Among all the known kingdoms, none reached the glory, recognition, and prosperity of the Exousía Empire, governed by King Koryfí, considered by many to be the most powerful man humanity had ever conceived. If there was a single person in the entire world to whom the title of “genius” should be awarded, it had to be Koryfí, a prodigy among prodigies, who managed to become king and create an empire from nothing despite his humble origins.
Born in the desolate land of Skoupídia, which had produced nothing but disappointments and unremarkable beings, it was a place where the inhabitants aspired to nothing more than to perpetuate their pathetic and empty existences, lacking purpose, ambitions, or reason for being. For this reason, it was quickly forgotten by the rest of the world, never mentioned, as if it were something humanity was ashamed to be associated with.
All of this changed when Koryfí was born. A natural rebel, he never listened to what others told him, but even in his childhood, he proved how capable he was of rising above others when he managed to organize the local children into a single group. Not a minor feat, but not so impressive considering that the inhabitants of Skoupídia were passive simpletons who never did anything to defend or respect themselves. This made them a boring target for the poor genius of Koryfí, whose power and reputation only grew over time, eventually using the neighbors of his neighborhood as pawns to do his bidding. With his ability to attract people to his side by any means necessary, he even managed to subdue the local bandit leader, earning the favor of the townspeople, which further increased his popularity.
These feats earned him the honor of obtaining an audience with the king of Skoupídia, the noble Víta, whom he successfully dethroned after turning the people against him, along with his royal guard, pointing to his incompetence for failing to eliminate the security problem caused by bandits who had plagued the kingdom for 20 years.
Thus, Koryfí achieved his first true victory, but it did not satisfy him for long. In his thirst for power and desire to leave that lamentable kingdom of idiots, he decided to invade other nations. A madness according to many, as Skoupídia's military power was almost nonexistent. But thanks to Koryfí's genius, he meticulously analyzed his targets, creating the best strategies to subjugate several enemy kingdoms without spilling a single drop of blood.
He exposed the corruption of the kingdom of Prodosía, ruled by King Vlax, who had diverted most of the kingdom's raw materials to foreign kingdoms and brought in large foreign military groups to exert more control over Prodosía. The king was nothing more than a monkey dancing for his masters for a few gold coins. When the people found out, they felt betrayed, as the king had lied to them, saying that the farms were not producing enough grain and there was not enough meat for the entire kingdom when the kingdom's main production was meat and grain. Enraged by the betrayal, the townspeople rose against the king with the help of Koryfí, overthrowing Vlax and his foreign soldiers. With the support of the people, Koryfí proclaimed himself the new ruler of Prodosía, fulfilling his dream of leaving Skoupídia, which he annexed to his new kingdom, taking a step closer to his campaign for absolute power.
His next target was the theocracy of the deaf, mute, and blind god known as Akéfalos, whose followers fell easily once the people learned that the church was using the gold and food offerings, which were supposed to be offerings for God, for the clerical body's banal desires. Desires they should suppress if they followed the doctrine they preached. The scandal caused by those dishonorable news led to the banishment of the heretical clerics, leaving Koryfí free to establish himself as the new ruler, promising to give the kingdom of Akéfalos the respect and integrity it deserved.
Thus, the hero and liberator Koryfí was able to amass a great army, which he used to overthrow Themelio, the legendary city-state, the unified tribes of Limós, the monarchy of Aiónica, and the newly formed republic of Kléftis. But his true target finally revealed itself when the largest and most powerful empire of the time, the Theótita Empire, declared war on him, governed by the one who occupied the pinnacle of humanity.
The campaign was long and difficult, stretching over 12 tortuous days, with the forces engaged being seventy-eight thousand soldiers on Koryfí's side and one hundred twenty-two thousand from the empire, with losses of twenty-eight thousand soldiers against twenty-four thousand losses from the respective kingdoms in the early days. Despite the numerical advantage lying with the Theótita Empire, Koryfí's strategic genius allowed him to anticipate and flank his rival, causing significant losses in the subsequent days of the conflict. On the last day, having eliminated eighty-three thousand three hundred thirty-four soldiers of the imperial army and having annexed a significant portion of the prisoners of war to his army (around fourteen thousand one hundred sixty-seven), Koryfí's army breached the empire's walls with a force of thirty-four thousand one hundred sixty-seven soldiers against the empire's thirty thousand four hundred ninety-nine.
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However, before the enemy troops could do anything, in the confusion of the moment, Koryfí created a distraction, using a decoy accompanied by a small escort to confuse the enemy, while he sneaked into the palace, which to his surprise was completely undefended. At first, Koryfí thought the king had fled, but even if that were the case, most of his guards should have stayed in the palace to defend it. But upon reaching the throne room, everything made sense.
Seated on the throne with an imposing and proud posture, worthy of one who stood at the pinnacle of humanity, was the supreme emperor of mankind.
“I am King Kentrikós Mochlós, the most powerful being in the world, whose reign will never see an end, much less at the hands of an insignificant insect like you!” - shouted the king, his voice reverberating throughout the throne room, proclaiming his disdain for the one who came to steal his throne - “I will crush you and annex your pathetic empire to mine, like all the others who foolishly challenged me!”
As soon as he finished speaking, King Kentrikós charged at his opponent with beastly speed and power. Koryfí, barely able to defend against the onslaught, tried to create distance, but his opponent kept attacking relentlessly, leaving him with no choice but to dodge the attacks as best he could. As time passed, Koryfí became more and more accustomed to the speed of Kentrikós’s movements, and that’s when he noticed a small pattern, subtle enough to be almost imperceptible, but noticing it opened the window for Koryfí’s offensive. Punches and kicks began to fly wildly, thrown with the sole purpose of inexorably destroying the opponent. With that demonstration of pure beastliness and destructive freedom, they abandoned their human positions to become animals, a pair of beasts fighting with great rage and ferocity.
Over time, they began to tire, but submerged in the desperation to see the pride their rival had built with such effort fall, they descended further into their animalistic tendencies, nails and teeth tearing and piercing each other's flesh with great anger and disdain.
Amidst this detestable carnage, one of them began to show signs of greater determination and confidence, not Kentrikós, whose movements displayed more doubt and fear, while the monster Koryfí continued savagely tearing off his skin with bites and scratches. Kentrikós let out a chilling howl from the horror he felt in his soul, trying with all his might to shake off that beast.
Seeing his enemy trying to escape his grasp, Koryfí launched even faster and more savage attacks than before, targeting the exposed flesh, deforming his skull with blows that made a hollow sound as they struck the ground. Despite everything, he showed no signs of stopping, even though his rival had long since surrendered with tears in his eyes, begging him to stop. But the liberator of humanity continued to attack him. When it was all over, the only sound in the throne room was Koryfí’s heavy breathing, who was kneeling, observing the bloody pulp that was once the most powerful ruler the world had ever known.
Thus was born Exousía, the most glorious and prosperous empire humanity had ever seen, which thrived for 50 years under Koryfí’s rule, who occasionally had to defend his position from usurpers, invaders, traitors, and anyone who considered themselves ambitious and powerful enough to lead the world. But none ever came close to the power of his greatest rival, whom he remembered with great respect for being the greatest challenge of his life.
Now that he stood at the peak, all he had left was to await his imminent downfall at the hands of a still nonexistent rival, having to face mediocre plebeians in an eternal cycle only broken by death or his fall brought by someone with more determination, ambition, and desire than him. Koryfí no longer felt as he did in his youth, having achieved his goal, his ambition waned, and one day he simply abandoned his throne, leaving the empire he had sacrificed so much to achieve. Leaving it all to seclude himself in a humble cabin in the most distant village from the capital, staying there as a mere peasant, waiting for death.