Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang looked at the thing that Duke Whirlwind had called a castle.

On the horizon, Shang could see a gigantic, white dome.

It was three kilometers long and nearly two kilometers high. In a way, it looked like a gigantic hill without any vegetation.

And that was supposed to be King Skythunder’s castle?

In Shang’s mind, having a huge dome as a castle didn’t fit King Skythunder at all. After all, King Skythunder had a Wind and Lightning Affinity. Those Affinities were related more to spiky than round things.

As the group continued traveling, Shang kept looking at the dome.

For some reason, it wasn’t entirely even.

There were some ridges here and there. On top of that, the ridges didn’t seem entirely man-made.

That was when Shang remembered something, and his mind made a connection.

‘Wait, could that be?’

“Is this an exoskeleton?” Shang asked.

Duke Whirlwind looked with surprise at Shang.

And then, he smirked. “Quite smart, Shang,” he said. “Yes, this is the exoskeleton of the Ancestor Queen.”

Shang nodded._.

This made a lot of sense!

The Caves below the Storm Eagle Zone had once housed a huge insect tribe, and it had counted as its own Zone, the Ancestor Queen Zone.

The Ancestor Queen had died mysteriously, and King Skythunder had once confirmed the death.

Would they leave such a valuable corpse?

Of course not!

They had retrieved the corpse, and evidently, they had used the Ancestor Queen’s carapace as a natural fortress.

The natural armor of a Zone Beast. Was there a greater defense?

If another Kingdom attacked, would they even be able to break through this insane defense?

Shang had only heard of the Ancestor Queen. Seeing part of its body was something entirely different.

How had this gigantic Zone Beast died?

Was it another Zone Beast?

Was it a natural death?

Was it the God?

Shang wasn’t sure. 

“Alright, everyone!” Duke Whirlwind shouted to the group of warriors. “Before we reach King Skythunder’s castle, I have to tell you how to act in front of him.”

The group nodded and listened intently.

“King Skythunder isn’t one for formalities and procedure. He only cares about power and what people truly feel. As long as you don’t look down on him in your hearts, he won’t perceive your actions as insulting.”

“However, it is better to be safe than sorry. I would suggest that you bow to him in an honest manner. The bow doesn’t need to be very deferential, but you have to mean it. You also don’t need to think that you are his servant or something. As long as you acknowledge his overwhelming power, he doesn’t care.”

Then, Duke Whirlwind’s face turned into a bitter smile. “Although, talking to him is contradictory to what I told you just now.”

The group looked with confusion at Duke Whirlwind. 

“King Skythunder also doesn’t like weaklings, and his definition of weakling is a bit different than you might imagine.”

“In his mind, a weakling is someone that can’t follow their own principles, someone that can’t speak up for themselves. To him, everyone in his Kingdom is so far beneath his power that Dukes and servants aren’t different in his mind. They are all far weaker than him, and he treats them the same.”

“Everyone in the Kingdom is weaker than him, and he is right in thinking so. You all have to remember one thing.”

“Even if every High Mage in the entire Kingdom attacked him, he wouldn’t even get injured.”

Silence.

The group took a collective deep breath.

They had known that the King was powerful, but THAT powerful?!

“As long as you don’t forget his power while speaking to him, you will be fine.”

Then, Duke Whirlwind frowned.

“Sadly, I can’t say the same thing for the Council. While speaking to them, you have to show your deepest respect. They won’t dare to do anything with King Skythunder present, but hiring a True Mage Cleaner is just a bit of money to them.”

Shang had already expected something like that.

The Council were the actual leaders of the Skythunder Kingdom. King Skythunder didn’t much care about ruling over his Kingdom, and he fully focused on his own power.

So, it fell to the Council to manage his Kingdom. 

The Council was comprised of the, generally accepted, five most powerful High Mages in the Kingdom, except for the Archduke. The Archduke was the spokesperson for all the Dukes, and they had the same level of power as the Council Head.

Together, the Archduke and the Council Head counted as the second most powerful people in the entire Kingdom.

They were both Peak High Mages with a Focus that had four circlets.

“So, try to be careful how you talk to them. The best way to go about this is to only talk to them if they speak to you first, and if they happen to speak to you, be respectful,” Duke Whirlwind explained.

The group nodded.

“Honestly, we are all quite lucky that I managed to get an audience with King Skythunder,” Duke Whirlwind said with a bitter laugh, “and we’re also all lucky that everyone managed to keep the secret until I could reach him.”

The group looked at Duke Whirlwind with confused expressions.

“If the Council had found out about the procedure before I managed to reach King Skythunder, we might have all already died,” Duke Whirlwind said.

Silence.

A terrifying silence washed over the group.

Shang also felt quite nervous, and he was glad that he didn’t let any of the details slip.

“But now, everything should be okay,” Duke Whirlwind said with a laugh. “King Skythunder has heard of the Procedure, and he showed his interest. If he decides that the Procedure is okay, we don’t have to fear the Council.”

“At least, openly,” Duke Whirlwind grumbled.

The group continued to travel towards the large dome, and a couple of minutes later, they arrived at the gates.

From his current position, Shang could see that the exoskeleton had been fully filled with expensive ore. The Kingdom had truly converted the empty exoskeleton into an actual building.

Surprisingly, the gates were open, and there were no guards standing near them.

There had been plenty of guards near every town, city, and at the border, but there were no guards here.

Shang quickly realized why that was and saw the first sign of King Skythunder’s personality.

“Why would I need guards? If something is powerful enough to threaten me, all of you would be useless anyway.”

This was probably what King Skythunder had thought.

The Skythunder Zone had plenty of normal people living there. After all, a Zone of humans needed lots of food and services.

But the castle of King Skythunder didn’t need any guards.

“We have already stepped into King Skythunder’s domain,” Duke Whirlwind said. “Do not forget where you are, no matter what.”

Bzzt!

Suddenly, a small bit of lightning appeared on Shang’s body, but it vanished just as quickly.

Only Shang, the Dean, and Duke Whirlwind had noticed.

Duke Whirlwind had noticed, but he acted like he hadn’t seen anything.

The group had stopped in front of the gates, but they hadn’t entered.

Instead, they were all just waiting in front of the open gates.

“We are allowed to enter,” Duke Whirlwind said.

And then, everyone entered King Skythunder’s castle.