Chapter 66: Glimmers Of A New Era

   At the center of the kingdom of Mern dwelled a single massive city spanning several square miles, its name was Astrun. On the outskirts of the city was a shiny film that encompassed the entire city. when a god achieved certain criteria they would be gifted with a new divine power. One of these divine powers was known as the terrestrial shield. The terrestrial shield was a massive defensive barrier that prohibited all of Mern's enemies from entering. The city of Astrun was separated into nine districts that formed a total of three rings. On the outer ring were the first five districts, those five districts were known as the slave districts because it was mostly slaves that lived in the outer rim. The slave districts held some of the strongest military personnel in the nation and it was a defensive line in the case of an attack. The next three districts were known as the noble districts, all nobles in the kingdom had a house specially made for them in the noble districts. There they were attended by beautiful and young virgin maids and their food was prepared by the finest chefs in the kingdom. Most nobles could not be in the noble district for long, at most a month or two before they were required to return to their territories. The last and final district in the innermost ring was the floating palace district.

  The entire city had been built upon a massive hill and each ring was a large flat area in which the districts existed at the peak of the hill was a large artificially created plateau, that land was not an actual district but was still informally known as the palace shadow district because the palace district existed several thousand feet above the hill. The palace district was also reinforced with magic shielding arrays which could prevent even god attacks for a brief time.

Mern lived inside the majestic palace within the palace district, alongside beautiful maids and powerful warriors.

  At that time, while Scitus was speaking with the wyvern queen, Mern had begun to brief his strongest subordinates. His eyes shine bright with life and determination as he looked at the seven warriors before him.

  The seven were known as the seven transcendent warriors, each one was capable of destroying armies with a wave of their hand.

  At the center was Slayn, Mern’s most powerful warrior, beside Slyan was Korin and beside her was Mephisto. Together those three were once known as the three heavenly stars.

  "I've brought all of you here today for a singular purpose. Vengeance." Mern's voice chilled even their souls with fear. Mern had once been known as a kind benevolent ruler but all that changed three thousand years ago. The age of monsters was coming to an end or rather it had already ended one thousand years prior and a new age was beginning, the age of the new gods. The rise of Ansil, Miar, Soen, and Onias had completely brought about a new era and it had left Mern in a weak position. At that time he was having problems maintaining his borders safe from the constant influx of monsters that were fleeing towards the Oasis after the fall of their mighty kingdoms. At his weakest point, he had spent most of his energy feeding and protecting his people when suddenly, overnight, a large army invaded his nation. It was Soen, who at the time lived in the outskirts of the Ferren territory. In a single night, Mern lost his kingdom and was then relegated to his current small little kingdom.

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  Of his strongest force, only the five holy warriors survived, those were the Slyan, Korin, Mephisto, Aro, and Semera. Those five were among the weakest in his superior force but now they were his strongest force and as such, they were promoted to the seven transcendent warriors.

  Soen had explained that he would allow Mern to continue to exist if Mern became his subordinate and Mern agreed, Mern then crippled his remaining forces to make himself appear weaker than he was but now it was time to reveal the truth.

  "many years ago I stole something away from seven of you, today I will return it. come closer Slyan." Slyan's muscles trembled as he heard Merns voice and approached his king slowly and carefully.

  "the world believes you to be a mere [war-beast] but they do not know that you're a [champion]." In Mern's hand was a small ball made up of white light. This was a part of Slyan's soul and an incredibly large part of his soul but it did not contain memories but rather abilities. before Mern crippled Slyan, Slyan was a lesser champion but after he was only a greater civilian. After three thousand years he had managed to reach the war-beast rank with only a fragmented soul, this level of talent was only lesser to Sia.

  "Korin, you may not be as gifted as your brother but by now you should also be a lesser champion. Come here, my precious daughter." Korin felt some tears in her eyes, after all, that had happened she didn't hate her father. Even though she desperately tried to hate him but even so, after all the people he's hurt and after all the broken promises he's made, deep down she also understood the reason for his maddening rage.

  That day, three thousand years ago Mern had lost more than just his kingdom, something he would never get back, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how powerful he became, he would never get back what he lost.

  "Mephisto, I know you despise me after what I've done to your family but after this, I promise you that you and your family will be free. Step up." Mephisto stepped up with a strange glint in his eyes, it was mild admiration after seeing Mern's true self after so many years. he absorbed his soul into his own body and instantly felt more powerful, he had become a middling higher monster.

  After Mephisto was Aro who after having his soul return he instantly became a middling high monster like Mephisto, then there was Semera who rose from her lesser war beast status to lesser high monster. Lastly were Inir and Jogak, those two were born only fifty years ago and were Semera and Aro's children. When they turned twenty, Mern sealed their souls because they were growing too quickly and feared Soen would notice. When the two siblings had their sealed souls return, they felt themselves become greater war beasts.

  "my Lord," Aro spoke with a somber voice, despite everything that had happened, he still had a deep respect for Mern. "what can us seven do about Soen? Soen has only grown stronger over the years how are we to defeat him?"

Mern smiled a wicked smile, an atrociously cruel smile that chilled them to the bones.

  "Simple, what will happen when Soen ties to take piece of the holy land for himself?" the seven shuddered at the thought, it would bring about a great war among the four powers, especially if the land remained fertile, something no other god had managed to accomplish. "what will happen if Scitus because more powerful?" the seven suddenly realized Mern's intentions. Mern ignored their wide eyes and continued, “and what will happen if I suddenly revealed that I too have a piece of the holy land and am planning to gift to Soen?”

  The seven all thought of a single sentence, "all paths lead to war." no matter what happened, whether Mern fails to kill Scitus and he grew stronger, or if Soen decides to do it himself or even if Mern fails to kill Scitus and cannot convince Soen to use his forces to attack Scitus, no matter what option was taken, Mern had set a plan to start a great war unlike the Feren continent had ever seen and all for the singular purpose of destroying Soen.