[SKILL ACTIVATED: Imperial Wrath]
[ALL STATS INCREASED BY 500%]
[DURATION: 60 SECONDS]
[COST: TOTAL HEALTH UPON EXPIRATION]
His blade took Duke Valen's head before the politician could finish his sentence. The head hit the ground with a wet thump, eyes still wide with shock.
Duke Theron roared and charged. His greatsword came down in a devastating overhead strike that would have split a massive boulder in two perfect, sandwich-like slices.
Aldric caught the greatsword with his bare hand.
Blood ran down his arm where the blade bit into his palm, but he didn't care. He twisted, yanked the sword from Theron's grip, and drove his own blade through the military genius's heart.
"You were my brother," Aldric whispered as life faded from Theron's eyes. "I would have died for you."
Duke Cassius stumbled backward in fear, his golden constructs forming desperate walls between him and the Emperor. "Wait! Your Majesty, I can explain! We were forced! The Scourge threatened to—"
Aldric walked through the constructs like they were paper. His blade found Cassius's throat with surgical precision.
"I'll kill you all again in the afterlife." was all he said. "Wash your necks as you wait for my descent."
The three Dukes who had helped him build an empire lay dead at his feet. Their blood mixed with Seraphina's, painting the stone a deep crimson.
It should have felt satisfying to kill them. It should have felt like justice was served. But... It felt like nothing happened at all.
Around him, the battle still raged. The Infected swarmed the walls, the Scourge poured through broken gates, and above it all, the Scourge Monarch watched their play with inhuman patience.
Aldric raised his blade to the sky.
"COME THEN!" His voice echoed across the battlefield. "COME AND TAKE ME!"
They came in the thousands.
A tide of flesh and metal crashed against him like an ocean against a cliff. But Aldric was a Level 487 Sage Tier warrior, thirteen levels from the peak, and even wounded, even broken, even dying, he was still the Crimson Emperor.
His blade sang.
An Infected Tier Scourge lunged at him, its jaws wide. He took its head. Two more replaced it. He killed them both. Five more came. He carved through them like wheat.
[INFECTED x50 SLAIN]
A Mutated Tier, larger and faster than the basic troops of infected, crashed into his side. Its claws raked across his armor, drawing blood. Aldric grabbed its head and crushed its skull with his bare hands.
[MUTATED x1 SLAIN]
They kept coming in waves. They would always keep coming.
His health bar dropped to red. His stamina was nearly depleted. The 60-second boost from Imperial Wrath was fading, and when it did, he would die.
But until then...
[INFECTED x2000 SLAIN]
[MUTATED x450 SLAIN]
[TAINTED LORD x3 SLAIN]
He fought like a man possessed. Every swing of his blade took lives. Every step forward left corpses in his wake. His white cloak, the symbol of his empire, turned completely red.
The remaining soldiers watched in awe and horror. Their Emperor, wounded and betrayed, fighting alone against an endless horde. Some wept. Some prayed for a miracle to happen. Some simply stared reverence.
None came to help. They knew it would be pointless.
[INFECTED x5000 SLAIN]
[MUTATED x890 SLAIN]
[TAINTED LORD x5 SLAIN]
Aldric's arms burned. His legs screamed. His vision blurred. But still he fought.
A thousand enemies became three thousand. Three thousand became five thousand. The corpses piled so high they formed a wall around him, a grotesque monument to his fury.
But this surge in power wasn't permanent as his skill soon expired.
The boost vanished. His strength fled from his worn out body. His legs finally gave out.
Aldric fell to his knees, his blade clattering from his numb fingers. Blood poured from dozens of wounds. His health bar blinked, almost empty.
The Infected circled him, but didn't attack. They simply waited.
Above, the Scourge Monarch finally descended. It landed before Aldric with surprising grace, its form shifting and writhing in ways that hurt to look at.
When it spoke, its voice was like grinding metal and breaking glass.
"IMPRESSIVE. FOR A MORTAL."
Aldric spat blood at its feet. "Go to hell."
"THERE IS NO HELL. NO HEAVEN. ONLY THE SCOURGE." The Monarch tilted its head. "YOU FOUGHT WELL. YOU WILL MAKE A FINE ADDITION TO MY TROOPS."
"I'd rather die."
"DEATH IS NOT AN ESCAPE."
The creature reached for him.
Aldric's hand found the orb that Seraphina had given to him in his pocket. It was his only ticket to survival. All he had to do was crush it and he would be teleported away. He would live to fight another day.
His fingers closed around it.
He thought of Seraphina's smile. Her sacrifice. Her final words.
'Live. Survive. Remember me.'
He thought of his empire, burning and broken. Of the billions dead. Of the 18% of humanity that still clung to life in scattered pockets across the world.
He thought of his failures. His mistakes. His misplaced trust.
If he ran now, what would it mean? What would survive of him except the memory of an emperor who abandoned his people at the end?
Aldric looked down at the orb. Then he looked at the Scourge Monarch. And he made his choice.
His fingers opened. The orb rolled from his palm and fell to the ground, where it shattered on the blood-soaked stone.
The blue light flickered and died.
"Forgive me, Sera," Aldric whispered. "I can't run. Not from this. Not from them."
The Scourge Monarch paused. For a moment, something almost like respect flickered in its inhuman eyes.
"SO BE IT."
The Scourge Monarch raised one hand.
The world went white.
---
[SYSTEM ALERT: FATAL DAMAGE RECEIVED]
[Health: 0%]
[YOU HAVE DIED. RESPAWN FUNCTION IS UNAVAILABLE]
---
In his last moment, as his consciousness flickered like a dying candle, Aldric Thorne, Emperor of the Crimson Empire, Warlord of Ten Thousand Armies, The Last Bulwark, had one final thought:
'If I could do it all again...'
'I would do everything different.'
The thought dissolved and the light faded.
Emperor Aldric Thorne, Level 487 Sage Tier, died at the age of 38, having failed to save the world.
The empire had fallen. The emperor had died. But some deaths... are just new beginnings.
---
[SYSTEM ERROR: Temporal Anomaly Detected]
[Unknown Item Initiating Protocol: REGRESSION]
[Target: Player "Aldric Thorne"]
[WARNING: This Is Not Authorized]
[WARNING: Reality Anchor Unstable]
[WARNING: Memories May Fragment]
[REGRESSION COMMENCING...]