Chapter 65 The Old Reign was Dead, and a new one had Begun

Arthur staggered, clutching at the bleeding wound as if sheer will alone could force it shut. But the poison burned deeper with every heartbeat. His breath hitched, ragged, like an old man suddenly drowning inside the body that once housed unshakable power.

The divine muscle that had made him seem carved from marble began to soften, then sink. His arms thinned, trembling under his own weight. The proud, towering frame withered, the godlike aura flickering out like a candle in the wind.

“No… no… NO!”

The Exterminator, his great Hero Blade, slipped from his hand. The sword that once cut mountains now lay abandoned, too heavy for him to hold. Arthur fell to his knees, his once-proud posture broken, shoulders slumped, his breath whistling in and out.

“Traitors… All of you—TRAITORS! I gave you EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING!”

His hand clawed at the dirt, veins rising beneath thinning skin. His gaze shot between Rein, Aura, and Liora, wild and furious.

“I BUILT THIS KINGDOM! With my blood! With my power! With MY WILL! I turned a wasteland into paradise! Streets so clean children could crawl on them! No murder, no theft, no filth! I made them happy! I gave them more than the gods themselves EVER gave them! And THIS—this is what I get?! Treason at every corner! Liars, betrayers, cowards—all of you, every last one of you! Not one I can trust! Not one! I… I am the reason this kingdom still stands. Without me, it all falls. Without me, it rots like the rest of the world. I held them together, I made them strong, I kept them SAFE! And this is my reward? A dagger in the back.”

Aura rose before Rein could find his footing. Her obsidian claymore hummed with void energy, its edge screaming for blood. She lunged—swift, merciless—straight for Arthur’s bowed neck.

"That's our chance! He needs to die!"

But a sharp, desperate voice rang out.

“STOP!”

Liora’s cry froze Aura’s swing mid-arc. From the rubble, the scarred woman staggered forward, eyes burning hotter than any flame. 

“No, Aura. Not like this. Death is too kind. Too fast. Too easy. He doesn’t deserve release. He deserves to suffer.”

Arthur, panting, trembling, lifted his head, face pale and drawn. The once-mighty king was nothing more than an old man, the fire drained from his limbs, his power eaten away by the poison’s curse.

“Look at him! This is the man who thought himself a god. Who built his heaven on our chains. Who spat on the poor, the weak, the ones he called filth. He hated beggars, mocked them, crushed them beneath his heel.”

She stepped closer.

“Arthur, look at what you are now. No throne. No crown. No blessings. No power. Nothing but bones and wrinkles, shaking in the dirt like the beggar you so despised. The one thing you feared most… is what you’ve become.”

Her scarred face twisted, half in pain, half in bitterness.

“You will live, old man. You will live as everything you hate. You will breathe the same air as those you scorned, walk the same streets as those you damned. You will live without power, without love, without loyalty. Alone. Broken. Forgotten. Banished into the Demon Plains. That is my justice. That is your punishment. You took Kael from me. You will suffer for him, every single day, until death finally drags your wretched soul to hell.”

Then, with her final whisper she snapped her fingers.

A circle of runes ignited under Arthur, burning bright with magic.

 One last, bitter shout ripped from Arthur's throat, “TRAITORS! ALL OF YOU! Kael was my son's best friend. I did not kill him! Rein, my dear boy! Do not trust anyone! Or soon you will meet same fate as me! Do not trust a word from—"and then he was gone. The circle fizzled to ash, leaving only scorched stone.

“WAIT—!” Rein’s voice cracked as he stumbled forward, reaching into the empty space where Arthur once knelt. His hand closed on nothing but smoke.

“Liora! What did you do?! Where did you send him?! You don’t have to kill him—we could have put him in prison, made him face trial for everything he did! He was powerless, beaten, broken.”

Liora didn’t look at Rein right away. Her eyes stayed fixed on the scorched circle, its last embers winking out against the stone. Her voice came low, uneven, bitter.

“…Prison? No, I sent him where he belongs. To the Demon Plains. To the wasteland he made. The pit where he threw the unwanted, the discarded… where Kael died choking on magi-stone dust and screaming against the monsters. I sent him to the graveyard of his own sins.”

She turned her head away, unable to bare Rein’s stare any longer. Her hands pressed at her ample chest.

“This is over. He will harm no one again. The kingdom’s lies have been burned away.”

A bitter, broken smile ghosted her lips—then vanished. She pressed her hand to the scar along her cheek, feeling the old map of pain beneath her fingers.

“But it isn’t him who should answer now, it is me. For the lies I spoke to you. For the secrets I kept. For every order I obeyed that fattened his throne and hollowed my soul. For Kael… for everything I ever stole for myself to survive this life. I won't run. I won't hide. I lost the one thing that made me want to keep going. With him gone, there is nothing left that ties me to tomorrow.”

She turned to Rein.

 “Cut me down if it will unmake what I’ve done. Let your judgment fall. If dying for my crimes gives a measure of peace, then it is a mercy I will accept gladly. If punishment will ease your anger, if your hands need to do this to believe the world is whole again—do it. I will not step away. I will not beg for mercy. I have no more bargains left to make. Take whatever justice you need. I offered my life long ago to survive—now I offer it so others may live without the shadow I helped build. If you must punish me to sleep at night, do it. If not, then do as you will. Only—if you can spare one small thing—say Kael’s name true once. Tell the world he existed. That alone would be enough for me.”

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A month had passed since the day the castle half-collapsed, since the skies burned with fire and light and gods clashing atop a mountain.

Now, the streets were packed with citizens staring upward at the shimmering arcane projections that hovered above every square, every tower. Dozens of floating, glowing panes of magic light flickered into motion.

The crowd collectively held its breath.

Static rippled across the images, then resolved into a single figure: Rein. He stood tall in royal attire, a crown of gold resting on his head. At his side stood Aura, no illusion this time—her true self.

“My people. I stand before you as your king—not in the shadow of Arthur, but as myself. His reign is over. His crimes are over. The kingdom he built will not be what I carry forward. I swear it before all of you: the age of fear has ended.”

A ripple spread through the crowd. Murmurs. Confusion. Fear.

“I know many of you were taught to fear what lies beyond our walls. You were told the demon plains breed only monsters. You were told to hate, to fear, to kill. But that was a lie. The truth is that those lands are home to people—no different from us. Families. Children. Dreams. And they are not our enemies. There will be no war. Not while I stand as your king.”

Rein paused, then looked to Aura at his side. 

“And let me prove this truth not with words alone, but with the choice of my life.” 

He reached out, took Aura’s hand in his. The screens magnified the gesture. 

“You were told she was a Demon Lord. A monster. A lie meant to chain you with fear. She is none of those things. She is the Queen of her people—our equals, our allies. And I will prove it by binding our two worlds together.”

The crowd gasped. 

“I will marry her. She will be your queen. And together, we will build a kingdom without walls, without fear, without lies. The kingdom you deserve.”

 Rein lifted his hand, calling for silence.

 “There is one more truth you must hear. A truth about someone you know.”

A figure stepped forward onto the projection’s edge. 

 “Liora. Yes, she committed crimes. Yes, she served Arthur. But she did so not out of choice. He stripped her of everything—her freedom, her family, even her will. She lived as his slave with no path but the one he forced upon her.”

The crowd muttered. Doubt. Confusion.

 “But I will not continue my grandfather’s cruelty. I will not rule through fear and chains. I will be a different king. And so, I will prove it here and now. I pardon Liora of her crimes.”

The words struck the crowd like lightning.

“She will not hang. She will not rot in a cell. She is free. Free from Arthur’s rule, free from the chains he bound her with. I forgive her. Because mercy—mercy is strength. And if I cannot show mercy, then I am no better than the king I cast down.”

 She lowered her head, not in shame but in a silent bow of thanks.

Rein turned back to the crowd.

 “This is the kingdom I swear to rule. A kingdom of justice, yes—but also of forgiveness. A kingdom not of fear, but of hope.”

The screens flickered brighter, freezing the image of Rein, Aura, and Liora together as one message: the old reign was dead, and a new one had begun.

The end.