Inside a garden in the heart of the empire, there was a young woman sitting in a small wooden chair while looking at the moon.
Her long auburn hair was tied at the top of her head, exposing her nape. Her delicate hand was holding a small cup of coffee that gave warmth to the cold night sky.
The features of her face were so angelic, which made her a total beauty. She was the one who gave the prophecy that ignited again the thousand-year war with the demons, the Celestial Seer, Ave Gayle Asteria.
She swept her birkin bangs at the back of her left ear before she took a sip.
'The Conjurer of Blue Flames was dead, but the prophecy...,' her thoughts were disrupted by the sudden appearance of a thin white line in the atmosphere, and she felt shivers down her spine.
"What is this?" She uttered the words in silence. Then she closed her eyes and activated her Legacy.
Different images started to flash in her mind, and a silver-haired man with a red dice dangling from his ear appeared. He was standing on a cliff while staring at the direction of the empire, and at his back were a hundred corpses of different beasts. And the man smiled at her as if he could see her. Then, the images fell into pieces, which made her head spin in circles.
The cup of coffee broke and spilled on the grass as soon as she collapsed to the ground.
"Saintess! Saintess!" shouted an old lady dressed in a maid uniform before she ran to the unconscious woman, then she gently raised the head of the Seer in her lap.
"Knights! Help! The saintess!" The maid shouted, then several knights clad in white armor appeared and carried the woman back to the inside of the temple.
After a few hours, the woman started to regain her awareness, and the first thing she did upon opening her eyes was to recollect the events that she had seen before she lost her consciousness.
'It was not a prophecy; the timeframe was set with the strange white line,' she taught.
Then, she tried her best to remember the man's face that he saw near the cliff, but all that she could recall was that the man smiled at her before she lost her balance.
Even the color of his hair, she forgot all of them as soon as she woke up.
"This won't do," she said, then she got up from her bed and changed into a plain white dress. It was made of silk and covered her shoulders all the way down to her arms; the length of its hemline was neither short nor long. The shape of her curve was highlighted by her attire in a perfect way.
After she finished, she walked out of her room, and there were two guards waiting for her outside.
"To the imperial palace," she said in a graceful manner.
. . . . .
The Plain of Fantasies was the home of all humans in the world of Exgreia. Its size was larger than the Garden of Dreams and the Forest of Nightmares combined. It had one empire under the command of the current emperor, Augustus Embercrown VI.
The Embercrown Empire ruled over seven kingdoms that were scattered around the plain, and the Imperial Palace could be found as its center. Wars often took place between each kingdom due to territory issues; however, the emperor didn't pay any attention to this trivial matter.
In fact, he favored this type of crisis because as long as every kingdom was worried about each other, there would be no king who would rise to threaten his position as emperor.
Several kingdoms had different characteristics: one was in the middle of a desert—Beigesand Kingdom, another was in a snowy region—Frostbloom Kingdom, and the Pelleles Kingdom which had great rock formations. There was even one that you could find inside a valley—Heartfall Kingdom.
However, two of the seven kingdoms were distinguished not because of the uniqueness of their places but because of the types of people living there. The Herish and Bluelion Kingdoms: the former was a place for those who loved weapons, while the latter was for those who wanted to excel in the field of magic.
. . . . .
In a large hall with several chandeliers decorating the place, there was an old man sitting on a massive throne with a red carpet extending unto the large black doors, which had a golden phoenix design.
Fifty knights covered in black armor were standing next to each other. They formed two lines with an equal number beside them on each side of the carpet. And they were holding a spear with a flag hanging on its shaft, bearing the crest of the empire.
The large door slowly opened, and a brown-haired man entered the place; however, the knights in the last row blocked the man's path by crossing their spears as soon as the man stepped forward.
"Let him," the emperor commanded, which made the knights retract their spears.
The man walked into the front and kneeled upon passing the column of knights.
"I greeted His Majesty!" The man spoke while his eyes were on the floor.
"Stand up! What brings you here, Ren?" The emperor asked before he stroked his long white beard.
"I was in the pub with my friends a few moments ago, when I detected a strange white line, scanning the area." Ren answered after he stood up, then continued as soon as he saw that the emperor was all ears. "It lasted for a second, then it vanished in the atmosphere. I thought I was just drunk because I was the only one who noticed the strange line."
"No, you're not alone. I also detected the strange occurrence, but I didn't manage to see it outside." The emperor replied, then stood up and walked closer to Ren. "It came from the Mountain Range of Phantasms, if I'm not mistaken," he added.
Then a shadow appeared between the emperor and Ren, which made the man pull out his sword. But Augustus raised his hand to make him stop.
"Greetings, Your Majesty," a man dressed in a black outfit said upon leaping from the shadow, then he kneeled in the presence of the emperor.
All of his skin was hidden inside his raven-black clothing, and his pure black eyes were the only part that wasn't concealed.
"Your Majesty, the Undead Summoner of the West is dead!" The man's words brought shock to Augustus and Ren's faces.
"How?" Ren chimed in, but the man didn't respond to his question; he waited for the emperor to speak.
"Explain your words," Augustus commanded, then the man bowed before continuing to speak.
"Several days ago, I was surveying the west side of the Forest of Nightmares like what you ordered me to do; however, days passed and there were no sightings in the place. I decided to move closer even without your permission, Your Majesty. Then, as I teleported near the Undead Summoner's castle, the foul stench of the living dead that lingered in the air penetrated my senses, but still, no undead creatures were found in the premises. I stayed there for three more days to observe the surroundings, but there was no movement at all. Then," the man paused for a second, and he pulled something from his shadow.
Augustus and Ren's eyes widened; they couldn't believe the thing presented before them—it was the staff with three skulls lined up along its shaft. The emperor picked it up from the man's hands and sent some of his energy.
The skulls' eyes lit up with three different colors, which made them believe that it was really Cadaver's staff.
"How did you obtain this?" the emperor asked while still examining the staff.
"I found it after I delved inside the castle. The door was open. The smell of rotten corpses was the source of the foul stench, and what I had seen upon entering were thousands of undead knights' bodies scattered on the floor. They were butchered in a way that terrified myself, and near the throne, I found the Undead Summoner's body split in half," the man answered.
"Do you have any idea who's the culprit?" Augustus asked.
"Forgive my inadequate judgment, Your Highness, but that's beyond my capablities. However, I could say that it was done by two individuals." The man spoke while his eyes were still looking at the emperor.
"Continue," Augustus said.
"The wounds and cuts from the undead armies were made by twin daggers and a scythe. And it looked like the culprits were proficient in using their respective weapons." he said.
"Gather all the information of anyone who's using a scythe and dagger inside and beyond the empire." The emperor instructed.
"By your orders," the man said before he stood up and stepped into the shadows.
"Isn't it good for us that he's already dead?" Ren asked with curiosity while digesting all the information that he heard.
'I need to have a conversation with the Saintess,' Augustus thought before he answered the question.
"Remember, Ren, all things were happening for a reason, and those who were responsible for Cadaver's death had their own purpose, be it for the peace of mankind or," the emperor looked at Ren in the eyes, then he continued, "for chaos and destruction."
Ren gulped as soon as the emperor looked at him; he assumed that everything was over when the demon king died.
But unbeknownst to all of them, the death of Cinhard Beelze was only the beginning.
. . . . .
In the Kingdom of Duskstalker, one of the subjects under the rule of the Embercrown Empire, a place without daylight, it had an environment creepier than the Forest of Nightmares. But despite the quality of this place, lots of humans chose to live here. All in all, it was a nice hiding place.
A heavy downpour of rainfall and a loud crackling sound of a thunderstorm were occurring at this moment. This phenomenon gave the people of this place a minute of isolation. They stayed behind their houses while waiting for the rain to cease, but it looked like it had no plan to stop pouring.
Inside the king's castle, there was a man with violet serpentine eyes who was looking in the area where the Mountain Range of Phantasms was located. He was wearing a crown made of black onyx and a dark brown cape at his back, which had a feather-like design from the outside.
At his side was a huge brown beast with glowing red eyes. Its body was several times larger than a human. It had three heads, and each of its fangs was a meter long. Its sharp claws made a screeching sound when they scratched the flooring of the castle.
It was a creature that no man would be able to find on the surface of Exgreia: a Cerberus.
Then, a sudden flash of lightning lit up the man's appearance. Half of his face was burned beyond recognition, and his right arm was black and covered with scales.
"At last, you show yourself. The long wait is finally over; I'll make you regret keeping me alive that day," the man said before his laugh rang inside the castle.
. . . . .