The Ancient Imperial Calendar Year 1821
A long time had passed since Ricardo's ascension to the throne.
After the ceremony, there were dozens of feasts and thousands of congratulatory letters from thousands of Dynasties across the Five Lands.
Tens of thousands of emissaries from thousands of different Dynasties had visited the new Dynasty Lord of the Kislavein Dynasty, one after another.
"Haaaaaaa..."
Ricardo was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.
"Are you alright, Dynasty Lord?"
Marco asked with a worried voice upon seeing Ricardo's exhausted and worn-out state after his relentless, non-stop succession of tasks.
"I'm trying to be, Marco."
Shortly after taking the throne, Ricardo had appointed Marco as his chief advisor.
With this rank, Marco had been elevated to the highest position within Kislavein.
With this position, Marco also shared the same burden as Ricardo.
"So, is there anything left on our to-do list?"
Marco examined the list from beginning to end.
On the to-do list, there were numerous items crossed out in Dark Blood Red.
After examining the list, a smile brimming with childlike innocence spread across Marco's face.
"It's done, Dynasty Lord. Finally, the to-do list is finished."
Ricardo maintained his composure, but inwardly he wanted to scream with joy.
"Finally, thank goodness, it's over," he thought to himself.
Ricardo took a deep breath.
Using his magic, he cast a sound-insulation spell over the study.
Marco understood that a serious conversation was about to take place.
"Marco, the time has come to avenge my grand-teacher, my Master."
Marco assumed a serious and vengeful expression.
"Finally, that day has come."
Both friends had lived for years for this moment.
"Exactly 18 years have passed. I haven't forgotten that day for a single moment. Everyone thought I had forgotten, but I haven't."
Ricardo tapped his fingers against his chest.
"Right here, there's a fire. A fire that hasn't gone out for 18 years. I spent every day planning the revenge I would take from those who took Master Richard from me, who tore him away from us, who made us suffer this pain, Marco."
Marco shared the same feelings.
"I never forget. Not my sister Marilin's tearful, agonized cries, nor my father's silent weeping in a corner. I haven't forgotten any of it."
Marco looked at Ricardo with anger.
"Did you find out? Did you find out who carried out the attack that night?"
Ricardo nodded as if to say yes.
Marco asked eagerly.
"WHO?"
Ricardo answered.
"Dex Blacksteel. The Lord of the Assassin Blacksteel Dynasty sent his best 30 assassins to avenge the deaths of his sister Zelfhaya and his nieces, and framed the Trade Barons for the crime."
Another question occurred to Marco.
"Didn't the former Dynasty Lord know this?"
Ricardo recalled the conversation he once had with his father on this matter, then answered Marco.
"My father knew who organized the assassination, of course. But he didn't care. Or perhaps he wanted to use my desire for revenge to increase my motivation to ascend the throne."
Marco understood better at that moment the weight of the burden Ricardo carried.
"It must have been difficult for you, Dynasty Lord."
Ricardo smiled slightly.
"All the hardships were worth it. The Throne, the Western and Eastern Lands, power, authority—all of it became mine, and after me, it will belong to those of my lineage."
"Regarding your legacy, Dynasty Lord, you still don't have a son."
Son. All of Ricardo's children were daughters. There was no law saying women couldn't ascend the throne, but the general consensus favored males.
Ricardo still had no son, and this had become a question that nagged at everyone's minds after he took the throne.
Some people had even begun to think that the 67th Dynasty Lord might be a woman.
"Marco, I've decided to take a new Wife."
Marco understood the continuation of this sentence, but he wasn't sure, so he chose to remain silent.
Ricardo broke this silence.
"I want to take your sister Marilin as my second wife."
Marco was surprised. He wondered what had prompted Ricardo's sudden change of heart, after stubbornly rejecting his sister's affections for years.
"What you're about to ask is written on your face. Anyway, I trust you, so I'll tell you."
After a long conversation, Marco had learned everything.
"It's very complicated. But after everything we've been through... well, never mind. I won't question it. So, when is the wedding?"
Ricardo answered without hesitation.
"As soon as possible."
Marco was pleased with this answer and smiled.
"I can already picture my sister's face now."
Marco stopped laughing and assumed a serious expression.
"Dynasty Lord, the wedding is soon. How soon is our revenge?"
Ricardo sealed his letter and stamped it with his seal, then handed it to Marco.
"Take this and deliver it to the commander of the Blood Bastards."
Marco took the letter, paid his respects, and left the room.
The Blood Bastards were a unit used throughout Kislavein history for the purging of Dynasties.
The entire unit consisted of children born out of wedlock.
The founding purpose of the Blood Bastards was to prevent illegitimate children from starting an illegitimate bloodline by wiping out their lineages.
Thus, it would be prevented for future Dynasty Lords to come from the bloodline of an illegitimate man or woman.
At the third hour of the night, the Blood Bastards had secretly entered the lands of the Assassin Blacksteel Dynasty on the order of the Dynasty Lord.
Leading the purge in person was Ricardo Kislavein, the 66th Lord of the Kislavein Dynasty.
"Have they noticed us, Dynasty Lord?" asked Marco.
"Probably, yes. After all, they are an established Assassin Dynasty. It would be absurd if they hadn't noticed. But tonight, not a single one of them will survive."
Ricardo turned and spoke to the Blood Bastards.
"Show no mercy even to their infants. Slaughter them all."
The Blood Bastards bowed their heads, showing their obedience to the command.
Finally, they arrived at the Black Crags, a small castle where the Blacksteel assassins were trained.
Ricardo drew his sword and raised it into the air. When he lowered it, the Blood Bastards let out War Cries and charged.
When the Blood Bastards reached a certain point, the Assassins emerged from their hiding places.
They threw their poisoned daggers and activated their traps, killing thousands of Blood Bastards.
Ricardo was not affected in the least by what he saw.
"Assassins," he said in a mocking voice.
Ricardo considered charging forward, but when he looked into the eyes of the Blood Bastards, there seemed to be a hint that they didn't want him to do that.
Ricardo gave up on attacking and waited.
The Blood Bastards had anticipated an ambush and had made preparations. But even though they were prepared, their opponents were the Assassin Blacksteel Dynasty.
The Blood Bastards quickly shook off the shock of the ambush, then formed up and launched their attack.
From that moment on, the Blacksteel assassins began to be crushed like insects. Tens of thousands of them were slaughtered in less than an hour.
After the battle ended, the real massacre began.
The Dynasty Purge.
The Blood Bastards who entered the castle slaughtered everyone in their path, regardless of age or gender.
After a purge that lasted several hours, the genocide ended, and the Assassin Blacksteel Dynasty was wiped from the face of the earth, their bloodline extinguished.
Only those who had in the past been married off to other Assassin Dynasties were able to continue the line.
As Ricardo walked through the midst of the dead bodies, he showed no sign of emotion.
A Blood Bastard approached him and knelt.
"My respects to the Dynasty Lord."
Ricardo looked at the Blood Bastard and asked in a cold voice.
"Did you find him?"
The Blood Bastard answered with his head bowed.
"Yes, Dynasty Lord. We captured the person you wanted. We captured Dex Blacksteel, the last Dynasty Lord of the Blacksteel Dynasty."
Ricardo assumed a devilish smile.
"Let's see this scoundrel."
A short while later, Dex Blacksteel was brought before Ricardo and forced to kneel.
"Did we ever meet before my ascension, Dex?"
Dex raised his head as if nothing mattered to him anymore.
"We never met face-to-face. But I saw you many times from a distance."
"Dex, do you have any last words to say?"
He shook his head as if to say no.
"What should I say? Should I challenge you to a duel? You'd cut me down like butter. Or should I explain why I sent my thirty most professional assassins to kill you? Simple. Because of you, my sister and my nieces were killed. Was wanting revenge wrong? Setting everything else aside, if I had left you alive, you would have destroyed my Dynasty. And you did. You wiped out the Blacksteel Dynasty. You extinguished our bloodline."
He lowered his head and spoke in a cold, indifferent voice, as if giving an order.
"Just cut off my head already. Let this torture end."
Ricardo began to laugh.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH Are you serious, Dex? Are you really going to act like the protagonist of a tragedy? Shall I list the women you killed so your sister could become the Dynasty Lord's wife? Or the babies you killed who could barely walk or talk? Or the massacres I could go on and on about? Do you really think you're a tragic character? You wrote this ending with your own hands. Anyway, take him away."
The Blood Bastards grabbed Dex by the shoulders and lifted him up.
"What are you going to do to me?"
Ricardo turned his back with a devilish smile.
"First, homosexuals will rape you. We'll kill your spirit first. Then torturers will slowly kill you with the most imaginative tortures."
Dex felt like he would lose his mind from fear.
"You're insane. Is it all because I killed your Master? For that old man?"
Ricardo shouted in anger.
"YES! EVERYTHING I'VE DONE IS FOR HIS REVENGE! HE WAS LIKE A FATHER TO ME! HE GAVE EVERYTHING TO PROTECT ME, TO RAISE ME! HE GAVE HIS LIFE!"
Ricardo took a deep breath and calmed down.
"My entire struggle, all the effort I put into ascending the throne, was for my Master's revenge."
When Richard's death flashed before his eyes, he shed a few tears. Then, looking at Dex, his Master's killer, he charged forward in rage.
He squeezed his throat. He squeezed it harder, and harder, breaking the neck bones. He gripped tightly and, with a single motion, tore his head from his body.
Using fire magic, he spewed flames from his mouth, burning Dex's corpse. He threw the head in his hand onto the burning body.
He turned his back.
"Everyone leave this place. You can stay if you want to die."
A short while later, after the last Blood Bastard had exited the castle, Ricardo raised his hand into the air without turning around.
A burning meteor, massive enough to cover the castle in its shadow, appeared above the castle and flattened it completely.
The Blood Bastards were horrified. Thinking they were going to die, Ricardo protected all the Blood Bastards with Nur Power.
When the aftershocks of the impact subsided, not a single person in the army had even a scratch.
Everyone was in shock and admiration. A single person had protected thousands of soldiers.
Disregarding the admiring gazes, Ricardo left the Blacksteel lands, reduced to ash and dust, vowing never to return, never to look back.