Across the entire Southern District, every player's interface flickered with a blinding, golden light. A message overrode their current objectives, pulsating with an authority that felt less like a game and more like a law of nature.
{The Emblem of Authority Has Been Raised. The King calls for his subordinates!}
High above the Administrative Block, Akhil hovered, clutching the glowing artifact. Beads of sweat rolled down his face, and his chest heaved. He was a King with an empty treasury, his Blood Essence dangerously low, but in this world, authority was a weapon in its own right.
"Do you think staying up there will help you?" one of the bots below croaked. Its back plates hissed open, revealing a pair of high-output boosters. With a thunderous crack, the machine propelled itself upward like a surface-to-air missile.
Akhil tilted his body mid-air, the boosters' heat singeing his clothes as he narrowly evaded the metal blur. He watched the bot struggle to stabilize its flight.
