The dawn over Aethelgard was no longer a symbol of hope; it was a spotlight on a massacre. As the citizens of the Upper District sipped their morning coffee, they looked out of their floor-to-ceiling windows and saw a sight that froze their hearts.
A single figure was ascending through the clouds.
Leo's True Monarch's Wings didn't just flap; they tore through the air, leaving trails of violet mana that looked like scars against the blue sky. Each stroke of his wings propelled him higher, past the mid-tier floating gardens and toward the apex of the city—the Association Headquarters, a spire of white marble and gold that pierced the stratosphere.
[Skill Passive Active: Omni-Presence.] [Status: 12 Shadow Soldiers active in Sector 4.] [Status: The Obsidian Sentinel is guarding the core.]
"You look like a fallen god," Seraphina's voice echoed in his mind, a benefit of their Rank 2 Bond. She remained at the Sanctum, her mana acting as the battery for his long-distance flight. "The Association's radar is going haywire. They're scrambled, Leo. They don't know whether to fire or pray."
"Let them do both," Leo replied, his eyes locked on the grand balcony of the Board's council chamber.
As he approached, the spire's automated defenses—massive railguns designed to take out S-Rank dragons—whirred into life. Four beams of concentrated energy converged on him.
[Perception Active: Time Dilation.] [Skill Activation: Void Flicker.]
Leo didn't dodge. He vanished. He reappeared a hundred meters closer, then again, and again, flickering through the sky like a glitch in reality. The railguns couldn't track a target that wasn't consistently in the third dimension.
He landed on the council balcony with the weight of a meteor, the marble cracking beneath his boots. The impact shattered the reinforced glass doors, sending shards flying into the room where the seven members of the Association Board sat in stunned silence.
These were the men and women who had signed his death warrant. They looked different in person—smaller, older, and deeply mortal.
"Leo..." one of them, a woman in a high-collared gown, stammered. "You realize this is an act of war? You are trespassing on sovereign territory!"
Leo walked toward the massive mahogany table, his wings unfurled to their full fifteen-foot span, casting a shadow that swallowed the entire room. He didn't pull out his blade. He simply sat in the empty chair at the head of the table—the seat reserved for the High Chairman.
"War?" Leo asked, his voice calm but resonating with the Royal Authority of a Level 25 Monarch. "War is what happens between equals. This is an audit."
He leaned forward, his violet eyes scanning their faces. Thanks to his Intelligence of 40, he could read the micro-expressions of their fear, the scent of their panic, and the frantic mana-signals they were sending to their hidden bodyguards.
"I didn't come here to kill you," Leo said, tapping his fingers on the table. "If I wanted you dead, I would have let the God-Slayer bombers finish the job and then raised your ghosts to serve as my footstools."
"Then what do you want?" the man to his left asked, his voice trembling.
"I want the 'Cleaners'," Leo said. "I want every debt for every Tier-0 Awakened in this city wiped clean. I want the Sector 4 'Dead Zone' status revoked. And I want the Silver Dawn's assets transferred to the Shadow Sanctum."
"That's impossible!" the woman shrieked. "The economic collapse alone—"
Leo's wing snapped forward, the tip of a razor-sharp obsidian feather stopping inches from her throat. "What's impossible is you surviving the next ten minutes if you don't start signing. You sent an Executioner to my home. You dropped enough fire on my neighbors to melt a mountain. I am the only reason this building is still standing."
Suddenly, the doors at the back of the room burst open. Three figures stepped in—the 'Triad of Light,' the Association's ultimate enforcers. Each was an S-Rank warrior, their auras clashing with Leo's purple mist.
"Chairman, get back!" the leader of the Triad roared, a man glowing with a blinding white radiance.
Leo didn't even turn his head. He looked at the Board members. "There is your choice. You can let these three die trying to protect a system that is already broken, or you can sign the papers and live to see the world I'm building."
[New Quest: The Ultimatum.] [Objective: Force the Board to Sign OR Eliminate the Triad of Light.] [Reward: Title - 'King of Aethelgard' & +5,000,000 Credits.]
Leo stood up, his wings glowing with a violent, abyssal heat. The air in the room grew so cold that frost began to form on the Triad's golden armor.
"Make your choice quickly," Leo whispered. "I have a Kingdom to run, and I'm losing my patience."