Richard hopped off his horse as he stared at the glowing eye that marked what appeared to be the entrance to the Death Emperor's throne room.
The Scouts became starstruck by the entrance of the Heroes. They quickly shifted from sitting to kneeling before the Heroes with bowed heads. Izick remained seated and didn't budge.
Richard looked around before locking onto Izick, who still sat on the marbled floor instead of kneeling.
"There's no need for you to kneel to us. We're servants of Arekia, not its rulers," Richard said while walking up to the massive black door,
" Thank you for finding this place, but it seems to me that you're sitting a bit too comfortably. None of the Death Emperor's forces have tried to attack you here?"
"No, enemies have spotted us multiple times but ran away in fear, and I don't think it's because they're afraid of us. Something is definitely behind this door. Ironically, the safest place in this castle might be the most dangerous if this leads to the throne room," Izick said as he pointed at the door with his thumb.
Raul stroked his chin with his gloved hands.
"That is strange. The Cerubi, Dark Soldiers, and even the castle itself all listen to the Death Emperor's commands without fail. They wouldn't ignore you unless they had been given some sort of order to leave you alone. Why would he tell them to ignore intruders?"
"It's almost like he wants us to be here. We couldn't even get this far last time because the Death Emperor stepped out of his castle to wipe us out," Helen said as she stared at the green eye that blankly stared into space.
The rest of the Heroes dismounted their horses and walked past Izick and the scouts. Alister ignored Izick as he raised his hand towards the glowing eye and mumbled a few words under his breath.
A red map of circles and dots projected out of Alister's hand. The dots snapped into a straight line, pointing at the door.
"Well, it's obviously warded, but maybe we can–"
The glowing green suddenly turned to look at Alister, who quickly jumped back.
"Welcome, Summoned Heroes of Arekia. I see that one of you is missing, but four out of five should do nicely," a monotone disembodied voice said with a voice that was somehow deep but high-pitched at the same time.
The green eye faded away before the great door slid to the right, filling the chamber with the sound of ancient stones grating against each other. Each Hero jumped back and readied their weapons.
Another chamber revealed itself on the other side of the door.
The chamber was slightly smaller than the one they currently stood in, but it was lined with gold and blue metal with a sizable white circle in the center of the floor.
"Welcome? Now he's just trying to get in our heads. Alister, is this new chamber warded?" Richard said, nodding to the open chamber.
Alister used his ward detection Skill on the revealed room and found the dots on his map randomly scattered.
"This room is unwarded, but it could still be some type of trap," Alister said as he dismissed his map and raised his hands. Helen walked up to Alister's side and held out her hand to use her own ward detection skill, and came to the same conclusion.
"This room is, as Alister said, unwarded, but what are we going to do now? I actually believe that this might be a teleportation room to the throne room, since some of these sigils are similar to the ones I use for my Teleportation Skills," Helen said before pointing to the chamber with her spear.
"However, I'd feel stupid if all of us stepped onto this circle and got vaporized by a trap," Helen said as she twirled a lock of her hair around her finger while inspecting the sigils in the chamber.
"Oh, the solution is simple, but first, you lot of Scouts are dismissed. Go find my subordinate Klint, and help him organize a party to assist the Bow Hero and protect the main entrance so no one sneaks up on us," Alister said as he waved Bersi and the other scouts away.
Izick got up to leave with the rest of the Scouts.
"Izick, you're not going anywhere. You have a job to do. Check the chamber out for us," Alister said as he motioned for Izick to come forward.
Richard stepped forward and raised a hand to Izick for him to stop.
"Hold on, Alister. We can't just sacrifice lives needlessly. Helen is right, this could be a trap to kill us. We need to find a way to test this without someone recklessly risking their life," Richard said to Alister, who scoffed in response.
"It's his job to scout and test things out, Richard. Stop it with the self-righteous schtick. Besides, you're more than fine with sacrificing the lives of the allied forces fighting outside of this very castle," Alister said with a condescending smirk.
"I'm not fine with it! I would use any other method, but raising an army was the only viable choice in this situation. You know this already," Richard said as he pointed a finger at Alister.
Izick sighed as he silently walked past the two arguing Heroes and stepped into the gold and blue chamber. He stood in the center of the glowing white circle for a few seconds before turning back to the Heroes.
"I'm near certain that this is a teleportation room since I've seen rooms like this before. But nothing is happening. I think there's some sort of trigger for it to work," Izick said, raising his arms to the side to show that he was fine.
"See? Nobody's dead," Alister said as he pointed to Izick, who stood in the chamber with his hand.
Raul stepped into the chamber and joined Izick in the white circle.
"Hesitating about this won't bring us closer to the Death Emperor. Warren is risking his life out there to buy us time with Velcci. Let's get this over with," Raul said as he crossed his arms and waited for the others to join him. Helen stepped inside next with her hand on her hip.
"You're right, Raul. We can't put this off anymore with so many lives at stake. I'll try to teleport us back out if possible in case things go south."
Alister slung the Honor Rod over his shoulder and stepped in, but Richard remained on the outside.
"Before we begin, let's review what our plan of action will be when fighting–"
"Just get in already!" Alister said with annoyance as he yanked Richard into the chamber. The glowing circle in the center beamed with incredible light, filling the entire chamber with white light as soon as Richard's body entered the chamber.
Izick felt his body begin to stretch and pull apart like rubber as blinding white light rushed past his eyes. The stretching sensation suddenly ended, causing him to stumble to keep his balance.
Teleportation. It was just as bad as he remembered from previous experience.
He blinked his eyes to adjust to his new surroundings. He found himself in a spacious but dark room, illuminated only by the many torches emitting a warm orange light.
The Heroes stood around him, blinking and shaking their heads while trying to shake off the effects of teleportation. Only Helen seemed unaffected because of her high proficiency in Dimension Mysteria.
Pure fear was plastered across her face as she ground her teeth. Izick followed her eyes and froze in fear as the reality of the situation fully dawned on him.
Richard shoved Alister back as he wobbled unsteadily, still suffering from the effects of teleportation.
"You idiot! What were you thinking? You didn't give me enough time to prepare for the teleport! You even got your Scout caught up in all of this!" Richard said, pointing to Izick.
Helen placed a hand on Richard and Alister's shoulders while looking straight ahead.
"This is the last place we need to have an argument," Helen said as Richard and Alister looked in front of them.
A long red strip of carpet stretched out across the marble floor until it stopped at a platform made out of large black dragon wings.
The dragon wings supported a large black throne, where the Death Emperor himself sat with his head in his palm.
His rugged, spiked black armor melded into the darkness, but a faint red glow around his body made him stand out eerily.
The heavy knight helmet on his head only cast darkness, with no outline of a face, except for the two red eyes piercing the shadows.
Primal fear filled Izick like he had never felt before. His body went cold as the purest form of apathy and death sat in front of him.
"Excellent, the main players are here, though the Bow Hero's presence would make this spectacle even grander. However," The Death Emperor said with his deep and crackling voice as he snapped his head to Izick, who shivered and stepped back.
"There seems to be an unwanted guest here."
A fireball shot out of the Death Emperor's face before turning into a screaming skull as it sped off towards Izick.
Richard jumped in front of Izick and then let out a flurry of white flaming energy slashes at the skull fireball, causing an explosion that pushed Izick and the Heroes back.
Izick tumbled back but quickly rolled back to his feet and took off running as fast as he could. Sweat rolled down his face. He was outside of his element here, and getting caught in the crossfire meant certain death.
Richard crouched as he slid backwards and turned to Alister.
"Alister! Hit him!"
"I know!"
Alister shot a stream of yellow light at the sitting Death Emperor.
The yellow light formed into a dragon that breathed a scorching stream of fire, lighting up the room. The dragon of light extinguished its flame and closed its wings before slamming into the throne where the Death Emperor sat.
The room glowed even brighter as a ball of light engulfed the throne.
The Death Emperor flew out of the ball of light towards Alister, who let off a chain of red force Mana bullets that were smacked away by the Death Emperor's right hand.
"Aegis!"
Raul shouted as he stepped in front of Alister and brought his forearms together. A circular yellow shield of Mana formed in front of Raul's forearms.
The Death Emperor smashed through the Aegis and crushed his armored fist into Raul's arms.
Raul gagged as his arms slammed into his own chest, and he was knocked into Alister behind him, sending both of them flying into the wall on the other side of the room.
Helen stretched out her spearhead like a whip to score a perfect square into the marbled floor before scooping the massive chunk of flooring into the air and smacking it towards the Death Emperor.
The Death Emperor summoned a black teardrop-shaped diamond before turning it into a large black hammer to smash the large projectile of marble flooring into rubble.
Richard ran up to the Death Emperor using the rubble from Helen's attack as cover.
A beam of white light engulfed his rapier as he found himself directly in front of the Death Emperor.
"Sword Parade!" Richard shouted as he let out a lightning-fast barrage of thrusts that swarmed the Death Emperor. White light assaulted the Death Emperor's body from his head down to his chest.
The Death Emperor pulled the giant hammer back while reforming it into a shield to block Richard's onslaught, and then shoved the shield forward to knock Richard back.
Helen rushed forward, extending her spear. The spearhead stretched out like a whip once more as it traveled towards the Death Emperor, who pushed out his shield to block it.
Helen's spearhead sharply darted around the Death Emperor's shield and struck the side of his helmet, sending it off his head.
He lowered his shield, turning it back into a diamond that floated near his right shoulder. He grabbed the side of his head where Helen struck him.
Long, wavy black hair flowed down to his shoulders. His pale, white face and glowing red eyes made the scar across his face stand out in the blackness surrounding him.
He stared back at Helen before giving her a smile with his black teeth as black blood trickled down his face.
"First, the Sword Hero gives me this scar, and now the Spear Hero makes me bleed."
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
"And the Staff Hero blows your head off!"
Alister said as he ran towards the Death Emperor while shooting three flaming swords of Mana from his Honor Rod.
The three flaming swords sliced through the Death Emperor's shoulders and the side of his neck, causing him to roar with pain.
The black diamond began to shake as three tendril-like spikes shot out of it. One impaled Helen in the stomach while Richard and Alister deflected the other two with their weapons.
Helen gagged as she coughed up blood and sliced the black tendril in half with her spear to free herself.
Alister jumped back and pointed the Honor rod directly at the stumbling Helen as Richard blocked more of these tendrils with his sword.
He pulled the trigger, shooting out a ball of green Mana that smashed into Helen's stomach, instantly closing the wound.
"I'm not wasting any more Mana on you again. Get your head in the game," Alister said as he bombarded the Death Emperor with shots that were promptly blocked by black tendrils.
"I messed up. I just wasn't expecting that attack, that's all," Helen said as she straightened out her back and raised her spear above her head.
The spearhead began to spin like a drill, causing streams of wind to stir up around her. She leaped into the air as streams of wind curled around her body, as she snaked through the air and rammed into the side of the Death Emperor.
He coughed up blood as Helen's snaking tornado crushed him into the wall. A shadowy fist formed from the black diamond near the Death Emperor as he tried to free himself from Helen's attack, but Raul jumped above Helen and punched the fist away.
Richard lunged at the pinned-down Death Emperor's head from the side.
The Death Emperor opened his mouth and shot out a fireball shaped like a skull.
Richard sliced the fireball with an energy slash, but it split into three skulls, with one slamming into Richard's right shoulder, while the other two dug into his left leg and chest, blasting him away with an explosion.
Alister shot two more blue swords of Mana at the pinned Death Emperor, who promptly shot them down with two skull fireballs.
Raul covered his fist in purple energy as he unleashed a punch towards the Death Emperor's face.
A V-shaped strip of black energy from the black diamond redirected Raul's punch into the wall beside the Death Emperor, causing a huge crater to form.
Raul roared as high voltage coursed through his body from the V-shaped shadow that caught his arm. His voice quickly faded as his entire body went limp.
He grabbed Raul's arm and then slammed him on top of Helen, knocking them both down and freeing him from Helen's Skill.
Broken shards of his breastplate fell off his body from Helen's attack on his pale and heavily scarred body.
Alister clicked his tongue as he let off rounds of yellow light at the Death Emperor, who charged at him and dodged each shot.
The black diamond formed a large sword when the Death Emperor got close to Alister.
Alister dodged the first few slashes before blocking the last slash with the Honor Rod's body.
Alister gritted his teeth as the Death Emperor pushed his black sword down on the Honor Rod, pushing Alister towards the ground. The Death Emperor's crazed eyes looked down at the struggling Alister below him.
"I was right. You're different from the other Heroes. Your reasons for fighting me go beyond simple duty or love. Are you perhaps reaching for an idea?"
"How about you mind your business and just die?" Alister said as he made a gun sign with his free hand and shot a small ball of light into the Death Emperor's face.
The Death Emperor stumbled back as Alister flipped the Honor Rod into shooting position and fired a giant blast of light into the Death Emperor's unarmored chest.
"Die! Die! Die!" Alister shouted as he recklessly let off shots, knocking chunks of armor off the Death Emperor with each repeated blast.
The Death Emperor turned the black diamond into a whip that wrapped around the Honor Rod and Alister's head before catching, sparking with electricity, and heaving Alister into the air as he growled in pain.
He started swinging Alister in a circular motion for several rotations before slamming him into the marbled floor in front of the other Heroes, sending rubble up like splashing water.
Richard stumbled to the other Heroes while dragging his left leg.
Richard knelt beside Helen, who pushed the unconscious Raul off of her as she came to.
Richard gripped his right shoulder as he stared at the Death Emperor, who shook his head, trying to reorient himself after Alister's barrage.
"I could really use War's Support Mysteria right now."
"Agreed, being healed by Alister was a blow to my pride. Though he seems to be in rough shape himself…"
"We're all in bad shape. My leg is broken, and my shoulder on my dominant hand is shattered. I have no choice but to use the Honor Charge," Richard said with a weary smile.
Helen looked at him, startled.
"That Skill will put incredible strain on your body and cut your lifespan in half."
"I won't have a life, period, if I don't do something about this maniac."
The black diamond formed two dragon wings on the Death Emperor's back. He rose into the air as two orbs of spinning Mana, like black holes, formed around both of his hands.
"I'm disappointed if this is the extent of Arekia's Heroes. I guess that Bow Hero was more important to you than I first realized," The Death Emperor said as he pulled back the black holes, preparing to throw.
Raul grunted as he woke up. He tried to push himself up but struggled to move from the tremors in his body after being shocked.
The Death Emperor twitched as three orange cubes hit his back and exploded behind him. He took no damage but turned around to see what hit him.
A hooded figure fell fast towards him from the darkness above.
One of Death Emperor's wings shot off and decapitated the figure before reforming itself into spikes to impale the body, stopping its descent towards him.
He frowned as he inspected the figure and realized it was just a simple scout's uniform.
He sighed as he threw the Scout uniform away and turned his attention back to the Heroes, with Raul finally standing and Alister waking up, getting time to recover from the distraction.
The Death Emperor resumed his attack by crushing the black holes together and shooting a black beam with a white outline at the Heroes.
Raul lifted both shaking arms above him.
"Stronghold!"
A large white shield with fluttering wings like birds materialized in front of the Heroes. The black beam slammed into Raul's shield with a bang, sending a shockwave through it that pushed the Heroes back.
"Raul!" Richard said as Raul strained to hold up the shield.
"I-I'm fine, but I can only hold this up for so long. We need a plan of attack!" Raul said as he took a step forward to push back the black beam. Helen placed a hand on Richard's injured shoulder, causing him to wince.
"I'll support you the best that I can if you're willing to make this sacrifice. I'll make sure you'll get that opening for one last strike."
Richard nodded to Helen and then turned to Alister, who rose to his feet while shaking his head.
"Well, old friend. Can I count on you giving me cover? I'd appreciate it if you don't shoot me by accident," Richard said with a smirk. Alister snorted as he raised the Honor Rod up to shooting position.
"I hope you understand that I've never considered you a friend. But I'll cover you since this is the last of my Mana, and I can't move. Besides, if I shoot you, it wouldn't be by 'accident' when it comes to you," Alister said with a bright smile.
"That's reassuring," Richard said as he held out his left hand.
"System Skill: [Hero Charge]!"
A series of white circles and dots formed on the ground beneath Richard. White sparks jumped out of the circle and then shocked Richard, making him release a scream of pain.
The white electricity healed Richard's shoulder and leg, leaving a white aura that flowed from his body.
The Death Emperor cancelled his beam attack when he noticed the spike of Mana coming from Richard, who stared straight at him with glowing white eyes.
Raul fell to his knees in exhaustion as he lowered his Mana shield. Richard tapped Raul on the back as he walked by with the Honor Blade ready in his left hand. His eyes stayed locked onto his enemy ahead.
"Yes, those are the eyes of someone willing to throw away everything for victory. You have pushed the chips to the center of the table, so I'll do the same," The Death Emperor said as he lowered himself back down and turned his two wings into portals that let out hordes of dark soldiers with their flaming heads and rusted armor.
"Let us make our last moment glorious!"
The Dark Soldiers charged forward at the Heroes with monstrous screams. Helen took off at full speed with Richard behind her as Alister let off rounds at the incoming horde.
Helen extended her spearhead like a snake, chopping down each dark soldier in front of her to clear a path as Richard's hands began to shine with gold energy that also engulfed the rapier in his left hand with the same energy.
The Death Emperor shot another skull fireball from his mouth, but Helen hurled her spear through the fireball, destroying it and slicing through the left side of the Death Emperor's chest.
Richard ran past Helen as Alister shot five missiles of light alongside him. The missiles struck true with explosions of light blasting the Death Emperor as he stumbled backwards from the impact.
Richard emerged from the smoke and slashed the Death Emperor's neck with the Honor Blade in his left hand to decapitate him, but a tendril from the black diamond blocked the gleaming sword.
The Death Emperor stared at Richard's sword in shock before coughing up black blood. He looked down and saw Richard's right hand driven into his heart.
"I'm a right-handed swordsman. My sword is always in my right hand, but for you, I don't even need a sword to cut you down."
A blade of golden light pierced through the Death Emperor's back before Richard pulled out his hand.
The Death Emperor fell to his knees, causing the Dark Soldiers to fade away into ash as their armor clanked into the floor.
"A-amazing. You are truly a Hero amongst Heroes," The Death Emperor said as he stared into the ground. "So that makes you unworthy."
"What?" Richard said, looking down at the Death Emperor with confusion.
Helen helped Raul to Richard's side as Alister limped over to the Death Emperor.
"Hero amongst Heroes? Don't make me laugh," Alister said as he scoffed and lifted the Honor Rod to kill the Death Emperor, but Helen raised a hand for Alister to stop.
"Wait, he isn't a threat since his Mana Base is destroyed. Now, before you die, you might as well tell us why you let us into your throne room. You welcomed us inside, and I doubt it was purely for theatrics. What were you trying to accomplish here? Why did you do all of this?" Helen said as she narrowed her eyes at the Death Emperor.
He chuckled to himself as he rapidly shook his head.
"All my life, my only dream was the destruction of Arekia. Many Heroes have fallen by my hands, but many Heroes have foiled my plans for this country's destruction. But I have come to realize that there's someone much more suited for the task of Arekia's destruction. My death here will act as proof. The cycle continues."
The Death Emperor fell forward and then broke into pieces before turning into ashes and blowing away.
They all stood completely still as the moment began to dawn on them.
"We won, it's over…" Richard said as he lowered his sword.
Izick climbed down the walls of the throne room using his two climbing knives, drawing attention to himself. Richard smiled as he waved to Izick with his sword in hand.
"Hey! That distraction you did earlier literally saved our lives. You have my thanks," Richard said, with the other Heroes, except Alister, nodding in agreement.
Izick, now without his hood and mask, shook his head as he walked up and put his knife away.
"I just climbed to the top of this room to hide and threw that distraction in desperation. I'm only a Scout, so I have no business being in a fight with actual Heroes."
Richard collapsed to the floor, then rolled onto his back. He sighed deeply in relief.
"It's over, it's really all over! Now I can go home…"
A translucent red screen appeared in front of Richard's face.
Richard sat up in horror as the red screen followed him.
[ MISSION CLEAR! ]
[ Congratulations! Heroes of Arekia for defeating the [Death Emperor] and bringing peace to Arekia and the greater world of Estra! ]
[ You have now gained access to the [Emperor System] and can now obtain the title [Death Emperor] by accepting the [Emperor System] with [YES] or by rejecting the [Emperor System] and returning home with [NO] instead ]
[ NOTE: Only one Hero may gain the [Emperor System] and the title of [Death Emperor]. Also, a new quest will be generated if the [Emperor System] is accepted, barring every other Hero who rejected the [Emperor System] from returning home ]
Richard rushed to his feet as he looked at the other confused Heroes who had the same exact message in front of them.
"Alright, everyone, let's not panic here. This is obviously some kind of trap set by the Death Emperor to kill us. Helen, Alister, can you inspect these messages?" Richard said as he raised his hand to calm everyone down.
Helen hurriedly waved her hands in front of her to create a red map with circles and dots. She ran multiple tests by restructuring the dots on the map before turning to Richard in horror.
"My Inspection Skills are doing nothing on this thing. It appears to be a legitimate System menu, just like our System interfaces within the Blessing. I can't get rid of it," She said as she stared at the red menu in front of her.
"Were our Systems hacked?" Raul said
"I don't know. This could be a base feature of our Systems…"
Raul attempted to punch the floating red menu, but his fist passed through it like a phantom.
Izick stepped forward and looked at the Heroes incredulously, who only stared into space with nothing in front of them.
"Heroes, is everything OK?"
The red message suddenly scrolled down, revealing more information.
[ Pros and cons of the [Emperor System]! Many new functions, System Skills, and abilities have been added in this update after the death of the previous [Death Emperor]! ]
[ PROS:
- +50 Blocks to all base stats
- Access to the unique weapon [Dark Solitaire]
- Access to the [Dark Battalion]
- Increased Inventory storage
- Increased lifespan
- Self-propelled flight (New!)
- Creation of Sub Systems (New!)
- Extreme Regeneration (New!)
- And much more!
CONS:
- Must abandon the [Hero System] and [Hero Weapon] to a known living individual
- Must adhere to a 90-day moratorium for physical contact
- Cannot directly kill the owner of the linked [Hero System] through the System ]
Richard slowly shook his head as he looked at each of the other Heroes.
"I believe our decision is clear. We don't need some dodgy [Emperor System] when we have completed the mission we were summoned for, which was to defeat the Death Emperor. If we're forced to make a decision, then let's hit [NO] and return to our families."
Helen and Raul nodded to Richard as the three of them tapped [NO] on the red system message, causing the red message to glitch green and blue before disappearing.
Alister's red menu still remained.
They all stared at Alister with anxiety as they gripped their weapons.
"Alister, I'm not sure what you're waiting for. We have already come to a decision. We can go home now," Richard said in a shaky voice, with sweat rolling down his smiling face.
Alister nodded his head as he flicked through the red message in front of him. He stared at the [YES/NO?] question box before tapping [YES].
"Yeah, I'll accept the [Emperor System] and its conditions," Alister said as a red circle appeared on the ground beneath him, illuminating his face with red light.
"I actually feel a bit bad about this, but I can't pass this opportunity up."
Richard's shoulders slumped as he witnessed the horror unfolding in front of him.
"Why? Why would you do something like this? We were so close to seeing our families. I was so close to seeing my family."
"Why?"
Alister paused for a moment as he thought about it for a second before giving a wry smile.
"Freedom, I guess."
Richard gripped his sword and lunged forward as he screamed at Alister in anger.
The red circle surrounding Alister created a translucent shield that sparked and sent Richard flying backwards. Helen and Raul caught Richard as a blue System message popped up in front of them.
[The [Death Emperor] has reawakened]
[NEW QUEST: Defeat the [Emperor System] and bring peace to Arekia and the greater world of Estra]
[REWARD: Return to earth]
Izick joined the group of Heroes as he stared at the glowing red Alister in horror.
"I don't understand, what's happening? Why did you attack Alister?" Izick said as he looked to the Sword Hero for answers. Richard looked down as he shook his head.
"Alister Black, the Staff Hero, has become the new Death Emperor and betrayed Arekia!"