Chapter 60: The Abomination

In the heart of the Kragmar Dominion stood the largest structure within the settlement: the Tribe Council Tent.

​Unlike the crude hide shelters scattered throughout the dominion, this one resembled a grand war hall rather than a dwelling.

Massive beast hides were stitched together to form its walls, their surfaces painted in dark pigments with ancient symbols of conquest and bloodshed.

Towering bone pillars supported the high ceiling, each one carved from the remains of colossal mana beasts slain by generations of Kragmar chiefs.

​Large iron braziers burned with crimson flames around the chamber, bathing the space in a reddish glow that made the shadows twist and churn like living things.

The floor was covered in thick, layered furs harvested from apex predators, while weapons lined the perimeter walls, war axes, barbed spears, and reinforced shields taken as trophies from fallen enemies.

​At the far end of the tent stood a throne constructed entirely from monster bones, and upon it sat Morghanna.

​The six members of the tribal council stood before her in two rows of three. None dared sit, only the Chief possessed that privilege.

Beside her throne towered a giant Orc nearly four meters tall, his body resembling a walking mountain of green muscle.

Countless jagged scars crossed his hide, and a massive greataxe rested heavily against his shoulder.

​The atmosphere inside the hall was taut with tension.

​Then, one of the council elders snorted. The aged Orc wore necklaces carved from bone and held a twisted wooden staff adorned with skulls.

He was one of the Dominion’s head Shamans, a powerful figure whose words carried immense weight among the tribe.

​"Chief," his raspy voice was laced with open disdain. "You treat this Starbound Intruder as though he were a genuine threat."

​Several elders grunted in quiet agreement.

​"The others came before him," the shaman continued, a sneer twisting his weathered face. "They hid behind their barriers, sent their creatures to scout, and tried to expand their borders. And they all died. Once the veil surrounding his territory vanishes in seven days, he will be no different, open for slaughter."

​To the council, the matter was simple: every Starbound Intruder they had ever encountered had eventually fallen, and this one would be no exception.

​Morghanna listened in silence.

​The elder’s argument wasn’t without merit. After all, she wasn’t particularly concerned by the fact that the intruder had conquered two territories within a single day; those outer regions were insignificant stepping stones.

​What truly made her uneasy was something else entirely: his message.

​The memory resurfaced in her mind, the arrogant words delivered through those relentless, swarming worms.

The sheer confidence, the unshakeable certainty, and the complete absence of fear.

​That was what made her hesitate. At her current level of power, such fearlessness made no sense.

Fear was normal, expected, even. A single glimpse of her aura was usually enough to shatter the resolve of most opponents.

​After all, Morghanna wasn’t merely strong. She stood at the absolute peak of the Fifth Realm: the [Arcane Vessel Realm].

​A realm that fundamentally transformed one’s existence.

​Her cultivation path had begun in the [Mana Core Realm], before progressing through the [Meridian Core Realm], the [Circuit Realm], the [Nexus Realm], and finally ascending into the [Arcane Vessel Realm].

Five realms, five evolutions, five total transformations, and she stood at the pinnacle of the fifth, only a single step away from the Sixth Realm: the [Grand Circuit Realm].

​Beyond that lay the legendary heights spoken of only with reverence:

​[Domain Heart Realm]

​[Mana Lord Realm]

​[Celestial Circuit Realm]

​[World Nexus Realm]

​[Eternal Meridian Realm]

​Eleven cultivation realms in total, and Morghanna had already crossed nearly half of them.

The passive aura she emitted was enough to crush weaker beings, forcing even veteran Orc warriors to instinctively lower their heads in her presence.

​Yet the creatures serving that Lord had shown no such reaction.

​First came the Mothkin, even while chained, her eyes had carried only defiance.

Then came the worms; despite being weak creatures that could be crushed with a thought, they had crawled into her war tent over and over again.

​They should have been terrified. Her aura alone should have shattered their minds, yet they had acted as if death meant nothing.

​Morghanna narrowed her crimson eyes. She didn’t understand it, and she hated things she didn’t understand.

​The shaman mistook her lingering silence for agreement. "The intruder will die, Chief."

​Morghanna’s claws tapped rhythmically against the bone armrest of her throne. Perhaps he would, perhaps not. But one thing was certain.

​The moment the veil disappeared, she would personally find out what kind of creature had the audacity to threaten her.

....

After the council meeting ended, the massive tent gradually emptied.

​One elder after another departed, the shamans left, the warriors left, and even the guard stationed within the council chamber eventually withdrew to his post outside.

​Soon, only silence remained.

​Morghanna sat alone upon the throne of bones as the crimson flames within the braziers crackled softly, their reddish light dancing across the countless trophies decorating the chamber.

​She preferred it this way. Alone.

​Most would have considered such solitude a burden, a curse, or something to be endured. Morghanna strongly disagreed.

​Loneliness was only painful when one desired companionship, or when one desired equals.

​The problem was that Morghanna had never found any. Not among the Orcs, not among the neighboring human kingdoms, and certainly not among the countless warriors she had crushed beneath her heavy axe.

​She had long since accepted the truth: the distance separating her from everyone else wasn’t isolation.

​It was superiority.

​No one possessed the strength to stand beside her, no one possessed the vision to understand her, and no one possessed the talent to keep pace with her.

​And so she sat alone, not because she had been abandoned, but because no one had managed to climb high enough to reach her.

​Her crimson eyes slowly closed.

​The quiet atmosphere allowed old memories to surface, memories she rarely revisited. Memories of her origin.

​Her mother had once been a warrior, a human warrior, and one of the countless soldiers sent by a neighboring kingdom decades ago.

Back then, the Kragmar Dominion had been expanding rapidly: village after village had fallen, and territory after territory had been absorbed.

​Concerned by the growing threat, a human coalition force had been dispatched to suppress the Orcs before they became impossible to control.

​The battle that followed had been fierce, brutal, and bloody. Thousands died, the rivers ran red, and the fields became littered with corpses.

​In the end, the Orcs prevailed.

​Among the prisoners taken that day was Morghanna’s mother, a young warrior of considerable talent.

At first, she had expected rescue, expected negotiations, and expected her kingdom to reclaim its captured soldiers.

​None came.

​Instead, human diplomats arrived. Treaties were signed, borders were negotiated, and political agreements were finalized.

​Not because the human kingdom feared the Kragmar Dominion, at the time, they possessed more than enough military strength to destroy the Orcs if they truly wished.

​The reason was far simpler: a greater threat had appeared elsewhere, one significant enough to demand the kingdom’s full attention.

​The captured soldiers were deemed acceptable losses, expendable pieces on a political board. And so, they were abandoned.

​Morghanna’s mother among them.

​The young woman eventually became the personal possession of the previous Orc Chief. A breeding sow; just another spoil of war among many.

​Months became years, and years became decades. After countless nights forced upon her... Morghanna was born.

​The result of two worlds colliding: Human and Orc.

​A hybrid that should never have existed.

....

A/N: And that wraps up the final Chapters of the month!

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