CHAPTER 9.1

  Lying on the ground, the Nameless King admired the stellar beauty. His eyes shone even brighter as he saw something as beautiful as what he was seeing.

  'Wow! How beautiful this is! When I observe this, I forget my problems,' he thought.

  The Nameless King observed for a little while longer before getting up, his body aching. He looked at the destroyed village and the body of his adversary, and a smile escaped without him noticing.

  He then turned and continued his journey.

  Kotei watched the giant walk away. He had lost the battle, part of his population, and his soldiers. From that defeat arose an uncontrollable desire to gain power and spill blood.

  He was coughing blood as he stared at the giant, his vision growing increasingly blurry.

  'I will have my revenge. I will kill as many of his kind as possible. No matter what, I will even accept an inferior species and train and polish them to achieve this vengeance.'

  Before passing out, Kotei bit his lip until blood flowed.

  After a while, Regina arrived at her county in a noble carriage. When she arrived, she did not see her husband.

  Their daughter searched for him but could not find him, until she received the news of his departure to battle. Upon hearing the news, she ordered her daughter to be looked after, took the carriage, and headed to the battle location.

  When she arrived, she saw the marks of the battle—soldiers still between life and death, others crawling on the blood-soaked ground, mixed with groans and pleas for death or for life. Seeing this, Regina grew increasingly distraught about her husband's condition.

  Arriving at the spot, she put her hand over her mouth and said with a trembling voice:

  "Ko... Kotei?!"

  Her eyes immediately filled with tears.

  "No, this... this cannot be true. It cannot!" Finally, she screamed and fell to her knees on the bloody ground, which stained her luxurious dress. The heavy tears fell, mixing with the blood on the soil.

  The coachman, Darian, walked toward his master while his mistress wept. He put his hand on the neck of the elf lying on the ground. When he felt a heartbeat, he realized that Kotei was still alive.

  He sighed with relief that his lord was still living.

  The coachman picked up his master's body, which was dirty and reeking of pure blood, and carried him to the carriage. Regina had not fully understood; her makeup had smeared and mixed with her tears.

  He placed the body inside the carriage and formally asked his mistress to enter the transport.

  "Mistress Regina!"

  "Yes, Darian?"

  Darian looked at Regina with a kind smile.

  "There is no need to cry, Sir Kotei is alive," the coachman said gently.

  The heaviness in her heart and tears lifted like a feather.

  Regina tried to stand, but immediately felt her body weaken. Darian helped her and guided her to the carriage so she could be with her husband.

  On the way, Darian looked at the soldiers with pity.

  'Giants! Are all of them like this?! So powerful that they can cause such devastation?!'

  Darian sighed. He looked back and saw Regina tending to her lord.

  'Thank goodness! Knowing Sir Kotei, he won't let this go. He will crave vengeance and power. I just hope he doesn't lose himself on this path he has decided to... tread.'

  They made their way to the mansion.

  Meanwhile, the Nameless King walked through the magical elven forest. He was mesmerized by the place.

  The forest was beautiful, full of animals, had a different shade of green, and the trees glowed.

  'Fascinating!'

  It seemed like not a single drop of blood had ever been spilled in that forest. The Nameless King continued walking, looking around at the beautiful location.

  Even though it was an elven forest, the trees were huge because they stored mana. The trees also served for alchemy for the elves; their trunks depended on the element they carried, along with the tone of their leaves, which remained green but mixed with the hue of the element.

  After a few days, the Nameless King's sword was dripping blood once more. After destroying yet another village, the Nameless King just walked with a lifeless gaze. Not even the beauty of the elven forests could save that look anymore.

  'That battle against that pointy-eared being was the best one in this whole place.'

  He turned his head, looked back, and a wind came that moved his clothes along with his hair.

  'I will go back... I want to go back.'

  The Nameless King decided to retrace his path. Doing so, in a few days he reached the place where he had carried out his first massacre.

  The blood had already dried on the ground. Crows and vultures were devouring the bodies of the soldiers, and a stench of rotten flesh had taken over the area.

  With an impassive expression, the Nameless King was unfazed, continuing his path. Upon reaching the islands, before leaving, he looked once more at the chaos he had created, with a sense of enjoyment and amusement.

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  And then he left the continent with a jump that made the ground tremble.

  After the giant left the continent, Kotei woke up startled in bed.

  Sweaty and nauseous, mixed with dizziness, his chest hurt as if a needle was piercing it. He put his hand on his chest.

  Regina was sleeping beside him, holding his hand. A grateful smile appeared on his face, even as he looked pale and weak and felt his stomach churn.

  'It was better than being dead.'

  Yet the pain in his chest intensified, changing from small holes made by a needle to a knife being plunged into his chest repeatedly.

  'Is it my mana core?!'

  Yes, it was Kotei's mana core undergoing a change, shifting from dark-light to gray-light. The process was painful with every core evolution, which is why some elves never evolved their core, but for Kotei, who had begun to desire power, this was nothing.

  After a while, he started biting his blanket to stifle a scream, groaning in pain.

  The bed was already soaked with sweat. His biting grew more intense every second until he tore a part, and he quickly bit the other part of his blanket.

  Then, suddenly, the pain vanished, though he felt a strange, uncomfortable sensation within his own body.

  He felt his strength increasing, along with his mana quantity and magic power. Despite the discomfort, Kotei felt:

  'Incredible. This is the difference between a dark-light core mage and a gray-light core mage?! How absurd!'

  His eyes shone with the relief that the pain had passed. He felt the pleasure of power gain entering his mind.

  He let go of her hand and, though still feeling unwell, picked up the sleeping Regina and took her to another bed in the room where they were.

  He placed her carefully, then said goodbye with a kiss on Regina's forehead and headed for the corridor.

  Kotei was heading to the training room to test his enhanced powers and, perhaps, new spells.

  On the way, Kotei did not see any of his servants or even his daughter. As he walked down a dark corridor, he used magic to illuminate it.

  As he walked, Kotei gritted his teeth in hatred, realizing that even with this evolution, it was not enough for what he wanted.

  With eyes full of hatred and a thirst to spill blood.

  He walked down the dark corridor until he reached the training room, fully lit by sunlight.

  He placed his hand on the wall, which detected the type of magic and the core level. Thus, beginning his training.

  In contrast, the Nameless King arrived at the location like a meteor. In front of him, he saw an undead giant, which attacked him.

  The Nameless King, without wasting time, swung his sword, making a clean cut that split the giant in half, and then crushed the undead giant's head.

  With his sword drawn, he walked into the dead forest with a killer intent, a cold and superior gaze.

  After a while, three more undead giants appeared, who were quickly silenced without any difficulty.

  After a few more fights, he reached the King of Death, who was waiting for him, seated on his throne made of corpses. With an arrogant look, he motioned for the zombie giants to advance.

  The Nameless King, with his sword dripping blood, swung it against the enemies in front of him.

  Cutting off heads, chests, and stomachs, he quickly reached the throne, swinging his sword horizontally.

  The bodies were still falling behind the giant. The King of Death, still with a neutral expression, laughed.

  Eyes wide with surprise, he did not hesitate and continued his charge.

  But suddenly, he felt something touching and crushing his face, pushing his body back as if he were nothing.

  Thrown backward, falling and rolling on the blood-soaked ground. The Nameless King raised his head with an excited smile as a warm fluid trickled from his nose.

  Holding his sword tightly, he quickly got up and charged forward without any strategy.

  The King of Death looked at the giant with contempt and muttered with an arrogant tone:

  "Pathetic."

  Upon saying this, the King of Death grabbed him by the collar and effortlessly lifted the Nameless King.

  In the air, the Nameless King's eyes widened and his mouth opened before he was pressed down.

  The King of Death slammed the being in his arm against the ground. Blood splattered and stained the face of the most talented disciple of the God of Death.

  "I told you, didn't I?!" the King of Death said with an arrogant smile.

  He interpreted the silence as an answer.

  "At least you accomplished the mission I gave you in such a short time! But because of your impatience, your strength only increased a little."

  The disciple of death raised his adversary.

  "Do you see how different our strengths are?!"

  "Y-yes," the Nameless King said, almost out of breath.

  With his other arm, the King of Death began to beat him, while speaking:

  "You are nothing but a rough talent without real effort, effort, and training. Even though real battles can substitute training, they can leave these rough talents like flowers that try to blossom but cannot, because..." He brought his face close to the Nameless King, his eyes wide open.

  "...Because they need a gardener to prune them, and since this flower was pruned so many times by different gardeners, it failed to blossom." He held the last punch. "You already know the answer!"

  Then, he punched him one last time and dropped him like a sack of garbage. On the ground, his entire body trembled, his strength at its limit.

  Then he quickly stood up, screaming, running even though his muscles were trying to stop him.

  As he ran, several flashes of his previous battles invaded his mind, where he had won every fight.

  But the King of Death merely appeared with his leg stretched out horizontally and kicked the Nameless King's stomach.

  This threw him against the dead trees. He spat blood, while more red liquid dripped down his head, and warm fluid came out of his legs.

  Supported by the dead trees, roots pierced his back, branches penetrated his thighs and arms.

  His vision became blurry and gradually darkened. For the first time, the Nameless King felt a bitter taste in his mouth, a tightness in his chest, and a slight touch of frustration, until darkness took over his sight.

  The King of Death sat back on his throne as he watched the pools of blood on the floor.

  'I don't want to clean this up, and I'm still a little stained with the blood of that... that rough diamond that needs to be polished.' He closed his eyes and sighed in frustration.

  'I'll do it tomorrow!'

  The King of Death opened his eyes and looked up, bored.

  'It's already getting dark, so I'll sleep. He should survive, after all, he defeated Cobel, even if he was just playing in that fight.'

  Darkness was consuming the sunlight when the elven soldier, in his elegant blue and gold attire, spoke about the destination point.

  Luis was incredulous about this. After all, how could the King of the humans agree for them to take refuge on the elven continent?! They would be treated as slaves.

  Luis, full of hatred, gnashed his teeth, clenched his fist, and held back the voice that wanted to escape.

  Then he muttered as he sat down on the boat after this news.

  The people were surprised by this news. The sad and heavy atmosphere transformed into resentment, hatred, disappointment, and sadness. With all this mixed together, the ship's atmosphere, along with the night, became heavy as an iron bar.

  Next to Luis was a melancholic boy, not very different from most people. However, he had just lost everything he loved.

  He looked at the despair and fear, along with other negative feelings.

  'Why all this despair just because we're becoming elven slaves?! After all, even if we make friends, families, and children. We will lose everything!'

  Noa held back his tears and swallowed hard.

  'Because of my incompetence, my parents died protecting me.' A tear, even though he held it back as much as possible, ran down his face. Flashes consumed the poor boy's mind.

  The houses collapsing and being consumed by fire, almost crushing him if it hadn't been for his mother, who sacrificed herself and was consumed by the flames.

  He only heard her screams of pain as he cried out for his mother.

  His father pushed him onto the ship and remained trapped in the ruined city.

  Huddled, the feeling of uselessness came. The taste of being the cause of his parents' death came to his palate.

  This taste remained until the ship's arrival on the elven continent, in the county of Baron Kotei.

  Upon arrival, the humans only saw ashes of burned bodies. The soldiers almost always looked away. Until they heard footsteps.

  It was an elegant man, who approached with open arms and a smile on his face.

  "Welcome to our continent and our county." He offered salutations to the humans and finished by speaking his name with a malicious smile. "My name is Kotei."