Chapter 106: The Awakening of the Sovereign — The Wrath That Crosses the Horizon
I. The Alchemy of Resurrection
The Hall of the Sacred Pool was submerged in a deathly silence, broken only by the rhythmic dripping of blood and the unstable hum of defensive formations flickering on the verge of collapse. The air smelled of iron, cold sweat, and the static of fear.
Lilith, the Great Elder, held the ingredients with hands that, for the first time in centuries, were trembling. To her right, the Star Dragon Root pulsed like a heart torn from the earth, emitting arcs of blue electricity that sought to connect with the ground. To her left, suspended in Violeta's force field, the Ancestral Phoenix Tear burned with an intensity that made eyes water—a liquid, furious sun trapped in crystal.
—"The Patriarch's body is at its limit," Elowen warned, monitoring Samael's pulse from the edge of the pool. Her voice was a terrified whisper. "His core is fragmented. If the energy from these treasures is too violent, we won't wake him… we'll detonate him."
Seraphina, sitting by Samael's head, stroked her husband's pale forehead. Her own frost crown glowed dimly, resonating with his dormant void. —"Do it," Seraphina ordered, her voice imbued with an imperial authority that admitted no doubt. "He is no common mortal. His soul has devoured empires before. Do not fear the medicine; fear what will happen if he does not wake."
Lilith nodded. With a solemn movement, she dropped the Root and the Tear into the pool's water simultaneously.
The world seemed to stop.
For a second, nothing happened. The ingredients sank into the clear water. Then, the water boiled. Not with heat, but with presence.
A pillar of golden and crimson light erupted from the pool, piercing the hall's ceiling, punching through the clouds above the Morningstar Citadel, and tinting the night with an artificial dawn. The roar was not auditory, it was spiritual; a shockwave of pure Qi that threw the healers backward and cracked the marble columns.
Inside the pool, Samael's body arched violently. His pale skin fractured like old porcelain, and beneath it, a violet light—dark and hungry—began to devour reality.
II. The System Restart (Internal Perspective)
In the darkness of his own mind, Samael floated in an endless black ocean. There was no pain, no time, no memory. Only the absolute cold of the Void.
But then, a mechanical voice, cold yet strangely comforting, broke through eternity.
[...System Restarting...] [Detecting massive influx of Origin Energy (Saint Grade).] [Analyzing Ingredients: Star Dragon Root (Earth/Lightning) + Phoenix Tear (Fire/Rebirth).] [Host Compatibility: 100%.] [Initiating Reconstruction Protocol: "Void Dragon Body - Phase 2".]
Samael felt his consciousness being dragged back to his physical body with the force of a black hole. Pain returned, but it wasn't the pain of a wound; it was the pain of growth. He felt his broken bones welding with stellar metal. He felt his meridians, once dry and withered, flooded by a river of lava and lightning.
[Core Repair: Completed.] [Main Meridians: Restored and Expanded.] [Primordial Bloodline: Awakening from Lethargy.] [ATTENTION: Emotional anomaly detected in the family bond. Traces of Abyss Magic in subject: Eris Morningstar.] [Generating Patriarch's Wrath Response...]
Samael's eyes flew open. They were not human eyes. They were two violet abysses with a vertical golden slit, swirling with runes that history had forgotten.
III. The Return of the King
The water in the pool evaporated instantly, turned into a dense mist that covered the hall. From within the steam, a figure rose.
Samael Morningstar stood tall. His body, once thin and wounded, now radiated a terrifying perfection. Muscles defined as if carved from pale obsidian, veins glowing with a constant violet flow, and a spiritual pressure that made the air turn heavy as lead.
He didn't say a word. He simply breathed. And with that breath, the entire Citadel trembled. The weapons in the armory vibrated. The beasts in the stables bowed their heads.
—"Samael…" Seraphina whispered, covering her mouth with her hands, tears freezing on her cheeks.
Samael turned his head slowly. His gaze swept the room, assimilating the situation in a microsecond. He saw Lilith, exhausted. He saw Malak, kneeling in the shadows. He saw Kael, unconscious on the floor, clothes in tatters, the Odachi of the Ravenous Eclipse still clutched in his sleeping hand.
A shadow of pain crossed the Patriarch's face at the sight of his younger brother's state. —"You did well," his voice sounded strange, polyphonic, as if space itself spoke through him. "Rest, warriors. The guard shift is over. I take the watch."
Samael took a step out of the pool. The stone floor vitrified beneath his bare foot. His gaze landed on the stretcher where Eris lay.
The girl was convulsing. The black mark on her neck had grown, spreading dark tendrils toward her face. Her fire Qi was being devoured, and her skin was gray, like cold ash.
Samael's face changed. The imperial calm vanished, replaced by an expression of absolute cruelty that chilled the blood of everyone present. The air in the room dropped twenty degrees.
—"Abyss," Samael said. It wasn't a question. It was a sentence.
He approached Eris. Ignoring the corrupt heat emanating from the mark, he placed his hand on her forehead.
[System: Do you wish to initiate purification? Cost: 500 Fate Points.]
—"Not just purify," Samael growled, his eyes glowing with a murderous light. "Trace."
IV. The Wrath That Crosses the Horizon
Samael closed his eyes and activated his authority over the Void. —"Bloodline Technique: Inverse Blood Connection - 'The Eye That Devours Distance'."
In his mind, the System deployed a three-dimensional map. He followed the black thread of the curse leading out from Eris's neck. The thread pierced through the citadel walls, crossed the desert, entered the Sea of Beasts… and ended at a figure.
Hundreds of miles away, perched in the canopy of a giant tree, the "Hunter" (the half-breed who had ambushed them) sat meditating, absorbing the vital energy draining from Eris through the link. The Hunter smirked, feeling the flow of power. —"Delicious," he murmured. "Soon she will flicker out, and her fire will be mine."
Suddenly, the Hunter's eyes snapped open. The sky above him, once covered in stars, went out. It didn't get cloudy. It vanished. Two gigantic violet eyes, the size of mountains, opened in the darkness of the sky above the forest.
The Hunter shrieked, trying to cut the bond, but he was paralyzed. A divine pressure crushed him against the branch. A voice resonated in his head, so potent it burst his eardrums.
—"YOU DARED TO TOUCH WHAT IS MINE."
Back in the Citadel, Samael clenched his fist in the air. Hundreds of miles away, a giant hand made of void and gravity materialized over the forest and closed.
CRACK.
There was no battle. There was no resistance. The space where the Hunter stood simply collapsed upon itself. The tree, the beast, the ground, and the air were compressed into a sphere of dense matter the size of an apple. The curse broke at the source, and the Hunter's soul was ripped away and shredded to feed the System.
[Threat eliminated.] [Mission "The Wrath of the One Who Returns": COMPLETED.] [Reward: Immediate recovery of Eris's status. +2000 Regional Terror Points.]
V. The Renewed Oath
In the hall, Eris arched her back and released a puff of black smoke. The mark on her neck dissolved, leaving healthy, pink skin. Her breathing calmed instantly, and color returned to her cheeks.
Samael withdrew his hand, the fury in his eyes receding to make way for an unshakable serenity. He turned to those present. With a gesture of his hand, a black robe woven from shadow Qi materialized over his naked body.
He walked toward Kael, who remained unconscious on the floor. Samael knelt and gently touched his brother's shoulder, transferring a current of pure, warm Qi that healed micro-fractures and refilled his exhausted reserves. —"Sleep," Samael whispered. "You have carried the sky on your shoulders for too long."
Then, he looked at Lilith and Seraphina. —"Summon the Council," Samael ordered. His voice no longer held a trace of weakness. "Summon the Sequences. Summon every man, woman, and child who can hold a sword or a seal."
Lilith, with tears of relief in her eyes, bowed deeply. —"What is the order, Patriarch?"
Samael walked toward the balcony overlooking the citadel. He threw open the doors, and the night wind stirred his white hair and black robe. He looked toward the horizon, where enemy forces were gathering in the darkness, believing the dragon still slept.
The System projected a new interface before his eyes:
[Host Status: SOVEREIGN RANK (Restored).] [Clan Status: UNIFIED.] [External Threat Level: CRITICAL.] [Do you wish to initiate the Era of Conquest?]
Samael smiled, and it was a smile that promised the end of times for his enemies.
—"The order is simple, Aunt," Samael said without turning. "Tell them the Dragon has awakened. And that he is hungry."
—"Tomorrow, we do not defend. Tomorrow, we hunt."
VI. Epilogue: The Tremor of the World
Thousands of miles away, in the Central Temple of the Sect of the Purple Light, a sacred candle that had burned for a thousand years suddenly went out despite there being no wind. The Great Oracle of the sect woke up screaming, eyes bleeding. —"He is back!" the Oracle howled. "The Anomaly has returned! The Void has taken shape!"
In the Valois Fortress, the Patriarch felt a shiver run down his spine—a sensation of primal terror he hadn't felt since he was a child. He looked south toward the desert and saw a pillar of violet light touching the sky.
And in the depths of the Sea of Beasts, ancient creatures—those that had slept since the Age of Gods—stirred in their dens. For they recognized that Qi.
The Apex Predator had returned to the top of the food chain.
Samael Morningstar was back. And this time, there would be no mercy.