The One King

No sooner had Azrael’s voice faded than a heavy silence descended upon the entire world.

Then he slowly raised his draconic head, his purple eyes gleaming with a terrifying coldness.

His voice began spreading across the heavens and the earth, traversing continents, seas, cities, and villages.

"I am Azrael Netherval, the child abandoned by his family, the one the world condemned as a bringer of evil and destruction, and branded as the Lord of Darkness."

The heavens trembled.

"Today, I declare war upon the entire mortal world."

Millions of eyes widened.

"I will make the inhabitants of this world, whether human or otherwise, young or old, taste the cup I was forced to drink from."

The black-purple aura around his body intensified.

"I will crush the mountains..."

"I will evaporate the seas..."

"I will make the heavens and the earth weep blood."

Azrael fell silent for a moment.

That brief silence was more terrifying than his words.

Then, suddenly, his voice echoed across the world once more:

"Baran."

The rulers exchanged glances.

One of them asked anxiously:

"Who is Baran?"

Another said:

"Could it be that he has been addressing someone this entire time?"

Several tense minutes passed.

Then...

A reply came.

It was not an ordinary voice.

It was the terrifying, raspy voice of an old man, so harsh that it sounded as though two pieces of rusted metal were scraping against each other.

"At your service, O Greatest Beneath the Heavens."

BOOOOOOOM!

A tremendous sonic shockwave erupted across the Central Continent.

Mountains trembled.

Some rocks cracked apart.

Dust was shaken from buildings.

Even some Divine Ascendants felt a chill run through their bodies.

One of the rulers said with a pale face:

"His voice alone..."

He swallowed hard.

"How can a voice possess such power?"

Another ruler muttered:

"Who in the name of hell is Baran?"

But Azrael gave them no time to think.

His voice thundered once again, this time with enough force to make the entire world listen.

"Prepare yourselves, and let all armies march."

He paused.

Then his next words emerged with absolute coldness:

"Everyone beneath these heavens is an enemy if they refuse to submit to my sovereignty and the will of the clan, and accept eternal servitude..."

Azrael's aura intensified.

"They shall perish."

Silence descended everywhere.

Then Baran's voice came again, this time filled with fanatical excitement.

"Your will is the will of the heavens!"

A low, terrifying laugh followed.

"I shall tear this world apart if it refuses to submit beneath your might and the might of the clan!"

Then he roared:

"I shall tear the heavens themselves apart if they stand in your way!"

The people trembled.

In one of the cities, a man stared at the sky and said:

"He speaks of destroying the world as though he were talking about crushing an insect."

Another man replied:

"That isn't a threat..."

He paused.

"It's an order."

A woman screamed:

"What does he mean by the clan?! Where did these people come from?!"

An old man trembled as he answered:

"I don't know... but I don't want to find out."

Then something else began to happen.

High above the Central Continent...

The first portal appeared.

WOOOOOOM!

Space tore apart, revealing a massive black vortex.

Then a second portal appeared.

And a third.

After that...

Portals began appearing throughout the world.

In the Northern Continent.

In the Western Continent.

In the south.

In the east.

Even above distant seas.

One of the inhabitants shouted:

"Spatial portals?!"

Another cried:

"They're appearing everywhere!"

The portals began expanding.

And specifically across the Central Continent, three enormous portals appeared.

The first opened in the northern region of the continent.

Space trembled around it.

Then a massive army emerged.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

They wore brilliant golden armor and carried organized formations of weapons, while enormous banners fluttered above their ranks.

A majestic emblem was displayed upon those banners.

The Council Clan.

The people in nearby cities practically stopped breathing.

One man whispered:

"Hundreds of thousands..."

Another said:

"No... Look at the banners."

An old man approached the window, his face turning pale.

"The Council Clan..."

A young man asked:

"You know them?"

The old man answered quietly:

"I don't know where they came from..."

Then he looked toward the army.

"But I'm certain their appearance now isn't a coincidence."

Meanwhile, in the southern region of the continent...

The second portal opened.

DOOOOOM!

Something entirely different emerged.

Golems.

Massive stone golems, their bodies composed of rock and metal, varying in size and cultivation level.

One emerged.

Then ten.

Then hundreds.

Then thousands.

Soon, they were impossible to count with the naked eye.

Their number reached five hundred thousand golems.

The enormous hordes stood in formation for several moments...

Then they began advancing.

The earth trembled beneath their feet.

THUD... THUD... THUD...

One of the southern inhabitants shouted:

"They're coming toward us!"

A man screamed:

"Run!"

Another cried:

"Where?! They've blocked the road!"

The golem army then began sweeping across the southern region of the Central Continent.

There was no negotiation.

There was no message.

Only an army advancing.

As for the third portal...

It appeared directly before the battlefield itself.

The rulers who had not yet departed stared at it with frozen expressions.

Even Empress Titania, who stood at a distance, changed expression.

One of the rulers whispered:

"Another portal..."

But something emerged from it.

At first, it was a skeletal hand.

Then a body.

Then dozens.

Then hundreds.

Then thousands.

Hordes of undead emerged.

They came in all shapes and sizes.

Skeleton warriors.

Undead giants.

Deformed beasts.

Massive creatures carrying rusted weapons.

Eventually...

The army emerging from the portal reached five hundred thousand undead.

They assembled into organized formations before the portal.

They did not move.

They did not shout.

They did not raise their weapons.

They simply stood there in silence.

As though waiting for an order.

One of the rulers asked:

"Why aren't they moving?"

Caesar stared at them.

"They're waiting..."

Silence followed.

Suddenly...

A voice emerged from within the portal.

A terrifying voice.

Rough.

Metallic.

Like two pieces of rusted iron scraping against each other.

"Every living creature beneath these heavens is an enemy of our clan."

Everyone froze.

"Those who submit... shall live."

The voice paused.

Then came the final words, spoken with a coldness that froze the blood in their veins:

"Those who refuse... shall perish."

The undead army began to move.

THUD... THUD... THUD...

They marched north.

Toward the capital of the Central Empire.

One of the rulers said:

"They're heading toward the capital!"

Another shook his head.

"No..."

He stared at the army.

"They aren't merely heading for the capital."

His eyes widened.

"They'll slaughter everyone who stands in their path."

And that was exactly what happened.

Every living creature encountered by the army was given only two choices.

Submission...

Or death.

People began fleeing from the villages.

Some threw down their weapons and fell to their knees before the undead.

"We surrender!"

"Don't kill us!"

"We have children!"

But those who refused...

Were given no second chance.

The expressions of the rulers watching the scene changed.

One of them said:

"If this army reaches our territories..."

He couldn't finish.

Another ruler said:

"We must return immediately."

He turned around.

"We need to prepare our armies."

The rulers began withdrawing one after another.

No one was thinking about fighting Azrael anymore.

The war was no longer a battle between Divine Ascendants.

It had become a war against an unknown force spreading throughout the entire world.

As for Titania...

She was still staring at the army.

She noticed its direction.

Her face then turned pale.

She whispered:

"They're heading..."

She stopped.

"Toward my capital."

She raised her eyes toward Azrael.

The black dragon remained hovering in the sky.

Calm.

Motionless.

As though he were enjoying the spectacle.

One of her advisors said:

"Your Majesty, we must return immediately."

She did not answer.

She continued staring at Azrael for several seconds.

Then she said:

"Let us go."

She vanished from the sky at tremendous speed.

One after another, the rulers departed.

Even those who had been prepared to fight him only moments ago.

Azrael did not stop them.

He did not pursue them.

Nor did he attempt to kill them.

He simply remained hovering in the sky.

Watching them leave.

Then a cold smile appeared upon his draconic face.

He knew exactly what he wanted.

He wanted them to return.

He wanted them to carry the news to their empires.

He wanted them to witness with their own eyes the armies spreading across the world.

He wanted them to return to everything they had built over thousands of years...

To their families.

To their empires.

To their palaces.

To their wealth.

To everything they believed would remain theirs forever.

Then he wanted to destroy it all before their eyes.

One by one.

Azrael remained alone in the sky.

Beneath him stretched the devastated Central Continent.

In the distance, armies were advancing.

Above him, black-purple storms were gathering.

Azrael spoke quietly, almost as if talking to himself:

"Go..."

His smile widened.

"Go and tell everyone."

His purple eyes ignited with cold light.

"Let me see how long the things you spent thousands of years building can survive."

He raised his head toward the heavens.

Then he swept his draconic tail through the air.

DOOOOOM!

A wave of power spread around him.

Then he said coldly:

"This time..."

His smile disappeared for a moment.

"I won't merely kill your dreams."

His fangs emerged.

"I will make the world itself remember my name."

Far away, the armies continued their advance.

In the north, the soldiers of the Council Clan marched.

In the south, the golems swept through cities and villages.

At the heart of the continent, half a million undead marched toward the capital.

And throughout the rest of the world...

The portals continued opening.

One after another.

Then another.

And another.

Until the entire mortal world began to realize the terrifying truth:

The war had already begun.

And there was nowhere left to run.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!