Chapter 542: Like Moths To A Flame
The Kingdom of Seneros had been enduring ever since the Fractured Heaven was separated from the Absolute Heaven.
For hundreds of years, they had endured and even prospered to become the most powerful race in the land.
Many wise, powerful kings had paved the way for this to happen. Unfortunately, even the wisest of these kings couldn't fight time and had died of old age.
The current King was a very ambitious leader.
After becoming a Monarch, he decided to unite the entirety of the Fractured Heaven under his rule.
From the valleys of the Goblins, the Undercities of the Ratmen, and the Wetlands of the Lizardmen, he wanted to rule them all.
But that wasn't his end goal.
His end goal was to force all the races to come under his banner so that he could have a force capable of overcoming the monsters that lived on the other side of the wall.
By doing so, the Fractured Heaven would reunite with the Absolute Heavens, ending their isolation from the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, he decided to use foul, notorious means to get what he wanted.
He didn't really care whether the other races would perish or not. In his point of view, they were just tools he could use to reach his goal.
However, despite the opposition of the Council of Elders, he truly had the means to make his dreams happen.
And the reason why he was able to do it?
It was because he had discovered the Ancient and lost technology of the True Absolutes.
Thousands of years ago, there was a race that lived in the continent where they resided from, and these people were called the True Absolutes.
It was for this reason that the lands they lived in were called the Absolute Heaven.
This race of people was not only superhuman in strength but also held knowledge and technology that was more advanced than their peers.
They mingled with the local humans and gave birth to superhuman children who inherited not only their characteristics but also those of the humans.
Unfortunately, when the first Jinns arrived in Solterra, their Gate opened inside the Absolute Heaven, which resulted in the near-extinction of this race.
In a final attempt to preserve their legacy, the Absolutes created the Absolute Wall, separating Fractured Heaven from the rest of the world.
Nothing could get inside of it, and nothing could get out of it.
Only the Wanderers, who could travel anywhere in Solterra, could descend upon these lands from the outside.
The children of the Absolutes and humans looked exactly like humans, but they were a far superior race.
The only downside was that they couldn't reproduce as fast as humans, and at most, their women could only give birth to a child or two in their lifetime.
A hybrid Absolute could live up to two hundred years even if they didn't increase their Rank.
But to those who could increase their realm, they could live up to hundreds of years, even up to a thousand without any problems.
And now, the current King of the Absolutes, King Xanmara, who was the most ambitious among the hybrids, decided that now was the time to rise up and destroy the status quo.
Unfortunately, his plans to subjugate the Ratmen with the help of the Goblins failed.
This, in turn, stopped the war between the Ratmen and the Lizardmen, which had reached a turning point.
But that didn't deter him from continuing his plans.
"How long before the summoning is completed?" King Xanmara asked his advisor.
"Less than a month, Your Majesty," the advisor replied.
"I want a specific date, not an estimate."
"I-It is hard to give a precise estimate, Your Majesty."
"Do you want to die?" King Xanmara asked icily. "I said, I want a specific date."
"Umm… twenty to twenty three days from now, Your Majesty," the Advisor stated as his body trembled due to fear. "I swear that it will be around that time. No more, no less!"
King Xanmara snorted. "Very well. I will wait for that time. But if your prediction is wrong, I'll have your head."
"T-Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!" the Advisor bowed his head repeatedly. "But there is something else that I need to report."
"What is it?" King Xanmara asked.
"We have spotted a large group of Lowborns descending from the mountain," the Advisor answered. "I believe that they are the prophesied force that will prevent us from completing our task."
King Xanmara frowned. "Did you get a closer look at them?"
The Advisor nodded. "Using the grand telescope, we were able to see them properly."
"What do they look like?"
"It will be best to let you see them for yourself, Your Majesty."
The Advisor then took out a metallic cube from his pocket, which spread out and expanded until it was five meters long.
The images of Thirteen leading the Wanderers as they descended the mountain appeared on its surface, similar to that of a television.
"They look… young," King Xanmara commented.
"They do, Your Majesty," the Advisor said. "We are supposed to wipe them out using an Ant Outbreak, but for some reason, they managed to survive the month-long onslaught we have prepared for them.
"Unfortunately, we had started the summoning ritual a few days later, so I didn't get to monitor their current situation. As you can see, they might have dealt with the Ant Queen and have now come within a few miles of our Kingdom. What do you propose we do to them?"
King Xanmara lightly tapped the armrest of his throne as he gazed at the human teenagers, which they referred to as Lowborns because they were far inferior to their race.
Despite the fact that he was half-human, all the Hybrids of the Absolute believed that they were meant to become the masters of men and put them under their leash.
"There's nothing we can do about them," King Xanmara answered. "You already know that we cannot leave the Kingdom at this point in time even if we want to. The trade-off is that they cannot enter our Kingdom no matter what they do.
"Only when we complete our Summoning Ceremony will the barrier of the city disappear. We can deal with them at that time."
The Advisor nodded because this was indeed the case.
"They are quite fortunate." the Advisor smiled. "They can live for a few more weeks."
"Indeed." King Xanmara replied. "Make sure to kill all the men and capture all the women. Lowborn as they are, we still need them to increase the numbers of the Absolute."
"Yes, Your Majesty. I will return to my duties now."
"Go, and make sure that the summoning ritual doesn't encounter any mishaps, or your head will roll off from your body."
A few minutes later, when he was finally alone in his throne room, King Xanmara glanced at the ceiling where the symbol of the Absolutes was painted.
"Just a little more, and we can finally reclaim what we have lost," King Xanmara muttered. "As long as we succeed, we don't need to worry about those Majin Princes and Princesses who dared to take our lands for granted."
The King once again shifted his gaze to the projection that was in front of him and sneered at the teenagers who were approaching his kingdom.
"Like moths to a flame," King Xanmara smirked. "All of you will be the sacrifices for the new era under my rule."
He believed that the moment the wall fell, he and his race would take over the world and make all the other races kneel in front of the Absolute's superiority.
This was why their Summoning Ceremony shouldn't fail. As long as they succeeded, a creature more powerful than the Majin Princes and Princesses would descend into the world, and it would be loyal only to King Xanmara, who held the throne as one of the Absolutes.