Inside Luminus Castle, the throne was not empty.
The man who sat there was middle-aged, handsome in the hard way soldiers are, and fierce even at rest. His golden robe fell over the white uniform of the Imperium, and beside the throne, point down, stood a beautiful sword the world knew simply as the Luminus Sword.
The person in the seat was known as the strongest in the whole Imperium. Caelum Aurelian Lux. Emperor of the Luminus Imperium.
His class was Magic Swordsman. That was why, for thirty years, he had not allowed anyone else to keep the class except the royal bloodline. Anyone discovered with it outside the palace was killed quietly. That was how magic swordsmen became scarce in the Imperium.
He was Level 90. The apex of this world. His final class was Aurelian Lux. His unique affinity was light element. His house were the sworn worshippers of the goddess Luminus, and they called themselves the Protectors of this world.
At Level 11 he had taken his first change to Spellblade. At Level 31 he became Lumin Knight. At Level 51 he rose to Dawnbringer Warlord. At Level 71 he took the last step, and until now he had held the name Aurelian Lux alone.
Beside him, standing half in shadow, was his most faithful servant, Commander Hadrian Voss of the Red Cloak Guards. He did not speak. He only watched.
The hall was filled. Officials in white, nobles in gold trim, ducal houses trying not to look bored.
Caelum's face was frowning, because in front of him stood the envoy from the Beast Imperium, one of the three imperiums of this world. The envoy was not human, two heads taller, shoulders covered in scarred hide, tusks filed to points. He did not kneel. He unrolled a letter sealed in black wax with a fang pressed into it, and read.
The letter was not polite.
"To the Sun-Crowned Emperor of Humans,
Your whelp Aleric Valerius crossed the Red Scar territory with swords and took a whole village of mine. He did not take warriors. He took mothers, cubs, elders. He dragged them into your light and calls it conquest.
Return my people alive. Return the whelp in chains to the border stones.
Do this before the blood moon, or I will come myself. I will bring the packs, I will break your towers, I will let my wolves drink from your golden rivers.
Do not hide behind old names.
Rukhzar Fangborne, Emperor of Beasts, Lord of the Fang Throne."
Even the emperor knows that the letter is just an utter nonsensical lie, he knows that aleric was rescued by that village and the beast Imperium just wanted to kill the villageers.
The hall went cold. The nobles looked at each other. The name Valerius did that.
Caelum did not move at first. For him it was a hard choice, because the family involved was Valerius. The first young lord, Aleric Valerius, was the one who had taken that village.
And the most important thing was, he had already been punished by his own house. The Archduke of Valerius had cast him out, stripped his heir rights, and given him only a single subordinate territory with the empty title of margrave.
Caelum could not interfere with Valerius. Just the name made even emperors hesitate. In this world there were only three families he truly worried about, Valerius, Sylveria, and Blackwood. The three archduchies were older than the royal family itself.
Their ancestors had written it many times in the books of knowledge, do not interfere with these three families, never provoke them. It was true. There is a rumor that one time the royal family had provoked the Sylveria family, and that was their last mistake. In one night powerful mages invaded the royal castle and in a few hours killed thousands of the royal bloodline. From then on the three families were out of imperial jurisdiction. Even the emperor could not see through them.
Their ancestors' warning was true.
Caelum did not believe the old rumors, because there were no official records of that night, only the written pleas to leave them alone. But Caelum was different from the emperors before him. He had a wild dream, to unite all the Imperiums and to subdue the three ancient families too.
He looked at the envoy and let his voice carry.
"I cannot issue a decree to make an archduke move," Caelum said. "Lord Aleric has already been punished by his own house. He is cast out. He holds only a margrave's border land. He is no longer Valerius in law."
The envoy growled low. "Then give him to me. Your law means nothing to the Fang."
Caelum spread his hands, the picture of a tired ruler. "The Imperium respects the autonomy of the three houses. If I break that pact for you, I break it for everyone. Would you have me start a civil war over one border lord?"
The beast envoy stepped closer. "Would you have me start a border war over one village?"
That was the opening Caelum had waited for.
He leaned forward on his throne, his fingers resting on the pommel of the Luminus Sword. His voice dropped so only the front rows could hear it clearly.
"I will not stop you," he said. "The margrave is outside the protection of his house. He is outside mine as well. Do what your law demands."
The envoy's ears twitched.
Caelum smiled then, a slow, evil smile that did not reach his eyes. "I won't interfere, envoy of Rukhzar. Even if you were to assassinate them."
A beat of silence, then the other ducal families in the hall laughed, short and sharp. The Dukes of Varnholt, of Caerys, of Morvain, they also did not like the three ancient families at all. They had waited generations for someone to bleed them.
The envoy received the answer he wanted. He slammed a fist to his chest, bowed his head just enough to not be insulting, and turned to leave.
Commander Hadrian Voss watched him go from the shadows, his red cloak unmoving.
That was the slyness of the emperor. Caelum could not raise his own sword against Valerius without breaking the old pact and inviting the other two houses down on him. He could not order a powerful swordsman to be trained without creating a rival to his own family. So he used a beast's fury as his knife.
He let Rukhzar believe he had won a concession. In truth, Caelum had just sent the Beast Imperium to kill a Valerius son on imperial soil, and he had done it with clean hands. If Aleric died, the Valerius bloodline would be weakened and Caelum could claim he tried to keep peace. If Aleric survived and killed beasts, the border war would give Caelum the excuse to raise armies and finally move against the three houses he had dreamed of subduing since he took the throne.
He did not need to draw the Luminus Sword. He only needed to let someone else do the killing for him, and smile while the hall applauded.
The heavy doors shut behind the beast envoy and the echo was still in the marble when the hall erupted.
Lord Chancellor Edric Selwyn struck his white staff once.
"Your Radiance," he said, "you have just given the Beast Imperium leave to hunt an imperial noble on imperial soil. Even cast out, his blood is still Valerius."
Duke Varnholt of the eastern marches answered before Caelum could. "His blood is irrelevant. The Archduke himself signed the severance decree. Aleric Valerius is a margrave of the Red Scar now, not an heir. He acted alone."
A new voice cut across him, cold and clear.
"Alone?" Duke Aerion Aetherion, (father of Kael) stepped forward from the left tier, his cloak the deep blue of his house, the silver hawk of Aetherion stitched over his heart. House Aetherion was not an independent duchy. Every man in the hall knew they held their lands by the grace of the Valerius archduchy.
"My lord Varnholt speaks of law when it suits him. Aleric was punished, yes. He was not disowned in blood. He still rides under the Valerius hawk, even if it is a smaller banner. If beasts cross the Scar to kill him, they cross into lands sworn to Archduke Valerius."
Duke Morvain of Caerys sneered. "Then let your master defend his whelp. Or has Valerius grown so old he needs his lapdog to bark for him?"
Aerion did not look at Morvain. He kept his eyes on the throne. "Your Radiance, House Aetherion begs you to reconsider. If the throne stands aside while a foreign emperor murders a son of one of the three houses, even a cast-out son, you break a peace that has held since the time of establishment of imperium. My archduke will not see it as neutrality. He will see it as permission."
Caelum rested his hand on the pommel of the Luminus Sword and listened like a judge.
From the shadow of the throne, Commander Hadrian Voss spoke. The Red Cloaks never spoke loudly, so the hall quieted to hear him.
"My lord," Hadrian said, "Duke Aerion is right about one thing. Beasts do not make precise kills. If Rukhzar sends a pack, they will burn three villages to reach the margrave's fort. Our eastern garrisons will be forced to engage, or we lose the trade road."
"Good," Varnholt said. "Let them engage."
"After," Caelum said softly.
Hadrian's eyes narrowed. "You want us to be late."
"I want you to arrive to restore order," Caelum corrected. "Not to prevent it. Let the beasts reach Aleric. Let them do what beasts do. Then the Red Cloaks will save the human villages, bury the beasts, and recover the body of a margrave who provoked a foreign power without sanction."
Aerion took another step forward. "That is not restoration. That is sacrifice. You would feed a Valerius son to Rukhzar to see how the archduke reacts."
The hall went still. No one had said it that plainly.
Caelum smiled, but it was not warm. "I would remind all houses that actions have costs, Duke Aerion. Your archduke cast out his own son and gave him a border fort with twenty spears. He knew the risk. If House Valerius wishes the Imperium's shield, House Valerius must stand under it, not above it."
"And if the Archduke demands justice for his blood?" Aerion asked.
"Then we will give him the same answer I gave the beast," Caelum said. "Aleric acted without house authority. He abducted a foreign village. The Imperium mourns with House Valerius, but we cannot be held responsible for a lone margrave."
Selwyn looked sick. "You are baiting the oldest house in the realm into a war with beasts."
"I am baiting no one," Caelum said, and now he stood. The light caught his golden robe and for a moment he truly looked like the Aurelian Lux. "I am letting the world turn. If Rukhzar kills Aleric, Valerius bleeds and learns humility. If Aleric survives, the beasts bleed and we have cause to raise the legions. In both outcomes, the throne remains clean."