Chapter 203
Chapter 203
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 203
Chapter Title: Fall 1
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Azadin and Karzen had left their posts, but Manza-Zadek still had plenty of guards.
Btuma's regular army guarded the royal castle in three shifts, while warriors and sellswords from every region entrusted their lives to the Golden King.
Shamans, blood mages, and necromancers persecuted by the King's Church flocked to the Golden King's court, and he welcomed them as retainers. Thus, his royal castle was an impregnable fortress no assassin would dare breach.
But the intruders today were a different story.
*********
In the throne room of the royal castle, a middle-aged man landed lightly before Manza-Zadek, who guarded the throne with his massive walrus-like bulk, as if flying in like a bird.
A raging storm battered the windows outside, yet not a drop of rain touched the man. Shadowy figures in black masks attended him, holding long umbrellas aloft.
The middle-aged man's hair was streaked with gray, and his eyes gleamed with a faint golden light.
"Who dares enter the Golden King's presence without leave?!"
The royal guards shouted at the sudden intruders...
But in reply, a waterfall of corpses and blood poured from the windows.
The cold bodies were the royal guards who had been patrolling the castle. Astonishingly, the Herald Clan had silently slain most of the guards without a sound.
Once the blood and bodies had cascaded down, over ten shadows had already descended into the throne room.
Black shadows wearing bird masks, each with a quiver at their waist—they were unmistakably of the Herald Clan.
The first to land, the middle-aged man, declared:
"I am Hatir, son of Emperor Yaeslat. Rightful heir to the eight thrones. I have come to claim my rights."
"Rightful?"
Manza-Zadek, who had been listening, gave a wry smile.
"The King's Church teaches that the Emperor is not the rightful owner of the throne. And shouldn't you first prove you're truly the Emperor's son?"
"Are you mocking my birthright now?"
"We might as well start there. But fine, enough pointless insults. You are the Emperor's son."
Manza-Zadek already knew Hatir's identity, so he did not deny his bloodline.
"But aren't you a bastard?"
"You dare! Mocking me again."
"No, a bastard is a bastard. And anyway, true legitimacy is decided only when one sits upon the throne, isn't it? King's Radiance, right?"
With that, Manza-Zadek pointed to his throne. Hatir's eyes sharpened.
"So you'll give me a chance to sit, then?"
"If you can sit here and truly protect this world with the King's Radiance, I'll gladly yield my crown."
"Your Majesty!"
His retainers cried out in alarm. The Yaegas royal bloodline never yielded the throne to anyone, for fear that King's Radiance might acknowledge a pretender as king.
When a rightful king sits upon the throne, the throne itself passes judgment.
That was the Yaegas divine clan's policy—but human realms of power weren't structured that way. Thus, they had kept anyone who could challenge the king's authority far from the throne.
And now Manza-Zadek was telling this man to sit?
Of course not.
"But a man who brings nagas, summons this storm, and calls forth Nether's emissaries cannot be a rightful king."
Manza-Zadek picked up the royal scepter propped beside the throne.
It looked more like a rafter than a scepter, but to the grotesquely obese Manza-Zadek, it seemed an ordinary baton.
He gripped the scepter with arms thick as elephant legs and drew a deep breath. His body swelled even further, veins bulging beneath the layers of fat.
"What do you plan to do once you seize the throne?"
"Reclaim the rights denied to our persecuted people. Nothing more."
"What base spirits you have. You give no thought to those who suffer because of your actions."
"And you? Have you ever considered our clan's suffering?"
"At least I have. That's why one of your subordinates came under my banner."
Indeed, because Manza-Zadek had lifted the curse of servitude and promised a future, men like Karzen had shed their Herald Clan ties to become the Golden King's crows.
But Hatir only snorted.
"You claim legitimacy with the backing of clan traitors?"
"If they weren't traitors, they'd all think like you. No point debating, then?"
"Indeed. Manza-Zadek, yield the throne."
"You'll have to trample my corpse first."
Manza-Zadek swung the scepter. The massive royal scepter tore through the air with terrifying force, aimed at Chieftain Hatir.
But Hatir unleashed the Dusk of Flowers, Birds, Wind, and Moon. A dizzying mirage of shadows danced, effortlessly evading every attack from Manza-Zadek.
Then, with a clap of his hands, pitch-black steel arrows flew from all directions toward Manza-Zadek. Astonishingly, Hatir had commanded the Herald Clan to attack without lifting a finger himself.
"Hmph!"
Manza-Zadek swung his scepter to bat away the arrows and cast a holy barrier...
But—
*Crack!*
The rafter-like scepter snapped under a mere arrow. The black arrows from every side pierced his barrier and stabbed into his body.
"Y-Your Majesty!"
"You dare!"
The guards drew their swords and charged, but none lasted even one exchange against the Herald Clan's blades before collapsing.
"What a dull foe. For the Yaegas divine king to fall like this—hardly sporting, is it?"
Manza-Zadek slumped beside the throne without even pulling out the arrows in his body.
If he removed them, he'd bleed out.
Perhaps due to his excess flesh, only a trickle of blood seeped from the wounds.
Yet these were black steel arrows laced with curses—even left embedded, they would kill him soon.
Feeling death approach, Manza-Zadek let out a hollow laugh.
Surprisingly, his mind was at peace.
The days he had slaved to preach the joys of the flesh to the Yaegas ancestors had been unbearable agonies, no matter how steeped his body was in pleasure...
Even after doing all he could, to fall short of power felt refreshingly clear now.
"The arrows in your body are black steel worth a fortune each. Concentrating so many on you alone is respect enough."
Chieftain Hatir said this as he gathered mana before his chest, forming ominous runes. They were written in the Nether's tongue, evil letters of darkness so disorienting that none dared even look upon them.
Manza-Zadek, already beyond life and death, clicked his tongue at the profane Nether runes.
"The Emperor's son, resorting to this...?"
Manza-Zadek was aghast, but no one remained to stop Hatir.
Hatir ascended the throne.
Btuma's throne had been built of massive ebony to bear Manza-Zadek's weight, like a stage fit for an elephant. But as Hatir raised his hand—Nether runes glowing—then slammed it down, the ebony shattered like it had been packed with explosives, revealing the quartz throne beneath.
As the Nether runes' power seeped into the quartz throne, it began to glow.
"Ah..."
The light flickered. The throne's inherent radiance was gradually devoured by darkness and faded away.
*********
In truth, Golden King Manza-Zadek's King's Radiance was exceptionally powerful among kings.
It was thanks to his divine aura that people could still live in Btuma, the heart of the Naga Empire.
But now that aura was gone.
In its place, an evil Nether energy poured forth from the quartz throne.
"Why do such a thing? What reason could you have?"
Manza-Zadek gazed at Hatir, who had claimed the throne and was corrupting it with profane power, with genuine curiosity.
"With your talents, you could have rightfully taken the throne and made Btuma yours. The endemic diseases here are harsh, but simple conquest would have profited you greatly. Why destroy it? Was Btuma's wealth and glory worth so little?"
With Hatir corrupting the throne using Nether mana, Btuma would lose the King's Radiance's protection. Already plagued by diseases, it would soon become uninhabitable.
Why pursue such wanton destruction?
Hatir finally spoke.
"At first, I dreamed that when I claimed the throne, I would rule with benevolence and turn this land into a paradise on earth—even accepting reverse discrimination. I had to cherish and love Hybris's people more than my own clan, or they would never accept me, born of Aragas."
"Yes. If a conqueror seeks unity with the conquered, he must provide better conditions than before—treat them so well it feels like reverse discrimination."
"That's precisely the problem."
Hatir sat upon the throne and crossed his legs.
"Aragas's population is too small. We arrived with just five immigrant fleets, and we've already intermingled with the locals—our hair, skin, and race have assimilated. Add reverse discrimination for smooth rule, and the Aragas bloodline here would vanish entirely."
"So you bound them with the curse of servitude?"
"Yes. Constraints breed loyalty. Without it, they would have long discarded the Aragas name, their pride, and blended into these Hybris folk—our people would have ceased to exist."
Before his listening Herald clansmen, Hatir boldly confessed he was the one who had upheld the curse of servitude.
"Don't you pity those sacrificed to your nationalism?"
"It's what we must do to survive. I feel sorry killing pigs or cattle, but slaughter is necessary, isn't it?"
Hatir answered without hesitation, his resolve firm.
As Manza-Zadek wheezed through his wounds, the black steel arrows' curse coursed through his veins like venom searing his nerves.
Yet he rose to his feet.
"I cannot abide you after all."
"Don't do something foolish, Golden King. Truth be told, I rather like you. Among the Yaegas divine kings, you're the only one with any shame. I'd prefer to let you go painlessly, but do you court death?"
"Yes. At least... I'll buy some time."
"Foolishness..."
Hatir sneered at Manza-Zadek from the throne and drew a dagger.
At that moment, a black arrow flew toward his temple. A black steel arrow targeted Chieftain Hatir.
*Ugh!? So that's it!*
Only then did Hatir realize why the battered Manza-Zadek had suddenly risen to challenge him—but it was too late.