Valentine City, the capital of the Drakethorne Grand Duchy.

  Midnight arrived, and the city was anything but calm.

  A gate had opened near the palace within their territory.

  This was no ordinary gate. It glowed red, a color second only to black in terms of danger. Sirens blared as knights waved their arms, shouting for everyone to get away. Panic swept through the crowd as people grabbed whatever they could and ran, fear etched on every face.

  Shane Drakethorne, his black hair and eyes striking against his determined expression and powerful build, landed with authority near the gate entrance. His troops followed, their commanding presence enough to make every goblin emerging from the gate quiver in fear.

  But they knew these goblins were just minions emerging from the gate, so they readied their weapons, preparing for the powerful ones yet to come.

  Lucy, the knight commander, was visibly tense, her jaw clenched, and brow furrowed in anxiety as the chaos unfolded.

  Lucy approached Shane and asked, "Your Grace, the gate has just opened. How are monsters already pouring out?" Her voice shook with tension as she voiced her concern.

  Shane was also clearly confused, his brows knitting together for an instant before he forced his expression to remain neutral.

  "I do not know. I have never seen this happen before," Shane said. "Whatever the reason, we need to close this gate first."

  "We will clear this gate!" Shane Drakethorne declared, his voice ringing with authority.

  "Yes, Your Grace! We will destroy any monster that stands in our way!" the troops shouted together.

  Just as he was about to enter the gate, he paused, sensing a presence he knew all too well.

  His wife, the Duchess of Drakethorne, Sera Azurestorm, stood nearby—a beautiful woman with long blue hair flowing to her waist, azure eyes, and an untainted face.

  Seeing his wife present instead of resting, Shane Drakethorne’s expression darkened with worry and frustration. His jaw clenched as he strode purposefully toward her, conviction and concern evident in every deliberate step.

  "Why are you here? You are eight months pregnant. You should be resting," Shane Drakethorne said to Sera Azurestorm, his words laced with desperation and fear as he glanced at her belly.

  "How can I rest when a red gate has appeared? I am a sage-level magician," Sera replied, her expression resolute.

  He tried to send her away, but she stood her ground. "I am not leaving," Sera insisted.

  Seeing he could not change her mind, Shane relented. He summoned four knights, instructing Sera to stay at the rear and ordering the knights to protect her as they entered the gate together.

  Sera nodded and remained at the back with her guards. When the group advanced, she followed them through the gate.

  Few knights were left behind to deal with the goblins that had already exited the gate.

  Inside the gate, the scene was shocking.

  A massive horde of goblins rushed toward them. The area stretched wide and open, leaving no place to hide. Goblins charged from every direction, while goblin archers in the distance aimed their arrows at them.

  Shane stepped forward, raising his sword. "Sera, stand in the center. Knights, form a circle. Mages and long-range fighters, stay inside; knights, guard the back."

  All followed Shane’s lead into the fray and immediately engaged the monsters, slashing and casting spells as the battle commenced.

  Mages chanted incantations and fired magical projectiles at the goblin archers. Long-range warriors unleashed arrows and bolts, rapidly eliminating targets from afar.

  The knights at the rear advanced to intercept incoming goblins, forming a defensive line with shields raised. Healers and support units chanted spells, casting protective auras and strength buffs on the knights as they braced for the assault.

  “Your Grace, they are too weak for this to be a red gate,” Lucy said loudly. All the knights also felt that these goblins were too weak.

  “They are for distraction, the real enemy is clearly hiding in the back waiting for us to lose our stamina”, Shane said out loud.

  "Just use minimal force. Don’t waste energy on unnecessary movements. Only buff when needed. Keep your reserves intact," Shane ordered. The troops complied.

  This kept going on, and there was no end to them. Sensing a bad premonition, Sera Azurestorm turned to the north, focused her energy, and saw an even larger army approaching. These were not the normal goblins they had been fighting; these were stronger, all mutated goblins led by the Goblin Kings.

  What’s even more shocking was that there was one goblin emperor, whose imposing aura surpassed hers, sitting on a throne carried aloft by goblins.

  The Goblin Emperor looked in her direction, licked his lips, and started laughing maniacally.

  Sera Azurestorm felt a shiver run down her body. She looked at her belly, hands trembling with fear and worry for her unborn child.

  Just as Sera prepared to warn Shane—“Dear, take care of this area and stay in the back. I am going to fight the enemy leader.” —Shane turned, shouted orders, and vanished in a flash toward the enemy. At the same time, Lucy and several other high-ranking knights and mages followed suit, disappearing from the formation to support Shane.

  They understood Sera's strength and trusted the remaining troops to fend off the goblins and archers. The mages continued their spells while the knights maintained their defensive lines.

  Shane landed near the goblin emperor with his sword blazing fire in his hand, and Lucy and the others landed behind him, forming a circle.

  “HOHOHOHO KIKIKIKI, you have come here, Drakethorne. I will erase your lineage from this world. KIKIKIKI HEHEHE”, The Goblin Emperor started laughing maniacally.

  "Your Grace, how does he know about you? They should have no knowledge about you unless it was some scheme by someone," Lucy voiced her thoughts to Shane Drakethorne.

  “Yes, I have been feeling something is wrong ever since this gate appeared; someone must have planned all this”, Shane Drakethorne said

  “HOHOHO, you still have time to talk here, kill them, my champions”, the Goblin Emperor ordered his troops.

  There were four goblin kings and several goblin lords.

  Because only Lucy could fight the Goblin Kings, Shane ordered the rest of his troops to confront the Goblin Lords, while he and Lucy focused on the Goblin Kings.

  “Struggle all you want, but you are going to die here, KIKIKIKIKIKI”, the Goblin Emperor burst out laughing.

  Shane took on three goblin kings while Lucy started fighting the remaining goblin king singlehandedly.

  Lucy was a grandmaster rank, on the verge of reaching sage rank, but Shane was different; he was already sage rank, on the verge of breaking into paragon rank.

  Shane slashed his sword forward, severing the Goblin King's hand. The sword’s blazing fire began consuming the goblin’s body. To stop the fire, the Goblin King severed the rest of his hand and then started frantically attacking Shane.

  As two other Goblin Kings attacked him at the same time, Shane parried their strikes, slashed back, deftly defended, and counterattacked so rapidly that the Goblin Emperor became visibly upset.

  Lucy was not faring so badly; she gained the upper hand in the battle and cut off the goblin king’s head.

  Just as Shane cut off the Goblin King's head, the goblin emperor descended from his seat and ate the goblin king, who had already lost his hand to Shane.

  The Goblin Emperor licked his lips, and the remaining Goblin King, seeing this, backed off and started fighting against Lucy.

  However, the other knights who came with Shane were not faring so well; they faced an overwhelming number of goblins.

  Goblin Emperor released an aura equal to Shane's. Though Shane was tired from constant fighting, he did not back down and matched the Goblin Emperor's aura.

  Shane looked at his sword, named Darkred, and said, "Today, we will bathe in his blood." Feeling its master’s resolve, the sword began to emit more fire, so red it seemed to be burning blood.

  Shane launched himself toward the Goblin Emperor with his sword, aiming at his neck, but just as his sword was on the verge of cutting his neck, the Goblin Emperor defended himself with the huge axe that he was wielding.

  They clashed, so powerful that their collision sent shockwaves everywhere, and debris began flying out.

  Shane was not faring well, and he found himself on the defensive side quickly as he had already used up so much stamina dealing with others.

  The Goblin Emperor, seeing Shane’s state, started laughing and kept on attacking him with his axe without stopping.

  The Goblin Emperor saw an opening and punched Shane in the chest, sending him flying backward.

  Shane managed to steady himself, but the damage was so severe that he started coughing up blood violently.

  The Goblin Emperor appeared in an instant in front of Shane and aimed his axe at Shane’s neck to cut it off, but just as he was about to do so, Lucy appeared and tried to stop, but the Goblin Emperor threw a punch at her and sent her flying back.

  Just as the axe reached near Shane’s neck, the air suddenly shifted. To everyone’s shock, Sera Azurestorm appeared between them, grabbing the axe with her hand to stop its swing. Her eyes were blood red as she forced her body to exert more power than she was capable of, desperately trying to keep the axe from reaching Shane’s neck.

  Sera channelled her magic, threw the axe aside, and unleashed a shockwave, flinging the Goblin Emperor backward.

  Sera didn’t stop there and started chasing down the goblin emperor, sending one powerful spell after another, but he defended himself and attacked her with an axe, cutting deeply into her chest, and causing blood to come gushing out.

  Seeing this, Shane grew so angry that his blazing aura made the air tremble as he approached the Goblin Emperor.

  "So, now it's your turn to die after your wife..." The Goblin Emperor was about to finish his sentence, but his head fell to the ground. Disbelief filled his eyes as he died.

  Shane had entered the paragon rank after being on the verge of death.

  The goblins fled after seeing their leader dead. Shane's troops chased after, hunting them down.

  Shane approached Sera with tears streaming down his face, his hands shaking as he found her lying on the ground, clinging to life with the help of the healers.

  Shane looked at her. She was giving birth to their child there, in the wilderness, with death dancing in the air.

  Sera looked at Shane, coughing blood. She whispered that she kept their child safe.

  “Baby wants to come out and play with you, take care of him, dear,” Sera said to Shane, her tear-streaked face filled with love and sorrow as her voice broke with emotion.

  Shane couldn’t hold back and hugged her tightly, saying that she couldn’t leave him.

  Time passed, and he kept on holding her hands. The baby came out of the womb with a loud cry, and mana particles shimmered around him as if they were happy to see him.

  Shane took the baby in his hand. They have given birth to a son, and he was crying loudly.

  Seeing son and father together, Sera felt relieved, but her happiness was short-lived, as she was on the verge of death. She knew it clearly because she had burned away all her life force to exert more power to fight the Goblin Emperor.

  Shane handed the baby to his mother, Sera. She saw him and was happy, but sad not to be able to see him grow.

  “Grow up to be a strong and loving person, will you, my son. I will not be with you but will observe you from Heaven, so, don’t be a naughty boy and don’t trouble your father, your father and mother love you both”, Sera said to her son.

  As if the baby were intelligent and could feel the situation, he started crying even more. Seeing this, Sera couldn’t hold back her tears and hugged her son tightly.

  Shane joined in hugging them, unable to hold back his tears; he cried with them.

  [!Ding New Skill Everyday System has been awakened!!!]

  [Host will get a new basic skill every day]

  [Host is being scanned and system is synchronizing.. 10%....30%....60%....70%...90%...100%]

  [!Ding System is completely assimilated with the Host]

  [Seeing the host in this state. Desperate measures are being taken to preserve his well-being]

  [Calculating the skill to be given to the host]

  [!Error!Error!Error: Host is still an infant, and this skill isn’t a basic skill]

  [!Error!Error!Error: Fate-Defying skill is being assigned to Host]

  [!Error: This skill doesn’t fit under basic skill]

  [!System is forcing the burden on itself and will go to slumber for 15 years]

  [Host is given “Last Light of Miracle” Skill]

  [!Error!Error: Host can use this only once, as it doesn’t fall under basic skills]

  [!Host is too young to use this skill. Forcing System to use this skill on his behalf]

  ?

  I wanted to share something with you. Actually, I’m not a native English speaker. I’m from Nepal, home of Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world. Since this is my first time writing a novel in English, there may be a few mistakes along the way.

  I hope you’ll understand, and please be kind to me as I learn and improve.