Chapter 67

Cold fury burns deeper and longer than any hot flame. Since the day he laid down the magic crystal that had extinguished Hector’s life, Rian’s time was reorganized toward a single goal: vengeance. The air around him froze, and no emotion could be read from the thirteen-year-old boy’s face.

A secret laboratory located deep beneath the imperial palace of Ethernom, the capital of the Valerian Empire.

Cypher was barely breathing atop a life-sustaining magic circle. The empire’s finest healers and mages had been mobilized, but they could not completely remove the curse of the black swamp that was consuming his body. Part of his soul had already been subjugated to the cursed crystal shard.

And that cursed shard, the ‘Dragon’s Heart’, was sealed inside a special magical device at the center of the laboratory. But the sealing magic circle was slowly eroding under the ominous aura the shard emitted, flickering precariously.

“Is this… the power of a god, or a demon’s curse…”

Ozwald, the archmage in charge of the lab, let out a groan of mingled horror and exhilaration as he watched the data streaming from the crystal shard. The shard was swallowing surrounding mana, showing signs of self-replication, and emitting powerful waves that destroyed the minds of living creatures.

Emperor Constantine and Shadow Minister Alcard watched the scene through the enchanted glass.

“If only we could control that power…”

The Emperor’s eyes flashed with greed.

“Your Majesty, it’s far too dangerous. That may be something we cannot handle,” Alcard warned.

Alcard’s warning was spoken for the first time, but it did not reach the Emperor’s ear.

“Fear does not advance the empire, Alcard. Tell Ozwald: find a way to make that power ours by any means. I will throw the empire’s full resources at it.”

Blinded by greed, the Emperor did not realize he had brought a time bomb into the heart of the empire.

At that time, the ‘Shadow Forge’ on the Aster estate.

The atmosphere here had changed completely. Once lively and dynamic, the place had become a vast war base permeated only by cold fury and a thirst for revenge.

“Faster! Stronger! Your hammers are not tools for making weapons! They are instruments in a sacred ritual to forge blades that avenge our fallen comrades!” roared ‘Steel Beard’ Brok.

‘Steel Beard’ Brok roared before the forge. The dwarves stoked the fires day and night, and far deadlier and more powerful weapons poured from the smithy than ever before. Mana rifles gained automatic-fire and explosive rounds, and aura-amplifying armor was lightened while maximizing defensive efficiency.

In the training grounds, the remaining members of Shadow Blade endured hellish drills. Their eyes held not sorrow but burning hatred for the enemies who had taken their comrades. They were no longer knights; they were phantoms who had resolved to become demons willingly for the sake of vengeance.

Rian watched all of it from the highest vantage with emotionless eyes. He no longer personally took part in training or rejoiced at designing new weapons. He received only reports of results and issued the next cold orders as a detached commander.

Only his family vaguely sensed the change in him.

“Rian, you haven’t been smiling lately. Are you unwell?” his mother Serena asked worriedly at dinner.

At the dinner table, his mother Serena asked with concern. Rian paused mid-spoon and offered a faint, mechanically produced smile.

“No, Mother. It’s just… I have much to consider about developing the estate.”

“Big brother, look! I drew you!” Lily exclaimed.

Lily held out a clumsy drawing she had made. In the picture, Rian was smiling broadly. He looked at it for a moment, then stroked his sister’s head. His touch remained gentle, but deep in his eyes a cold winter wind blew.

That night, Rian sat across from Kael in his study.

“The Valerians are happily chewing the bone we threw them,” he said.

Rian set down a report on the Valerian secret research facility.

“Now begin the second hunt. Use Argos to leak anonymous information to the imperial intelligence in Kailus. Claim that ‘the Valerian Empire smuggled a horrifically cursed artifact from a forbidden ruin on the Eastern Continent and is developing a biological weapon to threaten Kairos with it.’”

“Master, that would…”

“Are you asking if I am starting a war? No. I’m merely throwing a blood-scented chunk of meat in front of hungry wolves. Let them tear at each other; that is their job.”

There was not a trace of guilt in Rian’s voice.

“And… put bounties on the heads of anyone bearing the symbol of the Ashen Worm cult across all the continent’s shadow guilds. Make it appear not under Argos’ name, but as though remnants of the Marquis of the Reinhardt family and Valois set them for revenge. Make them suspect and kill one another. We only need to be the ones to cut the last man’s throat atop the pile of corpses.”

Kael’s skin crawled at his master’s cruel and meticulous plan, but he lowered his head without a word.

Rian stroked the red-marked piece of vengeance placed on the continent map.

“Hector. Your deaths will not be in vain. Your blood and ashes will become the great firewood to burn two empires.”