Everything was happening far too quickly for me to comprehend
Three months ago, after a skirmish with the elves, those wretched beings took my sister. We had lost the battle in our desperate attempt to reclaim our land, and now the Dark Elves in our empire were left in a pitiful state. We were forced to live in a region abundant in resources yet incredibly difficult to inhabit. Even within our own territory, our control was minuscule.
We were trapped, squeezed between two dominant factions in the heart of the continent. To our right were the barbarian empires, and to our left, the elven or rather "pure elven" tribes— arrogant beings who dared to call themselves 'pure' merely because of their naturally longer lifespans.
Our people struggled to survive.
Of the meager 20% of the continent, we were allowed to keep, as dictated by those two oppressive factions, a large percent often would be overrun by monsters.
Unlike the beastkin, whose natural state is humanoid and who possess the intelligence to coexist with other races, these monsters lacked such understanding. Even the rare few with the capacity for speech were nothing more than creatures driven by instinct— savage, immoral, and vile, uncaring even towards their own kind.
While I was occupied battling these relentless beasts to protect my people, I received dire news: the elves had launched an attack on the nearest kingdom.
The empire closest to the elves suffered a crushing defeat.
An entire kingdom fell, its soldiers either slain or taken as prisoners of war. Civilians who failed to evacuate in time shared their grim fate. My sister, who happened to be in that kingdom at the time, was also captured—but not as a mere war prisoner or spoils of war. No, her abduction was illegal.
According to unspoken war laws, non-combatants could not be slain and could only be taken as wartime treasures. Yet, from the intelligence we gathered, my sister was seized long after the battle had ended—when she was aiding the last remnants of the evacuation effort.
She wasn't even taken into one of the empire's merchant guild's, which would have been the standard procedure for captured civilians. This confirmed our suspicions: not all those so-called soldiers were true warriors.
Desperate, I turned to my father—the Emperor of the Star Kingdom—and pleaded for action.
My father was the strongest warrior in our empire, one of the mightiest among our people, yet I still recall the way his expression darkened when I begged him to reclaim our lost people and declare war. With a wry pained expression, he simply said:
"Octov has returned. Even if I were to battle him, I could not guarantee my survival and empires survival against the barbarians right now , its simply too risky. Not to mention Octov himself , his wife is no weakling nor are all the other Elves in that empire.
And his master—his emperor—is a Sovereign.
In his presence, I would have better luck shifting the sun from its place in the sky than even dreaming of victory or escape.
" Let us bide our time, I promise we will figure something out "
Bitterness and fear tainted his words, and who could blame him? The mention of such a being startled even her, she knew nothing about this beings;
Sovereign
I had never imagined one resided so close to our lands. It was said that Sovereigns existed on a level beyond even Sages. My father himself was a Sage, yet he made it sound as though, before this Sovereign, he was nothing more than a helpless child.
I had no choice but to seek out my sister through my own means. Fortunately, my father loved his daughter dearly. Though he could not openly declare war, he still acted— granting me two of some of his most trusted subordinates and equipping me with an artifact of unparalleled value: a LEGENDARY-tier concealment artifact, forged by a legendary blacksmith.
The cost to obtain it must have been astronomical, but my father had spared no expense.
With my father's two elite operatives—Kai and Lee, both experts in espionage and infiltration—we made it deep into the heart of the enemy kingdom. However, we soon encountered an obstacle: the impenetrable barrier surrounding the capital. It permitted entry only to those at Epic Tier Level 10 or lower. Anyone above that threshold required special permission from the guards.
In the end, I was the only one who could enter. The concealment artifact somehow bypassed the barrier flawlessly, making me the obvious choice for the mission.
For an entire month, I searched the city for my sister. The artifact granted me near absolute protection from detection, rendering me invisible to anyone beneath the Legendary Tier.
Even those possessing a Legendary detection skill had to have it focused specifically on perception to have any hope of sensing me.
With this advantage, I was able to gather information swiftly. At last, I confirmed her location— she was being held within an Archduke's estate.
Tonight was the night. The plan was set. I would act.
But then, as I descended into the underground basement, he appeared.
The little boy.
I couldn't believe my eyes. That a mere child possessed such overwhelming strength was simply inconceivable. He had not just defeated the two guards—he had toyed with them, dismantling them effortlessly without even moving from his spot. His presence was unnervingly calm, his mind seemingly elsewhere, as though this was all beneath him.
I despised the so-called 'pure elves,' but I had never denied their beauty. Elves, by nature, were an aesthetically blessed race. Yet this boy… he was something else entirely.
He stood clad in pristine white and blue martial robes, gemstones embedded into the fabric. His boots gleamed, his pants matched the robe, their light sky-blue hue blending with his flowing white hair. But it was his eyes that struck me most—piercing blue, unfathomably deep.
He was breathtaking.
Before I could even think to celebrate his victory, to hope that he might eliminate the rest of the guards in the chamber down the hall, the boy's gaze locked onto mine.
Terror gripped my soul.
It was as though my very existence dangled on the edge of oblivion.
I had never known such fear.
My only solace was the knowledge that my concealment artifact should still be masking my presence, If it could conceal me into entering this city and keep me hidden for so long, surely it should help me in this situation as well.
Yet the boy strode toward me, his movements sure, his steps were filled with confidence. He was walking directly toward me with perfect accuracy. Confusion befuddled me , how could he know where I was? Why were his footsteps so certain?
Panic clawed at my chest. I wanted to run—but I couldn't. I wanted to scream—but no sound left my lips. All I could do was pray that my defensive artifacts would hold should he decide to strike.
One such artifact was an Epic-tier defensive barrier, capable of encasing me in an impenetrable shield for as long as I had mana. I activated it immediately, watching as the invisible force wrapped around me, securing me in its protection.
Then, the boy raised his hand.
And it passed through the barrier as though it didn't exist.
My last line of defense lay with my Sage-level protection artifacts. But if I activated them, their power would undoubtedly alert the other Sage-level beings within the city. If that happened, I too would be captured.
I would fail , and be captured myself .
The boy's hand touched me, his beautiful, calm grin pulling me back to reality.
"Hello, did you enjoy the fight?"
My voice was stuck in my throat. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again. I tried to speak, but nothing came out.
My hands were shaking.
My knees felt like they could give out at any moment.
The boy tilted his head slightly, as if contemplating something. Then, with a small nod, he turned away, slipping his hand back into his pocket as he started down the dark, seemingly endless corridor. His voice rang out:
"Come. The girl might be getting raped and abused as we speak if you dawdle for too long."
I blinked, and the trepidation within me only deepened.
'How did he know I was here , no more than that how did he figure out why I was here?'
Tentatively, I followed, keeping a wide step's distance between us. The silence of the corridor was broken only by the soft echo of our footsteps. Then, with a sigh, the boy spoke again.
"You're free to walk faster, you know? Even I, with my little legs, could walk faster than you are right now."
I swallowed hard, picking up my pace, though I still maintained a cautious distance.
Suddenly, the boy turned to me, his face twisted in exasperated annoyance. He muttered "If this is how we are going to go about things, it will take us forever".
Before I could react or even consider using the attack artifacts I carried, he vanished—only to reappear right in front of me.
A foreign force seized my legs, bending them against my will.
I tried, I tried my best to resist, but the force ignored my struggle. In mere moments, I was brought to my knees.
The boy, hands still in his pockets, let out another sigh. Slowly, he lifted one hand, extending a single finger. A yellow, perfectly round orb of energy formed at its tip. The energy within it pulsed with a synchronized rhythm far beyond my understanding.
My mind failed to grasp what I was witnessing. Then, the golden glow darkened, morphing into a deep orange hue.
A wave of fear, raw and all-consuming, surged through me. My instincts screamed, if this orb touched me , that touch— was not death but oblivion itself.
My defensive barrier shattered.
Two of my protective artifacts crumbled into dust.
A horrified sob escaped my lips as I felt my concealment artifact—a bracelet—shatter.
They made no sound, just silently shattered and poof, dust.
This… This wasn't just an Epic-tier skill. It was far beyond even the early Legendary tier.
A tremor of pure terror overtook me. My heart broke under the weight of realization.
'I am standing before a being of legend.'
The boy nodded, seemingly satisfied with my reaction.
"So, now that you understand I could kill you effortlessly, will you just hurry the hell up and listen when I tell you to walk faster?"
I gasped for breath, barely managing to choke out words between my sobs.
"Y-yes… M-my Lord."
He nodded once more, then placed his hand on my forehead.
I didn't resist. I had long since surrendered to the overwhelming difference in power between us.
The moment his palm made contact, a cool surge of energy flooded my mind. The unbearable fear, the suffocating sense of impending doom… it all began to fade.
My racing heart calmed. And the tears that were running silently even without my knowing dried.
Strength slowly returned to my limbs.
It felt like being renewed, as though my mind had reversed the death sentence it had accepted moments ago.
When I looked up again, the boy who had moments ago been the embodiment of death itself now seemed… normal. Just a young boy—far too strong for his age, but nothing more. His face held only mild annoyance as he gazed down at me.
He raised an eyebrow, his expression asking a silent question: Can we go now?
Somehow, I found it… adorable.
A soft nod, and words escaped my lips as I covered my mouth. "Apologies that you had to see me in such a state, my Lord."
His eyebrow arched higher in confusion, but after a moment, he merely shrugged, as if he didn't care enough to question it.
I could only assume he used a healing skill, my mind consumed by fear a few moments ago was calmer. Ony the silent understanding of difference of power between us, remained, but the paralyzing fear, as if I had trespassed and angered a being of unfathomable power, was no longer there, just a silent awareness.
'What a magnificent healing ability, it operates like a mental buff?'
I stood and walked beside him, my eyes occasionally drifted to the boy, or rather senior and I couldn't help but be marvelled, he was a being surely at a level equal to or slightly lower then my father, a being who passed level 30 in the Legendary tier.
I turned my eyes forward, remembering why I had come here, it seemed the senior was going to help, me . For now though she lost her artifact she could only try her hardest and hope the senior would assist her.
As we moved forward, the distant sounds of cries, beating, and anguish grew louder.
A sharp pain lanced through my chest. My heart clenched.
I had almost forgotten why I had come here.
The thought of my sister—of what might be happening to her…