A day had passed since the war council, and the palace was no longer a place of quiet contemplation. It was a hive of frantic activity, buzzing with the nervous energy of an empire preparing to breathe surface air for the first time in months. Wagons groaned under mountains of supplies, hammers rang ceaselessly from the forges without pause, and the corridors echoed with the hurried footsteps of soldiers, mages, and supply runners.
Orders flew like arrows through the air. The scent of oiled leather, fresh celcane bread, and the faint metallic tang of mana being woven into armor and weapons hung thick in every hall. Torches burned brighter, crystals glowed hotter, and the entire underground settlement pulsed with a single, unified heartbeat — the heartbeat of a people who had waited centuries for this moment.
But in the center of the storm, there was a pocket of absolute silence.
Antares sat cross-legged in the middle of the first floor of the Ant King's Tower. The room was draped in deep shadows, the cold stone floor grounding him as he sought the stillness required for what was to come. In his lap lay the golden sword. He had officially renamed it Eos, after the goddess of the dawn — a fitting title for the golden blade that would herald the rising of his people from the darkness. The rhythmic *skritch-hiss* of a sharpening stone against the metal was the only sound. Every deliberate stroke sent a shower of crimson sparks dancing into the dark, illuminating Antares's focused features in brief, fiery bursts.
He needed this solitude. Even before his reincarnation as Harry Waterson, he had been an introvert by nature — the kind of man who found peace in the quiet glow of a computer screen rather than crowds. Now, as King, he craved these stolen moments more than ever. His bold declaration to strike within a week had sent the council into a frenzy; currently, every patriarch and officer was buried under a mountain of tasks. He was the only one with the luxury of silence, and he used it to prepare his spirit for the blood and glory that awaited above.
Antares stood, tying his long wild black hair into a single, thick braid to keep it from his eyes. He began to move. He practiced the forms he had painstakingly memorized from his father's journals — movements designed for the unique weight and reach of Eos. He lunged, parried, and spun, his movements fluid and precise, each step a silent conversation with the blade. As the hours passed, the air in the room grew heavy with the scent of ozone and effort. The stone floor beneath him became slick with his sweat, his tunic clinging to his back like a second skin.
Sensing the peak of his physical exertion, Antares called upon his Knight Force. A violent, deep red aura flared around his limbs like liquid fire. The power didn't just surround him; it sank directly into his muscles and bones, reinforcing them with a density that felt immovable. The air seemed to ripple and distort with the sheer pressure of his presence, the shadows on the walls dancing wildly.
He unleashed a series of hacks and slashes; the blade moved so fast it became a blur of golden light trailing ribbons of red energy. The sheer force of the swings created miniature sonic pops that echoed off the walls like distant thunder. When he finally stopped, his chest heaving, he untied his hair. It fell around his face in a wild, sweat-dampened tangle, his eyes glowing with a predatory intensity. In that moment, he didn't look like a politician or an administrator. He looked like a barbarian king from the mountains, ready to tear the throat out of the world above.
Antares didn't bother with the stairs. With a mental command, he used his skills to vanish from the tower, reappearing at the edge of the primary training grounds. Eli and Levi were there, as he knew they would be, running through their own drills under the dim light of the crystal-lamps. They stopped as he approached, sensing the shift in the air before they even saw him — the red aura still flickering faintly around his frame like dying embers.
Antares didn't say a word. He didn't need to. The look in his eyes — sharp, cold, and demanding — told them everything.
The twins moved in a synchronized blur. Levi took the high ground, leaping off a training pillar with his spear thrusting straight for Antares's chest in a lightning-fast overhead strike. At the same time, Eli stayed low, sliding across the dirt to sweep Antares's legs with a brutal spinning kick designed to shatter knees.
Antares drove Eos into the ground, using it as a pivot to vault into the air. While mid-air, his Knight Force flared from his heels, providing a secondary thrust that let him hang suspended for a heartbeat longer than natural physics allowed. He twisted, avoiding both attacks, and landed with a heavy thud that sent a shock wave rippling outward, kicking up a swirling cloud of dust that momentarily blinded the twins.
Levi recovered first, throwing a barrage of spears at Antares — not physical ones, but condensed blades of pure Knight Force that screamed through the air like crimson meteors. Antares spun Eos in a vertical circle, his red aura colliding with the incoming strikes in a deafening cascade of sparks and metallic clangs that sounded like hailstones hammering a tin roof. The impact sent vibrations racing up his arms, but he held firm, the golden blade singing with power.
Eli surged through the opening, his spear thrusting low and vicious toward Antares's midsection. Antares caught the blade in his crossguard with a grinding screech of metal on metal. The strength of Antares's Knight Force was apparent — Eli felt like he had just struck an unmovable mountain. The twin's eyes widened in surprise as the force of the block traveled back through his arms, nearly knocking him off balance.
With a roar of effort, Antares stepped to the side, letting Eli's momentum carry him forward. He delivered a lightning-fast kick to Eli's chest, the impact landing with a thunderous *boom* that lifted the guard clear off the ground and sent him tumbling backward through the dust. Antares didn't pause. He spun to face Levi, slamming his shoulder into the second twin's chest in a raw Shield Bash without a shield. The collision rang out like a hammer on an anvil. Levi staggered, but Antares followed up immediately with a palm strike to the sternum that drove the air from his lungs and sent him reeling several steps back.
The twins scrambled to their feet, breathing hard but grinning with feral excitement. They attacked again — a whirlwind of steel and red aura. Levi came high with a sweeping overhead arc meant to split Antares from crown to groin, while Eli came low, his spear thrusting in a rapid series of feints and jabs aimed at the thighs and ankles. Every time Antares parried Levi's heavier blows, Eli was there to exploit the blind spot, his lighter, faster strikes forcing Antares to twist and pivot in ways that tested every muscle.
Antares felt the thrill surge through him like lightning. He stopped thinking in rigid "forms" and started thinking in pure "flow." He parried a downward strike from Levi with a ringing clang, spun Eos in a tight horizontal circle to check Eli's incoming blade, and then performed a low, sweeping arc that forced both twins to leap back in unison. The ground cracked where his blade passed. Dust and small stones flew upward in a miniature storm.
He stood in the center of the arena, Eos held loosely at his side, chest heaving, his red aura flickering like dying embers around his arms and shoulders. Sweat poured down his face, but his eyes burned brighter than ever.
"Again," Antares commanded, his voice a low growl. "And this time don't hold back."
Without a signal, the twins stood up. The ground started shaking. In an instant, the twins revealed their full aura — twin pillars of deep crimson energy that roared upward like twin bonfires. It had been the first time the twins had revealed their aura in battle against someone, and the pressure in the training grounds thickened until the air itself felt heavy enough to crush.
"Now we're talking," Antares said as he took his battle stance and conjured even more of his Knight Force. The red aura around him exploded outward, matching theirs in intensity.
"Don't come complaining if we go too hard on you, Your Majesty," Levi said with a fierce grin.
"We don't want to hurt you," Eli added, his voice equally cocky.
"You two are strangely cocky today," Antares replied, a predatory smile tugging at his lips.
He didn't bother waiting. Antares attacked them straight on, closing the distance in a burst of speed that left afterimages in the dust. Eos sang through the air in a golden arc aimed at Levi's shoulder. Levi met it with his spear, the clash sending a shock wave that rattled the training pillars. Eli darted in from the side, his spear thrusting toward Antares's ribs in a blinding flurry. Antares twisted mid-strike, parrying Eli's thrust with the flat of Eos while simultaneously kicking Levi's knee to disrupt his balance.
The fight became a storm of motion. Levi's heavy, crushing strikes came down like falling boulders, each one forcing Antares to brace and redirect. Eli's lighter, lightning-fast jabs and sweeps targeted every opening, forcing Antares to stay in constant motion. Red auras clashed in brilliant explosions of sparks and light whenever their weapons met. The ground cracked beneath their feet. Training dummies were reduced to splinters as stray strikes flew wide. Sweat flew from Antares's brow with every movement, his braid whipping behind him like a banner.
He felt alive — truly alive — in a way no System screen or political meeting could ever match. This was the raw edge he had craved since waking up. He laughed once, a wild sound, as he vaulted over Eli's low sweep and brought Eos down in a devastating overhead strike that Levi barely blocked. The impact drove Levi's knees into the dirt for a split second before the twin roared back to his feet.
The three of them moved like a single living weapon, testing, pushing, breaking limits. Antares's muscles burned, his lungs screamed, but the red aura only grew stronger, feeding on the exertion. Eli and Levi were giving everything they had, their own auras flaring brighter with every exchange. The training grounds had become a battlefield of pure will.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of clashing steel and roaring auras, Antares planted Eos in the ground and raised a hand. The twins froze mid-strike, breathing hard, their chests rising and falling in unison.
"Enough," Antares said, wiping sweat from his eyes. A satisfied, exhausted grin split his face. "You two… you're monsters when you stop holding back."
Levi laughed, leaning on his spear. "We could say the same about you, Sire."
Eli simply nodded, respect burning in his eyes.
While the arena still echoed with the fading sounds of combat, the rest of the settlement was a fever dream of preparation.
Kael walked the lines of the four thousand, his voice hoarse as he barked corrections. Blacksmiths followed behind him with hammers and oil, making final adjustments to the leather straps of the new armor. Yajin and Velas were also preparing their men respectively — there was no way they were going to be left behind. Since the death of Antares's father, they had been looking for a way to atone for their failure in protecting him. Now they were going to support their king on his campaign to reclaim dominance on the surface.
Lady Sira was a whirlwind of precision. She oversaw the loading of the transport carts, ensuring the crates of meat, celcanes, barrels of juice, and other supplies were perfectly balanced. She knew that a week on the surface meant thousands of mouths to feed, and she wouldn't allow a single ration to be misplaced.
There was a strange solemnity among the civilians. Families were gathering, sharing meals and talking in hushed tones about the upcoming expedition. They knew it as the "Great Ascent." The fear of the unknown surface was being slowly replaced by hope for a better future. The settlement was no longer just a home — it was a united fortress preparing for an unknown future.