, you sat and watched everything happen and DID NOTHING TO PREVENT HER DEATH! WHAT''S THE POINT OF RAGING AFTER SHE DIED" said she with venom as her mana started flaring even more on the verge of getting out of control as she laughed maniacally. She held the burning lotus made from Pure Yin Black Fire and slammed it on the King''s ?h?st, being held by Glaze and severely injured he could do nothing to prevent it as it pierced his ?h?st and started burning it but he was still b?r?ly alive. Glaze removed his hold as the King dropped down, "Don''t worry, the Kingdom will be in better hands" said he as he channeled Pure Destruction Magic on the right hand and used the Destruction Bullet on the King''s head. The bullet pierced through his head, leaving a gaping hole as he died instantly. Glaze had finally killed the King, the Reincarnated Hero had killed the Summoner. *ting* *You have killed a Level 38 Master Stage Being* *Level Drain Activated* *You have gained 8 Levels* *Current Level: 28* Glaze smiled as he looked at Charlotte who was standing still, "Are you alright?" he asked. Charlotte starting glowing with blue light as her aura increased slightly. "Yeah, I feel relieved, I can finally move on," said She as she smiled, she had just leveled up to Level 31, after killing the King, she had broken her final shackle and now her becoming stronger was unimpeded by any mental bottlenecks. Glaze went to check the body of the Demon Lord, he had an uneasy feeling about this whole war. As he checked her dead body he saw something shining, he picked up what looked like a blue gem, "Hm, what is this thing" said he as he looked it over. He tried pouring his mana into it after which it started glowing and started to tug on his hands, it was pointing to a direction. "Charlotte lets go check this out," said Glaze as he flew towards the direction of the pull as Charlotte followed him. "Ara, what is this shiny jewel, why did the Demon Lord have such a thing," said Charlotte as she held Glaze''s hand. "The war was too sudden and unexpected, I have a weird feeling about this," said Glaze as they came near the city walls. The blue jewel and the yellow shard fused together with a boom as they crackled with lightning and landed in Glaze''s hand. "Ara, what is that thing? it looks quite strong despite being just a shard, is it part of a treasure?" said Charlotte as she looked at this thing curiously. "Well, whatever this is, this was clearly the reason why the Demons attacked Everheart, this wall looks like it was altered recently. I''ll have Athena look over this, maybe she can find some information about this" said Glaze as he put it in his inventory. "Let''s go back to the Kingdom," said Glaze as he held her hands and they flew back towards New Heart. /--- Glaze was now standing on top of the now ruined King''s Castle. He activated his Destruction God''s Intimidation as all the people of the city looked at him intimidated by his now Level 3 Skill. "We have won the war," said Glaze loudly. "But King Everheart has perished, he died in the fight against the Demon Lord and sacrificed his life to give me a chance to kill it," said Glaze acting mournful. "The Supreme Commander also lost his life in this war, the rest of the army b?r?ly survived if not for the valiant efforts of the Vice Commander Natalia Phoenix. The Kingsguard was sneak attacked in the city by the Demons but my personal guards managed to quell them but could not save the Kingsguard" said he with a fake air of sadness, but the people looking at him believed him because they were suppressed and the effect of the Hero''s Charm was highly effective on these low leveled people. "King Ronald Everheart, in his dying breath, asked me to marry Princess Charlotte and take the throne of Everheart. He saw me the only one powerful enough to protect the Kingdom in these dark times. So I shall do it. I proclaim myself King Glaze Lockhart, I shall do my best to continue protecting this Kingdom with Queen Charlotte by my side." said Glaze in a loud voice that boomed through the entire kingdom as he looked into Charlotte''s eyes and held her hand. "Hail the King, Hail The Hero, The Hero KING!" screamed the people who were listening to the speech when they heard the Hero would take the throne. Most of the people here didn''t care much about politics and the idea of the Hero leading them and ruling them was music to their ears as they hated these nobles who discriminated against the common populace. They didn''t think much of what the Hero said and believed it at face value. As the screams of support rang through the entire Kingdom, the more powerful people obviously did not take everything at face value , the whole thing was too perfect to be just a coincidence , the King dying , the Kingsguard being sneak attacked by Demons and the Army Commander perishing with the Vice Commander from the opposing family saving the day. They knew things weren''t as straight as they seemed but the Hero King was the most powerful force in the Kingdom right now, not only was his personal strength terrifying at Level 28 which shocked them as they saw how quickly the Hero improved in a single day, and the fact that he killed the Demon Lord who was a Level 39 scared them even more. His faction was also terrifying with the Master Stage Queen Charlotte and Natalia Phoenix as the new Supreme Commander and the terrifying people that he called his personal guards who annihilated the supposed demon''s sneak attack that the Kingsguard could do nothing against. And the fact that the Prime Minister also died around the same time along with half of the Captelli family, they were terrified of the people who could ?ssassinate and kill someone of such stature in broad daylight, the nine serpent seal left all the nobles terrified. If the powerful Captelli family couldn''t defend against this group what could they do against Medusa? Even though the Hero did not address the issue of the Captelli family and there was no apparent connection between them , such a terrifying group arriving at the same time as the Hero taking the throne as they happened to kill off the people who might stand in his path was too good to be just a coincidence. So they kneeled when the Hero proclaimed himself King, there was nothing they could do against such overwhelming power. As much as they did not like the Princess coming into power, they would rather keep their heads. And on this day, after being in this world for just a few months, Lord Glaze Lockhart had become King Glaze Lockhart. He smiled as he looked at all these people cheering his name, this was just the beginning of his journey towards dominating the Human Realm and the Greater World. Chapter 28 - End of Volume 1 Thanks for the support so far , never thought I''d be able to actually go this far , I thought I would probably drop this some point along the way but you guys kept this going. Volume 2 : Emperor Lockhart now begins. In Volume 2 we explore more of the human realm and see how Glaze turns his Kingdom into an Empire. Chapter 30 - Lockhart Kingdom It had been a month since Glaze had proclaimed himself King, the workers had finally rebuilt the destroyed King''s Palace, this time it was much grander than before and was made with purple bricks. Glaze and Charlotte had gotten married a few weeks ago in the City Centre in front of the people instead of having a closed-off noble wedding. This raised their popularity even more among the common populace. Glaze also had the name of the Kingdom changed to the Lockhart Kingdom as Charlotte took his last name after getting married, the nobles didn''t like such a drastic change but could do nothing and stayed silent as they had to accept these changes. The noble families who were adamant about pureblood supremacy tried to run away from the city and escape somewhere else as they knew they had no prospects here in this Kingdom , Medusa had tracked down these Noble families beforehand and had predicted their running away and had struck in time and killed off anyone who tried to escape that would become a potential enemy to Glaze. Glaze sat on the throne in the New King''s Castle with Charlotte by his side, today was the day they would make appointments to the important positions in the Kingdom. The New Kingsguard with Cronus at its center stood in front of the throne giving off a powerful pressure to the various noble families and other important people in the Kingdom who still remained in the Kingdom in the throne room. "Lady Marzia Captelli, come forward," said Glaze as he looked at her with a smile. She came forward as she was asked and kneeled in front of the throne. "I shall name you the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Lockhart, you shall be the head of my administration , may you govern this Kingdom well," said Glaze as he took the Prime Minister''s Scepter that had been passed down for centuries as he handed it to her. She took that in her hands as she said, " I will not disappoint you, Your Majesty" and walked back to her position. "Natalia Phoenix, come forward," said Glaze as he looked at the Vice Commander. She walked forward with confidence, she was a Master Stage being now as everyone was terrified of her, she kneeled in front of the throne. "You shall be the Supreme Commander of the Royal Army, you will be the sword and shield of this Kingdom," said Glaze loudly as he handed her the ceremonial sword of the Supreme Commanders. "I shall do my utmost to protect this Kingdom and serve you well, Your Majesty," said she as she smiled and took the sword and walked back. The rest of the appointments were made by Marzia, he was the King but there was no need for him to do actual administrative duties all the time. He walked back to his new room as he got a message from Athena. "What is it, Athena?" said he as he held the voice projecting crystal. "We have found the source of this triangular shard, it was last seen with the Gristia Noble Family of Neverwinter," said Athena. "This Neverwinter again," thought Glaze as he pondered and looked over the city from his balcony. "Very well, bring it back to me, your work is done," said Glaze as he looked into the distance. He had finally become the King but there was still a lot to do in this world. He had no idea how the other Kingdoms would react at his news of becoming the King and taking over Everheart. "I have to raise the military strength of this Kingdom, but not just that, I need to ?ssess the military strength of the neighboring Kingdoms," thought Glaze at the prospect of war. "Ara Ara, what are you doing here sulking by yourself my husband? " said Charlotte as she walked into the balcony "Nothing, just thinking where to go from now," said Glaze as he sighed "Fufu we''ll take the world together, you don''t have to worry so much, as long as you are strong, it doesn''t matter what anyone thinks, " said she as she put her arm around him "Haha you''re right," said Glaze /¡ª- Athena had brought back the shard to Glaze, he held it in his hands and channeled his mana through it this time when it was fused with the jewel he got from the Demon Lord. As he channeled his mana through this shard it started glowing with blue light as it created a pillar of light in the sky which then curved horizontally and dropped down in a distant spot. "Whatever this is pointing to, it seems to be outside Everheart " thought Glaze as he looked at this projection /¡ª- "I have sensed the projection of the Emperor''s Crown just now, I could tell it''s general direction from it but I do not know the exact location, " said the woman on the throne. "Your majesty, is it what you think it is? Wasn''t this in the hands of the Neverwinter Kingdom? Why did the projection come from Everheart?" said a man standing near her. "I do not know why his majesty''s crown resonated in Everheart, the only possible way for it to be triggered outside of the Levistar family is in the hands of the Hero," said she seriously. "If it is indeed the Hero, what should we do?" said the man as he sighed. "For now send someone to the location, we don''t know if this is really the hero who caused this, if it is someone else coming after the Levistar Emperor''s Crown then we have to stop them, if it is the Hero we''ll have to see if he has what it takes and is worthy to hold the crown of the First Human Emperor " said the Queen as she ordered an expedition force to go check out the area Chapter 29 - Lockhart Kingdom It had been a month since Glaze had proclaimed himself King, the workers had finally rebuilt the destroyed King''s Palace, this time it was much grander than before and was made with purple bricks. Glaze and Charlotte had gotten married a few weeks ago in the City Centre in front of the people instead of having a closed-off noble wedding. This raised their popularity even more among the common populace. Glaze also had the name of the Kingdom changed to the Lockhart Kingdom as Charlotte took his last name after getting married, the nobles didn''t like such a drastic change but could do nothing and stayed silent as they had to accept these changes. The noble families who were adamant about pureblood supremacy tried to run away from the city and escape somewhere else as they knew they had no prospects here in this Kingdom , Medusa had tracked down these Noble families beforehand and had predicted their running away and had struck in time and killed off anyone who tried to escape that would become a potential enemy to Glaze. Glaze sat on the throne in the New King''s Castle with Charlotte by his side, today was the day they would make appointments to the important positions in the Kingdom. The New Kingsguard with Cronus at its center stood in front of the throne giving off a powerful pressure to the various noble families and other important people in the Kingdom who still remained in the Kingdom in the throne room. "Lady Marzia Captelli, come forward," said Glaze as he looked at her with a smile. She came forward as she was asked and kneeled in front of the throne. "I shall name you the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Lockhart, you shall be the head of my administration , may you govern this Kingdom well," said Glaze as he took the Prime Minister''s Scepter that had been passed down for centuries as he handed it to her. She took that in her hands as she said, " I will not disappoint you, Your Majesty" and walked back to her position. "Natalia Phoenix, come forward," said Glaze as he looked at the Vice Commander. She walked forward with confidence, she was a Master Stage being now as everyone was terrified of her, she kneeled in front of the throne. "You shall be the Supreme Commander of the Royal Army, you will be the sword and shield of this Kingdom," said Glaze loudly as he handed her the ceremonial sword of the Supreme Commanders. "I shall do my utmost to protect this Kingdom and serve you well, Your Majesty," said she as she smiled and took the sword and walked back. The rest of the appointments were made by Marzia, he was the King but there was no need for him to do actual administrative duties all the time. He walked back to his new room as he got a message from Athena. "What is it, Athena?" said he as he held the voice projecting crystal. "We have found the source of this triangular shard, it was last seen with the Gristia Noble Family of Neverwinter," said Athena. "This Neverwinter again," thought Glaze as he pondered and looked over the city from his balcony. "Very well, bring it back to me, your work is done," said Glaze as he looked into the distance. He had finally become the King but there was still a lot to do in this world. He had no idea how the other Kingdoms would react at his news of becoming the King and taking over Everheart. "I have to raise the military strength of this Kingdom, but not just that, I need to ?ssess the military strength of the neighboring Kingdoms," thought Glaze at the prospect of war. The Demons were at war here but humans were humans, they would fight each other even if someone else was burning the very ground they were standing on. "Ara Ara, what are you doing here sulking by yourself my husband? " said Charlotte as she walked into the balcony "Nothing, just thinking where to go from now," said Glaze as he sighed "Fufu we''ll take the world together, you don''t have to worry so much, as long as you are strong, it doesn''t matter what anyone thinks, " said she as she put her arm around him "Haha you''re right," said Glaze /¡ª- Athena had brought back the shard to Glaze, he held it in his hands and channeled his mana through it this time when it was fused with the jewel he got from the Demon Lord. As he channeled his mana through this shard it started glowing with blue light as it created a pillar of light in the sky which then curved horizontally and dropped down in a distant spot. "Whatever this is pointing to, it seems to be outside Everheart " thought Glaze as he looked at this projection /¡ª- Somewhere far away in a throne room sat a woman with blue hair, "I have sensed the projection of the Emperor''s Crown just now, I could tell it''s general direction from it but I do not know the exact location, " said the woman on the throne. "Your majesty, is it what you think it is? Wasn''t this in the hands of the Neverwinter Kingdom? Why did the projection come from Everheart?" said a man standing near her. "I do not know why his majesty''s crown resonated in Everheart, the only possible way for it to be triggered outside of the Levistar family is in the hands of the Hero," said she seriously. "If it is indeed the Hero, what should we do?" said the man as he sighed. "For now send someone to the location, we don''t know if this is really the hero who caused this, if it is someone else coming after the Levistar Emperor''s Crown then we have to stop them, if it is the Hero we''ll have to see if he has what it takes and is worthy to hold the crown of the First Human Emperor " said the Queen as she ordered an expedition force to go check out the area Chapter 30 - First Human Emperor Glaze was preparing to go to the place where the shard pointed to, he had already told his Kingsguard to prepare as they will be coming with him to Artanza. Before going he decided to spend his points that he gained from killing the king. "Spend all my magic points on Pure Destruction Magic," said Glaze. *Pure Destruction Magic: Level 10* *Magic will upgrade next time you use it* *God Blood - 23% Unlocked* *Mana increased to - 230000* *Mana recovery rate - 2300/second* "Spend the skill point on Level Drain Skill," said Glaze *Level Drain increased to Level : 3* *You can now drain 30% of Levels from all enemies you kill that are 10 Levels higher than you* "Your Majesty, we are ready to go," said Cronus as he stepped into the room and bowed. "Alright, let''s go to Artanza," said Glaze as he smiled and got up. /--- In the middle of a dark forest in the Kingdom of Artanza, there was a group of people wearing yellow cloaks, they flashed like lightning as they zoomed towards the area their Queen pointed them to. "Is this the place?" said the woman leading them, she was in the Level 29 Expert Stage and the strongest out of them. "Yeah, this is it," said a man who was with them as he walked closer to the ruins of what looked like a very ancient temple. There were strange markings on this temple. The woman who was looking over suddenly looked in the other direction, she sensed several powerful presences rapidly approaching them, "Is that the Hero? Or someone who holds the shard? They are quick" said she as the rest of them got ready to engage. "Whoever that is, I''ll take the shard first, with my Holy Lightning Magic, I can turn myself into lightning and grab it quickly regardless of how powerful they are, they wouldn''t be able to track lightning," said she as her body sparked with yellow lightning. Glaze and his Kingsguard were reaching the area guided by the shard, "Your Majesty, I can sense a few Expert Stage people in the direction we are heading." said Cronus as he acted as the vanguard. "Don''t worry, keep moving," said Glaze as he held the shard. As they reached the locations of the ruins they saw the yellow cloaked group, the woman in Level 29 Expert stage, turned into lightning the moment she saw the shard in Glaze''s hand as she zipped past the Kingsguard , the world slowed down as she moved so fast and grabbed the shard in Glaze''s hand. She pulled on it intending to take it and back away, but as much as she tried, she could not even shake it, then her eyes widened as she saw Glaze smile and look at her even though she was currently moving at a terrifying speed and he should not even be able to see her. He then lifted his right hand and in slow motion it went towards her ?h?st , she tried to move away but couldn''t as he held her hand with which she tried to grab the shard with his left hand as his right fist hit her straight in the ?h?st He wasn''t using any magic at all , this was just his pure physical strength , it shattered her ?h?st the moment it touched it as it caved in and she was flung backward as she crashed several kilometers behind destroying the entire forest cover in straight line as the friction set it on fire lighting up this dark night. He had, with just a punch, wrecked someone who was a level higher than him, without even using any magic. The rest of the yellow cloaked figures were in shock seeing their leader be defeated with such ease. The Six meteors went hurling towards the rest of the people but they used lightning magic to evade quickly, they were truly very fast. The Kingsguard got in formation as they kept the other party in check. Glaze ignored them as he walked towards the temple ruins, as he got closer, the shard in his hand started vibrating even more , it then shook from his hand as it went flying towards the broken statue in the temple , the statue was destroyed from the bottom with just a head remaining with a crown made from rocks which had a piece missing. As the shard went towards it, the crown made of rocks started glowing and vibrating, the shard then connected with the crown made of rocks as it released a blinding light and the entire area started shaking as it was covered in blue light. The crown made from rocks turned into a crown made of a glowing yellow material with blue jewels all over it, there were sparks of lightning as it released a terrifying power. Glaze who was watching it from the side got on guard, this was power he had never experienced before in this world, it felt as if this crown was controlling the entire world around them. The clouds became storm clouds as it started raining with thunderstorms non stop as they connected with the crown. The crown then floated upwards as a projection was revealed underneath it, the illusory presence looked a like a tall man with long flowing hair, this projection wore the crown above it as it released a petrifying pressure that suppressed everyone present. "Finally, I meet a Hero," said the projection as it looked at Glaze. "Who are you," asked Glaze as he looked at this man suspiciously. "I am someone like you, the first of your kind, I am Julius Levistar, the first hero who was summoned to the Human Realm and the First Human Emperor," said the projection with a smile. Chapter 31 - Divine Lightning Crown "You are unlike other heroes that I have seen, I died a long time ago and have existed as a projection in this Crown and have seen heroes come and go, every single one of them being naive at first then ruthless when they died. S many of them treated horribly by the people of this world." "My own Empire came crashing down after my death as they became corrupt and chased further power which led to their downfall as the Human Race no longer respected the Empire without the Human Emperor. " "Forgive me, for I have seen your memories, you have been so far decisive and ruthless in your actions, and did not allow others to take advantage of yourself in this new world." "If its someone like you, I can entrust you with this. I do not trust my own descendants with this, they need a leader, the human realm needs a leader, only you can be that person" said Julius. Glaze nodded as he took in what he said, he asked, "What are heroes? Can you tell me about it " "Heroes are children of the Human Realm and the Mana Sea, they don''t have a fully developed consciousness, but they can respond to the will of the people who live in them when the people''s will reaches a certain point, the Sea of Mana responds and summons a Hero. This has nothing to do with gods and they can do nothing to interfere "said Julius "What happened to you?" asked Glaze. "I am dead, this is but just a simple projection that I had carved on my Crown. After my death at the hands of the Holy Demonic Emperor, I saw my Empire fill with corruption as it was destroyed from the inside. What remains now, is just the Levistar Kingdom, a shell of the past, they are not fit to lead the Human Realm, you are" said the projection towards Glaze. The rest of the people from the Levistar who were staring at the projection of the First Human Emperor were shocked when they heard their Ancestor say they weren''t fit to lead the humans. "What does it even mean to be the Human Emperor ?" asked Glaze "A long time ago humans and other races were slaves to the Demons, we were powerless and weak and could do nothing against the terrifying physically strong demons and suffered for eons. Then, humans revolted, trillions of them died fighting the demons after which humans were able to comprehend magic" "Humans, with this newfound power, began using it, back then there were no magic books or anyone to teach them , they taught themselves and experimented as they fought the demons with their lives on their line as trillions died again before humans reached a level of power that could match the demons and formed Human Kingdoms" "It was in a fight between Humans and Demons that had reached a terrifying level that it ripped the Greater World in half and separated it into two big pieces and multiple small pieces , these two big pieces were the Human Realm and the Devil Realm, with the Sea of Mana residing in the Human Realm and the Sea of Devilish Qi residing in the Devil Realm." "There are other realms but they are much smaller in comparison as the other races who were weaker than Humans and Demons populated those areas." "There were Emperors during this time, very powerful emperors but no one to unite all humans, it was around this time I was summoned," said Julius with a melancholic look "To become the Human Emperor you need to control the Sea of Mana entirely , there are only two things that you need for that to happen, First, the Will to protect the Human Realm, without it, even if you are the Hero, you wouldn''t be able to control the Mana Sea entirely if you don''t have the will to protect the Human Realm, Second, you need to be strong , a lot stronger than you are now " said the projection with a smile. Glaze stood there trying to comprehend this information. "I shall give you my Crown, for you are the only one worthy of it. This is all the energy I had left, but I can leave in peace knowing the Human Realm is in your hands. Spare these descendants of mine who have lost their way, with you around hopefully they would move onto the right path" said Julius Levistar as he smiled and faded into nothingness and the terrifying Crown landed on Glaze''s Head. The light released from his projection covered the people from the Levistar Kingdom as they vanished from their spots. *ting* *Divine Lightning Crown: Legend Stage - Can create a lightning domain that suppresses and inflicts damage to anyone within it* Glaze was surprised but it made sense that only a Legend Stage treasure could suppress him and everyone else here. And the magic he used at the end, was it teleportation magic? He was just a projection but was still absolutely terrifying, Human Emperors were terrifying indeed. ''Let''s go back to the Kingdom'' said Glaze as he wore the Golden Crown with Blue Jewels that sparkled with thunder as he left Artanza and went back to Lockhart Kingdom. /--- The people from the Levistar Kingdom were teleported back to the throne room in Levistar. Queen Levistar got up when this happened, she could sense the mana that teleported her, this was similar to hers. "What happened? Who used teleportation magic on you?" asked the Queen urgently. The rest of the people coughed as they tried to get a handle on what was going on as they were suddenly teleported back. They recounted what happened with the First Human Emperor''s projection and the Hero as they showed her the memory crystal that they had used to record the events. "Your Majesty, if Ancestor thinks this way," said the man from before as he narrowed his eyes and looked at his Queen. The Queen sighed as she looked at the memory crystal, this was a decision they had to make. /--- In the throne room in Neverwinter, Queen Neverwinter slapped Lady Gristia who was in the Master Stage as she heard what happened after the Demon''s War. "This will be enough to stall his growth you said," said the Queen in anger as she kicked the already injured Lady Gristia. "Y-your Majesty, I d-dint realize he would do something like that," said she as she begged for mercy. The Queen sighed as she lifted her foot and sat down on the throne, " Instead of stalling him we just made it easier for him to fulfill his ambitions, he has now taken over Everheart, changed its name, become King Lockhart" she said as she rubbed her temples. Everyone in the throne room was silent, they had some ideas but dared not to give any fearing if it failed, they will be the ones on the ground screaming. /--- All the kingdoms were shocked at this sudden development, Everheart Kingdom was one of the oldest kingdoms to have existed in the Human Realm and it was erased from existence in just an instant. They also heard about what happened in the war and were scared of how quickly the Hero was growing , the common people and the weaker soldiers in the armies of all Kingdoms were happy to see the Hero becoming stronger as they were the ones losing their lives and their family members'' lives in this war against the Demons with the Holy Demonic Empress at the helm. The rulers of all Kingdoms were scared that the Hero would do what most of the Heroes had done before, follow a path of blood as they conquered every Kingdom and united them to face the Demons. The Heroes were all naive and righteous at first, but after realizing how cruel this world was, most of them would use the excuse of uniting the Human Realm to protect it against the demons and wage war and dye the Human Realm in blood, becoming Human Emperors Chapter 32 - Holy Flame Magic Glaze went back to the Lockhart Kingdom and looked after the affairs of the Kingdom over the next few weeks. The previous rulers of this Kingdom were all conservative and did not invest their wealth in the betterment of the Kingdom and instead just saved it in case of emergencies, this resulted in a ridiculous stockpile of magic crystals and gold compared to how many people lived in this Kingdom. If such a Kingdom existed in the world Glaze came from, all the world leaders would probably jump off their roofs. He started to use this money to develop the Kingdom, strengthening the various populous cities in the Kingdom in case of war, investing the magic crystals to create powerful defensive magic formations around the cities and hiring talents from the other Kingdoms with the promise of wealth. With a Hero at the helm, many people were tempted to immigrate to the Lockhart Kingdom at the lucrative prospects they might have in this newly flourishing kingdom. He also created a new conscription law for the Royal Army , the previous rulers only accepted soldiers from noble families, if a commoner wanted to be a soldier he had to first join one of the noble families which complicated things as they would have to tie themselves to a noble family first before they could serve the Kingdom. And the noble families would always give preference to their own compared to commoners in the army. This decreased the motivation of the commoners in the army to improve or become stronger as they knew they would not be rewarded anyway. With this new conscription law they no longer needed to be part of a noble family to get into the army, they could directly apply and if they passed they would be part of the army without also being in control of a noble family. Glaze also formed a uniform code for advancement in ranks in the army that did not take into account the status of nobility but only merit. All soldiers were equipped with memory crystals that would record their achievements which they could turn in to promote themselves in the army. This form of Army Promotion greatly improved the morale of the soldiers as they were motivated to improve and perform better to get ahead in life. The wealth of the Kingdom was also used to train the Army by frequently fighting with monsters when they were idle as they took turns being on defending duty and training duty. Glaze rubbed his temples as he sat on his desk, "The traditions in this Kingdom are far behind their times, this will take a long time to change" he said as he leaned back. "Fufu, that''s enough work, now come here, take some rest," said Charlotte as she rubbed his shoulders. As he sat by the bedside and looked at Charlotte, he was reminded of his previous life, he was very similar, a ruthless businessman, who did anything to succeed and build his business empire. He eliminated his competition, used underhanded methods to destroy the reputation of those that opposed him, threatened the families of people that went against him to keep them in control. His friends and those close to him alienated him, they thought he was cruel and cold, that he was evil. Despite all this there was someone that loved him, someone who accepted him for who he was, she was there by his side through thick and thin and they loved each other greatly. She was the only one who was able to look past his wealth, appearance , the things he did and see him for who he was. But she was killed, ?ssassinated by his enemies. She had the highest class of security that money could buy but they couldn''t do anything. He did not have the absolute power he had in this world. He was just a weak human who could die with a single gunshot. He had those responsible killed off in the worst possible way, he tortured them and their families and made them suffer. But nothing he did brought her back, he felt empty till the day he died. As he looked at Charlotte in this world, he could not help but feel slightly less empty every day that he spent with her. He felt the same look in Charlotte''s eyes that his wife had in his previous live, someone who accepted him for who he was. "You are staring at me quite intensely you know? You''re making me feel shy" said Charlotte acting shy. "Haha, I have something for you," said Glaze as he smiled and took out the System reward he got for reaching Level 20. It was the Magic Book - Holy Flame Magic: This book contained the magic that could control all of the Seven Primordial Fires. Charlotte could already control one of them, the Pure Yin Black Flames. He had no use for flame magic, he decided to give this to her. "Uh, are you sure? This is Holy Magic" said Charlotte shocked as she looked at the Magic Book. "I am sure, I want you to have this," said Glaze as he smiled. "In that case, I''ll take it then," said Charlotte as she smiled and took the magic book reluctantly as Glaze wouldn''t budge on his decision and then hugged him. He thought back to what the First Human Emperor said about the Will to Protect the Human Realm. He felt her in his arms and smelled the scent of her hair, "If not the Human Realm, I guess I at least want to protect her" he thought with a smile as he hugged her back. /---- "What is it that you want, Queen Olivia Neverwinter ?" asked Razim. "The Hero King, came to your borders and caused a commotion did he not ? " said Olivia as she smiled. "He did, that was quite a commotion, the army could get through, it was like a invisible wall, when it vanished, no one was to be found," said Razim. "Haven''t you been rivals with the Everheart Kingdom, now the Lockhart Kingdom for centuries? This is your chance, use this as an excuse to take them down" said she as she leaned back. "They are far stronger than us, we have been rivals but they have always been a step ahead, a war wouldn''t fare well for us," said he as he looked at her seriously. "By yourself of course , but Neverwinter is willing to help you and aid you if you choose to do so. After all, we just want the Hero to take care of the Demons, not become another Human Emperor and slit all our threats do we ?" said she with a devious smile. The offer was far too tempting for King Razim, they had been at odds with Everheart for a very long time but the latter had always had an edge and the wars they had waged they had always been on the losing side. But with Neverwinter, the strongest kingdom supporting them with Queen Neverwinter herself, they might be able to do it. He knew Queen Neverwinter didn''t want to publicly go against the Hero and was just using him, but he didn''t mind it, as long as they succeeded in lowering his influence and prestige. After all, their other choice was to just hope the Hero would leave them alone and wouldn''t wage war on them in the future. /---- After a few weeks when Glaze was working on his desk, "Your Majesty, Lady Captelli wants to see you" said one of the Kingsguard. "Let her in," said Glaze as he put down the documents of the Kingdom, the improvements in the strength of the cities were going as planned. And many talented people in all fields had come to the Kingdom and he had to decide what to do with them and what projects they should focus on. Being a businessman in his previous life who was used to spending a lot of money on research and development, he was wondering what he should do with magic in this world. As everything in this world depended on magic, he wondered if he could approach it scientifically and make weapons that utilized the power of magic that could be used by someone that didn''t even know magic. While he was comprehending magic the normal way by himself, he thought this way could also be useful not in just creating weapons but improving his own understanding of it. It was for this reason he gave very lucrative offers to people who were talented in runes, formations and magic equipment to immigrate here. He closed the file which had just a single line on the cover that said Project N. "Your majesty, there is something important that I have to tell you," said Marzia as she looked stressed. "What is it?" asked Glaze "Its the Kingdom of Artanza, they sent a messenger, they have declared war on the Lockhart Kingdom," she said. Chapter 33 - Julie Stone Glaze was floating above the training grounds of the King''s Palace. He had been using the Divine Lightning Crown and trying to use and comprehend its domain, he had in the process comprehended another Holy Magic, Holy Lightning Magic. "System, show me my stats" *ting* /--- Name - Glaze Lockhart Titles - Hero Race - God Level - 28 ( Expert ) Mana - 230,000 Mana Recovery - 2300/second God Blood - 23% unlocked. Magic - Pure Destruction Magic: Level - 10 | Will be upgraded next time you use it. Holy Lightning Magic: Level - 1 Divine Slave Magic: Level - 1 Beam of Holy Destruction | Mana Cost - Half of all mana at any level Destruction Bullet | Mana Cost - 5000 per shot Threads of Destruction | Mana Cost - 5000 per thread Skills - Level Drain Skill: Level - 3 Destruction God''s Intimidation: - Level - 3 Unique Skills - Heaven - Slaughtering Sword: Level 2 Blood River Blade: Level 5 Hero''s Luck Hero''s Charm Hero''s Wrath /--- He realized leveling up this new Holy Lightning Magic will improve his understanding of this Legend Stage crown and make the domain created using it stronger. As Glaze held up his hand and channeled Holy Lightning Magic the entire area started filling with storm clouds as lightning started to strike on the crown on his hand, as he channeled this magic it resonated with the Divine Lightning Crown on his head and it floated upwards and glowed with blue light as the lightning struck it exactly on the pointed tips. As Glaze controlled this magic he tried to form a domain using it as the projection of the First Human Emperor had done. The ground below started cracking as it started raining and the frequency of lightning strikes increased and the crown started vibrating with blinding light. But he suddenly lost control of the lightning strikes and it struck outside the crown and the forming domain broke down. Glaze huffed as he descended, he had been doing this for days but was unable to form a domain, "Is it because I am in the Expert Stage and can only use a fourth of its power? Or do you have to be in the Legend Stage to be able to form domains?" thought Glaze as he recovered his mana. "The System is not helping me with this at all, with Destruction Magic so far I had not faced any bottlenecks in comprehension, does the system only know about Destruction Magic?" thought Glaze as he recalled his progress with Destruction Magic. He had just spent points and instantly comprehended the magic, but this time around he had to actually go through a lot of trial and error like the rest of the people in this world to comprehend this Holy Magic. Even spending magic points might not necessarily increase his comprehension of this magic. "I guess I can''t cheat in everything," thought Glaze as he laughed and went back to practice. --- Somewhere in the outskirts of New Heart, a young woman was cooking in a small apartment. The New Heart city was indeed mostly populated by noble families and rich merchants but there were people from the middle class who lived here too near the outskirts of the city. Many people came to this capital in the prospect of a better life for them and their families who lived in remote areas. Julie Stone was one such girl, she was living in a rented apartment in one of the buildings in the outskirts, her village had sent her to the Capital with their savings so that she could fully realize and use her talent. She had been a part of the village patrol and had fought off many bandits and demons that strayed in, she was in a short time promoted to their leader as she reached Level 15 at a young age. The village sent her off to the Capital so she could join the army, they had heard of the new Conscription Law by the new King which made it easier for common people like them to join the Lockhart Royal Army. And with the new system of promotion which was fairer than anything before increased their hopes that this talented child could get what she deserved for her talent and hard work. "Ruby, Ted, come eat your breakfast," said Julie as she called for her younger siblings who were only 10, she just turned 18 and was living here in the Capital with her siblings, her parents had passed away years ago and she and her village took care of these kids, as she was leaving for the Capital, she didn''t want to leave these two behind so she bought them with her. "Big Sister, you have your examination today don''t you?" asked the two kids as they ate breakfast. "Yeah, big sister will pass with flying colors you know," said Julie with a smile. "No one can beat big sister, big sister is very strong," said Ruby. "Don''t worry big sister, I will become stronger and protect you" said Ted as he pumped his small arms. She patted both their hands as she laughed, "I will be waiting for you then. I need to go now, you two don''t cause any trouble okay?" she said as she dressed up and went out. As she walked in the Capital she felt nervous, she had been strong in front of her siblings as she didn''t want them to worry about her but she was indeed nervous applying for the Royal Army. But now that the current King was the Hero, who allowed even the commoners to join the army, she knew this was her chance, but she didn''t know if she was capable, she might have been the number one talent in her village but this was the Capital, people from all over the Kingdom had come to apply after the new Conscription Law went active. As she saw the huge crowd in front of her who stood in several lines at the application center in the Royal Army''s training grounds, she took a deep breath and went forward. Her brown hair fluttered in the wind as she held her identification and her application in hand. All the people applying were in the Novice Stage like her, several people were above her Level, and some who were in the Expert Stage The examiners who were checking the applications were in the late Expert Stage, she turned in her application as the examiner checked her out, she was let in and asked to wait for the examination to begin. "You alright there ?" asked one of the guys standing beside her who looked at her taking heavy breaths. "Uh, huh, I-I am fine," she said as she looked at this guy with white hair. "I am Gray Ward," he said as he smiled and shook her hand. "I am Julie Stone," she said as she realized this guy was Level 17. "You look new here, your first time in the capital?" he asked. "Yes, I only recently moved here. I was a bit nervous seeing so many powerful people gathered in one place and all the nobles here" she said, the next instant she realized this guy she was talking to was also a Noble from the Ward Family who specialized in making magical equipment. As she realized this she got nervous again. "I see, you don''t have to be so nervous. Most of the arrogant nobles who preached about their supremacy are either dead or too scared to do anything" said he as he laughed and realized the cause of her sudden nervousness. "Do you see that towering palace in the distance?" he said as he pointed towards the King''s Palace which was covered with storm clouds. "Is that the King''s Palace?" she said not certain, she had not explored the interior of the city as she was nervous she would get arrested if she did or said something wrong, the Kings Palace was the last place she wanted to be near. "Yeah, His Majesty has done a lot for the commoners in the Kingdom. With the end of the pureblood supremacist nobles, the gulf between the common people and the nobles has been reduced quite a bit, His Majesty has been trying to bridge this gap and put everyone on equal footing. The new conscription law also aims for that" said he as he smiled. "Is that so?" she said as she looked the towering purple palace with a determined gaze. She tightened her fists as she thought "I can do this, this isn''t just a dream anymore, I can make this into a reality and give a better life to my siblings and give back to the village" "This might sound weird coming from a noble but my family gained the status of nobility just a few generations ago and have no interest in pureblood supremacy or politics, we are just a bunch of lunatics who cared just about making magical equipment," said he as he sighed and thought about his father who was asked by the King to join a secret project. After coming back from the meeting it was like his father was high on the most terrifying drug as he went through every single document he had created on magical equipment as he started working furiously. He wondered what happened with the King and what was the secret project about that made his father so worked up. "I have no interest or talent with magical equipment though, so I decided to join the Royal Army," said he as he laughed. The last applicant in their group had finally come and the examiner followed him as he came to test them finally. Chapter 34 - 7 Pillars In the capital of the Kingdom of Artanza, the army was gathering as it prepared for war against the Lockhart Kingdom. They had received a lot of equipment from the Neverwinter Kingdom as they supported them in this war which had raised their overall strength. "Commander, are we really doing this?" asked a woman in the late expert stage who was also the Vice Commander of the Artanza Army. The army was nervous going against the Lockhart Kingdom helmed by the Hero. They knew the consequences of going against the Hero and were worried about this war. They did not want to go against the Hero but they were too weak and could do nothing but obey their orders. "I am not sure if its the right thing to do, but this is our best chance." said the man who was in the Mid Master Stage and had black hair, he was Rick Sullivan, the Commander of the Army who was going to attack the Lockhart Kingdom. "Do you have the map ready?" asked Rick. "Yes, there are four major cities in the Lockhart Kingdom," said she as she laid out the map. "The biggest and most powerful is the capital, New Heart, followed by Arafina, the city at the southern tip of the Human Realm, connected to the Ocean being the Port City." "Next is Rizvaria, the city connected by the rivers, it is the most connected city in the Kingdom and is the hub for all transportation, military, and civilian, this is the city we need to take if we want to stall their movement." "Last is Terana , this will be the hardest as it situated on several mountains with varying degree of terrain and is surrounded by high walls, capturing this will be a nightmare but it''s also the least influential city in the Lockhart Kingdom," said she as she recounted her analysis. "We need to take Rizvaria first and weaken the Lockhart Kingdom, it is also the closest to our borders," said Rick as he looked at the map. "Alright, prepare the Army, we will set out as soon as everyone is armed," he said as the Vice Commander saluted to him and walked out of the tent. He rubbed his temples as he looked at the map, if he could avoid this war he would, but he knew the Hero would come for them eventually, especially considering the past rivalry they had, even if the Hero did not care about that he would at some point unite the human realm. While he was not the ruler so he might not be affected, he still didn''t want to be under someone else''s rule. He did care about the current Royal Family as they had treated him well since he was a kid and he had received their support which had made him so strong and get to this level. Back in New Heart, the recruitment test had commenced. The recruits were divided into four groups for the roles they applied for. The four roles were the Vanguard, Healers, Scouts and the last group being Infiltrators who carried out special missions which were extremely dangerous but also more rewarding than any other role. Julie, who had the leadership skills and firepower applied for the Vanguard position , the group was currently being tested for their powerful attacks which were a necessity for being the Vanguard. In the examination area for the vanguard, there were 7 pillars in a straight line formed from Holy Aqua Magic by the Supreme Commander, Natalia Phoenix. Every recruit took turns attacking the pillars, the more pillars they could destroy, the higher their score. Most of the people applied for the position of vanguard as it had the highest chance of getting leadership positions in the army and this meant it also had a higher rate of rejection. They were asked to pour all their mana into a single attack and try to break as many pillars as possible with a single strike. The people who were not able to break even a single pillar were disqualified from the Vanguard test and were asked to either leave or reapply for another role. Most of the people were able to only break a single pillar using all of their mana, some people were able to break two, most of them being from the noble families who had access to more powerful magic, even fewer people were able to break 3 pillars. It was now Gray Ward''s turn for the test, Julie watched by the side, she was the last person who was to be tested and was extremely nervous, she didn''t come from a noble family or even a wealthy family, the magic she knew wasn''t very powerful but this was all she had since she was a kid and thus focused just on this one magic. She saw her new friend walk towards the platform as the pillars of water remade themselves for the next person. He definitely caught a lot of attention because of his striking hair color and his status of nobility, but also because he was from the Ward family that were not good fighters and the test did not allow the use of any magical equipment at all. He took the glaive that the army had given him for the test which had no engravings on it as he activated his skill. As he channeled his mana through his arms it increased his physical strength, he held the glaive in his hand and slashed down towards the 7 pillars, as he sliced it down there was a shrill piercing sound as the attack went through the first pillar slicing it in half as it went for the second one. It did not stop and kept crushing pillar after pillar as it broke the 6th pillar made of water and finally stopped. Everyone was shocked as they saw this, this guy went beyond the two expert stage recruits and broke the 6th pillar despite being Level 17. The examiner wrote down his name as he called for the last recruit. "Julie Stone, step forward," said he as the pillars of water recovered and reformed. No one paid much attention to this plain-looking girl, she stood out the least out of everyone, especially after gray''s astonishing performance. They were focused on this noble guy who broke 6 pillars, these recruits would probably work under him and the other two people who broke the 5th pillar. These were the most likely to be considered for the leadership positions, even if they may not be good leaders they still might get chosen because people respected and followed strong people. They were planning to get into the good shoes of these three to make their lives easier in the future. The Nobles looked down on the commoners but dared not to show it openly. The other commoner who was in the expert stage was someone they would try to ingratiate themselves with because she might have their lives under her control in the future, but they did not care about this plain village girl. Julie got on the platform and saw the towering pillars of water that gave off a terrifying pressure to her. She channeled her mana and formed the wind magic that had been passed down in her village, this was the magic she had used her entire life and tried to improve. It wasn''t anything impressive but it was the only thing she had. As the wind gathered around her hands, she poured all her mana into the attack. "So its just wind magic, I guess this is it with the recruitment. We need to look out for those three" said a girl from a noble family as she saw Julie using simple wind magic and looked away uninterested. Julie saw the 7 pillars in front of her and was reminded of her family and her village, her parents had died when she was young and the entire village took care of her and trained her and helped her get stronger. She used what she had to get stronger as she clawed her way to becoming stronger and get here, this magic might be simple but this was the only thing that gave her strength. As she remembers the faces of her dead parents and her two young siblings who were depended on her, all her nervousness vanished, her gaze became determined as the magic became stronger and stronger. "I did not have the wealth or powerful magic, I did not have magic crystals to help me break bottlenecks, I had no one to train me. But I won''t let that stop me, I will become stronger. For my family who sacrificed for me, for the people in the village who prioritized my development over theirs, who did everything to make me strong, I will crush anything that stands in my path, no matter the circumstances, I will keep getting stronger" thought she as she gritted her teeth and the wind magic became stronger and stronger. The magic she was using was in the novice stage but at this instant, it started to change, this test on which depended her entire future and the weight of her family and village that was on her shoulders along with her talent that did not get the chance or resources to be realized burst forth at this instant. The simple winds surrounding her fists became strong howling winds that concentrated on her hands and shook the entire area, as her magic concentrated on her hands it turned into a ball made of howling winds, it was like a small world that was filled with tornados, as she pushed out her hand the ball of wind burst forward. It crushed the first pillar with a loud boom as it went forward at a terrifying speed that created a sonic boom and didn''t stop. It smashed through all 7 pillars and then kept going until it smashed the outer walls of the training grounds cracking it. Everyone who was present was shell shocked with their mouths hung open. "W-W-What the fu?k is that? Is she really level 15? What is that magic? Where did a commoner find such powerful magic?" said the noble girl who was uninterested before as she was now completely shocked not to mention blown away physically because she was close to the platform. Everyone looked at her with shock and were scared,"Plain-looking village girl my ?ss" thought everyone as they thought she was probably just trying to lower everyone''s guard with that appearance. "Hm, is she a noble from some hidden family? That''s quite scary, she was able to deceive even someone like me" said a guy who was wearing glasses and was one of the two Expert Stage recruits who broke the 5th pillar. Everyone suddenly changed their attitude towards this girl, from their perspective it didn''t feel she was a normal girl who broke through but someone who was cunning and deceived everyone by hiding her strength. Someone like this was the most likely to be accepted into leadership positions. Everyone gulped as they realized they have to ingratiate themselves with this girl no matter what, out of everyone she had the highest chance of becoming their leader. The Examiner received a message on his voice projecting crystal, "Yes, Commander, I will do so." said he and placed the crystal back and wrote down her name and starred it. The Supreme Commander of the Lockhart Royal Army was sitting on a rooftop nearby undetected as she observed the proceedings. She was also shocked to see all her magic pillars destroyed by someone at Level 15. She smiled as she realized, "This girl managed to breakthrough and increase the level of her magic from Novice Stage to the Expert Stage despite being the Novice Stage with just her own comprehension without any external support. I will have to keep an eye on her." said she as she jumped off the roof. Meanwhile, Julie just stood on the platform dumbstruck at what she had done. Chapter 35 - Lieutenant Julie The Supreme Commander of the Royal Army stood on the podium as all the recruits who passed the exam gathered together and stood in separate lines according to their role neatly and without any noise. "Congratulations to everyone who passed the exam, I will now explain to you the hierarchy of the army and the order of promotion," said Natalia. Everyone else got attentive as they heard this. "You will start at the base rank of Officer, the next rank will be Lieutenant who will have 10 soldiers under him, they will be your direct superiors" "Next is the rank of Captain, who will have 100 soldiers under him followed by the rank of Major who will have 1000 soldiers under him, followed by the rank of Colonel who will have 10,000 soldiers under him," said Natalia as she looked down. Everyone gulped when they heard these numbers. "Of course, they won''t have these many people under right away as the army has not reached the estimated projection. His Majesty has set the estimated projection for the Royal Army to be at least 40 Million" said she loudly as everyone''s heads spun. The Kingdom of Lockhart had only 5 million people and was the 2nd least populous kingdom in the Human Realm, while many people were immigrating here daily it would still take a long time to hit that number. "This is the army of the Future Human Emperor, we will rule the entire Human Realm in the future, of course, it has to be the biggest and strongest army that has ever existed," said Natalia as everyone else was riled up as they realized they were part of the army that was going to take over the world, if they got promoted , the power they might have would be unimaginable. Everyone got pumped up hearing this and was glad they decided to join the army. "The ranks above Colonel are Brigadier Rank who will have 100,000 soldiers under them, General Rank who will have 1 Million soldiers under them and the highest rank below the Supreme Commander which is the Marshall Rank, who will have 10 Million soldiers under them," said she. Everyone gasped when they heard this, these recruits who just joined had their imaginations run wild as they thought how amazing it would be to command 10 Million soldiers and hold the rank of Marshall. "You shall now say the oath and place your hand on His Majesty''s seal. You will then be given your Officer Badge, Equipment and Weapons. Everyone who joins the army can ask for a magic book that is a stage above them. If a compatible magic book is not available you can choose another type of magic." said she as she jumped down and stood near the stand where the oath will be taken. Everyone who heard this was shocked, "Eh, we will be given free magic books?" asked Julie shocked. "Looks like so, they are certainly serious about making this army the strongest," said a girl who standing beside her. As Julie looked at her she was shocked, this was the other Expert Stage who had broken 5 pillars, but as she looked at her now she realized it was just a small girl, the other girl who saw Julie looking at her like this puffed and said "You''re thinking I am just a kid aren''t you? Don''t look at me like that kid, I am a lot older than you are" said she as she turned away. "Ah, I didn''t mean it that way," said Julie trying to clear the misunderstanding but the loli had already walked away towards the oath podium. Before the oaths began, Natalia said, " This is your last chance to back out, after this, your lives and souls will belong to His Majesty King Lockhart and the Lockhart Kingdom" They knew they would be imbued with magic that will prevent them from betraying the King and the Royal Family as it would give him the ability to kill them instantly, but they were already resolved for this and after hearing the speech and the potential power they could gain they did not hesitate at all. One by one they all placed their hands on the seal and said their oaths. Julie got on the podium and placed her hands on the seal. "I swear that I will defend the Lockhart Kingdom and the Lockhart Family from all enemies that bear them harm and will obey the orders of the King and the superiors appointed over me and abide by the rules of the Royal Army," said she as the magic went through her soul and bound it. She walked off the podium and took a deep breath, she had done it, she had actually made it into the army. As everyone was finished with the oaths, they were given their badges and equipment. Julie put the badge on her armor as she looked around, she still couldn''t believe this was real. Everyone was changing into their armors and putting on their badges. Soon a Mid Expert Stage soldier walked into the room their group had been asked to wait in, he had the badge of Captain on him as he gave everyone his greetings. " I will be the Captain in charge of all of you, just let me know what magic books you need and you can take it from me later on. But before that, I will be appointing the 4 Lieutenants for this unit group." "You will be in probation period for now as this is also a test for your leadership skills, you will only have 5 people under you right now and the remaining will be appointed to you after your probation ends." said he as he took out his notebook. "Nina Scarlet," he called as the loli expert stage officer came forward, he gave her the badge of lieutenant. "Joseph Star" he called as the other expert stage guy with glasses came forward and took his badge. "Gray Ward" he called as Gray just stood there for a second before he got out of his stupor and took the badge. "Julie Stone" he called the last name as Julie who was shocked came forward and took the badge. "EH EH, is this for real" she whispered to Gray beside her. "Haha, you would be a great leader Julie," said he as he laughed awkwardly "Hm you don''t look quite happy," she said "Ah, I have never been good at leadership so this I am probably going to have to return this after probation," said he as he laughed. "Don''t be so pessimistic, you can do it?" she said trying to encourage him to which he only laughed awkwardly and said "Oh, if only you knew" "I hope you perform well, remember you four Lieutenants are on probation and are being judged if you don''t perform well I would have no choice but to demote you," said he seriously. "We will be deployed very soon so go spend time with your family or friends as you probably won''t see them for a while. Also, pick up your advanced salary as you go out from the financial department" said the Captain as he walked out. /---- In the War Council Room "So, how did it go?" asked Glaze to Natalia who had just entered. "It went well, Your Majesty. They are fired up and there''s a lot of talents in this group, this is just the first one so I am curious to see how many more talents we can get" said she as bowed and sat down. "We have opened the application to the entire kingdom, all those people who had the talent but had no resources or even if they did could not join the army are now doing so for the benefits, glory or just bloodlust," said Glaze as he laughed. "I wonder how long it will take to get to 40 Million," she asked as she was also floored by the number when it was first said by Glaze. "The Human Realm''s population is around a billion, we are the 2nd least populous kingdom with only 5 Million people behind the Levistar Kingdom whose religious zealots turned everyone away from their Kingdom," said Glaze as sipped some wine. "We will be fighting the entire Human Realm, which is an extremely large area to cover and the Demons at the same time. As strong as Master Stage Beings are there''s only so many of them and they can''t be everywhere including me." "If we want to truly consolidate the Human Realm and defend against the Devil Realm we need to have the biggest standing army that can cover the entire length and breadth of the Human Realm" said Glaze with a smile. "How is the immigration?" he asked Marzia who was sitting by the side. "The rate of immigration has increased greatly since we opened our borders and offered lucrative benefits to anyone who came here. The benefit of getting a piece of land guaranteed after serving in the army for 6 months has caused a lot of people to immigrate and join the army besides the benefits of magic books and money," said she as she flipped her notebook. "Though, reaching that number might take a while if we want immigration to be passive. We can cause mass immigration but I doubt any Kingdom would let that happen freely" said she and sighed. "Of course they won''t, the immigration policies will certainly help, my fame should also have a big effect but the easiest way to get a large number of people in a short time would be to go to war and conquer an entire Kingdom," said he as he looked at the map of Artanza Kingdom. "Artanza has a population of 100 Million, it is also much larger than us but is a lot weaker in terms of strength, the average strength of their people pales in comparison to ours which is why we have been able to be ahead of them for centuries. What they lack in strength they have pulled through with numbers," said Marzia as she looked at Artanza. "I need to paint the King of Artanza as traitorous and vile, a warmonger who thinks just of himself. My reputation as a Hero would probably be enough to paint me in positive light but I need to get these 100 million people riled up to join my Royal Army so that we get as many people as possible to apply" "Their strength may be low but with our training, magic books and magic crystals they will get stronger in no time" said Glaze as he pointed to a location on the map. "We will counter their attacks instead of going on the offensive, Celeste has infiltrated the Artanza Royal Army and has found that they plan to have a bulk of their force attack Rizvaria as it is well connected to the entire Kingdom. " "Not everyone is an Expert Stage and even they can''t fly for long durations so water is the fastest way of travel for us," said he as he pointed at Rizvaria. "As you had commanded, we have built up the ports in all four of the major cities and all of them have been successfully strengthened with magic formations. The army can tap into this formation and increase their powers several times" said Marzia. "Unlike the demonic invasion where we only had one front to defend against, this war will be on multiple fronts and will take place over a long period of time. So this should be quite helpful," said Natalia as she pondered the distribution of the army. Chapter 36 - Armageddon "How is Her Majesty''s progress?" asked Natalia. "Charlotte is improving quickly, she has already reached Level 36 in a short time after I gave her the magic book. She is currently training hard as she is taking advantage of this momentum" said Glaze as he leaned back. Natalia and Marzia were shocked at the Queen''s progress. She was not a hero who was blessed by the Sea of Mana and while she was talented they didn''t expect it to be this much. They thought the Queen indeed was very low key and was probably hiding her potential before the hero was summoned. "How is the road construction," asked Glaze. "The roads connecting all four cities have been upgraded as you asked," said Marzia as she recalled Glaze had asked her to improve the roads as he planned to create improved magical vehicle. The current magical vehicles were very slow as no one invested in its research as everyone focused on individual strength. Most people would use magic pouches to transport cargo instead of being carried by a vehicle and the Armies used formations to increase their speeds and travel together but it was still extremely slow compared to a Master Stage being flying. Glaze had created the Research Department which was working on multiple projects, one of them was a vehicle that could be used in war, though she remained doubtful of such a thing being created so soon, she had raised the production schedule of the Construction Department and had the roads finished constructing as fast as possible. "Take the bulk of the army to Rizvaria and keep the rest on standby in the rest of the cities. I''ll talk to the Research Department and let you know their progress with the Magic Vehicles" said Glaze as he walked out of the room and both of them bowed to him. In the Royal Research Department, several people were arguing. "Sir stop, you will blow this place up," said a guy as he looked at Grant Ward who was the Head of the Research Department as they were trying to create a magic core for the magic vehicle whose power output was far more than anything they had ever made. While Glaze was no expert in engineering and didn''t know how exactly vehicles worked, he had some basic knowledge from the past world that he shared with Grant, the latter had hit a bottleneck for years and was struggling to make new breakthroughs, with this new knowledge that was so different from anything he had learned or experienced as it came from a completely different world whose scientists had a completely different perspective, he was enlightened as his perspective changed and he was making breakthroughs at a terrifying speed. "Ah, nothing will happen, just shut up for a second," said he as he waved off his teammates who were scared that this core was gonna blow up the entire Research Department. It was a cube floating in the space that had extremely minute engravings that one could b?r?ly see with an eye as it was glowing red with a sphere around it and was spinning at an extremely high speed. He casted different types of magic with both of his hands as he tried to make this thing work. Glaze entered the research department and saw the chaos that was happening, he had seen this happen so many times he had gotten used to it. "What is it this time?" asked Glaze as he rubbed his temple. "Your Majesty, you are here! This old man is about to blow the place up" screamed another researched as the core became brighter and brighter and started spinning and shaking vigorously and was releasing terrifying amounts of energy. Glaze sighed as he stood in front of the core, " You all can leave, I''ll take care of this if something happens" he said as everyone left the room but were still looking through the glass as he could see them panicking around but could hear no sound. "They are scientists alright," thought Glaze as he saw these guys screaming about the explosion but had no intention to leave lest they miss the birth of a new invention. "How is it going ?" he asked as he saw the latter trying to transfer the energy from the glowing core to the frame of the vehicle which had magical engravings that would make the vehicle float and propel it forward. The frame of the vehicle was huge as it was supposed to carry a large number of soldiers, nothing was powerful enough to lift such amount of weight and propel it forward with a good enough speed before as it was too heavy and would b?r?ly lift up and move at a snail''s pace. "I have managed to gain a lot of insights into improving the efficiency of my engravings thanks to Your Majesty, it has completely shifted my perspective of magical engravings. Now if I can get this to work" said the latter lost in thought excitedly as he cast the last spell and the magic core glowed with blinding light as if it was about to shatter and blow up. While it wouldn''t affect Glaze it would kill everyone here so he took precaution and was ready to erase the explosion with his magic but the magic core then stabilized as the frame of the huge vehicle started glowing as the engravings absorbed the magical power from the core as it covered the entire frame and then the frame lifted. Not an inch or two like before but an entire foot. The huge 20-meter frame hummed with power as it floated in the experimental zone. "You did, you actually did it," said the researchers who were watching as they came back screaming with joy. "Congratulations," said Glaze as he smiled and clapped for the research team. The Researchers were proud of receiving praise directly from the King as they bowed slightly in respect. "So can it finally reach 60 km/h ?" asked Glaze as he marveled at the detailed engravings. "No, it can reach up to 150 km/h," said Grant with a laugh. Glaze gulped when he heard that, "Magic is terrifying indeed" he thought as he looked at this 20-meter long monstrosity and imagined how it would look with its body crashing through the battlefield. "How is the production?" he asked. "The Manufacturing Department has said they have 3 bodies ready, they just need to be attached to the frame," said Grant. "Good Work, contact the Army and the Manufacturing Department. I need to have at least two of these ready by tomorrow for deployment" said Glaze as he walked out. "I will get it done, Your Majesty," said Grant as he bowed. Glaze had wanted to develop a sort of a tank but much more powerful than the ones in his world, with the use of magic these tanks could float so there was no friction and a need to worry about the terrain , these could go anywhere, even on water. /--- Azur Lamia was the head of the Lamia Family who had monopolized manufacturing of everything in this kingdom and was also the current leader of the new Manufacturing Department. She banged her head on her desk when she heard Grant tell her about the manufacturing of the new tanks. "By Tomorrow! How am I supposed to do that" she said as she banged the desk with her fist and rubbed her head which was red from the banging. "The Army will be deployed tomorrow, we have no other choice," he said as he laughed not able to read the mood at all. She was overworked to death in the past few weeks with the upcoming war as the Manufacturing Department gave priority to military production, the Research Department would come to her every day asking to manufacture prototype after prototype. She was sleep-deprived and exhausted as she realized they had to finish this thing by tomorrow. "Let''s go then" she sighed as she dragged herself from her seat and wore her long coat as they walked towards the Army Grounds. /--- Natalia was waiting with her soldiers as she saw the Manufacturing Department ?ssemble the new machine, His Majesty had named this thing Armageddon, while the name was terrifying she couldn''t comprehend how such a thing could be terrifying enough to deserve such a name. She still believed that individual strength should be prioritized in the military. The Manufacturing department after 12 hours finally finished constructing the entire thing. It was made of pure solid black metal of the highest quality in the entire world as it was further strengthened with gold engravings. It looked like a long and wide mini-train than a tank as it had a pointed front to cut down wind resistance. This solid chunk of metal with the glowing gold engravings released a terrifying pressure as it floated in the air and it looked like a long monster made of metal. "The Weapons will take more time, we can ship them off to the battlefield later and they can be easily attached," said Azur as she sat down a bench nearby and drank some water. "So, let''s test this," said Natalia. "We need someone in the Expert Stage to be able to manage this weight at these speeds," said Grant as he adjusted his glasses and made sure everything was working. "Robin, come here and test this," said Natalia as she called for a Level 21 Expert Stage soldier nearby. Robin gulped as he was chosen as the first driver of this machine, he walked inside and sat on the driver seat. "You see that lever, you pull that to adjust your speed," said Grant as he told him about the various controls. "Alright, give it a try, don''t worry, even if you crash nothing will happen to you, this is very strong," said Grant as he laughed and patted the soldiers back. "Easy for you to say," said Robin as he sighed and closed the door. As soon as he pulled the lever the Armageddon''s back flowed with magical power as it burst with magic and sped forward instantly at the speed of 150 Km/h and crashed straight ahead into the training walls complete pulverizing it. The force of this huge hunk of metal which was extremely heavy traveling at this speed was terrifying. It crushed kilometers of forest cover before it stopped. Natalia looked on with her mouth hung open as she sat how strong and fast the Armageddon was, "This truly deserves its name" she said as she sighed and imagined this on the battlefield. "If things like this can exist," she thought as she had already started to create strategies in her head on how to use such vehicles in war and imagined the future of such a military. "Oh, I forgot to tell him that the lever is very s?ns?t?v? and the acceleration is instant, haha," said Grant as he laughed. "Oye you old man, how are you just casually shrugging it off, what if it was pointed to the towards the city," said Azur who almost choked to death drinking water as she watched the Armageddon zip through the city walls completely crushing them. "Haha, I am sure the Construction Department can fix this in no time," said Grant as he laughed and wrote down the results of this experiment as Azur got a headache from watching this lunatic scientist. Meanwhile, Gerald Roosebell, who was the Head of the Construction Department sneezed at this moment. "Hm, why do I have a weird feeling that something bad is going to happen," he thought as he got ready to leave for the day and go back home and spend some time with his family when he saw his voice projecting crystal glow. Chapter 37 - War Begins Glaze was sitting in his room on his desk, the war had begun in Rizvaria as the two armies clashed, the invading army was 20 times larger than his but the individual strength of their soldiers were a lot weaker. "Master, you called?" said Erebi as she came in front of him out of thin air. She had leveled up to Level 25 as he had given her the highest available ?ssassination magic that the system had which was sadly only until the Master Stage but he had no doubt this talented girl in front of him would surpass that with her power. As she stood there it felt like she existed and did not exist at the same time even for someone as strong as Glaze. "I want you to infiltrate Gazia, the Capital of Artanza with Athena, you will be carrying out several ?ssassinations of key political figures in the country and work with Celeste to bring down Artanza from the inside while the Army fights them from the outside," he said as he handed her the details. "As you wish, Master," said she as she bowed and vanished. As he had expected, Artanza had attacked Rizvaria, the five rivers connected to the city were blockaded outside it as the battle took place outside the city so the citizens were not harmed. Artanza had a huge numerical advantage and that carried over in their Navy, he had not seen as much naval force as he expected in Artanza and thus predicted they might strike Arafina, the port city at the southern tip of the Kingdom. "You want to go don''t you?" asked Charlotte as she sat by the side. She had leveled up to 38 already, the speed terrified even Glaze as he looked at his wife improving so quickly after receiving the Holy Flame Magic. "I can''t just stay here in the Capital when my soldiers are out there fighting," said Glaze as he sighed. He realized as a King he did not have to be on the frontline all the time but staying in one place was agonizing. "Fufu, I will hold the fort here, leave the capital to me," said Charlotte as she smiled at her husband acting like this. "Are you sure?" he asked. "I am the Queen, I''ll burn anyone who steps in here," she said with a smile as her hands sparkled with flames. "I''ll leave it in your hands then, I''ll go over to Arafina then after the situation at Rizvaria is resolved I''ll strike the Capital Gazia," he said as he hugged his wife and kissed her. "Take care of yourself," he said as he flew off towards the South. "You too," she said as she sighed seeing her love go away. She wished she could just keep him to herself not putting him in any danger but she knew her husband would never like such a life. "I won''t let anything get between us," said she with determination as her eyes burned with pitch-black flames. /---- Julie was on the battlefield in Rizvaria with her 5 subordinates. "Little girls like you shouldn''t be on the battlefield," said a huge soldier from the Artanza Army as swung down his huge axe towards her. Her hands charged with magic as the winds slashed the burly man "AAARGH, DAMN YOU," said the huge guy as he fell down, Julie was covered in blood, fighting through this horde of enemies, she knew the enemy''s number was 20x of their army but actually fighting them made her realize the strength of sheer numbers. She was killing soldiers left and right but it seemed like there was no end to them. "Lieutenant, where to now?" asked a female soldier around her who was also covered in blood. "Keep aiming towards the enemy Captain," she said as she gritted her teeth and burst forward. The battlefield was a mess as the armies fought on land and in the rivers against the invading navy. She had formed a triangular formation that pierced through the battlefield with her subordinates as they were like reapers of death causing bloodbath wherever they went. /--- Supreme Commander Natalia Phoenix was keeping the Enemy Commander Rick Sullivan in check as they fought above the sky making exchanges but had not yet started to fight seriously as they let the armies whittle down below. She rained down spears made from Holy Aqua Magic on the invading army as the Enemy Commander who was a Level 32 Master Stage while she was Level 34. She had taken the initiative on attacking and put the invading army on defense. Their ships kept coming in filled with soldiers to reinforce the ones that were dying. It was like trying to kill a tiger by throwing a thousand deers at it. She held her trident in her hand as she poured her magic into it as it hummed with power and was surrounded by the petrifying water from the Netherworld Sea. He managed to block the attack but was swung backward as he crashed to the ground. He tried to get up quickly but before he could Natalia had charged up an area of effect attack as the sky was filled with spikes made of water which released a terrifying pressure, soon these sharp spikes started falling down on top of the Artanza Army. These people who were jumbled together like a herd of pigs due to their sheer numbers started dying in a large amount of numbers, despite Commander Sullivan trying to counter the spikes with his own area of effect magic he couldn''t stop every single one of it so quickly and saw a large amount of his army getting shredded as the enemy''s soldiers took advantage of this and relentlessly pushed forward. The day was coming to an end and everyone was tired and had drained most of their mana, both sides slowly retreated as the first day of the battle came to an end. The Artanza Army had suffered heavy casualties due to them having a large number of weaker people fighting who were slaughtered like pigs but the Lockhart Army also had casualties as the powerful soldiers were ganged up and killed. It was to kill quickly or get surrounded and be shredded to death. Julie huffed as she got back to her tent to report to her Captain, her body was covered in blood as she walked and everyone looked at her with fear as they saw all of her hair completely red. This girl had killed the highest number of enemy soldiers, she had killed 1000 enemy soldiers in one day and had also killed a level 20 expert stage enemy Captain despite being a Lieutenant at Level 17. Rumors were going around that she was a bloodthirsty maniac who only masked her identity as an innocent village girl to trick people and then kill them in cold blood. As these rumors spread along with what happened at the examination, the soldiers'' view of Julie became more and more distorted as people started exaggerating things. "Captain, my memory crystal," said Julie as she held her memory crystal over the reading surface as it glowed. "I have already heard about your accomplishments, I will pass on this memory to higher-ups," said the Captain with a smile. Even he was scared of this little girl who had massacred everything that stood in her path on the battlefield and acquired such merit just on the first day. Combined with her performance in the examination she had the potential to much further in rank that he could ever dream of so he wanted to remain on friendly terms with her as she might as well become his boss in the future. "Thank you, Captain," said Julie as she saluted and walked out. She saw her friend Gray Ward outside who was sitting and gulping down some booze. "Good to see you are alive," she said as she sat by his side "Barely," said he as he sighed. "What happened?" she asked as she saw her friend looking depressed "What I expected would, all my subordinates are gravely injured, some of them might lose their lives, I am a terrible leader, I will probably be demoted though I deserve it," said he as chugged another jug. She just patted his back and decided to give him some space as she went back to meet up with her subordinates. /--- Somewhere on the roads in a small village in the Lockhart Kingdom "W-What is that thing?" asked an old man in a village as he saw the Armageddon stop for a break, everyone in the village had seen this hunk of a metal move at speeds so fast they could b?r?ly see. "Its the new invention of the Research Department, you haven''t been reading the newspaper?" asked her daughter as she showed her dad the royal newspaper. Glaze had full control over the newspapers and had made them extremely cheap that anyone could afford them and also had them published throughout the entire kingdom and even other Kingdoms to show them the might of the Lockhart Kingdom. He had published every single accomplishment by the Kingdom, that naturally included the Armageddon. As the Armageddon had passed through all the villages and towns it had left everyone with shock as they saw such a thing even exist. This further improved their belief in the strength of the Lockhart Kingdom and were proud of being part of such an advanced Kingdom. The Armageddon had finished taking its break as the soldiers got back inside and it zoomed forward towards Arafina leaving the villagers dumbfounded. Chapter 38 - Arafina Lockhart Army was currently fighting the Artanza Navy that had docked in Arafina and had taken over the port with superior numbers causing them to be stuck in a defending position for the last week. The strongest on both sides were peak Expert Stage beings, the battlefield was a bloodbath as the invading army was being slaughtered like pigs running into a slaughterhouse but were slowly gaining an edge as the defensive line was being pushed further back. The Commander of the Artanza Navy, Riley Van, was on the main ship and was overlooking the situation, "At this rate, we should be able to keep pushing forward, their main force is in Rizvaria and there are no Master Stage beings here, we will slowly gain ground bit by bit and begin land invasion" she said to her subordinates. Joseph Star was using Poison Magic to defend against this horde of enemies which worked amazing as it reaped lives everywhere as the majority of the invading army was made of weaker people who were even more susceptible to his Poison Magic. This also made him a target as the enemy wanted to take down this man who was single-handedly causing the largest number of casualties. The 3 Majors of the Lockhart army who were at the peak Expert stage were fighting the 4 Enemy Majors of the Artanza Army also at the peak Expert Stage, one of them suddenly got out of the fight and aimed straight for Joseph Star. He wanted to kill this guy who was causing so many casualties with his unique magic that covered a wide area which killed everyone in it as the weak soldiers could do nothing to defend against this. Joeseph Star who was Level 21 and in the Early Expert Stage stood no chance against this peak Expert Stage Major who rushed straight towards him, the Majors of the Lockhart Army rushed to provide aid to him but they were too a bit too late. "Huh, I should have been more cautious in my calculations, I went too far," thought Joseph as he smiled and charged Poison Magic as he wasn''t willing to give up without a fight even in this skewed matchup. "You are talented kid, but this is your end," said the Enemy Major as the distance between him and Joseph as now just 10 meters, he gripped his sword as it hummed with power and slashed it towards Joseph. Right at that moment, he felt a jolt in his heart as his sword quivered, in the next instant there was a sonic boom as a streak of red light zipped through space as it shattered everything creating a shrill piercing sound, it gave off a terrifying aura that made people cower in fear as their souls trembled as they felt this radiance could slaughter even the heavens. The dark red radiance clashed with the powerful sword radiance of the peak Expert Stage Major of Artanza Army as it sliced it in half in the middle of his attack as he looked on with shock, but he wasn''t able to react in time as the radiance slashed him straight in half killing him on the spot. He died as he split in two with a shocked expression on his face not knowing exactly what happened. Everyone around stopped fighting for a second as they saw this scene with their mouths hung, the Majors and other older members of the Lockhart Army realized what this was, "It''s the Heaven Slaughter Sword!, His Majesty is here to support us" said one of the Majors as he laughed. The other soldiers of the Lockhart Army upon hearing this thought back to the rumors they had heard about their King using such a sword and rejoiced. They saw a man wearing purple robes who had purple streaked hair that fluttered in the air appear above the skies of Arafina, on his head there was a golden crown with blue jewels that crackled with lightning as he descended a huge pressure on the battlefield. King Glaze Lockhart had arrived on the battlefield in Arafina. "The situation has indeed gone a bit out of hand, they choose to attack here too as expected, wanting to start a land invasion," thought Glaze as he looked down and activated Destruction God''s Intimidation. As he practiced this skill more he was now able to accurately control the range and only applied it to the enemies, this terrifying skill suppressed everyone below his level completely which was currently at Level 28. The only ones who weren''t completely suppressed were the peak Expert Stage Majors of the enemy who now charged towards him at once. For an army like Artanza who depended on low leveled numerical strength, this skill was basically a death sentence as they were now truly pigs who couldn''t even fight back as the Lockhart Army slaughtered them with renewed determination and strength. The Four Majors knew they the battle was lost if they couldn''t do anything about this skill so they all attacked Glaze at once. As they got close to him he simply smiled as there was a wave of lava that surrounded him, why would he fight everyone if he had a Kingsguard. Cronus Leviathan was now at the peak Expert Stage Level 29 as everyone else in the Kingsguard had reached the Mid Expert Stage. "How dare you attack His Majesty," said Cronus as he charged his hands with Meteor Magic and clashed with the 4 Expert Stage Majors of the Artanza Army with the rest of the Kingsguard, they were soon joined by Lockhart Army Majors as they gained a huge advantage in this battle now with the help of the Kingsguard. Glaze put his foot forward towards the Commander of the Navy who was on the ship as he vanished and instantly came next to her. The Armageddon had also reached Arafina, the huge hunk of metal carried a large number of reinforcements as they joined in this battle as the enemies could only b?r?ly defend themselves due to Destruction God''s Intimidation. After the last soldier dropped out, Robin drove the Armageddons straight towards the Armada of Ships on the coast, it crushed everything in its path into meat paste it rushed straight towards the water. The Ships were strong but not as strong as Armageddon, as the enemies saw this black monster coming towards them at such speed that it created shockwaves with the force it generated just through moving forward they started to retreat away from the coast. It did not stop as it crushed one ship after another, "I don''t have a lot of fuel left, but this should be enough to give us a huge advantage" thought Robin as he smacked his lips in the driving seat of Armageddon, he was scared at first when he first drove it but now that he knew the strength and power of this machine, he was addicted and wanted to test out all of its possibilities and was glad to be able to command such a powerful machine. The Commander of the Artanza Navy, Riley Van, saw this happening in shock as their Army crumbled in front of her eyes, she saw Glaze appear in front of her as he released a terrifying pressure despite being a level below her. "I know you are receiving support from Neverwinter," said Glaze as he smiled and stepped on the deck. All the soldiers who were below his level were kneeling on the floor due to the close proximity of the Intimidation Skill, even the Commander was shaking as she withstood it and was shocked the enemy already knew about Neverwinter''s involvement. "No matter how the powerful equipment you give them is, an army like this made from weak numbers would die the moment it comes in my presence," said Glaze as he smiled and stepped forward which caused her to back away until she was pressed against the cabin walls. "Artanza has no chance of winning, surrender now or every single person here dies," said Glaze as his eyes glowed with purple magic, his Pure Destruction Magic had upgraded to Saintly Destruction Magic. The level of power was terrifying as no one below the Master Stage could withstand even small amounts of it. He hadn''t even cast it and had just showed a hint of the magic but that was enough to cause destruction in the vicinity as all life came to end and everything in the area started to deteriorate into nothingness. The planks of the ship they were standing on started coming off and breaking apart as the metal started rusting and disintegrating as the ship started to come apart from the inside. Riley was terrified as she saw this and knew they had lost, there was nothing they could do against him even with the support of Neverwinter, the Queen of Neverwinter herself would have to come down here to stop this and there is no way she would do something like that. She dropped her staff and kneeled, " We surrender" she said in a loud voice that could be heard by all the soldiers The moment she said that everyone in the Artanza Army sighed with relief as everyone dropped their weapons and kneeled as they surrendered. They were dying like pigs as they were killed ruthlessly and couldn''t even defend against the enemy, they had never felt such fear before they faced King Lockhart and were only fighting because they had no choice. Now that their Commander had surrendered they sighed in relief knowing they could live. Glaze used Slave Magic on the Commander to keep her in line as the rest of the soldiers were cuffed with magic sealing enchantments who would go through the screening and then be imbued with Slave Magic and join the Lockhart Army. For now, they were detained. "Well then, I expect you know what to do about the reinforcements that come here," said Glaze with a smile as Riley''s life was now in his hands. "Y-Yes, I will bring them to our side," she said with a sigh, it would take some time for her to come to terms with her loss, for now, she was glad to keep her life despite facing the ruthless hero on the battlefield. The Kingsguard and Majors of the Lockhart Army had already killed off 3 of the Enemy Majors and the last one remaining had surrendered. "While I did expect them to rely on their numerical advantage, isn''t this too much? There was no sense of skill, the magic they were using was not very good, the only advantage was the equipment they had received from Neverwinter. The Artanza Army is truly weak individually" thought Glaze as he realized Arafina was now secured, while they would receive more reinforcements as he doubted the enemy would just stop but this a huge blow to them. The enemy did not expect the King himself to come on the battlefield, that too in Arafina instead of Rizvaria which was the main battlefield. /--- At night time, Glaze walked through the battlefield casting large scale healing magic as he healed his soldiers, of course, he wasn''t skilled in healing as he never put enough time into it but this was more of a symbolic gesture to motivate the soldiers. The soldiers who were down and hurt and injured were charged with determination as they saw their King heal them personally and lead them in today''s battle. Most of these soldiers were commoners who had joined the Army and had expected to be used by the Royal Family as cannon fodder but now as they saw the King personally coming to help them were touched. "We are just commoners, you don''t need to waste your magic on us Your Majesty." "Your Majesty, no need to waste your time on us weaklings," said the soldiers who had broken their limbs and were covered in injuries as Glaze walked by them. "Of course I care, you are my soldiers, you are the Lockhart Army and I am your King. No matter how weak you currently might be or what your status may be, every single one of you is important" said Glaze as he smiled. "We have won today, but this is just the beginning, follow me and I will lead you to victory after victory as the entire Human Realm will tremble below our feet," said Glaze as he raised his hand. "YEAHHH!" "WE WILL TAKE THE HUMAN REALM!" "NO ONE CAN MATCH US!" "FOR HIS MAJESTY!" "HAIL THE KING" Screamed the soldiers as they celebrated the victory with a feast and cheered for themselves and their King. Glaze smiled as he walked into his tent, walking through and talking with his soldiers wasn''t much effort for him but it meant a whole lot to the common soldiers, just this was enough to make the wholeheartedly loyal to him and work harder to become strong. "Are we going to Rizvaria now, Your Majesty?" asked Cronus in the tent. "Yes, I am itching to fight Master Stage beings," said Glaze with a smile as he dusted his hands and sat down and took a bite of the roasted chicken as he feasted with his soldiers for the night.