The throne room of the Emperor's Castle in Cinder was a scene of unroyal devastation. Chairs, tables, and priceless imperial artifacts were scattered, splintered, and smashed. The damage was entirely due to the raw, unleashed fury of Emperor Arthur Delacronix, who was carrying out his rage on the furnishings.
"Calm down!" Lysandra commanded, her voice sharp enough to cut through the Emperor's tantrum. "Don't take out your frustration on things! This room is a mess because of you!"
"Why should I be calm?" Arthur roared, kicking the leg off a silver stool. "Where did he go? How did he escape? Were those lazy soldiers asleep that they didn't notice the Tetrarch of Blight vanish from the floor?"
"Trust me, Arthur. There are so much more important things to worry about than the escape of the Tetrarch of Blight," Lysandra said, her tone level but severe.
"Oh?" Arthur folded his arms across his massive chest, his breathing heavy. "Then lecture me, my dearest Queen. What, precisely, is more important than this gross failure of security?"
Queen Lysandra paused, her eyes narrowing in dark contemplation before she continued. "Earlier, I saw a vision. Aethelgard's doom is near! The chaos is already at our borders. And there is the troubling prophecy from the Seer that haunts every corridor of this castle. And here you are worried that just a single prisoner escaped? Give me a break here!" she scolded, turning her back to the mess.
At that charged moment, the majestic iron doors to the throne room fluttered open, seemingly without being touched. A young man, his face grim and bearing the stark exhaustion of a long journey and a sleepless night, walked in. It was Caius.
He stepped onto the blood-stained carpet and stood before the Emperor and his Queen, his gaze unwavering.
"Yes? Who are you, and what is it that you seek?" Arthur questioned, annoyed at the interruption but not yet recognizing the monumental threat standing before him.
"My identity is of no importance," Caius replied.
In one fluid motion, he raised the two signature guns in his hands, aiming them straight at the Emperor and Empress. He pulled the triggers simultaneously. The gun in his left hand spat a roaring, flaming bullet that pierced Arthur's head, while the gun in his right released a condensed, hardened frozen bullet that pierced Lysandra's head.
The Emperor and his wife fell instantly to the ground, their bodies motionless in a pool of fresh and old blood. Caius approached the silent forms, his face devoid of emotion, and continued to shoot at their inert bodies, pumping round after round of fire and ice into them until he felt absolutely sure that they were destroyed beyond any immediate reassembly.
"Well," Caius mused aloud, staring down at the devastation. "This is the beginning of Chronohelix's victory."
Meanwhile, back at the abandoned corner in Cinder, Gwen's eyes fluttered open. She slowly stood up from her slumber, the cold immediately seizing her. She smiled softly as she remembered the events of the previous night, but her smile quickly faded as she realized that Caius wasn't there.
She was shocked but quickly dressed. She took Caius's cape—which he had thoughtfully used to cover her while she slept—and wore the thick fabric. Then she began to search for him, asking the few early morning passersby and vendors if they had perhaps seen the exhausted man with the dual guns.
While all this was on, the day's newspaper was scattered all over the country of Aethelgard. Due to certain urgent and unknown reasons, the newspaper was being sold for free. The headline, which was being passed across to every citizen, read: A NEW DAWN IN AETHELGARD! The article, however, didn't reveal much, which only created deeper questions among the people, leading to a bubbling sense of curiosity and unease.
Simultaneously, in the distant province of Wane, shrouded completely in eternal twilight, the people were already filled with questions about the strange, cryptic news they had just received. Suddenly, just like the second scene in Lysandra's recent vision, a massive lightning bolt struck a major building, destroying it completely and drawing the attention of every citizen from the perplexing news to the immediate scene of destruction.
The people of Chronohelix sent to Wane had begun their attack. In the center of this lightning-fueled assault was the El Zoranda clan contingent, led by Banabas El Zoranda, renowned for his command over lightning as he was a master of lightning hera.
The attack took the local populace completely by surprise, and they immediately ran screaming for their lives. The people of Chronohelix, however, made sure to not kill anyone; instead, they moved with organized precision, capturing every civilian and tying them down as if to say they were going to make them their slaves.
Simultaneously, fierce attacks utilizing Flames, Water, Earth, and Lightning hit the country hard in other provinces. Reports immediately reached the remaining Tetrarchs, who swiftly sent out their standing armies to the battlegrounds to address the issue.
"Hey!" the leader of the imperial army called out to Banabas in Wane. As soon as the well-equipped army arrived, the terrified people of Wane began to feel hopeful again.
"As you can see, we are in control here," Banabas announced, lightning crackling around his body as he faced the incoming troops. "Just surrender, and we will spare your lives."
"That's something we'd never do," the leader of the army replied, raising his sword.
Just as they were about to clash, a familiar voice cried out, "Bluish Hell!" With that command, a wave of ferocious, blue flames came from nowhere and consumed all the imperial soldiers of Wane in one fell swoop.
"No!" Banabas screamed, covering his eyes, but it was too late. The entire imperial force was reduced to ash.
The attack came from Sunday.
"Are you guys alright?" Solomon El Vitrifex asked, his voice calm, as he and Sunday approached the stunned group of rebels.
"Sunday, why did you do that?" Banabas demanded, his face tight with controlled rage.
"Why did I do what? You mean I shouldn't save you from a fight you were clearly about to lose?" Sunday asked, his hands still smoking faintly.
"No!" Banabas replied, gesturing wildly. "We were strictly instructed not to kill anyone if we can!"
"Well, I wasn't in the camp when that was said, but now that you've told me, I won't do it again," Sunday admitted, shrugging off the mistake. "However, how do we fight then, without the intent to kill? What is the limit?"
There was a silence among the three of them—Banabas, Sunday, and Solomon—as they were utterly clueless as to how to balance the necessity of combat with the restriction against killing.
Inside the devastated throne room, Caius stood over the motionless bodies of Arthur and Lysandra, his heart still pounding from the execution. He walked around the room, holstering his guns and silently wondering what his next immediate course of action should be—perhaps finding a hidden channel to report the Emperor's death.
At that moment, piercing the sudden quiet, Arthur's voice rang through the room, chilling Caius to the core.
"Hah! You must be the Puppet Master if you came here to kill me."
Caius froze, turning to see a truly horrifying sight. Emperor Arthur and Queen Lysandra began to rise gradually from the floor, their charred and frozen wounds knitting themselves closed in gruesome reverse. They ascended like vengeful hawks, completely whole within seconds.
Caius's eyes widened in profound shock, the truth of their dark immortality project crashing down on him. How are they still alive? he mused, instantly drawing his guns again.
"Hahahaha!" Lysandra and Arthur laughed menacingly, the sound echoing their power as they stood fully before the spy. Lysandra said, her voice dripping with scorn, "That facial expression of yours confirms that you're not aware that we are immortal."
"Also, you said Chronohelix? What's that?" Arthur questioned, adjusting his now pristine coat. "Is that the new name of Thorenzia?"
"Even if I explain, you wouldn't understand," Caius stated, closing his eyes. His body strained under the pressure of the Curse of Zaa's activation; blood began to stream out of his tear ducts, running down his cheeks, pooling, and dripping onto the carpet as if they were true tears of anguish.
"Is he crying blood? How is that even possible?" Arthur questioned, his gaze fixed on Caius, momentarily fascinated by the gruesome display.
Arthur and Lysandra observed the motionless spy for several tense moments.
"Well, if you won't attack," Lysandra said, her fascination turning to predatory focus as she lunged at Caius, fire radiating from her palms. "Then I will!"
Suddenly, Caius's eyes snapped open. They were no longer tearful; they glowed with the blinding, absolute power of the bloody reddish Curse. Lysandra suddenly stopped her attack, frozen just inches from striking him.
"Babe, what's the matter?" Arthur questioned, his eyes widening in a mixture of shock and fear as he realized what was happening.
At that moment, Lysandra turned slowly around to face Arthur. Her eyes now glowed with the same menacing, bloody red hue, indicating that she was fully under Caius's control.
"How dare you control my Queen?" Arthur bellowed, pure fury consuming him.
"Kill him," Caius ordered Lysandra, the command straining his throat.
Instantly, Lysandra launched a furious attack on Arthur. Arthur stabbed her repeatedly with his sword, but her wounds healed as quickly as he inflicted them—the immortality of the imperial dark project now serving his enemy. She continued to press her attack, cornering Arthur near the broken balcony, and was about to land a fatal blow. But Arthur, desperate and enraged, sent a blinding cyclone filled with sharpened blades directly at Caius.
The attack shredded Caius, sending him flying backward, shattering the enormous window, and propelling him out of the tenth-floor balcony down to the cobblestone ground below. At that moment, the pain and distance broke the magical connection; Caius's control over Lysandra ceased, and she was free, gasping in confusion.
Meanwhile, in the devastated streets of Wane, some of the Chronohelixians were huddled in heated chats, while others were grimly looking after the large numbers of captured, tied-down civilians.
Suddenly, a resonant voice boomed, "Black hole!" A swirling black circle instantly appeared in the twilight sky, creating a violent burst of wind and drawing anything loose—shrapnel, dust, and people—into its devastating vortex.
It was Rex, the Tetrarch of Wane, a man who commanded gravity and voids. His appearance was supposed to bring hope to the people of Wane, but it did the opposite. Out of the two dozen people caught in the blast, fifteen were terrified citizens of Wane. Civilians and rebels alike scrambled, holding onto anything solid to avoid being sucked into the hole.
"Tetrarch Rex! Please, your attack has sucked more allies than foes!" a citizen of Wane complained desperately while clinging to a lamppost.
But due to the deafening roar of the manufactured wind, Rex couldn't hear a thing.
Sunday's expression hardened, his gaze locking onto Rex. "Idiot! How can you attack your own allies as well?" he muttered, boiling with anger as he stepped forward, the heat already radiating off his body.
Rex smiled, enjoying the struggle. "Oh? You are not fazed by this much wind."
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to break that rule of yours, Banabas," Sunday mused, pure destructive intent washing over him. "Because I'm going to kill this monster here."
Just like Wane, the remaining eleven Tetrarchs across the country had made their decisive moves, confronting the Chronohelixians who had infiltrated their respective provinces, igniting total war.
Meanwhile, back in Cinder, outside the castle, Caius coughed out great gouts of blood as he lay broken on the cold stone pavement, unable to get up. Arthur and Lysandra appeared at the shattered window above, looking down on the spy with menacing laughter.
Gwen suddenly ran into the square after spotting the figure from afar. "NO!" She screamed in horror, running to his side. She laid his head in her arms, and immediately, a bright, powerful green light began to glow from her hands—the healing power of Dex.
"Dex, huh?" Lysandra frowned from above, instantly recognizing the unique technique.
The Queen unleashed a series of scorching fireballs directly at Gwen, aiming to vaporize the healer. Gwen's eyes widened in absolute fear as she watched the fast-approaching, fiery death flying toward them.
At that exact moment, a familiar, furious voice boomed, "Light in the darkness!" Immediately, a dark and reddish light—a blast of immense energy—suddenly erupted and hit the fireballs, vaporizing them mid-air and saving Gwen and Caius and catching both Arthur and Lysandra by surprise
"Caius!" The voice called out. It was Valerus, his face etched with grim determination. He rushed to his fallen friend's side, Apex and Valor already drawn.
Caius struggled to speak, looking up at his commander. Valerus leaned forward so that Caius could whisper into his ear. "V… Va…" he struggled, choking and coughing out more blood, the end already upon him.
Valerus looked down at him, his face twisted with sorrow and gathering rage. "Don't worry, old friend. Leave the rest to me!"
Caius relaxed, a ghost of a genuine smile touching his lips. He managed one last, clear word: "Thank you."
At that moment, the spy Caius breathed his last, the smile fixed in place. Gwen began to weep uncontrollably, clutching his lifeless body.
"Young lady, I don't know how you met Caius, but please, keep an eye on him," Valerus said, his voice low and trembling with suppressed power. The Lightning Hera ability, which he had been struggling so hard to master, suddenly began striking and sparking all over his body, enveloping him in crackling electricity. "I'll be back." His gold-glowing eyes were fixed on the figures in the castle above, his anger boiling over into pure, destructive intent.
Valerus, fueled by grief and rage, walked into the castle, drawing both Apex and Valor. The war had just become personal.