Journey to Become the Zenith

The Seed of the Universal Emperor [Part 2]

His body trembled violently.

Years of buried rage were finally breaking through.

”Their allies must all die!”

Fean’s voice cracked, but he didn’t stop.

”They took everything from me! They took my son and killed my wife for trying to take him back!”

His breathing grew heavier.

Unsteady.

Every breath seemed to scrape against his throat.

”The Blackthorn Kingdom would have been better rulers than this!”

Victor frowned.

Fean’s words were becoming increasingly incoherent. His emotions were clearly overwhelming his ability to think.

Yet there was something genuine in his pain.

This wasn’t the kind of rage that could be easily fabricated.

Fean looked like a man who had carried hatred for so long that he no longer knew how to live without it. He had fed that hatred year after year until it became the only thing keeping him standing.

”That fool tried to give information about the spies from the Blackthorn Kingdom who have infiltrated the Kingdom.”

Fean’s lips curled into a twisted expression.

”It was a good thing he died...”

Victor’s eyes grew colder.

Spies from the Blackthorn Kingdom were inside Skyfall Kingdom.

That alone was serious.

Very serious.

But before Victor could question him, Fean continued.

”Why must we, the Elmhart, follow the rule of a king who treats us like slaves?!”

His final words came out almost as a scream.

Then silence fell.

The room became completely still.

Victor stared at him.

Fean’s chest rose and fell heavily.

His eyes were bloodshot. His face was marked by the punishment he had endured. There were traces of pain everywhere, yet something else remained in his gaze.

Determination.

An unsettling kind of determination.

Victor was about to respond.

Fean’s reasoning was filled with contradictions.

He hated the royal family.

He believed the Blackthorn Kingdom would have been better rulers.

He had lost his wife and son.

He claimed his son had possessed information about spies.

Yet somehow, none of it explained the strange sensation Victor had felt earlier.

Something was wrong.

Something still didn’t add up.

Victor opened his mouth.

But then—

He stopped.

A strange sensation suddenly spread through the room.

The air changed.

At first, it was so subtle that it was almost impossible to notice.

Then the temperature seemed to drop.

A faint chill brushed across Victor’s skin.

His golden eyes narrowed.

Diana’s expression changed immediately.

Evelyne also sensed it.

Whatever had just happened, it wasn’t normal.

Even Fean became strangely still.

The rage disappeared from his face for a brief moment.

Victor slowly turned his gaze toward him.

”What...”

Before he could finish, the aura surrounding Fean began to change.

It wasn’t mana.

Victor could tell immediately.

This was something else.

Something darker.

Something that didn’t belong.

The atmosphere seemed to grow heavier, and an indescribable pressure slowly spread through the room.

Diana’s red eyes narrowed.

She recognized that sensation.

She had felt something similar before.

Something she never wanted to feel again.

Fean suddenly raised his head.

His eyes seemed to lose their focus.

Then, in a strange voice, he spoke toward something that wasn’t visible to anyone else.

”Alright, I will give you my body, I only wish for the destruction of the Kingdom of Skyfall!”

Victor’s expression hardened.

Fean wasn’t speaking to him.

He wasn’t speaking to Evelyne.

He wasn’t even speaking to Diana.

He was speaking to an invisible being.

A presence that Victor couldn’t see.

For several heartbeats, nobody moved.

The wind outside seemed to die completely.

Even the faint sounds of the surroundings disappeared.

Victor’s senses stretched outward.

Nothing.

There was no visible person.

No physical body.

No ordinary mana signature.

Yet something was undeniably there.

Something had entered the room.

Something was connected to Fean.

Diana watched the changes happening to Fean’s aura.

Her usually calm expression gradually became solemn.

A chill ran through her.

She knew this feeling.

She had encountered this aura once before.

It was faint now.

Much weaker than what she remembered.

But its nature was unmistakable.

Her memories dragged her back to that distant, terrible day.

The final battle.

The day when she, Azrial, and all the others had fought against an existence whose presence alone had made the world tremble.

The battlefield.

The destruction.

The overwhelming power.

And that horrifying presence.

Diana’s fingers tightened slightly.

Her eyes remained fixed on Fean.

”This...”

She didn’t finish the thought.

There was no need.

She already knew.

The aura surrounding Fean was not merely the manifestation of his hatred.

Something else was awakening through him.

Victor also felt the change.

His instincts screamed that something was deeply wrong.

The strange sensation from before had returned.

Only now, it had become clearer.

His soul was reacting to whatever was hidden inside Fean.

For a moment, Victor felt as though something ancient had brushed against the deepest part of his existence.

Diana’s memories confirmed what her instincts were telling her.

This was not an ordinary possession.

This was something connected to the existence they had once fought.

She remembered that final battle.

She remembered the terrifying presence that had descended upon the battlefield.

And although the aura coming from Fean was considerably weaker than it had been back then, Diana was certain.

Her eyes became cold.

This presence...

She had felt it before.

Silence settled over the room once again.

Diana who was watching the changes happening to Fean’s aura felt an ominous presence.

This aura was something she felt before, she remembered the final battle she, Azrial, and all the others had on that fateful day.

Even though the presence she was feeling was weaker than that time, she was sure that this person was being possessed by the seed of the Universal Emperor.

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Authors Notes: Dear Readers, Thanks so much for joining me on this adventure! Your enthusiasm, feedback, and encouragement really keep me motivated to keep bringing *Journey to Become the Zenith* into existence. If you’re loving the Chapters, I’d love it if you supported my book with a Powerstone, review, or even a Golden Ticket—it helps me develop as a writer and lets more readers enjoy the story. I look forward to hearing your ideas and thoughts, so please don’t hesitate to share!

With love,

Scorpio_saturn777

Creator of Journey to Become the Zenith

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