I didn't call a council.
I didn't summon generals.
I didn't warn the city.
I moved.
That was the first thing Kael got wrong about me — he thought I would respond like a ruler. Carefully. Strategically. With politics and pressure.
No.
I respond like a predator.
By the time the sun crested over the capital's spires, I was already gone from the palace. No entourage. No banners. Only the thin ripple of dragon blood moving beneath my skin.
Liara tried to follow me.
I stopped her with a look.
"This one is mine."
She understood. She always did.
Kael had left traces.
Not obvious ones — he wasn't careless — but emotional residue lingers when fear and ambition mix. It's a stench, if you know how to smell it.
And I did.
It led me through the city, beyond the merchant wards, past abandoned sect halls, and into the older districts — the parts of the capital built atop ruins of civilizations long erased.
Kael was hiding beneath them.
Of course he was.
I descended into the underground like a shadow slipping into a wound.
His base was shielded by layered formations — illusion, suppression, alarm. They were impressive.
They didn't matter.
I walked through them.
One by one, they folded.
By the time I reached the inner hall, Kael's elite guards were already trembling. They sensed me.
They always do.
"Prince Azrael…" one whispered. "We didn't know—"
I let him finish by dropping him unconscious with a wave of pressure.
I wasn't here for them.
I was here for Kael.
He was in the central chamber.
Surrounded by artifacts. Strategic maps. A dozen glowing communication crystals linking him to allies across the empire.
When he saw me step through the gate, his face drained of color.
"You're not supposed to be here."
"I go where I want."
His fear was delicious.
But he masked it quickly, leaning back with forced arrogance. "You think this is a victory? You reacted. That means I'm winning."
"You tried to take someone from me."
"So?" he sneered. "You collect people like toys. Why should I respect that?"
I moved closer.
With each step, his cultivation shook.
"You don't have to respect it," I said quietly. "You just have to survive it."
He laughed nervously. "You can't kill me. The empire would—"
"I don't need to kill you."
That was when he realized he'd miscalculated.
I raised my hand.
The dragon blood within me stirred.
And somewhere deep inside Kael, something began to tear.
His fate.
His luck.
His future.
I took it.
He screamed.
Not in pain — in existential horror.
The kind that comes when the universe lets go of you.
By the time I left, Kael was still alive.
But he was no longer dangerous.
Not yet.
Back in the palace, Seraphina felt it happen.
She smiled softly as warmth spread through the bond she shared with me.
"You're coming back," she whispered.
And for the first time in days…
The isolation broke.
🐉