Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king - Chapter 590: Life across the sea(2)

A new emperor rules each year in Yohuachanca.Only the most delicious of food graces his palate; the realm’s most beautiful women fill his harem; his palace dazzles the mind in its beauty; and four priestesses counsel him in all matters. The life of an emperor is good, luxurious, and short. For at the year’s end, he is sacrificed to the Nightlords under the light of the Scarlet Moon.I am Iztac. A pisspoor orphan and the year’s emperor. A sacrifice bound for the altar. But the vampires have made a mistake this time. For I am a sorcerer, whose soul journeys into the secret underworld to plunder the secret spells of the dead. There, in the darkness, hides the power to drag the Nightlords off their throne. I have a year to find it, or perish for good.I may not be the first emperor, but I will be the last.

In the wake of the apocalypse, betrayal doesn't just stab you in the back—it bites. Zorvax learned this the hard way. Abandoned by those he trusted, he didn't just become another number in the legion of the undead. No, his fate was far more peculiar.“I thought death was the end... I was wrong,” Zorvax mutters, his voice a gravelly echo of his former self. He's a zombie, but with a twist—he's got his human mind intact. Trapped in a decaying body with an insatiable hunger, Zorvax finds himself in a gruesome predicament that's just the beginning of his ordeal.Enter the 'Zombolution System,' a mysterious power he awakens that's as cryptic as it is potent. “They wanted a monster? I'll show them the true meaning of terror,”Zorvax boasts, with a smirk only a sentient zombie could muster. This dark gift is his ticket to ascend beyond a mere walking corpse, promising to unlock abilities that could crown him the emperor of the undead.As Zorvax hones his newfound skills, the line between man and monster blurs. Will his human intellect triumph, or will the beast within claim the throne? “This world has no place for the weak,” he arrogantly declares, ready to challenge fate itself.

On a dark and windy night, he picked up a beautiful, charming, sexy and enchanting beauty, and his life was filled with ups and downs...

Unite the Clans? Create an Empire?Atrox Soryu thought he was destined for greatness… until he wasn’t.Born into the smaller Soryu Clan, Atrox was a prodigy, praised for his unparalleled swordsmanship and relentless ambition. He vowed to become Emperor of the Eternal Skies, a title that hadn't been claimed in centuries. But on the day he was to manifest his Order Mark—the source of every knight’s power—everything went wrong.Instead of the revered Holy, Elemental, or Mystic Orders, Atrox was branded with a Forbidden Order: Something twisted and wrong. A death sentence in the eyes of the world. Branded a monster and exiled by his own father, Atrox was cast into a brutal labor camp where the weak are crushed, and the strong are barely tolerated.But exile isn’t the end—it’s the beginning. In the harshest of conditions, Atrox awakens the full potential of his forbidden powers, powers that could rival even the strongest Knights. He will forge alliances with the forgotten, turn his enemies into allies, and rise from the shadows to build an empire from nothing.Betrayed, exiled, and broken? No. Atrox Soryu is building an empire—and the Eternal Skies will bow to him.