Chapter 65: The Red Carpet

Utarou caught himself imagining what he must look like from the outside as his head regrew from his torso, briefly catching a glimpse of himself as the straggling knight who’d just attacked Utarou was cut down by Barney.

He was wandering the field of corpses, picking up anything useful from them and shooting anyone who hadn’t been caught in the slaughter.

He must have looked like a kind of grim reaper.

“Heh, maybe I was the shinigami the whole time…” Utarou thought out loud as he heard the sound of breathing coming from a pile of corpses to his left. He aimed his gun at the pile, paused for a second as he saw a raven quickly fly away.

He was nearly out of ammo and didn’t feel like wasting any shots he didn’t have to.

With a sigh he looked up to where the Julias were watching.

“ARE WE DONE HERE?!” Utarou shouted.

They’d sent him down first alone to handle the stragglers himself, it wasn’t exactly a risk if he died a few times.

Henrek and Barney had come to take care of a few that were hiding themselves.

“YEAH! COME ON LET’S GET OUT OF HERE THIS PLACE IS STARTING TO REEK!” Redlia shouted.

The battle had thoroughly wiped out the armies of Burtcons and Rolfcons, with Monsteria’s new dwarven rifles helping to keep the battle a complete and utter bloodbath on each side. Whenever one was about to win, Henrek evened the playing field with a sniper shot.

The chaos of battle kept their sabotage hidden until it was far too late for either side to do anything about it. When both sides had mages firing explosive spells, knights using skills to perform explosive and flashy attacks, a few golden beams of light hardly stuck out.

“Alright I’m happy enough with what we’ve gotten sorted, you?” Barney asked, grabbing a bundle of weapons and equipment for himself as a part of the spoils of war.

Henrek was looking at the corpses of Archos Oldsman and Adamonze Oldser, the men who represented wider society's rejection of his sister, wife and child.

He said nothing as he cut off the men's heads and walked away.

It was time to go home, the war was over. No one would hear of this incident, any scouts would see a bloody battle between two rivals, and Monsteria's role in it would never be known.

Walking across the bloodied grass, it was like a red carpet.

The raven returned to the corpses, pecking at something deep below the pile of bodies.

Amongst the thick red carpet, a singular soldier was barely able to survive, one who had just seen and heard everything.

…

It was a hastily arranged coronation, only the nobility who could receive the invite and arrive at the capital within two weeks were invited, resulting in some of the outermost nobility from provinces like Brattany being excluded.

King Oldsman sat on his throne as the room talked in hushed whispers, spreading rumours that the King was closer to death than expected, or the potential that this completely unknown heir was a bastard he had decided to install under everyone's noses.

Prince Youngsman was a complete unknown to the wider nobility, but it was evident that he was Oldsman’s son.

He carried the posture, dignity and regal nobility that people spoke of Oldsman having when he was, well, a younger man.

But he was terribly young, no older than 15 years of age, his face was boyish and his body was still small.

It was insane to be crowning him, but as he walked the red carpet and knelt in front of his father, this unorthodox crowning only continued to grow stranger.

“My collection, please, come here.” Oldsman demanded, signalling with a weak hand for the five pieces of his collection to kneel before him.

Lucian, the man whose touch would instantly kill anything.

Bertolt Befehl, the man who could command anyone instantly.

Koch Bloch, the man whose presence nullified all magic completely.

Cassandra Morrow, the woman who could see the perfect future.

Kiera Riegel, the woman who could halt anything.

They all knelt just behind Youngsman, who looked up to his father, Oldsman smirked.

“I wish for my son to… Perhaps absorb some of the divinity you Blessed Beings have been given. May he start with you Kiera?” Oldsman asked in a coldly calculated tone.

Kiera felt uneasy but nodded.

“O-Of course my lord!” Kiera exclaimed, seeing that Youngsman was already approaching, his eyes glowing a faint white.

Cassandra, a woman blessed with Future Sight. She could see what actions she would have to take in the next 10 seconds in order to guarantee the best outcome.

This ability had led her to Oldsman, thus granting her a generous offer as a noble with no obligations but accepting summons like this.

As Youngsman placed his palm out above Kiera’s head, Cassandra saw nothing out of the ordinary.

So long as she kept kneeling, she would get the best outcome.

Until suddenly, she received a vision she’d never gotten before.

Guaranteed death.

Cassandra screamed and immediately began running towards the exit.

Everyone in the room looked baffled except Lucian and Oldsman.

Her vision was clear, she was going to die.

It was already too late.

Kiera fell to the ground ten seconds after Cassandra began to flee, Youngman's eyes were glowing yellow.

Bertolt looked at the young lord and was about to say something but it was too late.

“Absolute Lock,” Youngsman declared, snapping his fingers.

Everyone in the room suddenly froze, their bodies immobile, with only King Oldsman being spared.

“Hmm, it does feel good to finally use my own Blessing.” Youngsman remarked as he approached Cassandra, his eyes returning to a soft white glow.

She could no longer scream as her vision came true, with Youngsman holding his hand just in front of her face, she died, her body unable to move as Youngman's eyes began to glow a dark blue.

Turning back, Youngsman saw the man who raised him, Koch Bloch, in a hidden fortress in the forests, away from the prying eyes of other nobility, his Total Mana Nullification keeping them hidden from even the Avoisan Church.

Koch looked devastated as Youngsman let out a sigh.

“I’m sorry, old friend, it has to be this way.” Youngsman apologised, holding his hand over the man's face, as the life faded from eyes, Youngsman’s eyes began to glow a bright green.

Bertolt Befehl, the man possessing the Blessing of Absolute Command, was desperately trying to speak, to force his will onto Youngsman like he had done to so many men before to protect himself, but his jaw was unable to move.

Youngman's eyes glowed red after taking his Blessing.

Finally, there was Lucian, the only other man in this room who knew what this coronation was really for.

He was eagerly awaiting his curse to be taken away, even if it meant his life.

“Be careful with that one boy, it’s a feisty ability!” Oldsman laughed as over a decade of planning finally slotted into place. It was earlier than he wanted, but no matter, the boy only needed one more blessing after this to become a God King.

As the life left Lucian's eyes, Youngsman’s eyes turned purple.

“Yes, this is quite a dangerous one you kept for me father…” Youngsman remarked as his eyes switched to yellow, he snapped his fingers, releasing everyone from the grip, including the corpses of 5 blessed beings.

There were several screams of terror as they were finally freed from the power of Absolute Lock, though they were quickly silenced by a red eyed Youngsman shouting.

“TO ALL IN ATTENDANCE, SILENCE!” Youngsman shouted, the power of Absolute Command compelling them to deathly silence.

“Everyone in here, your standing order is simple, you are to never betray me, lie to me, or defect from me.” Youngsman commanded, his eyes switching to a dark blue.

Seeing the ideal path for the next 10 seconds, he suddenly walked away from the throne room towards the hall, where a bruised, battered and barely alive soldier was standing, horrified.

“Speak.” Youngsman demanded.

“M-My liege I didn’t mean to-”

“What news do you bring?!” Youngsman snapped.

“I-It’s… The Immortal… The battle… Burtcons and Rolfcons armies are gone… We were set up… By an unkillable man! THE unkillable man is alive!” The soldier gasped, his wounds having barely healed, the hard journey from Dracons had nearly killed the man.

Youngsman smiled.

“The final piece of my collection appears to have made itself known to us father, perhaps we can skip the formalities, I believe it’s clear to everyone here I am now king. I now wish to hunt.” Youngsman declared.

Once he stole Utarou’s Perfect Immortality.

Nothing could ever stop Youngsman again.