The enormous door of the emperor palace was violently pushed open.

The loud noise travelled in all direction within the palace, causing fear and awe to those who heard it.

A dignified man could be seen walking into the palace, accomplished by the beautiful maids and refined officials.

He wore his royal robe instead of his usual armour, but, he still had his sword that radiated the draconic aura on his waist, the Dragon Slayer, one of the artefacts that the empire still had.

Although the aura he emitted was tyrannical like the powerful warrior whose stomps could shake the entire empire, he was very obedient toward the old man who was sitting on the imperial throne, the Blood Emperor.

"Father."

The man, the first prince, kneeled and bowed respectfully toward his father, the emperor.

"My son, you shouldn't be here, you should lead the army to reclaim the land at the south."

The emperor spoke to his son gently, not as the emperor of the empire, but as the father of the son.

"Nothing is more important than your well being, father."

He slowly stood up, still, he didn't dare to look into the emperor's eyes, afraid of seeing those disappointments in his father's eyes.

How could the most brilliant emperor of the history have the weak-mind son?

The first prince was only great at fighting and leading the army, but he wasn't excelled at controlling the political scene, that would be the second princess.

But unknown to him, the Blood Emperor favoured him.

"If you continued to be alive and healthy, then the empire will never fall."

Such an overbearing statement was uttered by the first prince, but, no one could disagree with it, the Blood Emperor had the ability to do so.

He knew to himself that he could never succeed his father's reign.

He knew that his sister, the second princess, could never be as good as his father, she was too naive and inexperienced.

That was why he insisted that the Blood Emperor must not be exposed to any possible harm.

For the continuation of the empire, he would risk himself his life on the bloody battlefield.

For the continuation of the empire, he would overwork himself until he collapsed to dust.

This was the mentality that every royal of the empire had, that was why the empire never fell before.

While the first prince was pondering about the future of the empire, the Blood Emperor suddenly spoke.

"My child, you should know that my time has come to an end, my reign will end in this generation."

The Emperor closed his eyes, he had already accepted the inevitable outcome.

The emperor stood up.

"Everyone except the first prince, get out."

The emperor ordered the royal guards with his dignified appearance, completely different from when he was talking to his son.

After everyone except the prince left, the emperor held something in his hand.

It was an old silver key, its appearance was ruined by endless the river of time.

"In this generation, there is only me, the emperor, who has the right to know about this legend."

The emperor then told the usage of the ancient key.

"Because you were the first prince and your loyalty to the empire was proven, you have the right to know about it."

The emperor's voice was very serious, the weight of this secret is immersed.

"You must swear an oath to not tell anyone about this, except for those who are the most loyal of them all."

After he said that, the emperor then handed the prince a scroll, an instruction of the oath.

Once the oath was finished, the first prince could feel that his heart was chained by something, he knew that if he broke his oath, his heart will be ripped into millions of piece by the Oath Chain.

"The feeling of binding will be gone once you get used to it."

The emperor was definitely aware of this sensation because he had once made the same oath with the previous emperor.

"This key was the only treasure that was passed down from the Great Emperors to the next, the most valuable artefact of them all."

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The prince was startled.

In the history that everyone learnt, everything from the Ancient Era was lost, not even a single artefact survived.

The artefacts that we used in the Morning Star Era was only the replica created from the Dark Age, they were nowhere near the power of the original one.

But the prince was overjoyed, if the Human Empire still had a real artefact, then defeating the demi-human and the Undying was possible.

The Blood Emperor noticed the change in his son's expression, he shook his head silently.

"This artefact is not the offensive type, my son."

The Blood Emperor continued to explain its worth.

"It is something that the Great Emperor specially stated, 'if someday the human faced with the threat of total annihilation, you could use this key to at the Forbidden Palace, it will be humanity's last hope of survival.

"'But, do not use it under any circumstances that didn't threaten the survival of Humanity, because, the consequences of your action might doom the Humanity itself'"

The emperor warned his son about the key.

"The name of this artefact is Despair."

The emperor then closed his eyes, he felt relaxed, the huge weight had been lifted off his mind.

But he knew that the story didn't end here, even so, he couldn't tell his son about the long-lost myth, the legend of the Supreme Emperor.

...

Today marked the celebration date of the beginning of the Morning Star Era.

Almost every human had gathered at the capital, waiting to celebrate and to see the Blood Emperor coming out to give a speech.

However, the upper echelon was in turmoil, because many nobles and officials were absent, perhaps they already defected to the demi-humans.

At the Emperor Palace.

The Blood Emperor was sitting on the exalted throne, beside him was his trust aid, Slein.

In front of the emperor stood two royalty, the man was the first prince and the woman was the second princess.

Only those two had enough power to be able to stand with the Blood Emperor, the other royalty could only watch with envy and greed.

They had already known that they couldn't compete with the two, so they were set to befriend with the two, hoping for them to success the throne.

The Grand Noble stood up silently, waiting for the emperor's signal.

The Emperor gestured his hand, allowing the Grand Noble to speak.

"Everyone, as you may know, a lot of us were absent, but, let us not worry about them, for there is an even more pressing issue here."

After he finished speaking, Aceros looked up to the Blood Emperor.

The Emperor slowly stood up and placed down his imperial crown.

Every royalty, official and noble descended into the state of panic.

For the emperor to place down his crown.

If any emperor placed his crown down, that would signal the retirement of the emperor.

Although the old emperor retired was very normal, but, to retire during the state of war mean one thing, the situation was beyond the emperor's control.

Even more so when that emperor was the Blood Emperor, the unrivalled emperor who stood above all else in the Morning Era.

The Human Empire is doomed.

Everyone thought about the same thing, the dark future of the empire.

While everyone was in dazed, the retired emperor spoke.

"Summon the Pantheon and followed me to the Forbidden Palace."

...

"Pardon my rudeness your highness, but, the Pope had sent your highness his decree, the Lord's decree stated that your highness, the saintess, will go and answer the summon of the Blood Emperor."

The dark figure spoke with respect before vanishing into thin air.

The saintess just nodded, but, her hand gripped tightly on the artefacts.

...

In the dark forest near the border of the Human Empire and the Demi-human Kingdom.

A giant demi-human came into a luxurious hall before he kneeled on the ground and showed his respect toward the slender figure who sat gratefully on the elevated cathedra.

"Your Highness, according to our implanted spies, the Blood Emperor had summoned the Pantheon to the Emperor Palace."

The demi-human spoke nervously, afraid of offending the figure.

"Was the Grand Noble there?"

The figure asked curiously, her voice was like a drug that everyone would get addicted to.

Sadly, she covered half of her face, leaving only her mouth exposed.

The demi-human blanked out from her memorised voice for a short while, before regaining himself and reported the news hurry.

"Yes, your highness, the despicable Grand Noble that caused us to lose numerous war was there."

The demi-human was angry just by thinking about that man, Aceros, because he was too smart, his intellect could challenge even all wisdom of the general combined.

If not for him, the demi-human won't suffer this much.

Suddenly, the figure stood up abruptly.

"Cripple him."

She said again, but this time, her voice wasn't as memorised as before, it turned hostile.

The black smoke swiftly appeared and surrounded the giant, before they broke his arms and legs.

The hellish screams echoed through the hall, making the atmosphere turned sinister.

After the giant stopped screaming, the figure covered in vail slowly descended from her cathedra to the giant.

"Leave and don't let anyone come here, if they come, kill them all."

Her voice this time turned completely distorted, like a demonic evil from hell that swallowed the soul of the living.

The dark smoke gradually dissolved into the darkness.

"You shouldn't insult him."

She pulled out a magical knife, incomparably sharp artefact that she obtained from killing a few useless royalties of the kingdom.

She used her self-made curse, the dark red sign appeared on the giant's throat, making him unable to speak.

Then she began to decorate the giant into her favourite doll.

He would make a good servant for me to protect my new family.

Wait for me, father.

I will free you from the prison called 'body'.

I will let you feel the joyous sensation of this new body.

You will be like me, beautiful and elegant.

We will be together, forever, and, ever.

For, all, eternity.

Relica hummed her childhood song that her pitiful father usually sung it to her, while the soundless screams that came from the soul travelled in all direction, never to be heard by anyone, except for the memorised figure that was playing with her lifeless doll.