The silence that followed her awakening was deeper than death.
The chamber still hummed with fading divine energy, runes shattered, air heavy with smoke and blood. The faint scent of silver lingered — remnants of the holy chains that once bound her. Now, those chains lay in molten puddles at her feet, their sanctity devoured by shadow.
Lirae — the first of my Queens — knelt before me, trembling. Her breath came shallow, her crimson eyes flickering with confusion and awe. The pulse of her new power resonated with mine, unstable yet magnificent, a melody half-formed but full of promise.
The System's voice whispered like silk against my mind."Bloodline resonance stable. Subject fully synchronized. Queen classification confirmed."
Her gaze lifted to meet mine — hesitant, uncertain, and then… reverent.I could feel the recognition in her blood, the instinctive pull of lineage. She was no mere servant; she was kin, born from my essence yet shaped by her suffering.
I knelt, lowering myself to her level. Shadows bent inward, coiling around us like sentinels. My fingers brushed her cheek — cool, smooth, trembling beneath my touch.She flinched, not from fear, but from the flood of memories awakening within her.
"Who… am I?" she whispered, her voice fragile as wind over glass."A shadow reborn," I said softly. "The world called you cursed, but you were never a sin — only the reflection of my essence, lost until now."
Her lips parted slightly, as if tasting the name she had forgotten."Lirae…" she murmured. "That was my name… before the priests found me."She shivered at the word priests — the echoes of pain in her memories bleeding through the bond.
I placed a hand over her heart. Beneath the surface, her power stirred, vast yet unrefined — the raw energy of a queen newly awakened."Forget what they named you," I said, voice low, deliberate. "From this night onward, you are Lirae of the Scarlet Veil. You will rise beside me as one of my Queens — immortal, unbound, eternal."
Her eyes widened, shimmering faintly with tears she hadn't realized she could still shed."I… belong to you?""You belong to yourself," I corrected. "But your soul answers my call. You were born from my blood, Lirae. To deny that bond would be to deny what you are."
For a long moment, she was silent. Then, with slow, deliberate grace, she lowered her head — not in submission, but in recognition.
"My King…" she breathed. "I remember the dream now. A voice… yours… calling me through the dark."
I smiled faintly. "Then you have answered."
The air between us shimmered, charged with power. The faint hum of her heartbeat echoed mine — in sync, perfect, whole.And for the first time since my awakening, I felt something close to… warmth.
But the moment could not last.
The System's voice broke through the stillness."Alert. Divine detection confirmed. Church barrier reinitializing. Hostile reinforcements approaching — high-ranking paladins, mana signatures equivalent to Legendary rank. Time to full incursion: four minutes."
I rose, eyes narrowing. "Of course they would come for their broken god's toy."
Lirae tried to stand, but her body faltered — her newfound strength warring with exhaustion. I caught her before she fell, supporting her with a hand beneath her arm. Her breath trembled against my chest.
"I can't… control it yet," she said through gritted teeth. "The light still burns inside me. They forced it into my veins to keep me chained."
I felt it — a faint trace of divine corruption buried deep within her essence, gnawing like a parasite. My blood flared instinctively, rejecting it.
"System," I commanded, "initiate purge. Burn the remnants of their god's mark."
"Confirmed. Commencing Purification Sequence."
A crimson aura enveloped my hand. The moment my power flowed into her, she gasped — light and shadow colliding within her body. The divine residue fought back, hissing like acid, but it was meaningless before the true blood of the progenitor. My essence devoured it whole, leaving only purity in its wake.
Her breathing steadied. Her aura settled into a steady rhythm — no longer fractured, but resonant, powerful. She looked up at me, eyes glowing like twin rubies in the dark.
"Thank you," she whispered. "I can feel it now… the hunger… the clarity."
"Good," I said. "You will need both."
The ceiling above trembled — faint at first, then violently. Cracks split across the stone as divine glyphs reignited with holy fire. The voices of priests echoed faintly through the stairwell above.
"By Aurelios' light — seal the catacomb! The darkness awakens!"
Lirae stiffened, a flicker of panic breaking through her composure."They're coming… they'll burn everything—"
"They can try," I said coldly.
With a sweep of my hand, the shadows surged. The torches lining the walls extinguished at once, plunging the chamber into absolute darkness. The holy glyphs struggled to maintain their light — and then shattered under the weight of my will.
The first wave of paladins burst into the stairwell, their armor blazing with radiant sigils. "In Aurelios' name, purge the desecrator!"
Their divine swords gleamed — and then dimmed, their radiance smothered by my presence. I stepped forward, the edge of my cloak brushing against the floor.
"System," I murmured. "Restrict aura output to Advanced rank. No need to reveal what they face."
"Acknowledged. Masking complete."
To them, I appeared as a tall, pale figure with crimson eyes and ethereal beauty — formidable, but mortal. A mistake they would not live to repeat.
One of them charged, shouting a prayer. His sword swung toward my neck, haloed in golden flame.
I caught it with two fingers.
The man's eyes widened in disbelief before I twisted, bones snapping. He collapsed without a sound. The others hesitated — a heartbeat too long.
I moved through them like smoke. Blades flashed, screams echoed, and one by one their lights went out. None saw how they died — only the shadow that claimed them. By the time silence fell again, the stairwell was painted in streaks of gold and crimson.
Lirae stared, wide-eyed — not with horror, but awe. "You… hid your power. They thought you were—"
"Weak," I finished, stepping over the fallen. "And they paid the price for believing it."
Above us, the bells began to toll — alarm spreading through the city. The Church's wards flared to life, sealing the cathedral in a dome of light."They're activating the full sanctum," the System warned. "Containment magic escalating. Estimated collapse of structure in 9 minutes."
Lirae gripped my arm, voice steadying. "Then we run."
I glanced at her — the faint trace of defiance beneath her reverence, the first spark of the queen she would become. I nodded once. "Together."
We ascended through the temple's hidden corridors, the air thick with divine fire. Statues of Aurelios cracked as we passed, their marble faces weeping molten gold. Priests fled in panic, their prayers swallowed by the roar of collapsing stone.
At the final hall, a dozen knights barred our path — shields raised, chanting as one. Golden spears formed in the air, aimed directly at us.
Lirae stepped forward before I could speak. Her eyes glowed, crimson light blooming across her skin. "Let me try," she said softly.
"Careful," I warned. "Your power is still unstable."
She smiled faintly — fragile, beautiful, dangerous. "Then it's time I learned."
The air rippled. Blood misted from her palms, swirling into a scarlet veil that coiled outward like living silk. The spears of light struck it — and dissolved instantly.The knights screamed as the veil consumed them, turning armor to ash and flesh to dust.
When it faded, only silence remained.
She turned to me, her expression calm. "It seems my name suits me."
I chuckled quietly. "Indeed it does."
The dome of divine light cracked above us, beams of sunlight spilling through — not warm, but searing. I reached into my coat, retrieving a small obsidian ring — etched with runes that shimmered faintly.
"Solar Nullification," I said, placing it gently on her finger. "A gift from the System. You'll need it."
The moment the ring touched her skin, the sunlight ceased to burn. She looked at me, astonished — and perhaps, for the first time, truly safe.
We stepped out together into the blinding day.
Behind us, the temple collapsed — its great spire crumbling, its bells silenced forever. The light of Aurelios flickered out, devoured by the shadow that had walked unhindered beneath it.
Smoke rose into the dawn sky. The city below stirred in confusion, soldiers rallying, priests screaming prayers that would go unanswered. But none could see us — the System cloaked us in illusion, our presence erased from mortal sight.
At the city's edge, among the whispering grass of the Solvaran plains, I finally stopped. The wind caught her hair — long, black, streaked faintly with crimson — and for a moment, she looked less like a prisoner and more like a queen.
She turned to me, voice soft but steady. "Where do we go now?"
"Everywhere," I said. "The world is vast, and our kind must rise again. But first… I will find the others — the Dukes, the Archdukes, the rest of your sisters. The court must be complete before the conquest begins."
Her crimson eyes shone with quiet resolve. "And I will follow you — my King."
I reached out, brushing a lock of hair from her face. "Then walk beside me, Lirae. No chains. No gods. Only power."
She nodded once. And as the first rays of dawn broke across the plains, we vanished into shadow — two figures bound by blood, destiny, and the silent promise of supremacy.
The temple of light lay in ruins behind us.The first Queen had awakened.And somewhere deep within the System, new directives whispered to life:
"Scarlet Court Formation: Initiated.""Next Objective: Locate the Duke of Ashen Vale."
The dawn belonged to the humans.But the night… the night was ours.