King & Queen

The meeting of kings took place in a spacious room, once housing the decision makers of the Enjin Kingdom in time of a political debate. The room was decorated with huge paintings of past leaders and depictions of battlefields and heroes. The wooden walls were carved with legendary figures from the Kingdom's old tales. The creamy, white marble floor tiles perfectly reflected the faces of everyone present. The windowsills were made of polished, glittering gold, shining in the morning sun as it barely reached the point where the bright, clear part of the sky merged with the dark, cloudy portion of it.

"How quickly a dynasty could fall…." Ludwigh sighed with a somewhat conflicted, softly murmuring voice. He was the current ruler of the Kingdom of Lotharin. He watched the painting of the late King Takaya, who was beheaded a week ago. Ludwigh was wearing silver, suit-like clothing decorated with golden-colored trims at the front and golden eagles on both of his shoulders. Running his fingers through his jet-black, slick hair, his fingers were hidden inside a white silk glove. Ludwigh looked like the perfect definition of an aristocrat, as described in old tales. His dark blue eyes slowly looked away from the painting as he heard high heels approaching him.

"They should've not done that." A similarly quiet voice greeted him, belonging to Queen Paoma. She wore the Heaven's Gate standard white and violet uniform as it hid away her beautiful, voluptuous body, the envy of hundreds of thousands back home. Her softly pink, wavy hair was swinging loosely behind her, and her vibrant, similarly pink-colored eyes were mesmerizing. Even the hundred-year-old Ludwigh felt his heart skip after seeing her. They were calling her the Angel of the Ten Kingdoms for a reason.

"You mean the betrayal, or you mean what Frode did?" He asked in the end, recollecting himself, facing the rumored, still pure Queen Paoma, who only took the throne after his brother's death. She was only named Queen in the past 15 years.

"Both." She replied, watching the painting for a little. "Now, none of us can question him."

"The evidence is… substantial." Ludwigh shook his head. "All of us received a copy, and my ministers combed them through. There does not seem to be any tampering with it. The reports are true."

"None that we could find." Paoma corrected him, looking around, as only servants were inside the room beside them. They were preparing the table with refreshments for the soon-to-be-held meeting. "We all know Frode is the hound of the Naulins. He is conditioned to serve them from birth. Planting evidence is easy for a Naulin anyway."

"If they hear you saying this…!" He grabbed onto her hand, dragged her farther away from the servants, and nervously looked at them for a second.

"I'm not afraid of that! No, we are Kings and Queens here and Elders in Heaven's Gate!" She furrowed her pink eyebrows. "I'm not a dog or a puppet to dance to a tune echoing from backstage!"

"I get that. Still… it is better to be cautious, for the Gods' sake!" Ludwigh rolled his blue eyes with a bit of annoyance at her bluntness. "Some things are better to be mentioned only privately…."

"I am planning to speak up in this meeting anyway! I support King Kaipan's notion."

"What?!" He held back a screaming voice, not expecting her words. He was already snapping his head towards the room door, excepting Zelig to kick it down. The most shocking aspect was that her Kingdom and Kaipan had been enemies for the past 200 years, mainly because her late elder brother completely broke any diplomatic relations. It all happened because of a dispute over a lousy gold mine. From that day onwards, they fought at least 50 skirmishes in the past 200 years over any petty little thing if they disagreed.

"We are an alliance. A group of rulers and not subjects under one true king, no matter how Sect Master Zelig sees himself!" She proclaimed proudly, "I don't care if he is stronger. He is not my ruler! Wasn't it said that, in Heaven's Gate, we are going to have our own voice and votes in matters concerning the Sect? How did that go? Because I am getting told what to do and not asked what to do! Since its establishment! What King Kaipan did, I can fully understand, and I stand with his reasoning!" she looked down at her clothing, stretching it. "Sometimes I feel this is nothing more than glorified prisoner garb!"

"You would look good in shackles." A third voice cut into her monologue, belonging to Frode. He was walking inside the room, looking at the two. "Especially with a collar around your neck, dragged onto a bed with a leather leash." he smiled, watching her young, fairy-like face.

"Ah, the ever-professional diplomat, King Frode." Ludwigh nodded toward him, preventing Paoma from saying something dangerous. "Weird that you only flaunt your eloquence when your owner is not looking… but I am a crude man; I wouldn't understand it." He smiled, speaking sharp words with a friendly, mild tone, drawing a chuckle from Paoma. Even though Ludwigh was afraid of Zelig and would be the first to acknowledge it before others, he was not someone without a backbone. He was not scared of the mutt before him but of his owner.

"And they say Lotharinians don't have any sense of humor! I'll need to get used to it because we are now neighbors, aren't we?" He chuckled, looking into his eyes as he walked up to them. He was not showing any visible anger or annoyance on his face or with his body language.

"So I heard," Ludwigh replied, not looking away, keeping straight eye contact with him. "It was a shock that the Nervadask Kingdom suddenly gobbled up another…."

"Traitors receive no compassion." Frode smiled proudly.

"Exterminating the whole royal family was unnecessary. I'll raise complaints towards the others!" Paoma finally managed to interject, showing zero fear as her tone was as confident as it could be.

"We can't take this lightly." Frode shook his head. "The other four also acknowledged this. The Enjins caused so much chaos in the background that it needed to be dealt with! We can't afford leniency towards them!" as he said, the remaining four kings also arrived, filling the room. The fact that they came at the same time was telling. They were backing each other completely. The question was, are they with Frode or not? As Paoma and Ludwigh exchanged serious looks, Kaipan also walked in. Still, he was not alone as a young, short girl walked next to him, wearing a tight-fitting white dress. Her long, silvery hair was tied in a ponytail, and she laughed happily, sounding like little bells chiming in the distance.

"Is that…?" Paoma raised her brows.

"Yeah. Rudrick's offspring… and also his killer," Frode answered seriously, curling his fingers into a ball.

"I heard he was caught and killed! Finally!" Paoma nodded as she crossed her arms. "Justice, if you ask me. So the girl is strong… yet he looks like a teenager."

"Not everyone is blessed with your curves!" Frode smiled, looking at her with clearly hungry eyes like a wolf.

"Hmf." She snorted in response, ignoring him instead. She was watching Ren, trying to feel her strength, but it was as if she was nothing but a regular human.

"Don't bother," Frode said, walking forward to greet the previously arrived four kings. "She is way stronger than you."

"Really?" She tilted her head as Ludwigh also just furrowed his brows.

Rudrick's death was already widely known in the Kingdom of Ten. As to who killed him, it was only something known by leaders of the kingdoms or high-ranking personnel inside Heaven's Gate. The 'little' detail that Ren even stopped Zelig when he arrived was something they wouldn't believe, not that he would flaunt his failure to recover Rudrick alive. For now, besides Zelig, only Frode was aware of this feat. Most in the Immortal Wonders Sect did not know her strength either. For everyone else, the girl before them was a 2nd stage Harmony expert and a strong one, capable of killing Rudrick… and brave or mad enough to attend this meeting. Alone.

"King Kaipan." Paoma walked up to him, cupping her hands respectfully.

"Queen Paoma." He returned the gesture, repeating it towards Ludwigh, who also arrived, greeting him, "King Ludwigh. Let me introduce you to my granddaughter's Master, Ren."

"It is good to finally make your acquaintance." Both said simultaneously, watching Ren's eyes, trying to see through her without success.

"Please!" She smiled. "We are going to know each other better anyway in the future! Probably even work together!"

"Hm?"Both of them looked a bit surprised as Kaipan just shook his head.

"I am afraid this meeting is mostly about her and not me anymore! My resignation from the Alliance is going to be dwarfed by another notion she put forward."

"Really?" Paoma crossed her arms, now even more intrigued than ever before. "Is it some kind of plan of your Sect to draw heat off King Kaipan?" The pink-haired Queen blurted out without holding back her thoughts, pinning a tricky question at Ren immediately.

"Ahahaha, no, no!" Ren shook her head with a laugh. "Nothing like that! This is independent of the Immortal Wonders Sect, so that is why I am not wearing their uniform!"

"Their?" Ludwigh caught quickly onto her wording.

"Yeah! I am expecting to leave the Sect, maybe even today," she answered calmly, surprising Kaipan, who was not expecting it and couldn't fathom the surprise of her disciples if they heard it.

"Fully or temporarily?" Another quick question came from Paoma, who was already getting ideas from Ludwigh's question and her answer. She was watching Ren's body language like a hawk.

"Good question…" she curled her lips upwards a little but came no further elaboration from her part.

"I see everybody is here." Zelig's voice echoed inside the room, making everyone turn their heads toward him. "Good! We can begin; please sit!" He waved his hand as the chairs rattled by themselves. He was sitting down at the helm of the table while everyone else also found their spot. Just as they put down their bottoms, they were blinking their eyes with shock as Ren walked to the other end and sat down at the opposing side, facing Zelig with a small, playful smile. Everyone knew she was invited, but as to why… It was a mystery. Especially now as she was occupying Rudrick's vacant position.

"Let's start this meeting of the Kingdom of Ten with the most pressing matters," Zelig spoke up, ignoring the nervous looks he received while watching them. Nobody felt pressure raining down on them, which was surprising for a moment but most discarded subconsciously. When he previously held a meeting, coming back from obscurity, he let his aura do half of the talking.

"...?" Paoma furrowed her brows, directing a glance at Ren, who leaned backward on her chair, feeling comfortable without worrying. As their eyes met, Ren flashed a barely noticeable grin and a wink toward her as an electric shock ran through her spine. She realized something, sending a frantic voice transmission to Ludwigh's side. "She is at the 3rd stage!"

"What are you on about? And don't send messages; Zelig could easily intercept them!" The quick, hurried reply came as he avoided looking at her to prevent arousing suspicion.

"Don't you get it?!" Paoma said once again, almost stumbling over her own words. Her breathing got faster for a brief moment before resuming the act of calmness. "Zelig always pressured us with his strength when present! Do you feel any pressure now?!"

"No…" Ludwigh whispered, finally diverting his eyes from the speaking Zelig, who was going over why the Enjin Kingdom had to be destroyed. Their cardinal sin and whatnot, but he was not hearing any of it by now. Seeing Paoma's honest shock in her eyes and finally looking at Ren, who was playing with her hair, curling it around her finger, the realization hit him, too. "No way in hell…."

What they realized was true. Zelig's aura tried to wash over the people in the room. It was a reflex for him, a 2000-year-old technique he used when 'negotiating,' making them less focused. They are more easily coerced that way. He was using it to prompt them to make harsh and quick decisions just so they could break free from it. Yet, for the first time, he hit a brick wall. Quite literally, Ren's own aura blocked him off right above their heads, nullifying any pressure he used to drop on the others.

"Yeah…" Paoma licked her lips, "This thing just got… extremely delicate…! Whatever the four planned would be useless now… Good! I like this girl!"

"Still… keep your cool. You are a Queen; don't rush into things, or you will repeat your brother's mistakes! And this is Zelig we are talking about! Not Kaipan!" Ludwigh warned her, and his mentioning of her brother did cool down her emotions.

"So in conclusion…." Zelig ended his speech, "The Enjin kingdom is no more as its royal family and the majority of the nobles have been put to the sword. For the people's safety, it has been put under the temporary rule of King Frode. Does anyone among us have any objection towards the notion?"

"I do!" Paoma said immediately. "Why were they killed so quickly? Why was the whole family exterminated? Why were high-ranking nobles also eliminated?" she asked, shooting her questions in quick succession, leaving only dead silence behind before Zelig answered calmly.

"You should have read the report, Queen Paoma."

"I did."

"Then you should know their connections to Ironclaw and their whole plan; To take over the Alliance and turn it into an entity led only by them. When that failed, they decided to burn down the world instead."

"Hypocrite…" Ludwigh murmured inside his own head, praying that the young Queen would not say the same word out loud.

"Then why have you not punished the Naulins involved in the same way?" Her voice questioned him again, and if there was silence before, some of the Kings were trying to slide down right under the table before everything exploded.

"Many people who had a connection to Rudrick already died as they had his powers inside of them. In a sense, most of his supporters in his line died with him. The whole branch of his has been crippled." Zelig explained with a relaxed tone, and in reality, he was saying this to Ren. She was smiling while hearing it, looking extremely happy about the fact.

"Still!" Queen Paoma pushed on, but Ren cut in before she could say more, silencing her.

"What my Ancestor did was the correct move."

"Ancestor?" Ludwigh murmured, trying to figure out her plans. Some other kings looked on weirdly, turning towards Ren, not expecting her to support Zelig. Even more telling was the fact that the man in question looked just as surprised as them for a brief moment.

"Yeah." Ren leaned forward, "A headless kingdom is prompt to fall into chaos and into the hands of warlords fighting for a vacant, golden chair! What Zelig did was to prevent the loss of thousands of lives for nothing! Until everything settles down, King Frode can keep the peace. It is the most humane thing to do towards the masses living here."

"..." Paoma looked at her with an open mouth, finally closing it, gulping back her following words. She was leaning back on her chair as her expression returned to calmness. She kept eye contact with Ren before blinking them and turning towards Zelig. "I have no more questions. I accept the conclusion."

"Good." Zelig nodded, not even looking at her, just watching Ren for a minute straight before licking his lips and speaking up again. "Then let's discuss our next topic." He threw an almost 10-page-long letter written by Kaipan onto the table. "The declaration of the Elroth Kingdom. The letter is clearly worded, and the tone between the lines is final. They are leaving our Alliance."