[Warning: This chapter is long af... ;)]
For the past month Aster needed to set out to find the path forward into the S rank. The first thing he did was scour every single kingdom of the 23 he had under his banner. He wanted to check to see if there were any old monsters hiding away....
In the royal crypt of the Kingdom of Lutharion he found what he sought. An old man sat propped against a cracked throne, skin parchment-thin, veins glowing faintly with the last embers of a dying core.
The air around him tasted of dust and endings.
Aster knelt, mask of gentle concern perfectly in place.
That day old man told him
"Peak A-rank? That's just a pretty cage with golden bars, boy. Beyond it lies only one door: a vow that scars your existence so deep even death cannot erase it. Speak it aloud and reality itself will chain you to it. Break it once (no matter the reason) and everything you are collapses into nothing... Haha, just look at m---"
