Chapter 554: The Five Crowns

Today was a big day, one of the biggest in the world, in its history. After all, it has been a while since all the Kings reunited in one place. It was a historical event. Some of them haven’t even seen each other in ages, lifetimes.

But for the world, there’s no such thing as something that cannot happen.

His blade has also arrived, which was wonderful. And just like he predicted, all its abilities were the same as before, and it was great to finally get confirmation on what they were.

’The first marks the opponent and gives me the ability to track them, but this one was the most obvious, out of the three. There’s also Execution, which I’ve seen a couple of times in action, but I was more confused by it. Whenever an enemy is close to death, on the verge of dying, the blade will pass through any defense to kill it instantly.

And the last, my slashes get faster each time I hit my opponent; nothing that major.’ Those were the three abilities Raven had in the Wonderland, the three that he had used... however, Atlas had used far superior materials to complete it, along with a lot better tools, allowing him to make it stronger and add another ability.

...[Purity]- A blade born from the antler of an innocent animal, one with a soul so pure it drove even demons away that tried to corrupt it. This ability makes your attacks stronger against the most sinful of enemies, but also slightly lowers your damage against innocent souls.

He didn’t necessarily see anything bad with it, even if technically it was a bit of a double-edged ability, making him both stronger and weaker depending on the situation, but at the same time he didn’t know when he was going to fight a pure being, since what reason would he even have to do that?

He saw it as a great ability, one that finally helped him offensively, which, in times like this, he needed; after all, if he was going to protect people, he was going to have to fight with monsters and people who were high in the Bearer rankings, and if he wasn’t going to have time to awaken, then this ability was very necessary. He doubted he was only going to have to fight against Readers and Seekers.

But enough of Raven; it wasn’t important at the moment.

He had a meeting to attend.

...

Reaching the castle, he was wearing his usual mantle; he had wanted to use Elpis as his disguise... but he quickly denied that possibility, since in his story he talked about him entering the Wonderland with the expedition that was meant to enter it. But he hadn’t entered as Elpis, and wasn’t meant to enter as Elpis; his father could just look over the list of people and see if he was there.

Plus, he would just be revealing another one of his tricks to Silas, which he didn’t want.

So in the end, he just decided to wear his mantle and asked Silas for a relic; he had made a request, one that he was more than happy to accept, one that allowed his voice to change. He already knew that Sofia thought his voice was familiar, so he didn’t think it was best to reveal it.

And really, with everything going on, he didn’t know if the news of him being alive would be the best at the moment; plus, he really just didn’t want to talk to his father at the moment.

Entering and heading towards the room where the meeting was going to take place, Silas was more than delighted to see that he had come, expecting that he might back out of it, it was a lot of pressure, after all.

He was meant to speak in front of all the Kings and make them believe what was going to happen, which was in no way going to be an easy thing.

"There he is," the King said, as he wrapped his arms around his neck. Aether disliked him, but accepted it as Silas transferred the relic to him.

[You have gained a new relic]

"Don’t mean to put pressure on you, but you do know just how important this moment is? Right?"

Aether sighed. "Of course I do." He said, as he lay in his chair, the one next to Silas, who was sitting at the end of it.

"They will be arriving soon, so be prepared."

And they were... as he already heard a carriage turning in at the castle. Taking a deep breath, he put his hood on as he looked at the doors, waiting. And he didn’t have to wait for long, as a guard opened them and a women and her daughter entered.

He was surprised to see this... was she one of the Kings? But shouldn’t she be called a Queen?

’Or is the King just a title given to those that have ascended to Breaker.’ Whatever it was, she looked... cold, very cold. Her light blue eyes were like icebergs that were unbudged, and her white hair was like a tundra without any life. And yet she wore a beautiful red dress, one that had long sleeves, to her hands, where it went through the middle and ring finger. The girl next to her seemed to look alike, just that her hair looked to be more of a bluish shade.

If he had to guess, she was her daughter, which would also make her the princess.

He had to say, he expected all the other kings to be intimidating, but he didn’t think he was going to feel it so far. But someone who wasn’t feeling it was Silas, who couldn’t help but chuckle as the Queen and her daughter got into their chairs.

"Zvezdochka, how have you been doing?" The woman sighed as she glanced at Silas with the corner of her eye, not turning her head, almost as if he wasn’t worth it. "Zvezda, Zvezda Nivara Volskaya. I thought you would stop with that nickname, but I guess you are as stubborn and annoying as usual. How annoying; it really makes me wonder how you got a wife."

Silas pretended to be hurt by her words, but it was clear he didn’t take them to heart at all. "I see your daughter has grown, isn’t that right, Lunara?"

The princess only pouted as she looked away.

Aether just stared at this interaction from behind his hood. He did not expect things to be so awkward; it didn’t seem like Silas and Zvezda were on the best of terms. He wondered why that was.

"She was, that’s why I took her with me. She needs to learn to lead, as the future Queen. Though I’m surprised, even if I thought you weren’t going to take Iris, since you are too protective of her, I would have expected Keres, or at least Lilith... even Sena, or someone else. And yet, you have brought a very... mysterious person."

Aether felt it, how she stared at him, her gaze. It was clear that she was interested in his identity. And he hated it... he was to speak and try to convince her? It was going to be a huge hassle.

As they continued waiting, more people arrived. The second was his father... his face... it felt so familiar, and yet he had changed too much; he looked spent, tired out of his mind... and interestingly, Sofia hadn’t come with him, but instead.

... ’Xavier.’ He felt himself frown deeply, staring at his brother’s face once more. It would have been funny if the fragment of the Angel’s soul was still here; it would have definitely killed him right now.

Silas and his father didn’t exchange many words; he just sat in his chair. But looking at Zvezda, she looked... almost disgusted looking at Alar. He wondered why that was... in his opinion, she was a very interesting person... very interesting.

The next to come was the Rashid, the leader of Oasis, with his most trusted man behind him, Idris. They looked to be in a good mood, their smiles bright on their faces, but it was expected for Oasis to be this happy. All the stories he used to read about Oasis were awesome. It was also the only Kingdom that was so open to the others, which was why he knew about them but not Zvezda.

The last one to come finally appeared... yet he appeared alone. He was suprised to see how buff the man was. His long, wavy black hair fell beyond his shoulders, and his golden eyes saw everything in the room. He was definitely intimidating.

He sat down in a seat now empty, since he had no one come with him. "Thank you for the invite, Silas." He said, smiling.

Silas nodded. "It was my honor, Mahendra"

He cleared his throat. "Now, since we are all here, and each of your time is precious, we will start... and the first thing I will do.

is to let my guest talk.

Fallen Eden.

The Vessel of the Abyss."