Chapter Twelve — Underworld Strikes: Betrayal
Silence fell like a blade across the Underworld chamber.
Valefar craned his head. "Who said that?"
Around the circle Ezra, Kyle, Ashley, and Sai sank to their knees, breath ragged, guilt and resolve written on every face.
Valefar's eyes widened, disbelief curdling into rage. "Impossible… how are you alive!? Don't tell me you planned this!"
Paul's voice cut through the tension, calm and quiet as a knife. "Planned? No… not this outcome. It was a last-minute deal."
Ezra stared, baffled. "What are you talking about, my king?"
Paul met his gaze without flinching. "I made a deal with one of the Underworld rulers—if he helped me, I'd give him the entire Underworld to rule."
Valefar stepped forward, wild. "What!? Which ruler accepted that offer!?"
Paul shrugged almost apologetically. "He didn't take anything from me. Instead, he changed the ritual spell—allowed me to emerge from Valecton."
Valefar's scream split the air. "I'll kill you! Bring my brother back!"
Paul's face hardened. "Remember this: if you lose control of both energies, you'll go berserk. Before that happens, I'll end you." He raised his hands and the chamber answered—Grand Chaos, Lucid Dominion uncoiled like a living thing.
Valefar's breath hitched. Recognition and fury warred across his features. "That's my brother's technique—!"
The call of Lucid Dominion found its mark. Valefar's limbs froze; his gaze drifted inward until the Wisest Lord was gone—consumed by an eternal abyss of dreams. The Underworld ruler collapsed into a void of his own making.
Paul stepped forward. "It's done. I just need to retrieve both my soul and his." He touched Valefar's inert form. The lord shivered, turned into a glowing sphere—and Paul drew that light into himself until only silence remained.
---
Ukoballon laughed as the battlefield reared and tore. "You're quite formidable… bleeding—but it ends here!" He unleashed his signature ruin: Grand Chaos—Peak of Destruction.
The world detonated. A cataclysmic explosion split earth from stone, leaving a smoking crater where champions had stood. Ukoballon coughed and laughed weakly, the pride in his voice turning brittle. "All talk and no action… Look at you—burned already—Wait, what?! You're a clone!?"
He didn't have time to finish. A blade sank deep into his chest.
"Finally, I have the chance to exact my revenge," Cremoneth said, voice like grinding metal.
Catherine watched, stunned, as Cremoneth closed his fist around the hilt. "A surprising twist…" she managed.
Cremoneth's grin was ugly. "I just stabbed you right where Lady Creation touched your soul." He laughed, savage and triumphant. "Come forth, my king—no, come forth, our King of Creations!"
Ukoballon's howl spiked through the smoke. As the life drained from him, the air tore; Paul emerged from the slain lord's body as if he had been waiting there all along, absorbing what remained. Ukoballon's final words rasped into the wind. "Cremoneth… you Judas!!"
Cremoneth dropped to one knee. "Welcome, King of Creations," he said, voice thick with the iron of fate.
Paul met him with a single, searching look. "Hello, Cremoneth. And you too, Mother."
Catherine's face crumpled with a survivor's exhaustion. "How long has it been since I last saw you?"
Paul shook his head. "I need to do something first, Mother."
A portal yawed open and Riley stepped through, urgency written in his every movement.
"What is it, Riley?" Paul asked.
Riley saluted breathlessly. "It's an emergency, my king. The Realm Leaders have attacked our allies—Aethonix, the Realm of Elves."
Paul's face flushed. "What!?"
"I came as soon as I sensed your presence," Riley said.
Paul's telepathic whisper slid through the air like a command. Listen, my other half—come here so we can merge.
Right away, other me, answered the other half of him, a voice as unfamiliar as it was resonant. Looks like my other half has emerged. Let's go meet him.
"Who did you send to help them?" Paul asked.
"Rahm, my lord," Riley replied.
Paul took one steadying breath. "We need to return to the castle and plan."
He did not wait. The two halves of him converged, a bright seam of agony and power, and folded into a single being once more. When the merging finished, Paul sagged with exhaustion but rose steadier for it.
Ezra bowed his head. "Welcome back, my king."
"Open a portal to the Aethoria Realm immediately," Paul ordered. "The Realm Leaders have begun their attack."
Ezra's fingers moved through the old gestures and the world opened—an archway of light. Paul's knees buckled; he collapsed from the strain as the portal hummed steady and true.
---
Three hours later, the war room thrummed with the noise of urgent minds and whispered maps.
"Kyle," Paul murmured hoarsely from where he lay being tended, "what's the status?"
Kyle had already taken command. His voice was calm but iron-tough. "Sorry for the delay, everyone. The king needs time to rest, so I'll take charge of war welfare. Maria—your report."
Maria stepped forward, voice flat with the kind of threshing grief that comes with casualty lists. "Yes, sir. In Aethonix, the Kingdom of Ivyterre was attacked—ten thousand casualties: two thousand dead, eight thousand injured. Rahm teleported the remaining citizens to Leonesa City in the Aethoria Realm."
Kyle keyed the facts into a mental grid. "Good. Please bear with me, Shota Aethonix. I promise to fight and win for our sake. I need the exact number of soldiers that attacked Ivyterre."
Shota's reply was steady. "Thirty thousand soldiers in total—three thousand mixed mages, three thousand holy mages, three thousand dark mages; the rest foot soldiers."
Ashley's eyes went hard. "They were well prepared. But why Ivyterre?"
Shota's hand went to his chin. "That's where Velt minerals grow. It's the center of trade and commerce."
Kyle's mouth pressed thin. "Take out the food supply area and the city will starve. The nobles will be forced into the light. Duke Austin and his allies will appear as saviors."
Maria's voice carried a note of concern. "Rahm couldn't hold off that many mages at once—teleportation took a toll on him."
"Kyle, said. "Ashley, go support Rahm Wynter. Before you go—"
"I'm ready," she said.
"Kyle continued, voice firmer, "Sai, attend to the injured and support Maya Reyes. Time for a countermeasure."
Ezra asked, practical as ever, "What's the plan, right-hand man?"
Kyle tapped a ring in thought. "Luminaria is our strongest realm—Spirit Warriors. Luna Nightshade, I need ten Spirit Warriors to support Ashley and Rahm. One Spirit Warrior equals a hundred armed men."
Luna hesitated. "Yes, but—"
Before she could finish, Beams—an informant who seemed to melt out of Shota's shadow—stepped forward.
"I've brought new information, sir," Beams said, breathless.
Kyle did not pause. "What news?"
"Each realm is sending eight hundred thousand soldiers," Beams replied.
Ashley choked on the number. "Eight hundred thousand!? That's too many!"
Beams nodded. "They're heading toward Xanders Realm."
Ashley didn't need to be told twice. "Then I'll go support Rahm. Luna—where will I meet your warriors?"
"In front of Gialobory City, in Luminaria Realm," Luna said. A portal shimmered open and Ashley left without a backward glance.
Kyle turned to the next source. "Good luck. Now that she's gone, let's focus on the commander-in-chief."
Another shadow peeled away from Kyle—Ehis, quietly materializing with her own dossier. "I bring my report, right-hand man. Maxwell Matsumoto is the commander-in-chief."
Kyle's jaw tightened. "We're facing six realms—Elyndor, Zenithor, Calanthor, Xanders, Nova Heaven, and Arkon."
Maria swallowed. "Each realm sends eight hundred thousand troops."
Valot did the math without debate. "That's four million, eight hundred thousand soldiers in total."
Luna's face fell. "My father will likely join the battle…"
Paul's humor was brittle as he tried to put the scale in perspective. "To kill that many, you'd need more than six nuclear missiles."
Kyle barked a short laugh and then sobered. Catherine, roused and watching the tally, said simply, "I never knew the realms had such massive armies."
"They're smart," Paul said. "They won't send all of them at once."
Ehis's face went tight. "My king—their next target is Colfroles Kingdom, the capital of Luminaria Realm."
Luna's hands covered her mouth. "My family! Please—let me go home and help."
"No need," Paul said. "How many soldiers are marching toward Colfroles?"
"Eight hundred thousand troops from the Arkon Realm," Ehis answered.
Kyle's voice was raw with anger. "They're trying to take out the strongest realm first to leave us defenseless."
Paul looked at his mother and spoke without pretense. "Mother, show me how powerful you are. Wipe them out with a single strike."
Ezra's protest was immediate. "That's impossible, my king!"
Catherine only nodded and straightened, the old ferocity of a mother-queen slipping back into place. "Okay, my king."
A portal opened to Colfroles Kingdom, the capital of Luminaria. The air before it trembled with the weight of everything to come: armies, bargains, betrayals, and the battered will of those who would fight to hold the realms together.
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