Fifteen years ago,
Before the crimson unification era,
In a ruined city, seemingly destroyed by the constant city states conflicts that plague the land.
In the ruined royal palace, a child sat on the broken throne.
With hair coloured like blood, crimson eyes that seemed to contain the endless slaughter that premates the ages.
Bowing before him were twenty children, with various injuries, and pale faces, yet it all fails to hide the fanatical looks on their faces.
The child looked at his few dozen 'subjects', and putting his hand over his eyes... laughed, "HAHAHHHAHHAHAHHAHAH".
The children below looked at their mad king with calm faces, used to his antics.
The bloody king stopped laughing, and said with a smile, "Rolik, tell me, why do the we still live?"
The Child named Rolik replied," because the invaders took pity on us".
"Wrong!" The bloody king roared,"We live because this accured world needs people to live, because war needs people to be fought, because city needs people to be invaded, because killers need people to kill!"
"Can't you see!?!? The wretched beasts rule as like lings, our own people fight against each other in pointless struggle, cities are ruined, then rebuilt only to be ruined again."
"BUT, I WANT A CHANGE, I want AN EMPIRE spanning history, I want to PUSH OFF THE BEASTS OF HUMAN LAND, I want the world to know of my name, I want to create an empire that will fight eternal wars in my name".
"But my king, that will make us the same us them".
"Nonono, it won't, I will fight for no personal goals, for no so called emotions, using absolute rationality to the point of insanity, i will be crowned as the ETERNAL EMPEROR OF BLOOD, OF THE NAME ARACLO!!!!"
From that day, that boy became a conqueror, his subjects bacme his only friends in his mind filled with terrifying rationality.
He launched endless wars in the name of unification, losing more than gaining yet never stopping.
War became his chess board, armies his pawns, his friends..... expendable.
For his great purpose, he sacrificed his cities to block attacks, he sacrificed his friends to take the blame caused by his wars. Fo his eternal game, be sacrificed it all.
Upon taking the throne of araclo after years of conquest, he landed his great speech.
"Ahahahaha—! So this is it! The throne, the crown, the hollow seat of gods and ghosts! They told me I would never reach it. They told me I would die gnawing on scraps in the ashes of my city! And yet here I am… and here you are, all so very obedient, all so very silent. Look at you… my pretty little pawns, all lined up, polished and painted, like toys on my board."
"Do you know what they called me, once upon a time? A lunatic. A madman. A devil. Oh, such compliments, such music! But let me tell you a secret—shhh—they weren't wrong. I am insane! Insane enough to believe that this shattered world is nothing more than a game. And oh, what fun it is to play!"
"Cities are my chess pieces! Armies are my pawns! Kings? Queens? Ha! They are just rooks waiting to be toppled! I move them, I break them, I sacrifice them! And when the game grows dull… I flip the board and start again! Because why not? War is laughter, war is life, war is the only truth that never lies."
"Do you hear me, Araclo? I am your Emperor now—not because I was born to it, but because I took it! With blood, with fire, with children at my side when no one else would follow! I built an empire from ruins, from bones, from nothing but madness and the will to burn brighter than all who stood against me."
"So kneel if you wish. Stand if you dare. Fight if you're stupid enough to try. It makes no difference. The world is mine to play with, and you… you are my beloved toys. And I promise you this: The game will never end. As long as I sit on this throne, there will be war! Ahahahaha—!"
He wa the grand emperor, the bloody emperor of araclo. With his dying words even more magnificent than his living one.
"Hah… hahahaha! Oh, how delicious! My own pawns… my own little pieces… turned their coats and leapt into the jaws of the beasts. Click! Just like that. Oh, don't look so grim, my children… betrayal is the sweetest spice in war. Didn't I always tell you? The game isn't fun if the pieces don't bleed.
Ahhh, but look at me now. (coughs blood, laughs) An emperor broken by his own hand… and yet, still undefeated! Half of them… millions… gone to my blade. Their screams still rattle in my skull like dice in a cup. Hah! Even dying, I've taught them terror. Even dying, I've ruled them.
Do you see it, my loyal few? This wall of monsters, this sea of treachery… and yet, here we stand, laughing in the face of gods and beasts alike. That is Araclo! That is what I carved from dust and ash, from ruined stones and starving children. A throne of corpses, a crown of madness… and still, oh still, a throne worth kneeling to.
Remember this, my darlings—cities are not stone, nor steel. Cities are people. And people are pawns. When pawns march, empires live. When pawns betray… hahahaha… empires burn.
So burn, my empire! Burn with my blood! Burn with my laughter! Let the beasts choke on it, let the traitors rot in it, let the world scream it!
And you… (looks at his last friend) …you old fool… still here with me at the end. Of course you are. Of course. You always loved my madness, didn't you? Stay a little longer. Watch the world tremble one last time.
Now… my loyal few… when they write my tale, they'll call me a tyrant, a butcher, a lunatic. Good. Let them. Because buried beneath their fear and their lies will be one truth they cannot kill—
I was the emperor who laughed at the end."
He dies with a blood-choked laugh, echoing against the wall.
That was the story of the bloody emperor, after his death, the loyalists enraged, launched twelve sucide campaigns against the beastmen tribes.
Those who betrayed and attacked him never dared to come near the monster wall, because of just one reason, the wounds given by him still BURN.
He was the creator of the magic beads system when the continent relied on primitive magic.
He was a demon, a butcher, a god, en emperor.
1500 years have passed, his friend who still lives, always remmbers to come to his gravestone that has cracked long ago.
Telling him of the stories of the current empire and the continent.
(Heyyy, now you may be wondering about him being the bead magic system creator, this is true, as gaia is an endless continent, there are endless magic systems , even tech and cultivation systems in it. About the strength, the strongest person was classified into beads because I don't want to write different classification for each magic system, so the previous power ranking system will still follow. Its just, now instead of beads, I will use the ranks more)
(How was the bloody emperor, I really tried to turn him from what I wanted him to be, and incorporate him into the novel, if you like him, your also gonna like the tyrant).