SON OF THE HERO KING

The interior of the castle was rather desolate, but at the same time imposing and magnificent.

Directly under the towering ceiling of the immaculate white castle, a golden table appeared with fifteen high-blue chairs on either side in a symmetrical arrangement. 7 on the right, 7 on the left, and 1 on the helm of the table, representing the leading seat.

The back of each chair dazzled and shone faintly with golden light, drawing the outlines of weird constellations that differed from reality yet were somehow very much real.

Sitting around either side of the table were fourteen women whose features were shrouded in veils of darkness.

On the middle of the table, a large chessboard was placed and a game seemed to be ongoing for who knew how long.

The chessboard in itself didn't look particularly special, but if one took a cursory glance at the pieces on top of it, they would understand that it was anything but ordinary.

On one side, 5 Kings, and 7 Queens, clad fully in gold stood at different places.

Some of them were cracked, some were rather dim, while others shone brightly.

On the other side, a red queen, and nine red pawns stood tall.

No matter how one looked at it, this chessboard made no sense, but the players did not seem to care about that.

It was hard to say how long those women had been facing each other.

It could have been one day or it could have been thousands of years, the notion of time had become convoluted for them far ago… they were simply beyond it.

…At least this was how their meetings in this desolate palace usually went.

This time though… All of them were staring fixedly at one place, at one particular piece.

Where once there should have been a golden pawn…

Now… There lay nothing.

The place stayed empty for a long while, enough for the beings observing this ludicrous phenomenon to wonder in astonishment and incredulity, before a new piece appeared in that place, out of nowhere— A King Piece.

“Explain…”

It was hard to determine who had spoken, the tone reverberated from everywhere and still nowhere, but all of the beings’ gazes were riveted on one person and one alone.

Goddess of Lust, Luxuria…

“Sister… What did you do?”

Castitas asked with a worried frown, she could feel the mounting tension brimming between them and knew that this wasn’t good… not good at all…

“What do you mean?”

One of the goddesses growled in rage at the plain mockery in Luxuria’s tone and question, “Don’t take us for Idiots! Sister, explain to us why in the nine hells did a piece vanish from the chessboard!”

Luxuria shrugged and looked at Ira, the goddess of wrath, calmly as she spoke out, “Firstly, how would I know more than you about the situation? Neither of us is omniscient. Secondly, the piece is still here, right? What might be the problem then? Perhaps it’s simply an error in the system? After all, we aren’t the one who created it, in the first place.”

Ira was left speechless at Luxuria's calm rebuttal, this angered her further and further but she had nothing to say nor refute, leaving her particularly vexed.

“Sister…You know very well that this is something that has never happened before. Fate was wrecked and manipulated, profoundly changed in ways that shouldn’t be possible without our direct intervention, and we do not even know why. The source of all this is your Blessed, that eerie mortal. For a moment, he went past simply being a singularity. He became something akin to a player, just like us… he became… a god? You owe us an explanation!”

Luxuria stood up and faced the new speaker, Diligentia, the goddess of Diligence.

“My dear sisters. I repeat, I owe you nothing. The rule between us is crystal clear. No interference in our personal projects. None of us spoke when Invidia brought the one who would later become known as the Necromancer King. So do not bother me about Sol. He is mine to do as I please.”

Invidia snorted, “Indeed. But look how it ended for us. I fucked up and now we lost control over a big chunk of the Afterlife. I believe your Sol will be a greater menace to our Order. I vote that we end him. Purge his existence from reality.”

“I DARE YOU!”

The realm shook, cracked, and shuddered, almost being destroyed right then and there, as the divine might of Luxuria crushed down on a helpless Invidia.

Out of them all, Luxuria was the oldest and also the strongest with might far surpassing them all, maybe all of them combined. This fact was once again reminded to the trembling goddesses— the fact that… Luxuria reigned supreme…

“Calm down, sister…”

Thankfully, Castitas’ worried voice calmed the ire of Luxuria but Invidia looked with unprecedented shock at her enraged sister, “You threatened me? Me, your sister? For a mere mortal?”

She was completely at a loss. So astonished that she couldn’t even form coherent thoughts… In their opinion, all mortals were simply a way of passing time.

Would a player insult his family because of an NPC?

They could not understand her sudden violent reaction. They refused to…

But Luxuria did not answer and simply vanished with last words of caution directed to her sisters—

“I do not care what you decide to do, sisters of mine. But, any direct interventions from you guys will be severely punished.”

—Leaving a group of confused goddesses, wondering just what in tarnation went wrong with the head of the wisest of them all.

———

Once Luxuria appeared in her divine kingdom, her serious expression vanished as jubilation took over, forming crescents on her immaculate face…

‘Did I succeed? Was it a success?’

Such thoughts kept swimming in her mind.

Luxuria did not know why she was doing this. Why she was so obsessed with bringing forth the birth of a god?

What would even happen if Sol became a god?

All she knew was that it was something she wanted from the bottom of her heart. As if something was driving her on to this goal and she had to complete it, no matter the cost.

As a goddess, she should have hated such a feeling. But she could not. Would not and refused to even entertain that thought.

Still, Sol had pulverized all of her calculations.

His actions and powers went far beyond anything and everything she had been trying to do.

That was why she started to worry.

Was it a good thing?

Would she regret it?

Luxuria did not know and this lack of knowledge simply thrilled her to no end, a feeling that she forgot before chancing upon Sol, her beloved Blessed.

‘Soon…’

An echo of a memory, long forgotten and removed from reality, sounded in her mind, filling her with delight.

Indeed. Very soon, things would never be the same.

———

The goddesses of Order weren’t the only ones shaken by what had transpired.

Somewhere deep in the Astral Dimension, a woman that was curled up with hundred of chains surrounding her form slowly opened her eyes, confusion evident in their chaotic hue.

“What… happened?"

She had been preparing for a year, keeping a hidden hand despite the seals shackling her, and finally used it at the most opportune moment possible.

But the result was a failure.

If that was all, she wouldn’t be upset. Failure or success were just transient things to someone like her who was beyond all concepts.

What she couldn’t accept was something else entirely.

“I can’t remember.”

She couldn’t remember what happened. She remembered sending her avatar in the mind of Luxuria’s Blessed.

She remembered seeing a gate while corrupting him in the bliss of chaos, and she remembered taking a peek at what lay beyond that door.

But that was where her memory ended.

She could remember nothing else. She had completely lost connection with her avatar and the only thing she knew was that the avatar was erased.

“Sol… Dragona… Luxuria…”

Ymir muttered this name while licking her lips as if savoring the name with delight. The light of curiosity shone strongly in her pupils.

“I will remember that name.”

Soon, she would break free from the restraint imposed on her, and for that, she needed her herald to work harder on her behalf.

She could feel that something had changed.

The laws of the world itself were reshuffled and broke down to welcome the beginning of something long past.

As if something that was long forgotten was about to awaken once more.

She idly wondered whether it was a good or bad thing for her, for everyone.

But she realized it did not matter to her in the slightest.

After all… She thrived in chaos and destruction, and reveled in the state that was soon going to ensue in all the realms…

Thus, she closed her eyes again, falling back into her slumber.

A faint smile on her luscious red lips as she thought of the chaos that was soon to follow…

And in that, she would revel, once more, in the blissful chaos that she would bring in her wake…

Thus she smiled, and slept, with those thoughts in mind…

Thus she smiled, for the eternity of chaos to ensue once more…

VOL 9: THE WAR [Completed]

BOOK 2: ASTRAL REALM [Completed.]