"What a truly tear-jerking show," I said, clapping my hands slowly as I walked into the room.
The sound of my applause echoed against the cold stone walls. I looked down at The Structure, who was still cradling his wife's dead body.
"You..." he growled. He looked at me with eyes full of pure hatred, like he wanted to rip my throat out.
"Pfft. HAHAHAHA!"
I couldn't help it. I laughed right in his face. It was just too perfect.
"Did you know?" I asked, leaning down so I was eye-level with him. "The child you lost... the very child both you and your wife spent years looking for? He's with me now."
The man froze. His breathing stopped.
"He suffered a great deal because of your corruption," I said, my voice turning cold as ice. I stared at his shocked face, enjoying every second of his confusion.
"What?!" He couldn't even look at me straight. His whole world was falling apart. "No... we did all of this because we needed to find him! Everything we did was for our son!"
"And yet," I said, "the process you used to find him caused millions... billions to suffer. And in that process, you turned the very child you were looking for into a weapon."
I remembered the shock from my past life. I remembered when they first announced their only child had been kidnapped. But the most insane part wasn't the kidnapping—it was who the child actually was.
It was Ezekiel.
The very boy they had experimented on. The child they had broken and turned into a killing machine without ever realizing he was their own flesh and blood. By the time they found out the truth in the old timeline, it was too late. Ezekiel was too far gone. He was unrecognizable.
"You built a hell to find your heaven," I whispered, watching the light die in his eyes. "But you only succeeded in burning your own son alive."
He stared at me, his mouth hanging open, unable to speak.
Checkmate. Not just in this room, but for his entire legacy.
"Kai," I said, turning away from the wreck of a man. "Clean this up. We're done here."
"No, wait," he gasped. He stared blankly at me, his eyes hollow. "At least... tell me if he is doing fine? I'm begging you. What we did can't be undone, I know that. But please... just tell me."
He looked so desperate. A man who had broken the world just to find one piece of it.
"He is well. And I will make sure he stays that way," I said.
My voice was cold and firm. He needed to know the truth for Ezekiel's sake. Even a monster like him deserved to know that his son was loved, even if that love didn't come from him.
"The maid who kidnapped him... she actually looked after him," I continued. "At first, they just wanted ransom money. But as time went by, she fell in love with him. She treated him like her real son. He lived a good life with his 'mom'."
It was the only mercy I could give him for the sins he had committed.
"I see," he whispered. A small, weak smile touched his face. "For the last time... can you give him this?"
He reached out with a trembling hand and gave me a ring. It was the Ring of Recognition.
"We made it for our son," he said softly. "Don't worry. This ring has no blood on it. There is no corruption in this. We made it with only our love for an innocent child."
I looked at the ring. In my past life, Ezekiel never got to see this. He never knew his parents died, wishing they could find him. For the sin of killing his parents without him ever knowing, the least I could do was hand this over and tell him the truth one day.
"I will," I said, closing my hand over the ring.
"Kill me now," he said.
He closed his eyes, ready. He was the one who started it. He was the one who had a selfish wish that cost billions of lives. The corruption had to end here.
"Farewell."
I swung the sword.
The blade cut through the air and his throat in one clean motion. No more words. No more pain.
The room fell into a heavy, absolute silence. The Four Pillars were gone. The structure of the kingdom had officially collapsed.
I wiped the blood off my blade and looked at the Ring of Recognition in my palm.
"Let's go, Kai," I said to the shadows. "We have a kingdom to rebuild."
The throne room was cold, the smell of expensive wine and rot filling the air.
At the end of the long red carpet sat the King. But he didn't look like a King anymore. Without the Four Pillars to guide him, he looked like a lost puppy. His eyes were bloodshot from whatever drugs he was using, and his hands were shaking.
"I see you're still hiding," I said, my voice echoing in the empty hall.
The King jumped, startled by my voice. "You! How dare you enter this room? Not even the dead King could make me move from this throne!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, trying to sound brave.
"HAHAHA! Really? A fake king?" I laughed, the sound sharp and mean. "Don't make me laugh."
I stepped closer, the sound of my boots like a death knell.
"The letter I gave you... it contains your little secret," I said, watching his face turn pale. "You aren't the King's son. You're just his nephew. He took pity on you. He protected you and gave you a life as a prince. And how did you repay him?"
I stopped right in front of the throne, looking down at the pathetic man.
"Betrayal?" I whispered. "You are the one who let this empire fall. You are the reason so many people died."
The King tried to speak, but only a pathetic whimper came out. He looked at me, realizing that his shield was gone. The people who made him King were dead, and the boy he thought was a "weak cub" was now the one holding the sword.
"Now," I said, my eyes glowing with a cold, dark light. "You shall taste hell."
I didn't need Kai's mind control for this. I wanted him to be wide awake for what was coming next.
"The play is over," I said. "And the villain finally gets his ending."
Before I could swing the sword to finish the fake King, a sudden cold wind brushed past my neck.
Clang!
A blade blocked mine. I looked up and saw a familiar face, but the energy coming off him was completely different.
The Jaw.
"Well?" he said, staring at me. He looked annoyed, like I was interrupting his afternoon nap. "Is this it?"
Before I could answer, he swung his sword at me with insane speed. I barely moved back in time, the wind from his blade cutting a few strands of my hair.
"Weak," he muttered, examining me from head to toe. He didn't look like a puppet anymore. He looked like a predator that had been hiding in plain sight.
Suddenly, his eyes began to glow a deep, blood-red color. He leaned in, his gaze piercing through my skin.
"Oh? What's that? A little helper?" He smirked. He wasn't just looking at me, he was seeing right through my awakened power. He could see Kai.
My heart hammered against my ribs. None of the other vassals could see Kai. Even 'The Eyes' only felt a trace, but this man... he was looking directly at the source.
"What... who are you?" I asked, my grip tightening on my sword.
This wasn't the silver-tongued talker I saw earlier. This was someone, or something, much more dangerous.
"Guess," he said.
A mocking, twisted grin spread across his face. He wasn't a piece of the puzzle. He was a player I hadn't accounted for.