Chapter 74: The Authority of Death's End
Altlais followed the measured, silent steps of Greed, treading upon the stones of Iron Fortress. Each slab of the stone road was joined with terrifying precision—flat, hard, and clean. Along the sides, newly constructed aqueducts carried clear water in a rhythmic, peaceful flow. There was no filth here. No chaos. No sign of the "undead wasteland" they had expected.
Inside Altlais's mind, a voice crackled through the Lionheart Guard's private mental link. It was Lina.
"I've scanned them. They are normal humans."
"No mind control. No magical enslavement. Their souls are intact, and their emotional states are... stable."
Grey's heavy voice rumbled through the link, thick with disbelief. "Stable? You're telling me they're living alongside the dead? By choice? With a bunch of walking bone-racks?"
No one could answer him. Every scene they witnessed shattered the common sense they had held since birth. Undead were a Calamity. They were the synonym for destruction, the sworn enemy of all that breathed. That was the absolute consensus of every race on the continent.
Yet here, common sense lay in shards on the pavement.
Soon, they reached the Lord's Mansion. Greed came to a halt before a set of gargantuan double doors. He stepped aside, offering an impeccable gesture of invitation.
Altlais did not hesitate. He strode inside.
The room was vast but strikingly hollow. There was no throne of bone, no opulent tapestries, no statues of power. There was only a singular, massive black table. At the head of the table sat a figure.
It was an ordinary skeleton.
It sat in perfect stillness, its frame bleached clean and devoid of any ornamentation. Its empty sockets were fixed on the doorway, as if it had been waiting for them since the city's foundation.
Altlais led his six subordinates forward. They stopped at the far end of the table, facing the skeleton across the long, dark expanse. The room was so quiet that the knights could hear the thrum of their own heartbeats.
The Lionheart Guard had already coiled their bodies into states of maximum readiness. They were facing the Monarch of a rising empire—an existence that had forced the Empire to send its strongest blades just to secure a dialogue.
Yet, from the creature before them, not a single ripple of Mana leaked out.
Finally, the skeleton moved. Its skull tilted upward slightly.
"For what purpose have you come?"
Altlais took a step forward, a movement that caused his team's nerves to pull taut. He raised his hand and removed his helmet, his gaze crossing the table to lock onto Kaito.
"I am the Commander of the Royal Knights of the Odri Empire, Altlais."
"I come by the decree of His Imperial Majesty, Odri V... to seek terms of peace."
Kaito did not respond immediately. His finger bone tapped once against the polished surface of the table.
Ttap.
The crisp sound echoed through the hollow chamber like a stone dropped into a mirror-still lake.
"Peace?" Kaito repeated the word, his voice a flat, unreadable calm. "To my knowledge, no declaration of war was ever issued between us."
Altlais felt his heart sink. The response was outside any of the contingencies they had rehearsed.
"The skirmishes on the Eastern Border... the fall of Iron Fortress..."
"A defensive counter-strike," Kaito interrupted. "Your Hero intruded upon my domain with the intent to annihilate my subjects. I merely acted as any Lord would."
"Your Majesty," Altlais said, steadying his breathing. "My government is prepared to recognize the Eastern Border—including Iron Fortress and Jade Territory—as sovereign land belonging to your Empire. We wish to establish a border and sign a non-aggression pact."
This was the Emperor's bottom line. Concede the East to buy the time needed to breathe.
Inside Kaito's sockets, two points of Soul Fire flickered. "It sounds equitable."
"However... I must decline."
The air in the room instantly solidified. Finn's hand clamped onto his sword hilt, Battle Aura beginning to churn within him.
Altlais asked, his voice maintaining its professional chill: "Why?"
"Because," Kaito said, leaning forward slightly. The simple movement projected a crushing, invisible pressure across the table. "You are attempting to trade things that already belong to me."
Kaito's gaze seemed to pierce through Altlais, looking toward the distant Capital far beyond the horizon.
"This 'peace' you offer is nothing more than a scrap of parchment to be shredded the moment you solve your internal dissent. Once you have gathered sufficient strength, the next Eastern Expedition would attempt to trample this land. Am I correct, Knight Commander?"
Altlais remained silent. He could not refute it. Kaito had read the Emperor's long-term strategy as if it were an open ledger.
Kaito leaned back into his chair. "I will tell you this: I have no interest in actively hunting other civilizations without cause. My subjects live well here. I have no desire to disturb the peace of others."
Altlais processed this. The humans here were happy. The Monarch was, at the very least, a Lawful entity. He harbored no immediate malice toward the Empire; the previous conquests were indeed triggered by the Empire's own aggression.
Just as Altlais prepared to take his leave and relay the result, Kaito spoke again.
"However... to let you return empty-handed would make me seem an ungracious host."
Kaito's voice remained neutral. "I have recently been researching a new spell, but I find myself lacking critical data. Specifically, data regarding a Tier 6 life form."
Kaito's empty sockets locked onto Altlais.
"If you are willing to assist me in this experiment, I will grant you a concession. In the event my Empire requires future expansion, the Odri Empire shall not be the primary target of my advance."
Every eye in the room snapped to Altlais. To use the Empire's strongest knight as a test subject for an Undead King? Finn's Battle Aura threatened to boil over, but Lina's hand on his shoulder kept him grounded.
Altlais, however, gave his answer immediately.
"I accept."
He was a Tier 6 powerhouse, one of the few standing at the apex of the world. He possessed absolute confidence. Until his Battle Aura was completely depleted, no Tier 5 magic could hope to inflict a lethal wound. It was the arrogance of the strong, tempered by the resolve of a man willing to buy security for his people at any cost.
Kaito seemed satisfied. "Excellent."
He gestured with a bony finger toward Greed and the rest of the Lionheart Guard. "The rest of you. Out."
Greed bowed instantly and turned, gesturing for the six knights to follow him. Finn cried out in protest, "Commander!"
Altlais's voice was final. "Obey the order."
The six knights reluctantly filed out. When the heavy doors thudded shut, only the strongest man of the Empire and the Monarch of the Dead remained.
"Let us begin, then," Altlais said. His golden Battle Aura ignited, light bleeding through the gaps in his armor until he was wreathed in a radiant halo. He was prepared for anything.
Kaito made no grand gestures. He simply extended his right hand, palm leveled at Altlais.
As the seconds ticked by, invisible ripples of magic began to expand from Kaito's center.
The next moment, the sky above Iron Fortress went dark.
Outside the mansion, Greed and the six members of the Lionheart Guard looked up simultaneously.
An eye.
A gargantuan eye of indescribable proportions had opened in the firmament above the city. It didn't blink. It simply gazed downward with cold, cosmic indifference.
Inside the meeting room, Altlais felt it.
It wasn't a physical impact. It wasn't a mental assault. It was none of the conventional forms of combat he had mastered over half a century.
It was... an Erosion of Concepts.
The effect on him was minimal due to his sheer power, but he could sense the fundamental nature of the Authority. Anything below Tier 6 caught in that gaze would have their life snuffed out and their essence forcibly rewritten into an undead thrall.
Kaito withdrew his hand. The sky returned to normal.
"The experiment is concluded. You may go."
Altlais donned his helmet in silence, hiding a face that was etched with pure shock. He turned and pushed the doors open. His team swarmed him immediately. "Commander! Are you alright?!"
Altlais didn't answer. He simply began to walk toward the city gates. "We are leaving. Now."
The griffins took to the sky, banking hard toward the Capital.
The moment Altlais had felt the Authority of Death's End, his first instinct had been to kill Kaito on the spot. A monster with that kind of power was a threat to the world. But he didn't dare gamble. A creature that dared to stay alone with a Tier 6 knight couldn't possibly be without a fail-safe. If he failed to kill the King in one strike, it would mean total war—a consequence the Empire could not survive.
The griffins' wings beat against the sea of clouds, the wind howling in their ears. The seven knights flew in a heavy, haunted silence toward the west.
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