CHAPTER 74
The golden light of Auctoritas trembled.
It wasn't the kind of trembling born of weakness, but of something more volatile-emotion.
Sorayael's heart ached. Her knees wobble slightly under the weight of power and grief combined. Her hands, glowing moments ago with radiance that made gods tremble, now shook with something far more human.
She stood there, her breath shallow.
Before her, Azi who was no longer under Dominance, knelt on one knee, blood dripping from his mouth. His aura, though free, was shattered.
Azi looked at Sorayael and smiled.
Azren coughed, giving her the smallest of smiles. "N-No... it's not your fault... you saved me. You came back, that's what matters... Now go, Sora... go to the Emperor. Finish and win this battle."
She took a step forward, hesitant. "B-But you-"
Clenching her fists, Sorayael turned, running through the corridor of broken stone, golden tears streaking behind her like shooting stars.
Her light flared again, but dimmer now. The Auctoritas had cracked beneath the strain of her sorrow.
Everyone who was affected by the Auctoritas were briefly freed from this power of her.
The Emperor had already vanished into the inner sanctum.
.........
Meanwhile, chaos unraveled like a nightmare over Aethelgard.
Karsen Velmorian sprinted through ash-strewn streets, his eyes darting, searching. His heart pounded in his ears louder than the screams. "Silas!" he shouted.
He had to understand. He needed the truth. Why did his friend... his brother... betray them?
'I need to know and make you come back to us.'
But before he could get close to anything, a pulse tore through the sky. It rippled like a breath across a dreaming world.
The Dream Magic had awakened.
A wave of magical drowsiness overtook the land, and with it, monsters burst from conjured illusions-no longer bound by the veil. The magic of a fallen constellation.
Citizens screamed.
The heirs rallied.
Celene summoned tides of water to shield the children.
Zarethian's flames danced violently, forming walls between innocents and beast.
Valen conjured barriers, and Kieran, with his sharp-eyed precision, struck true from afar.
But amidst the chaos, Karsen found him.
Silas.
He stood atop rubble, his cloak fluttering in the dream-soaked winds.
Silas turned slowly, gaze empty. "You shouldn't have come."
He was controlled by the Dream Magic who can manipulate their minds.
Karsen's tear fell before he could attack Silas but Silas fend him off and started exchanging blows with him.
The monsters around them suddenly attacked them and while Karsen is distracted, Silas seized this opportunity to stab him.
Karsen felt a stabbing cold at his back. His breath hitched. Blood spilled from his lips.
He turned his head slightly-Silas had struck him.
'Ha.. haha.'
Karsen collapsed to one knee, aura flickering. He pressed a hand to his wound, trying desperately to stop the bleeding.
The others screamed his name.
Celene ran forward, summoning a surge of water to push Silas back-but he didn't fight back.
Silas looked at all of them.
'I wished I could spend more time with them. But my sins cannot make everything go back to the same as before.'
'It was foolish of me to make myself be controlled by my father who was the master of everything. Who controlled everything and whispered the things that I wished I didn't hear.'
'The time with them made me forget who I am and why I was born in this world. I feel free. They made me feel what it is to live.'
Suddenly, a flood of memories rushes back-their laughter, adventures, and close calls, all the moments they bonded over life-or-death situations, and the times they had each other's backs when it mattered most.
'I'm so sorry, Karsen, for stabbing you. I was just trying to scratch you but something inside me felt like I was being controlled. It's never my intention to kill any of you as you are my friends that I cannot hate.'
His body fell limply to the ground.
Celene screamed.
Zarethian shouted and kicked a wall, his fire blazing wildly.
Valen turned his face, jaw tight. Kieran can't look to the sight of their friend.
Karsen, still kneeling, tried to speak. Blood trickled from his mouth. The world around him began to fade. He reached out weakly.
But then a sound of roar came.
A new monster leapt toward the group.
Karsen gritted his teeth, aura flaring one last time.
The aftermath left only silence.
Karsen... fell. And just like that he was gone.
Tears streamed down their faces as they watched their friends fall. Fueled by grief and rage, they launched fierce attacks on every monster in their path, driven by a desperate need for vengeance for the loss of their companions.
.........
Elsewhere, within the inner sanctum of the palace, a new battle began.
Zerathiel Keith, wrapped in plated armor infused with old magic, stood with his spear pointed at the gathering darkness. Beside him was Xiaven, cloaked in arcane light.
They run towards them to help them fight the Martial King and its underlings.
Xiaven chuckled and shook his head, "You know me, I live for this kind of battle."
Zerathiel's smile deepened, feeling a rush of excitement having Xiaven alongside him once more, reminiscent of their intense battle during the Gate Break when they fought side by side against the monstrous horde.
They turned their backs and saw a woman. She was walking softly, dressed in a simple robe of white and gray.
Lyrenna.
Reinhold pointed to the path where the emperor went.
She saw Azren lying but she thought the important part-slaying the emperor.
When she arrived at the scene, Sorayael was fighting the minions of the Emperor. She was trying to hold them off by the power of Auctoritas while trying to fight the Emperor.
The Emperor, now adorned in full black regalia, turned his head and smiled. "Oh... my twin. How have you been?"
The room froze.
Sorayael turned the back of her head and saw Lyrenna, her old boss and an old friend.
Sorayael, standing at the threshold, gasped. "You... you're his... twin? Why didn't you..?"
Lyrenna met her gaze, sorrowful. "I was once proud to share a womb with him. But I cannot share his crimes."
The Emperor laughed. "Come now, Lyrenna. You were always the quiet one. I missed you."
He raised his hand. Stars shifted and the runes flared.
Sorayael, her body trembling, took her place among them.