After an hour…
Althric was resting on the bed, trying to get back on his feet. The room was quiet. Sound of surrounding can be heard easily. Zyra came in and brought food, setting a small table in front of him without a word.
He sat up quickly when she walked in.
"You can eat it, Althric."
He started eating but didn't take his eyes off her for long.
"Zyra."
She looked at him.
"I'm changing. From inside."
"What do you mean?"
"At first I couldn't feel anything. No emotion. No happiness, no sadness — nothing. But after I came back from the Realm of Wings… I felt like I went too far. Killing the general of the Wing King. It stayed with me."
He paused.
"Zyra. What do you think of me?"
She was quiet for a moment. Then she slowly reached out and grabbed his left hand.
"You're very stubborn. Always going on about how you have to protect everything — it irritates me a lot." Her voice was flat but her grip was steady. "And you were always fixated on your king. Never really looked at anyone else."
She let out a slow breath.
"But when you danced with me… I loved it. It was the most enjoyable thing I've ever done."
"Why?" Althric asked. "Why me, out of everyone?"
Zyra looked down.
"I don't know. I was so fond of you, drawn towards you every time I see you. I think it's because you never tried to take advantage. Not once."
"What do you mean by that?"
Something shifted in her face. The softness didn't go away but something harder came on her face.
"Men are disgusting. I hate them. They only want to use women for their own desires. I avoided all of them. But as a monarch, many noblemen in our realm came for me. I rejected everyone. To satisfy their egos, they made false evidence against me." Her jaw tightened. "Because of them, I became a fallen monarch."
Althric set down his food. He reached up with his right hand and placed it gently against her cheek.
Zyra froze.
"Wh — What are you doing?"
"You handled it well," he said quietly. "Even after they dropped you into the abyss — you still became one of them. You didn't break."
Tears gathered in Zyra's eyes. Slowly, without breaking.
"I started feeling attracted to you a long time ago," Althric continued. "I kept pushing it down. Avoiding your eyes. I didn't think I was cut out for any of this." He held her gaze. "But I accepted it. These changes in me."
His hand was still against her cheek gentle and soft like cotton.
"So. Now I want you to answer me something."
Meanwhile…
Ren returned to his realm quickly. He called his phoenix and rode hard toward Daiki's office.
The guild and the office were in ruins.
Ambulances. Reporters. A crowd pressing in from all sides. The air smelled like smoke and something worse beneath it.
Ren slipped inside without being noticed.
"REN!"
Zenkai's voice hit him from behind.
"Father. Master — what happened while I was gone?"
"We don't know," Kuro said, his voice low. "We heard something crash. Then we found your knight. All messed up. He asked us to come here. Said Daiki was murdered."
"Have you seen him?"
Kuro hesitated. His eyes closed for a second.
"Yes. It was like… like someone taking revenge. From way back. Something personal."
"I need to see for myself."
Kuro led the way.
Akuma was already there. Standing still. A white cloth over the body, soaked through with red.
Ren gave him a nod — I'm looking. Akuma shifted silently, stepping in front of the body to block it from the crowd without being told.
Ren crouched down and lifted the cloth slightly.
It was like the ground disappeared under him.
His eyes went wide. Shock and something deeper than shock.
"Who did this?"
He pressed his hand against the body.
The room vanished.
He was standing in black.
"Welcome, Ninth King. How have you been?"
A warrior in shadow-radiating armor bowed in front of him.
"So. You're the second general. We haven't met since."
"Yes, my king. I am not worthy — I was against you when you were first appointed."
"But I proved it didn't I and for now it doesn't matter," Ren said simply. "That's not what we're here for. What happened? Whoever did this wasn't ordinary."
"They were not from this realm." The second general straightened. "They said you would kill them and ruin their realm. The one who landed the final strike on Daiki — a girl. She used shadow. But there is no realm like ours that uses shadow. And with him there was an another person with a blind fold."
Ren went quiet. Thinking.
"Was it the Realm of Wings? The demon realm?"
"No."
The general's answer was flat. Simple.
Ren went still. "But I haven't done anything wrong to anyone else."
"My king." The general's tone shifted. "There is something I think you should consider. Something I should say."
"Say it."
"Have you ever considered… that you might be the Variable King?"
Ren stared at him.
"Variable… King."
"It is an old tale. From the mythical age. Only a handful ever knew of it."
The general's voice took on a heavier weight.
"Before the war, when everything was still calm — when the first king was chosen — there was a rumor. That one day a king would be born who would not be bound to the system. A king who would rule over the whole world. Some said it would be the first king himself. Others said it would come from the shadow monarchs. Others named different realms entirely."
He paused.
"Most people buried it as a fairy tale. But — when I witnessed your power, my king. Even combining all nine kings together, you overpowered them without touching the full extent of what you carry. Without the Black Heart."
"So people have begun to see me as that."
"Tell me, did the thunder and sky made an alliance with me because of that."
Ren quickly asked.
It can be… It can be not.
The general answered.
"The realm of thunder kept quite because they wanted to see how much strong are you and when you showed it they allied with you along with the wing, ash realm."
Ren was silent for a moment.
"But—"
"They would have made an alliance with you long ago if you had shadow power, before you get the black heart."
"Second general. I'm taking you with me."
Ren said after thinking.
"Right now, you know what happened? So, please help me with that.
"As you wish, my king."
"But first — can I actually do this? I've done everything on pure instinct before. I never —"
"Ahem." The general cleared his throat lightly. "My apologies, my king. You simply absorb me. I'll be inside you before you even know it."
He extended his hand.
"Thank you, second general."
Ren took his hand. The absorption began, slow and steady, pulling the general inward. Just before he disappeared entirely, one last sentence came through.
"Please take revenge for Daiki Raikuro, my king. He didn't deserve any of this. Neither did you…"
The void collapsed. The room came back — noise, people, the acrid smell of the scene.
But for Ren, everything was different now. The room was loud and he couldn't hear any of it. Only the second general's last words remained, sitting somewhere behind his ribs.
He lowered the cloth back over Daiki. Gently. His hand came to rest on Daiki's head.
"I will take your revenge," he said quietly to no one but him. "Even if they put their entire army in front of me — I'll kill them all."