PART 13: THE SECOND OVERTURN
Chapter 046
VII – Who is the Sovereign of the Five?
Donnor stomped his feet, surging a trace of RM from his soles through his ankles and into the ground. A web of magic spread around Vynelor. Then a massive dome of stacked bricks rose and swallowed the child, sealing him inside a thick shell of stone.
One by one, the men swung their blades at Donnor, trying to land a hit and bring him down. Without summoning magic, he dodged most of the strikes—
–14 HP
HP: 625 / 639
until a dagger sliced across his arm, cutting through the fabric and opening his skin.
He summoned his TM and swept the area, blasting all the soldiers off the level floor. Space opened up around him, but the air began to tilt upward. So he looked.
Ten soldiers stood on the ledges, palms aimed down, their skin burning. They summoned their IMs, unleashing ten brilliant beams of blue magic that plummeted toward him. Donnor raised his hands to the sky, palms radiating their own light, and met the torrent head-on.
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 23
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 21
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 25
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 23
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 23
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 22
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 24
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 24
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 21
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 23
—DONNOR—
Telekinetic Magic ? Lv. 58
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 44
Ten thick threads erupted from his palms and collided with the incoming beams. Rings of magic wrapped around each thread, surging upward as they pushed back with the rest of his resistance. Stone walls cracked. Magic sprayed in all directions. Glass shards hung in the air as if gravity had failed. The sky darkened. The ground split and sank beneath his feet. Pieces of homes collapsed under the crushing pressure. Pebbles floated at eye level. The blazing roar pierced the streets, each burn and fracture shifting the clashing beams up and down. Anyone who looked straight at it was blinded, the contact point flickering with violent flashes.
The dome shattered, and Vynelor reappeared. He gasped and dropped to the ground, staring up at Donnor and the violent surge of magic dancing above them.
Without looking, Donnor shouted, “Vynelor! Stand up! Stand up now!”
Vynelor’s legs locked under the horrible pressure. Donnor shouted again and again, until the child dropped to his knees and finally forced himself upright. He flinched every time a nearby wall cracked or a patch of clay burst apart. The wind battered him, whipping his hair in every direction. Shielding his eyes, he crept behind the man.
“Do you see each beam of light clashing with my magic?”
Vynelor barely knew what that meant. He just stared at the ten points of collision—and slowly realized they were creeping closer with a steady, dreadful pace.
“Focus on one right now! Use your magic to push one beam up! Hurry!”
Even Vynelor flinched at the sharpness of his voice cutting through the noise. He whipped his head around, lost in the chaos. But the longer he hesitated, the closer the beams came. He glanced down the street and saw a ring of soldiers closing in, swords ready.
There was only one way out.
Vynelor raised his hands. Magic raged in his palms. Gritting his teeth, he fought back.
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 21
A single beam shot upward. Its tip slammed into the clash, merging with Donnor’s power and stacking force on top of it. One of the ten beams suddenly reversed, racing back toward its caster. It wasn’t slow. The violent struggle of light blinded almost everyone. The soldier had no time to react. One second, he saw his magic overpowering Donnor’s—
and the next, the clash was barely a meter from his face.
“What—?!”
The clashing beams reached his hands, and his magic sputtered out. Donnor’s and Vynelor’s power tore straight through his palms and blasted a massive hole through his chest. Without even a final breath, he fell backward and went still.
“Well done! That’s how you do it!” Donnor shouted, raw with praise. “Keep it up! We’ve got nine more!”
Vynelor looked up at Donnor, seeing his pale face framed by every color flashing through the air. But amidst the violence, he saw a glowing determination in the man’s eyes. The boy felt the change, the feeling of right. He pressed his lips together, refocused, and aimed his palms at the next clash. He summoned his IM and pushed again.
High above, Ernol watched his soldier drop without a fight. He gasped, trembling. The man lay on the stone, a head-sized hole drilled through his chest, blood pooling across the ceiling floor. Ernol bit down on his metal gauntlet.
“What?” he whispered. “What just happened?”
When he looked back down, he saw another imbalance—one beam suddenly surging upward toward another soldier. Before he could react, the second man fell. Ernol and others yelped.
“No! No! NO!”
He stared, but the flashing light and floating debris hid most of the battlefield. Then a third clash tilted upward and slammed into the next soldier, killing him instantly. The beam took his head clean off, and the body toppled forward, dropping several stories.
The remaining soldiers realized what was happening. Their arms wavered. As their numbers thinned, the beams briefly steadied, no longer rising or falling. Then another surge—faster, sharper.
“S–sir,” one of the soldiers called, voice shaking. “Are we—”
The fourth man fell, cutting off his voice flat. Then the fifth.
And just like that, the balance broke. Five clashes tilted upward at once.
Ernol and the others shook. The sixth beam surged, and the sixth soldier died. Each sudden spike came faster than the last. The more pressure lifted from Donnor, the greater his advantage became. Ernol knew that. But what was causing the precise bursts?
He stepped aside and changed his angle. When he finally saw what was happening below, his eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched.
“That CHILD!”
Back on the ground, Vynelor kept aiming his magic the way he always had—like days ago, maybe even just yesterday. His gaze drifted, as if he were staring into the shimmering water beside his father. He remembered everything: the fishing, the waiting, the nights by the fire, casting his line while Wallan watched. Tears welled again as he whispered his father’s name, over and over, and with each whisper he struck another soldier down.
“Dad.”
The seventh fell.
“Dad!”
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The eighth. Then the ninth.
As the light began to fade, Vynelor could finally see the men above. He locked eyes with the last of them. The moment he took in their rusted armor, their scars, their cold, hardened faces, his memories of Wallan vanished. Rage filled the empty space. His arms trembled, his legs braced, his eyes sharpened. He knew his enemy.
The tenth fell.
From above, Ernol screamed, hands pointed at the boy—
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 40
—“PERISH!”
Below, Vynelor glared back, unflinching. He roared, “DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH US!”
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 21
Two beams—one blue, one gold—erupted from opposite sides and slammed together. Sparks and raw magic exploded outward. The air seemed to freeze, and the rocks around them dragged themselves toward the point of impact.
But in moments, the clashing beams began to descend toward Vynelor. Death was closing in.
When the tenth man fell, Donnor finally drew a deep, shaking breath. His arms trembled, muscles tight from the strain of too much magic. Then he saw another clash forming between Ernol and Vynelor. He snapped out of it and lunged to help, raising his hand just before the beam reached the child.
Incantation Magic ? Lv. 44
Red and gold against blue.
The moment they collided, the balance flipped. The beam shot upward and slammed straight into Ernol’s arm. He twisted away at the last second—
but not far enough.
Everything below his upper arm was caught. Flesh melted like butter, disintegrating under the magic. He screamed, first in disbelief, then as pain crashed over him.
He staggered back and collapsed onto his rear, clutching at the space where his arm had been. Tears streamed as he howled.
–231 HP
HP: 381 / 612
As the beam struggle ended, the air settled. Pebbles dropped back to the ground. Glass clattered and stilled. The plants stopped thrashing. Smoke and the stench of burned magic faded.
Donnor dropped to his knees, gasping. Vynelor, oddly, wasn’t even out of breath. His eyes swept the area, catching the men still surrounding them. None had moved. Some stared in stunned silence, others exchanged lost glances—
until a voice thundered down from above.
“Break formation!” Ernol screamed, dragging himself to the edge and leaning over. His voice boomed across the street. “Kill the child! Kill him! NOW!”
More than a dozen soldiers moved at once, raising their weapons and charging.
Vynelor stared at them. The fear was gone, almost unnaturally so. His thoughts churned with memories, with the fragile days of peace that would be erased if he didn’t fight. The memories of his father welcoming him back to camp, the days of eating and sleeping. Adrenaline flooded him. He stepped forward, growling, hands rising to summon more magic.
Donnor saw the shift. The reckless edge, the dangerous focus. And he shouted, “Kid!”
Vynelor didn’t hear him. Donnor released his TM and grabbed the boy by the back of his collar, yanking him close.
“To the top!”
Vertical Leap ? Lv. 37
He launched upward, clearing several stories in a single bound. Buildings shrank beneath them. With Vynelor still in his grip—now more shocked than furious—he landed on the far rooftop opposite Ernol and immediately bolted forward with QS, leaving the commander raging behind.
Moments later, the soldiers leapt onto the rooftops and gave chase.
Donnor ran, mind racing. As long as they followed Ernol, he couldn’t command them to stop. Even killing Ernol wouldn’t fix it—the kings would issue an absolute judgment that no one but him and—
suddenly, his system reacted.
The air beside him glitched, buzzing with static. A screen snapped into view, so abrupt it nearly made him stumble on the jagged rooftops. He recognized the color. The phrasing. The blood-soaked authority behind it. Only the kings could force open his personal system.
Once, when the triumvirate was formed, Luminar had agreed to a royal contract between the council and the kings. Ten years ago, it had been used to slaughter a generation of children.
Now it was here again.
“The ultimatum has been declared. Luminar Thallion, the Sovereign of the Five, and Donnor Thallion, the Commander of the Legions, shall henceforth become RrodKa’s enemy.”
Royalbind ? Lv. 7: Your masters demand an answer. What is yours?
Donnor stared, stunned. A decree. Issued on the spot. The kings could do that, anytime they wished.
If this had been invoked… then something had gone very wrong above the floating land.
He raised his head.
On the floating island, the three kings of Armiton still stood. Trotto’s head bled, his armor torn open across the chest. Tyllidan panted, a streak of blood running down his face, his left hand twisted and blackened from burns. Kallanor clutched his bleeding neck, letting a charred glove fall to the ground.
The land around them was in ruins. Armiton HQ had collapsed. No brick remained larger than a man’s head. Everything was shattered, leaving a vast, arena-like scar at the center where the kings now stood. On the far end of it, they stared at Luminar, battered and bleeding.
HP: 165 / 514
Her elegant dress was torn in dozens of places. Her hair was matted with red and gray. Bruises marked her skin. She breathed hard, her power draining with every passing moment on the Throne’s Elect.
The three kings gathered and invoked the Royalbind, linking it to every council member across RrodKa. Luminar received it as well, and her Temperament Slate flared to life.
Royalbind ? Lv. 5: Your masters demand an answer. What is yours?
“You cannot win, Luminar,” Tyllida said, wearing a crooked, triumphant grin. “We are no slaves. When the rich prosper, we get to do whatever we want. How foolish of them… or perhaps, how glorious for us.”
Every system stirred. As always, the choice would not be made by spoken will, but by the heart’s intent. The system, woven into the soul, read the depths of thought and cast the vote on the user’s behalf.
And within moments, the members decided.
RrodKa shook. Across every bloodline in the Land of Strength, men froze in terror as screens forced themselves into view, dragging ten-year-old trauma back to the surface.
● SYSTEM ALERT ●
Directive Confirmed
Authorized by: Council of the Ten | Royal Throne Triumvirate
Witnesses to Decree: 6 / 10
MISSION
Kill Luminar Thallion and Donnor Thallion
Priority: Absolute
PENALTIES FOR DELAY
Extended hesitation will incur system penalties.
Offense: –0.01% HP/s of inaction.
May their bloods be on your hands.
The decree was set. The hunt had begun.
Luminar stood silent, lips trembling, sweat forming along her brow. Her expression shifted, and the kings laughed.
“Where’s that smug face now?” Trotto mocked, walking closer, his hands glowing with magic. “The entire nation has stripped you of your glory. Sovereign of the Five? Gone. You’re back where you belong: an exile. And even then, you and Donnor will be purged from this world!”
As the kings advanced, Luminar took a step back.
Kallanor added, voice dripping with contempt, “Poor thing. You thought you could control the land of Strength on your own. But RrodKa has changed. You’re looking at the new era of power. You fulfilled your Augurbind on the First Overturn, and now you’ve grown arrogant, reckless with your visions. You haven’t even fulfilled your third—”
The air above Luminar suddenly cracked with static. Kallanor fell silent as her public screen flared into existence.
The kings’ smiles vanished.
Augurbind — 3 / 5 Conditions Fulfilled
Condition #3: “Fear and fury have stirred both lion and lamb to rise in greater resistance; from crown to sole the kings have uttered their decree, and the heir anointed is soon to stand revealed.”
The words pulsed. Luminar’s body glowed faintly gold for a heartbeat.
The kings stiffened.
In a flash of desperation, Trotto rushed to the edge of the floating land and looked down. He scanned the city below until he spotted Donnor sprinting across rooftops with a child in his arms. His eyes snapped back to the condition.
Connections formed.
Luminar saw it too. Her eyes widened in horror. “No! Donnor—”
“That child,” Trotto snarled, his rage no longer aimed at her but at the boy in Donnor’s grasp. “KILL THAT BOY!”
Luminar transformed into her insect form and darted for the edge, trying to flee. Kallanor intercepted, summoning the ground into a rising net of stone. She veered upward, barely avoiding it. Tyllidan joined, cutting off her descent.
Trapped in the air, Luminar screamed, “PROTECT MY GOD!”
Below, Donnor looked up.
The crown burned in the sky above him. And the ground itself was beginning to hunt him… and Vynelor.
