Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power - Chapter 289

Chapter 289: Chapter 289: Silver Crowns, Red Crown
Chapter 289 – Silver Crowns, Red Crown

Hours passed, days, then months…

The world had calmed down.

The earth had absorbed all the lingering blood spilled by both the innocent and the guilty, and the heavens had mourned the souls of the fallen.

And in the blink of an eye, four months had passed since the Battle of Blood. Many things had changed since that time, more evidently inside Waverith and more subtly throughout all of Darklore.

Waverith was no longer what it was.

For once, its internal structure had shifted. Now Waverith was ruled by King Progeny, alongside Lady Heavens, Lady Ouroboros, and Lord Duty.

The last one being Eliot Thornspire, now completely healed and standing tall on his two feet with renewed vigor.

With them at the top of Waverith, it began to change drastically. First of all, the stronghold had been completely reconstructed by Lady Heavens’s family, building new roads and homes for both nobles and common folk without asking for a single coin.

The change was a sight to behold. With Kaden’s subtle help in design, the stronghold had become a complex metropolis of roads and homes of every kind and color. Gone was the dull sight of rectangular houses identical to all.

Now, each of them built their homes as they wished — after all, they were the ones who would live within them — all of that thanks to the opportunity granted by the builders of Lady Heavens’s family, the Elamin.

Besides that, behind Waverith, there were now two new places created for the purpose of enjoyment. They were suggested by the Hero of Waverith, the youngest of King Progeny, where the ice users of Elamin shaped a glittering landscape of frost filled with all kinds of toys and arcade games, and the other made from a sea of sand created by the earth users of Elamin, where people could play volleyball beneath the open sky.

The children loved them. Not only them, even the adults loved to go there to unwind after a long day.

But the new buildings of Waverith were not the only things that had changed. There were new additions of beings… the snakes.

Doubtless, it was challenging at the beginning.

The folks were not used to seeing beasts as allies. After all, would you walk with a bright smile on your face, arms spread wide in a welcoming hug toward a group of creatures who once hunted you like insects?

Yes, you would not.

Because of that, the first months of cohabitation with the beasts were filled with tension that sometimes — to not say most of the time — erupted into fights between the children of both sides. It was considered a bad thing, but King Progeny allowed it, saying that only through battle could a bond be forged.

It was a flawed way of thinking. But it seemed the heavens favored the King, for it worked.

Soon things began to change. If there was one thing humans could be proud of, it was their ability to adapt to anything they were exposed to long enough.

So slowly and steadily, the glass wall between the two races began to shatter, allowing them to live in harmony. The process became easier because the snakes, now mostly composed of elders and younglings, were willing to share their knowledge.

They taught those who were willing to listen and learn about the different beasts that existed in their lands, their weaknesses, and how to kill them more efficiently and preserve their hides.

To show even greater appreciation, they also taught them about poisons and the many kinds of herbs that could prove beneficial to them.

And you know that phenomenon? That simple thing called gratitude?

The feeling you get when someone helps you with something, and you feel this burning desire that threatens to consume you whole… just to do the same in return?

Yes, that’s what happened to the humans.

Feeling they had learned much from them, they shared their own knowledge in return, and the gap between them vanished until nothing remained.

As it is often said by the wise, only through the quest for knowledge do people of different origins find common ground.

But of course, some were rebellious, some wanted to disrupt this fragile peace born through immense effort. But that was a foolish thing to do under the rule of King Progeny.

His soldiers acted with ruthless efficiency.

The plebeians and even the lower nobles — as they were now called — already knew the Warborns and how bloodthirsty they could be. They were not the kind who would approach you kindly, caressing your hair while whispering in a gentle tone that could melt the sun, telling you that what you did was wrong for the good of the people and the stronghold.

Nope.

You did something wrong, and depending on the gravity of your action, you were either killed on the spot or crippled and imprisoned.

They were not known for their mercy, and people began to dread the sight of their black and red armor. As somehow, they always knew when someone had done something wrong.

How could they not?

There were small snakes all over Waverith. Some visible for all to see, and others so well hidden that no one could sense them except their master, making them perfect enforcers of order… all under Lady Ouroboros.

She was truly a monster. Well, she was indeed one…but this time, the word was metaphorical.

As for Lord Duty, he was the one who inquired about the people. He was the one who spoke with them the most, asking what they needed. The folks called him Lord Orator among themselves, in respect for his care and sincerity.

It was only through Duty — or Orator, depending on your preference — that they finally realized the issue of food and water.

No, water was not even a problem with the Elamin able to create it, but food was.

The people of Waverith had once survived thanks to the farms in the forest beside the stronghold, now called by King Progeny The Farming Forest.

Those farms had been protected by runes made by the Cerveau to prevent any kind of beast from stealing their crops. But before the war began… the Cerveau destroyed everything…they burned the lands, poisoned the soil, and made it incapable of birthing food again.

Problems arose.

But they were swiftly snuffed out by the combined power of Lord Duty, Lady Ouroboros, and Lady Heavens. With Ouroboros’s dominion over poison, she absorbed all the toxins into her body, feeding the serpents that composed her form.

Heavens acted next, enriching the soil with water and essence for crops to grow. Then Duty gathered the few remaining members of his family and built a barrier to prevent beasts from attacking. They did so by inscribing runes that instilled pure fear, something the Thornspire family seemed to have an instinctive affinity for.

Anything tied to fear, loss… sorrow…

Their runes were terrifying.

But then King Progeny acted or rather, the wife of King Progeny, the one the people called, even though she never asked for it…The Mother.

The reason for that title was all too obvious.

The Mother ordered the forest to be cleansed. No longer did they want dangerous beasts roaming there. That forest, like the will of King Progeny himself, would become a Farming Forest.

She only instructed them to capture some beasts — bunnies, wolves, pigs, chickens, goats, and deer — to raise and breed them. They wanted their own cattle.

Here, Kaden and Daela Warborn, the blessed children of King Progeny, acted alone. With only their swordsmanship, they cleared the entire forest with a harmony bordering on the divine.

Their chemistry was something worthy of deep philosophers’ study, to understand how such synchronization could exist.

They looked as if they shared the same mind, the two of them a trail of red light that slaughtered anything in their path.

And considering the forest was nearly sixty percent the size of Waverith itself…

It was no small feat.

Now, with food and cattle secured, Waverith had plenty to eat, and with the streams of the forest, a steady source of water. Duty went further, creating a logical economic system to sustain the people.

Citizens could work in the farms and cattle fields to earn money. Duty allowed parts of the Farming Forest to be sold to the wealthy, turning them into landowners and building a more intricate economic process to fuel Waverith’s growth.

Duty also chose to look beyond Waverith, toward places that could prove useful. The people were now encouraged to explore the outside world, and anyone who discovered something beneficial to the community would be rewarded personally by King Progeny himself.

They grew excited. Soon, adventurous souls began to venture out, forming their own bands to search for hidden artifacts and places of wonder…for fame, for honor, and for the chance to meet the King and his progeny.

People now traded in food, cattle, artifacts, and even information.

Only four months later, Waverith had become something else entirely, all thanks to the seamless cooperation between the Ladies, the Lord, and the King, and their respective houses, now holding the title of The Three Silver Crowns and One Red Crown.

There was no conflict between them, and how could there be?

They were all linked. All their daughters were close to the youngest of the Warborn. Close enough for whispers to rise, wondering when the marriage would happen.

And now, inside the training grounds of the Castle of King Progeny. also known as The Warborn Palace, a young man stood in the midst of training.

He stood in the middle of the training ground, its walls and floors carved from solid granite, his chest bare and glistening with sweat.

The room was blistering hot, so hot that no Awakened rank could survive here for more than five seconds. Hell, even an Intermediate would die after only five minutes, their insides melting first before their body followed.

It was like Hell was unleashed on the mortal world.

Kaden was closing his eyes in deep focus. Unhurriedly, crimson-gold flames began to flicker along his skin in a steamy, fluid fashion.

The flames moved on their own, then focused entirely on his feet. In an instant, the entire granite floor was shrouded in fire, gradually transforming from hard stone into a surface made of living flame.

The texture shifted. It was no longer hard, but soft as cotton.

Multiple small creatures began to form — worms, snails, and flies — circling around him with unsettling ease. And it continued, as the flames twisted and swirled, giving birth to new shapes.

The fire began to mold multiple figures at once. There were humans, more specifically women, their golden-flamed skin and eyes glowing like embers in the dark, glistening with a luster too pure and radiant for the fearsome expressions they bore. There were also wolves, their faces frozen in fierce growls too vivid to be lifeless constructs. And there were crows, flapping their wings against the fiery ceiling, leaving behind trails of burning light that scorched the air itself.

Kaden was not done yet.

Crimson blood surged around him like a tidal wave, enveloping all the constructs, clothing the women and armoring the beasts. The garments were plain, but solid enough not to crumble even under the furious strike of a Master-ranked being.

He exhaled, releasing a thick cloud of white mist, and raised both hands to eye level. The right one began to waver and ripple like disturbed water, then turned entirely into blood. The muscles, the tendons, the skin itself shifted, becoming blood incarnate, dripping sinuously onto the flaming floor with a sharp sizzling hiss.

The left one too slowly transformed into one of crimson-gold flame, with countless hues swirling inside in mesmerizing motion.

He didn’t stop there. Gradually, the rest of his body transformed as well, his entire form becoming one of crimson-gold flame shrouded in armor made of blood, just like the beings he had created.

Kaden stood there for a moment, savoring this frightening level of control he now wielded over fire and blood.

The power he could unleash in this form was apocalyptic, to say the least. For imagination’s sake, he could flatten the entire landscape of Waverith with a single well-placed punch.

Yes, that strong.

The beasts moved lifelessly around him, yet puppeted perfectly by his immense Will.

After a few minutes, he began to feel the drain of his mana dwindling rapidly. He then retracted his power, the beasts and women collapsing into orbs of flame and blood before returning into his body.

The training room slowly reverted to its former state, and Kaden opened his crimson eyes.

A smile edged at the corner of his lips.

Now, he could do all of this seamlessly. Coupled with the fact that he had reached the limit of all current stats and even had enough points to surpass the limits of three out of seven of them…

“…Time to go back to Fokay.”

—End of Chapter 289—

A/N:

Golden Tickets, please?

And opinions on the new structure of Waverith are welcomed.

Thanks for reading!