"Ahh... this is life," exclaimed the silver-haired man, taking in his right hand a glass of wine and in the other a piece of medium-rare beef. "It's a pleasure to finally be sitting on this table with , King... Ehhh what did you say your name was?"

"Eendij, King Eendij," he replied from across the table in a serious voice.

After finishing with the troops, the silver-haired man imprisoned the king in his own castle, forcing him to ask the royal cook for dinner for the two of them. A strange request that the king had no choice but to accept. They were sitting face to face at the table and, as they waited, not a single word came out of their mouths until, in the middle of the meal, the silver-haired man finally broke the ice.

"You have a very nice meeting room here in the palace, I wonder how much did it cost?" Taking the glass of wine in front of him, the silver-haired man exclaimed, "They call me in many ways, but you can call me Spacetime," he said adjusting his glasses. "Thank you for your hospitality, the food is delicious, and the wine is perfect, but regarding your defense plan, was it necessary to send almost all of your men to die?" Pointing to the king with his fork, the silver-haired man asked.

"I tried everything to keep you from coming..." The king put his elbows on the table, bent his head, and placed his hands on it. "And yet... you still managed to come," the king expressed himself in a trembling voice. "How... how... how... how... how did you manage to survive?!

"Hmm...? I just did, there's not much mystery to it," the silver-haired man said, taking a bite of the meat, and chewing it as he spoke. "I think from the holes in my clothing and the reddish color of it you can get an idea. That armor you're wearing isn't too bad."

"Stop chewing with your mouth open, beast!" Claimed the king who took a deep breath before continuing to speak. "Get to the point, what have you come for?"

"Pff..." Laughed the silver-haired man a little. "I mentioned it in the letter your messenger delivered to you; in short, I've come to take away your most prized possession."

"Gold, jewels, my kingdom?" said the king, rising from his chair quickly, motioning to reach for his sword at his waist. "Never!"

"No, no, no, not at all." The silver-haired man then poured himself more wine. "Neither gold, nor jewels, nor kingdom are that valuable to me or my superiors. What I seek is something... far more valuable than that."

"So..." Said the king, taking a large gulp of wine from his goblet "You are not coming alone."

"I come alone, but not in bad company. My superiors are watching me from above while I hold up my end of the bargain." In the blink of an eye, the silver-haired man had finished his meal. "My compliments to your cook, he doesn't cook badly at all."

"Don't divert the subject, damn you!" The king slammed his hand down hard on the table. "What exactly do you want from me?"

The silver-haired man rose from his chair and with his index finger pointed at the king. "All I need, is you."

The king stepped back, and in confusion asked, "You wish to murder me, as well as all my guards, and then you will subdue my people! Isn't that so?!"

"I was already thinking you didn't have a heart; this is the first time you've mentioned them at this dinner, I even thought you'd be on the battlefield, but I see someone chickened out. At least I see you do care about them." The silver-haired man smiled, chuckling.

"Shut up! You wretched devil! It's your duty to protect me!" the king exclaimed, picking up his plate and throwing it towards that man. "You don't know who you're messing with!"

"Actually, I do know exactly who you are. At first, I just wanted to break the ice...let me see." The silver-haired man then looked at the artifact on his right forearm. A bracelet made of metal with a screen embedded in it displayed a summary of who the king was.

"What is... that thing... some kind of magic mirror or black magic artifact?" the king asked without getting any answer.

"King Eendij, 21 years old, your father died two years ago, and your mother died giving birth to you. You had an older brother from another father whom you know, but you don't know who he is, and you detest beasts with all your soul," he said, wiping his hands and then using them to support his head. "Someone who doesn't mind killing others for his own well-being, of an explosive temperament, who doesn't have much experience running the kingdom, hence, the sages run this kingdom."

"What are you getting at? Freak. The sages would never do such a thing," the king said, putting his hand on the hilt of his sword again. "You say one more thing that annoys me, and I'll be done with you for good."

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"I'm not coming to judge you or anything, I'm just telling it like it is. Adding to that, the sages were planning to mutiny against you shortly." Said the silver-haired man, scratching his head.

"And how do I know what you say is true!" Claimed the king

"I may have slain almost all of you warriors, but they put up no resistance." From his pocket he pulled out a pin from one of the sages, it possessed a light blue glow. "From what I understand, these pins only glow if they have been given in goodwill to the person who will own them."

"You damned bastards!" the king exclaimed angrily, "You're all going straight to the gallows when this is all over!

The silver-haired man again chuckled a little. "It feels good to have absolute power over a nation, doesn't it, remember when you first sat on the throne?"

"I already told you not to change the subject, you bastard. The massacre you caused gives me plenty of reasons to murder you, but that very massacre is what makes me cautious."

"It's on topic, tell me, how long has it been since you've felt empowered? When was the last time you made decisions on your own?" the silver-haired man asked him persuasively.

"For a long time now... you are right... I have not seen it that way... The sages have been deciding for me." The king said to himself a little discouraged

"Do you remember that day, the day when everyone bowed before you? That day when that crown came into your possession. That day when you became king?" The silver-haired man said to him, smiling.

"I remember it clearly... yes... yes... I remember saying... this is the best day of my life," said the king.

The silver-haired man's eyes sparkled in response to his words, so much so that it was reflected in his glasses. "Good, good... I want you to focus on that day, the happiness it caused you, the elation you felt, and how full your soul felt."

"It was the most glorious time of my life, my eyes water at the thought of it, thank you... I thank-". The king, as he spoke his sentence, was interrupted, not by words, not by a noise, not by some natural disaster.

The silver-haired man, faster than the speed of sound, pounced on the table, extending his right hand toward the king, staying millimeters away from him.

The king, reacting, stepped back as far as he could to then unsheathe his sword, launching a vertical slash, splitting the table in half, causing the silver-haired man to fall helplessly to the ground.

The king immediately pinned him down, crushing his chest with his foot, raising his ominous gleaming sword over that man with all the hatred in his blood. "You’re done for!"

"Oh... well, I tried!" The silver-haired man exclaimed.

With both hands, the king thrust his sword into the man's head and then stabbed him three times in the chest. Unloading all his fury in each of those. The king's flurry of attacks did not stop there, he continued with cuts to the chest just to de-stress.

The king, breathing heavily, dropped his sword to the ground as he finished, turning immediately toward the door, and going outside the palace.

"If you want to do a job well done, then do it yourself, they said" The king exclaimed loudly.

"That's the way I like it."

The king could not believe his ears, it was the voice of the silver-haired man. For a moment he thought it was his mind playing a trick on him, but behind him, he felt an ominous presence, as if that presence was breathing behind his neck. The king then decided to turn around, and in less than a second, he saw him there.

It was that silver-haired man, who was still alive with all the open wounds from the lacerations caused by the king, practically disfigured. The king instinctively screamed in terror, while the silver-haired man gave him a blow with his right hand, and from his palm came a mechanical proboscis that pierced his heart.

"To be honest with you, this is going to hurt," The silver-haired man told him calmly, visually regenerating his wounds quickly.

The king's cries and howls were heard even in the farthest reaches of the kingdom that day.

It was visible that a light green aura was drained from his chest, as if his very essence was being harvested, draining into that bracelet on his arm. The scene lasted for more than three minutes, between the king's struggle to escape and the silver-haired man preventing him from moving. When he finished, he set the king free, who could not get up, but he could speak.

"What is this!!! I... can't... move!" the king exclaimed, his skin turning a pale color, as his hair did as well, which as the seconds passed lost its coloring. "What did you do to me!"

Leaning over that handicapped man, the silver-haired man said, "My superiors thank you for your cooperation in giving us your mature soul for the purpose of improving this world."

"What!!!" King exclaimed.

"Spacetime wishes you a safe journey to Synapsis" With that, Spacetime, the silver-haired man, turned and walked toward the castle entrance.

"Hey! This isn't over! Come back!" the king said, still motionless.

"In three... two... one..."

"Hey, wai-...."

The king had turned to black ashes, which floated in the air and vanished after a short time...

"They are always half-hearted in their confusion; I hope my superiors know how to fix this timeline after this. I'll stay here for a while and then leave."

One soul more... one soul less, that was what Spacetime kept repeating as he sat on the ground, at the entrance of the palace. Staring at the stars of the cold night in Lydenfrost... Even so, something made him uneasy, he felt that someone was watching him... From the beginning of the meeting until this outcome, that feeling became a constant... that he shouldn't be feeling anymore.

A witness who did not stand in the way and fled to the trenches... A witness that you and I know very well already...

"I know you are listening to me, messenger, I have one last job for you. Go outside this realm, tell everyone what happened here, tell them the story, of how your half-brother perished at the will of a being superior to him."

After saying these words, the feeling of being watched ceased to exist... maybe he was right after all.