# Chapter 28 — The Vultures' Feast
The Solar Hall of the Capital was not just a place of luxury; it was a monument to indifference. The marble of the walls, extracted from the northern mountains at the cost of thousands of lives, shone with an aggressive whiteness under the runic crystal chandeliers. The air, filtered by expensive purifiers, smelled of sandalwood and roasted meats that would cost a common worker's yearly salary. But beneath this artificial fragrance hung the metallic and persistent odor of the blood that the generals brought impregnated in their boots, a silent reminder that that night's feast was fueled by the ashes of Agudo.
Countess Elara walked through the hall with the elegance of a predator. In her right hand, a crystal glass overflowed with a wine so dark it looked like clotted blood. In her left, a fine silver chain held a young girl from Agudo, whose eyes were two pools of absolute terror. Around the girl's neck, the **red runic collar** pulsed rhythmically, a crimson light that followed the slave's racing heartbeat.
"See how she trembles, Valerius," Elara murmured, stopping before Duke Valerius, a man whose obesity was an insult to the hunger ravaging the provinces. "The system says the collar detonates if the heartbeat exceeds one hundred and forty. It's like having a caged bird that can explode at any moment."
Valerius let out a laugh that made his belly wobble under his silk tunic. He used a slave as a footrest, a man whose back was bent at an impossible angle.
"Fear is the best seasoning for wine, my dear. I bet ten gold coins with General Vane that she doesn't last until the final toast. Panic is a delicious music, don't you think?"
In the center of the hall, the "entertainment" had begun. Two slaves, survivors of the massacre, were forced to fight with blunt daggers. There was no honor there, only the despair of those who know that defeat means a slow death and victory means just another day of servitude. The nobles circled around, making bets and laughing as the sound of tearing flesh and breaking bones echoed through the hall.
"Look at them," said General Kaelum, the "Butcher of Agudo," approaching the King. "Fighting for crumbs of life. This is exactly how Agudo should have been from the beginning: a pen of servants, not a powerhouse that challenged the throne."
Kaelum did not speak with hatred, but with a technical satisfaction that was even more repulsive. To him, the death of 500,000 people in Agudo had been just a "land correction."
"Your Majesty, the reports confirm that the cleansing was efficient. The poor children were eliminated to avoid unnecessary logistical costs. The noble ones, however, are already being processed."
General Vane, younger and with a sadistic glint in his eyes, intervened.
"I suggest we use them as 'Innocent Batteries,' Your Majesty. We will attach the children to our runic war machines. The Station and its pathetic rebels won't dare fire at us if they know that every shot of theirs will kill one of the heirs they so swear to protect. It's the perfect defense: their morality will be our armor."
The King, sitting on his throne of gold and obsidian, remained in a terrifying silence. He was not a monster who screamed; he was a figure of divine calm who saw the world as a dice board. To him, Agudo was not a city of people, but a systemic anomaly that needed to be deleted.
"Agudo was an offense to the natural order," said the King, his voice sounding like ice breaking under the weight of an army. "They believed they could be happy without my permission. Happiness without control is the first step toward rebellion. Let the red collars remind everyone that life is a privilege granted by me, and that I can take it away with a thought."
***
**Six Months Later**
The Red Forest was a place where hope went to die, or to hide. Its leaves were the color of dried blood and the mist was so dense it seemed to muffle the screams of those still wandering through the ruins of Agudo. There, the passage of time was not measured in days, but in scars.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The **Seven** group was on the move. They were shadows among the scarlet trees, a unit forged in pain and hatred.
"Movement ahead," whispered Rin, the small survivor who was now the group's eyes. "Sun Patrol. They found a group of fugitives in a cave near the river."
Theus, now 15 years old and with the gaze of a man who has already seen the end of the world, gripped **Mau's** hilt. The talking sword was strangely silent, sensing the tension in the air.
"Kael, on the left. Elowen, prepare the dissonance. I'll go through the center," Theus ordered.
The attack was swift and brutal. Theus used his teleportation with terrifying precision, appearing behind the patrol captain and driving Mau into his neck before the man could scream. Kael, the giant with runic prosthetics, crushed the soldiers' shields with the force of a forge hammer, while Elowen manipulated sound to disorient the enemies, turning their screams into a deafening cacophony.
In minutes, the patrol was dead. The fugitives — three malnourished children and two adults who looked like living skeletons — looked at Theus with a mixture of fear and adoration. They survived by eating rats and insects in the rubble of Agudo, hiding in holes like animals.
"You are safe now," said Theus, though his voice did not have the warmth of safety, but the coldness of determination. "Take them to the base."
The Seven's base, hidden deep within the forest, was a painful contrast to the Capital. There, there was no marble or wine, only leather tents and the smell of root stew. But there was something the Capital would never have: humanity.
At night, around a campfire that fought against the darkness of the forest, the group gathered. The rescued children listened intently as the members of the Seven discussed the next steps. Theus, as always, was apart, sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree, watching Aethel's moon.
The sword Mau, leaning against the trunk beside him, began to vibrate. Its voice, usually full of jokes, was now laden with a gravity that silenced the campfire.
"You wonder why he is like this, don't you?" Mau asked, addressing the group and the survivors. "Why a 15-year-old boy carries the weight of an entire world on his back?"
Kael looked at Theus and then at the sword.
"He never told us his story, Mau. We only know he is our leader."
"He doesn't tell because his story is the reason Agudo was destroyed," said Mau. "Theus isn't just an orphan. He is the last of the **Barack** lineage."
A murmur of shock ran through the campfire. The name Barack was a legend, the family that had once been the most noble in the Empire.
"His family had a direct connection to the throne," Mau continued. "But they were different. They sought to help, to keep the population well. They abdicated the dispute for the throne to avoid a civil war and made a deal with the old king: Agudo would be a parallel city, controlled by the Baracks, where the Empire would have no power."
Mau paused, the runic glow on its blade pulsing like a wounded heart.
"But Agudo became too strong. People fled the Empire to live there. Theus's family cared for the poor, the hungry, the fugitives. The new King saw this and felt envy corrode his insides. He realized that the people wanted the Baracks on the throne again. He didn't destroy Agudo for military strategy; he destroyed it out of pure jealousy and rage. He wanted to erase the proof that a ruler can be loved instead of feared."
Theus remained motionless, watching the moon. He knew Mau was revealing his secret, but he didn't care. The hatred he felt was greater than any secret.
"His goal isn't just revenge," Mau finished. "It's to show the King that you can burn a city, but you can't erase the blood of those born to lead. The Seven is not just a group of rebels. It is the return of the lineage the King tried to bury."
That night, in the Red Forest, the silence was not of fear, but of a renewed purpose. Theus's hatred now had a name and a story, and the Capital, in all its macabre opulence, had no idea that the heir to the throne was coming to collect Agudo's debt.
