The city sleeps under a dying hum.
Kael stands on the high balcony beside Alyss Venera. The twin suns of Ethernia crawl behind a veil of green mist that presses against the dome like a living sea.
Below them, Elysion Prime lies dim. Power lines once bright as rivers of gold now flicker like embers in rain.
[SYSTEM REBOOT — COMPLETE]
[ALL LEVELS LOCKED TO 1]
[IMPERIAL PROGRESSION MATRIX ONLINE]
[Power unlocked through EXTERNAL CONQUEST ( Village ▶ Town ▶ City )]
Kael reads the lines in silence. The words feel heavier than any enemy.
He flexes his fingers—the familiar flow of mana is gone, replaced by the ache of flesh.
"I thought we had crossed gods," he murmurs. "Now even lifting a blade will hurt."
Alyss lowers her head. "Our strength… deleted?"
"Reset," Kael corrects. "Not erased. The game has become its own law."
The crystal core in the hall pulses weakly. Its once-thunderous beat is now a slow, dying rhythm.
[CORE ENERGY: 3 % ( Critical Reserve )]
[DEFENSIVE ARRAYS: Offline]
Alyss' voice trembles. "Vara Soulforged cannot synchronize. The city's shields and reactors are dormant. If the dome fails…"
Her sentence trails into the heavy stillness.
Kael looks beyond the glass. The mist outside isn't weather—it's pressure. Dense, emerald-tinted mana pressing like an ocean against the barrier. The tactical map hovering before him is blank.
No landmarks. No life-signs. Only static.
"An empire in a coffin," he says. "We need to breathe before we suffocate."
He lifts his hand.
[COMMAND — MASS AWAKEN]
Light detonates across the city.
A pulse spreads outward, striking every slumbering chamber, every cryo-pod, every training barrack. For a heartbeat, Elysion Prime glows brighter than the suns.
Then comes the sound. Not a cheer—screams.
Armor crashes. Steam bursts. A million voices gasp at once, learning to breathe.
Kael's pulse stutters.
The empire is alive again—but helpless.
Reports flood his vision, weak signals bouncing through the low-power link.
[Seraphine Valis — Supreme Commander]
"My Lord, Central Barracks in chaos! Soldiers can't lift their weapons—their bodies fail them! Oath of Radiance: LOCKED!"
[Toran Gravesend — Guardian of the Dead]
"The Eternal Legion has broken! They feel pain—they feel fear! I cannot command the dead when they believe themselves alive!"
Kael's hands clench. The empire that once obeyed thought now bleeds and trembles like any mortal army.
[VIRTUAL COUNCIL LINK INITIATED]
Ghostly silhouettes flicker into being before the throne. Ten figures kneel in digital reflection—flickering, translucent, exhausted.
Eryndel Frostforge is the first to speak, voice rough as gravel
"The forges be cold, sire. Can't heat a spark. Dravok's armor's heavier than a mountain—he can't move it an inch. We're naked."
Magnus Voidhand adjusts cracked spectacles, eyes hollow.
"The mana streams are dry. My Void Arrays collapse on start-up. The reactor demands energy we no longer own."
Lyria Moonbloom bows her head, hands trembling.
"The people are collapsing from hunger, thirst… I cannot heal. The Blessing of the Moon is locked. I'm using cloth and water like a field nurse."
Kael listens to them all—the engineers, the priests, the generals—and realizes the truth: the Valefar Imperium has been reborn as refugees inside its own fortress.
Kael's voice cuts through the reports, calm and absolute.
"Enough. This is no longer an empire. This is a bunker. Until we reclaim power, survival is rule one."
He straightens. The throne's light flickers to life behind him like a second sunrise.
"Dravok, Rauk—strip the armories. Gather every scrap of metal, every tool that can cut or carry. Ration stores, water lines, fuel cells—consolidate and guard them."
Dravok salutes, jaw set. "Aye, my Emperor. We'll move quiet."
"Nyra Shadeveil. Isha Silentwind.
The two shadows kneel, silent and poised.
"You'll lead reconnaissance. Take only who can move without sound. Find me the nearest Conquest Node. Do not engage. I want information, not glory."
Both bow and vanish like breath on glass.
Kael looks to Alyss.
"You oversee the rest. Medical. Order. Calm. If fear spreads, the city dies before the dome cracks."
She presses a hand to her chest. "Understood."
He removes his gauntlets. The obsidian metal, once weightless, thuds heavily onto the throne's step—too much burden for the man beneath the armor. One by one, he unfastens the dormant plates of gold and black until only a dark tunic remains.
For the first time, the Emperor feels the weight of gravity.
He turns toward the great lift that descends into the city's depths. The massive blast doors at the base groan open a fraction, and cold, living air whispers through. Kael breathes in the scent of the wild world he now commands.
"Level one," he murmurs to himself. "Then we begin at the bottom."
[MISSION — FIRST CONQUEST INITIATED]
[Objective: Locate Nearest Village ( Conquest Node )]
The light in the throne hall fades as he steps into the descending lift.
Behind him, the city of a god flickers like a candle struggling against the dark.