Without anyone in the Kingdom of Kingdragon noticing, the tragedy that would culminate in the fall of almost the entire royal family began with the arrival of a strange visitor.
In the skies of the Southern Kingdom, a huge bird cut through the clouds, as fast and as fierce as a dragon.
Anyone who saw it in passing would notice that this creature did not belong to this place.
This was a King Gigantic Jaw.
A territorial creature that lived exclusively on the Celestial Continent, and that never left the region where it was born.
However, on that occasion, there were special circumstances.
The Gigantic Jaw descended upon a small town in the Kingdom of Kingdragon, and then began an indiscriminate massacre of its inhabitants.
Without warning, without reason, without distinguishing women, the elderly, or children — the colossal bird killed everything it saw, spreading terror across the small town.
But after a long desperate fight, the local guards managed to bring the creature down, sinking arrows, spears, and blades into it until it finally collapsed.
The population celebrated the bitter victory.
However…
As everyone looked at the enormous carcass of the beast, no one noticed what had truly arrived in that place.
From inside the creature's throat, oozing like putrid blood, a dark-blue slime insinuated itself out, moving as if it were alive.
It crawled across the stone floor and chose its new host.
A soldier. The one who had fought most bravely to defend the town.
Before the man could even scream, the slime penetrated his body… and consumed his will.
His mind went out like a candle. His body became a shell, guided only by the desire of that parasite.
Days passed.
A small surviving party set out for the capital seeking help from the king. They needed funds for reconstruction and supplies.
The slime-possessed soldier walked among them in a strangely silent manner.
On the road, they were attacked by a pack of Fenris Wolves, cruel predators of the mountains.
The soldier, now a mere puppet, was brought down and killed by one of the wolves.
But the blue slime simply abandoned the lifeless corpse and, silently, chose its new skin.
A woman from the group, carrying a sturdy shield and a thin sword.
And so they continued their journey, crossing mountains and damp woods, until they finally reached the capital of the Kingdom of Kingdragon.
They were received by the court, and it did not take long before they were authorized to request an audience with the royal family.
But the king was ill. And so, the responsibility fell on the Third Prince, Philip Kingdragon.
An extraordinary and respected young mage.
It was at the moment they met that the plans of the strange creature were put into practice.
The instant the prince's eyes fell upon the group, the blue slime left its body like an arrow, leaping directly toward the prince.
The following events could not be narrated by anyone.
For everyone in that room was killed by Prince Philip himself.
Being an extremely skilled mage, a single high-level spell was enough to kill them.
Only Philip Kingdragon emerged alive from that room, and he claimed that he had been attacked by the group, retaliating and killing them all.
But it was no longer he who controlled his actions.
That was the true beginning of the conspiracy.
The silent arrival of the being who would rule Hell: Vita. The Nether King.
---
It was from that point that the investigation by the envoys of the Kingdom of Gaia began.
According to the accounts of the guards, servants, and nobles who witnessed the recent events, everything had begun shortly after that incident with the Third Prince.
After the strange audience, the Magic Prince isolated himself in the Magic Tower of the capital and remained there for days, completely engrossed in some kind of research.
Apparently, he frequently called people to assist him.
At the present moment, Weys was interrogating the head maid responsible for serving the Third Prince directly.
They were inside a private chamber of the castle.
"Wait, what did Prince Philip request?" Weys interrupted.
The maid looked confused to be questioned about this, but spoke again:
"Huh, he requested the ring that was used by Lord Randolph Marianne, the Death God. Is that important?"
Weys frowned.
"Why would he request that?" he asked.
"Lord Philip only said that he needed the ring for his latest magical research," the maid clarified.
"He made the request directly to King Leonard."
Weys leaned back in his chair, reflecting. Then he asked:
"And did the King grant it?"
"Not immediately." The maid shook her head.
"But after a while, His Majesty believed that this strange research might be related to Lord Philip's emotional instability… so he finally asked Lord Randolph. But he did not force him to hand it over. After all, it was a personal item of the Death God himself!"
Weys closed his eyes for a brief moment. His instinct told him that there was something important related to that ring.
"Randolph Marianne delivered the ring for the research, then?" he continued.
The woman nodded quickly.
"The Lord Death God did not care much, especially when he discovered it would be useful for the prince's research. And since it was a request from the King, he saw no reason to refuse."
Weys was thinking about many things, questioning what the importance of the ring might be.
"And after that?" he asked.
The woman took a deep breath.
"After that… everything became increasingly confusing. That was the last time I heard anything about the matter."
Her voice sounded somewhat shaky.
"Two days later, Lord Randolph Marianne betrayed the Kingdom of Kingdragon. He personally massacred the Royal Guard and the entire Royal Family…"
She brought a hand to her mouth, seeming reluctant to say those words.
Weys asked a few more questions about various topics, then dismissed her.
Alone, he went to a balcony of the castle.
It had been two days since the start of the investigation. He interrogated guards, nobles, mages, and even criminals.
He interrogated the insurgent leader Jonk Honnar, and questioned every servant who had not been killed in the incident. He also cross-checked information with Jino, Pursena, and the others, who were conducting their own searches.
But it seemed that the more he discovered, the less sense it all made.
The Third Prince meets a group of strangers and suddenly isolates himself.
He asks for the Death God's ring to be used in some research.
The Death God becoming the kingdom's greatest enemy without any warning.
No logical explanation. No concrete motivation.
Weys rested both hands on the stone parapet. His eyes swept across the capital.
By putting all the pieces of the puzzle together, he was able to construct a clear timeline.
It began with the arrival of a small group coming from an isolated town on the borders of the Kingdom of Kingdragon.
The town was remote, so it would not be possible to investigate it in the short term.
The scant information stated that the group was seeking funding to rebuild their home after an attack by a huge monster bird.
But it was impossible to obtain more details, since all those who had come from that town died at the hands of the Third Prince.
After this event, reports of strange behavior involving Prince Philip began.
People who lived with him reported empty expressions, mechanical behavior, and apathy.
And this phenomenon was not limited to the prince.
The more someone interacted with him, the more quickly these same symptoms would appear.
It was like a silent epidemic spreading through the royal castle, contaminating servants, guards, nobles, and court mages — gradually affecting the administration of the kingdom itself.
But the true turning point occurred during a specific night.
Philip Kingdragon summoned Randolph Marianne to the Magic Tower, under the pretext of returning the ring he had borrowed — the previous day.
The Death God accepted the invitation without suspecting anything, initially unconcerned.
However, to Weys, who had an outside perspective, it was very clear that this was highly suspicious.
Even with several people already "infected" by that bizarre mental state, none of them ever approached Randolph directly.
Not even the prince himself made direct contact when requesting the ring.
He used the King as an intermediary.
And then, suddenly calling Randolph for a face-to-face meeting in the tower, at night, was… extremely suspicious.
And as if to confirm the worst expectations — several reports mentioned sounds of battle coming from inside the Magic Tower that night.
When the official inspection was carried out after the incident, even traces of the ability of the Demon Eye of the Absolute Void were detected.
And when the Death God emerged from the Magic Tower…
He left nothing but blood and death in his wake.
The Third Prince, all the court mages — anyone who had been inside the tower — had been slaughtered by his blade.
Then, he began his hunt.
The first envoy sent to stop him was the Black Lion, King Leonard's personal guard — one of the strongest warriors in the entire Kingdom of Kingdragon.
The few survivors who witnessed the confrontation reported the same empty, cold, and apathetic behavior in Randolph.
He had been the Black Lion's best friend. But that meant absolutely nothing in their fight.
With the unique ability of the Sword of Bewitching, Randolph killed the warrior.
After that, he moved straight to the royal palace.
It was as if he knew exactly where each family member was — and even where they might try to flee — as if he were omniscient.
King Leonard, his brothers, his wives, concubines, children and grandchildren...
All exterminated.
He who bore the title "Death God" proved himself worthy of that title more than ever.
No warrior, no number of enemies was able to stop him.
After completing his massacre, Randolph left the palace, and according to witnesses, departed the capital of the Kingdom of Kingdragon without delay.
With the King dead — and the heirs practically wiped out — the Black Lion's son, Jonk Honnar, organized an insurrection.
He executed two princes and nearly took the throne for himself.
If it were not for the young Prince Richard having managed to get in touch with the Iron Legion, the entire royal lineage might already have disappeared.
Now, Weys faced a dilemma.
He had reconstructed the entire process. He had the full picture of those physically responsible for the massacre.
He even knew how it had happened.
But the most important thing was missing.
Who was really behind it all.
He had no concrete clue as to the origin of that mental contamination.
No explanation for the bizarre behavior of the Third Prince and the Death God.
No way to know how Hitogami could have manipulated that entire disaster.
The enemy had not left even a crumb behind.
Weys sighed deeply. He needed to speak with the others. Perhaps Jino, Pursena, or the others had discovered something that was missing.
----
A short time later, the investigative group met again. But despite all effort, the result was the same as Weys had found.
No solid proof or lead.
The true culprit remained in the shadows.
With that in mind, Weys issued a new order:
"Three warriors will go to the small town attacked by the giant bird. Perhaps there we will find something that escaped our reach here."
A few more days passed.
With the capital under control and the situation stable, it was decided that Jino, Pursena, and part of the contingent would return to the Kingdom of Gaia.
They would be responsible for delivering to Rygar a detailed report of everything they had discovered, even if the truth was still incomplete.
Weys, for his part, would remain in the Kingdom of Kingdragon for a while.
The new prince did not yet have full support, and many would try to take advantage of the political crisis.
Until power was fully consolidated, Weys would remain stationed at the Iron Legion's Base in the capital.
At the same time, news spread rapidly across the world.
The Death God had rebelled.
He exterminated the royal family and disappeared without a trace.
Now, he is one of the most wanted men in the world.
And so, the people were left with a name and a culprit to hate.
Far from everyone's sight, the true responsible party — Vita, the Nether King— continued unseen.
His movements and intentions remained a closely guarded secret.
No one knew his objective. No one knew when he would act again.
But one thing was certain.
The tragedy in the Kingdom of Kingdragon was only the beginning of his machinations.
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