The monster hit him like a freight train.
Holden activated the Abyssal-Bone Wings and threw himself sideways just as the creature’s claws tore through the space where he’d been standing.
Holden landed on a golden pillar twenty feet above the ground, his wings folding against his back as he looked down. The throne room was already coming apart around them. The Emperor’s transformation had cracked the floor, shattered the windows, and torn tapestries from the walls, while broken chandelier crystals crunched under the monster’s feet as it turned to face him.
"DIE!"
The Emperor’s voice was barely recognizable now, too deep and guttural, like a human scream coming through a broken speaker. He slammed both claws together, and a wave of dark purple energy burst outward.
Holden jumped.
The blast struck the pillar and sliced through it. He spread his wings in midair, the Abyssal-Bone structures bending space just enough to carry him over the attack before he summoned the Solar-Forged Sword.
The crimson blade ignited in his hand.
Holden angled his wings and dove.
The Emperor raised one claw to meet him.
CLANG!
The collision sent a shockwave through the throne room, flipping a broken bench and sending cracks racing across the floor. Holden’s Aether-Steel arm absorbed the impact without bending, but the sheer force behind the Emperor’s strike sent him backward through the air.
He corrected himself with a sharp movement of his wings and hovered several feet above the floor.
The monster was fast.
But it was also sloppy.
The corruption had made the Emperor stronger, faster, and far more dangerous, but it had taken away the discipline that had once made him a calculating ruler. Every attack came from anger. Every movement was driven by instinct.
And instinct had patterns.
Holden’s 10,000x processor locked onto those patterns almost immediately.
Left claw, right claw, bite.
Left claw, leap, double slash.
The Emperor’s body gave away each attack before it happened.
The next claw swept toward his head.
Holden leaned back just enough for it to miss, then rolled beneath the follow-up strike and came up beside the monster’s flank. The Solar-Forged Sword flashed across the black chitin.
The blade cut deep.
The Emperor screamed.
"JUST DIE!"
Dark energy began gathering inside its chest.
Holden recognized the attack before it was ready.
He didn’t wait.
Ultimate Gale-Step activated.
The world slowed around him as his wings snapped open. He disappeared from the Emperor’s vision and reappeared at its side, the Solar-Forged Sword already moving. One cut struck the creature’s arm, another tore across its back, and a third caught its leg at the joint where the chitin armor was thinnest.
The Emperor twisted around with a furious roar.
Whatever attack it was charging up simply died out.
Smoke rose from the wounds as the white-hot edge of the Solar-Forged Sword cauterized them almost instantly. The monster staggered for a moment before the Abyssal corruption began knitting the damage back together.
Holden’s eyes narrowed.
It could heal.
The Emperor lunged again before he could think further, both claws reaching for him as dark energy gathered in its throat. Holden’s processor mapped the attack almost instantly. The left claw was coming at one angle, the right at another, followed by the blast a second later.
There was nowhere to stand.
So Holden stopped trying to find somewhere.
He moved forward.
Holden barely managed to drop beneath the first swipe. The black chitin passed so close to his scalp that he could smell the acidic residue clinging to it. The second claw slashed across his back just as a dark wave of energy blew up the air behind him
Holden was already inside the monster’s guard.
He poured everything he had into the Solar-Forged Sword.
His Rank 3 energy rushed through the blade, but instead of allowing it to spread outward, he compressed it tighter and tighter until the crimson glow disappeared.
The sword turned white.
Hellfire Cleave at maximum output.
Holden swung.
A wall of white-hot fire erupted from the blade, stretching across the throne room in a perfect horizontal arc.
The attack struck the Emperor across the middle.
The Abyssal chitin didn’t protect it.
The corruption didn’t absorb it.
The white-hot edge passed through the monster’s body, and for an instant, there was almost no resistance at all. Flesh and armor simply disappeared wherever the attack passed.
The Emperor’s roar stopped halfway through.
The two halves of the monster separated.
They hit the floor with two heavy thuds.
For several seconds, nothing moved.
Then the black chitin began to crumble.
The dark veins running through the creature faded to gray before breaking apart into dust. The monstrous body slowly reverted toward its original shape until what remained on the floor was unmistakably human.
Emperor Regis lay dead, his body split cleanly in two.
[Ding!]
[Corrupted Emperor Regis (Rank 4 - Abyssal Mutation) Defeated!]
[+30,000 KP]
[2x KP Booster Applied!]
[+60,000 KP!]
[Bonus: Rank 4 Elimination]
[+10,000 KP!]
[Balance: 175,890 KP]
The white glow faded from Holden’s sword. He lowered it and rolled his shoulder, letting the last of the heat leave his body.
The Aether-Steel Body hadn’t taken a scratch.
Around him, the throne room was barely recognizable. Gold leaf peeled from the walls, pillars lay broken across the floor, and cracks ran through the marble in every direction. Dark blood had gathered inside some of the deeper fissures, while the Emperor’s throne had been pushed against the wall by the force of the battle.
Then the main doors exploded inward.
BOOM.
Royal Guards flooded into the throne room with weapons drawn. They rushed several steps before stopping dead.
Nobody spoke.
Their Emperor was lying in two pieces on the floor.
And standing over him was Holden.
The guards slowly lowered their weapons.
Holden turned toward them and casually touched the Sovereign’s Pendant beneath his shirt, making sure the gesture was obvious.
"Nice necklace trick, Your Majesty," he said, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "But my jewelry is better."
The guards stared at him.
Then they looked at the dead Emperor.
Whatever they had been prepared to do disappeared from their faces.
One by one, weapons began hitting the floor.
Clang.
Clatter.
Within seconds, every guard in the room had dropped to one knee.
The surviving Royal Guard captain looked between Holden and the Emperor’s body, his face pale.
"What... what do we do?"
"You kneel."
The voice came from the doorway.
Instructor Vespera stepped into the ruined throne room.
Behind her, a squad of Vanguard Academy enforcers spread out along the broken walls, securing the entrances. Vespera’s eyes moved across the room, taking in the dead Emperor, the kneeling guards, and finally Holden.
Her expression barely changed.
Holden gave her a small shrug.
"It was a really crazy sword swing, Instructor. The pendant blocked most of the heavy stuff."
Vespera stared at him.
She didn’t believe that for a second.
But she understood what he was doing.
"Secure the perimeter," she ordered.
The enforcers immediately moved into position.
"The Crown has fallen," Vespera continued. "Until Parliament convenes, the Capital is to remain under Academy protection. No one enters or leaves without authorization."
"Yes, ma’am!"
The enforcers spread through the chamber while the Royal Guards remained on their knees, stripped of any clear command.
Team Soup appeared through the doorway.
Lyra was in front, her eyes immediately searching the room for threats. Emric followed with his shield raised, his glasses cracked from the earlier fighting, while Renna peeked around his shoulder with her bow already drawn.
They stopped.
Their eyes moved across the destruction.
The dead Emperor.
The kneeling Royal Guards.
The shattered throne room.
Then they found Holden standing in the middle of it all, looking untouched.
Lyra lowered her spear first.
"Are you okay?"
Holden looked down at himself.
"Yeah."
Renna stared at the Emperor’s body.
"You killed him?"
Holden glanced at the corpse.
"Technically, he made that decision himself."
Emric looked at the cut running through the room and then back at Holden.
"That doesn’t answer the question."
Holden sheathed the Solar-Forged Sword.
"It was a complicated conversation."
Renna slowly lowered her bow.
"You two were talking?"
"Something like that."
Lyra looked like she wanted to ask another question, but Holden had already turned toward the ruined throne room.
He looked around to take in the destruction he made.
Holden sighed.
"Well..."
He slipped his hands into his pockets.
"We’re definitely not getting our security deposit back on the hotel."
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