I Killed the Hero and Took His Achievements-Chapter 17: Foreclosure Season

[Location: The Imperial Throne Room - Winterhold]

Stillness. The kind of stillness that usually precedes an execution.

Empress Freya stared at the Black Gold Card in my hand. Her diamond sword lowered slightly. "You..." she seethed. "You are bluffing. You cannot ’buy’ an Empire."

"Watch me," I said. I tapped the card.

[Transaction: Purchase Imperial Debt Bonds.]

[Amount: 500 Million Gold.]

[Status: Processing...]

The magical department protecting the castle, it was runes that carved into the stone which drew power from the National Treasury from flickered then died. The heat turned off. The lights went out.

"My departments!" Freya gasped. "How?!"

"I just bought the power company," I explained. "And I cut the line."

I took a step up the stairs. "Now. Get off the throne."

Freya’s eyes glowed with humiliation. "Guards! Kill him! Kill the traitor!"

"We... we can’t, Your Majesty."

"COWARDS!"

Freya shrieked. She raised her sword. "If you won’t do it, I will!" She didn’t aim at me. She aimed at Sylvia, her very own daughter. "You ungrateful rascal!" Freya screamed, launching a wave of ice spikes. "You lead this curse to my door!"

I grabbed Sylvia by the waist and [Shadow Stepped] to the side. The ice spikes spiked the spot where she was standing.

We arrived ten feet away.

Sylvia was quivering. "She... she really tried to kill me."

"She’s been trying to kill you since you were born," I whispered into her ear. "She sent you to the Academy to die for an experiment. She sent enforcers to the academy."

"But... she’s Level 50! I’m only Level 26!"

I pressed the Void Ring against Sylvia’s back. "I’m giving you an allowance."

[Skill: Mana Transfer.]

[Amount: 50,000 Units.]

"AAAAGH!"

Sylvia screamed as raw, violet power flooded her circuits. Her eyes turned purple. Her hair floated as if underwater.

"Fight her to your heart content," I commanded.

Sylvia looked at her both hands. They were glowing with power that she shouldn’t possess for another 20 years. She looked at her mother. The terror fade away. It was replaced by the cold anger of a neglected daughter.

"Hello, Mother," Sylvia said, her voice changed by the mana overload.

Freya belittled. "You think borrowed power makes you strong huh? You are nothing before me! Because I made you!" Freya stormed toward her.

[Boss Fight: Empress Freya (Ice Monarch)]

She moved swiftly.

[Skill: Absolute Zero Slash.]

She swung her sword.

Sylvia didn’t dodge.

[Skill: Glacial Wall (Void Enhanced).]

She raised a wall of black ice.

CRASH.

The sword hit the wall. It didn’t break through.

"What?" Freya discombobulated. "Black ice? That’s Forbidden Magic!"

"Nah mother, it’s New Magic," Sylvia retorted. She pushed her hand forward.

[Skill: Icicle Gatling.]

Hundreds of purple ice shards shot from the wall.

Freya deflected them, pirouette around the throne room. Clang. Clang. Clang. "Is that all?" Freya laughed. "Child’s play!" She leaped into the air.

[Ultimate Skill: Winter’s End.]

A massive blizzard formed inside the room. The temperature dropped to -100 degrees.

Seraphina and Ahri huddled behind Glacies’s body for warmth. Even the Dragon looked upset. "CHILLY."

Sylvia’s skin began to crack. The cold was overwhelming. "Master!" she cried out. "I can’t seem to hold it!"

I watched from the sidelines, leaning against a pillar. "Don’t hold it," I shouted. "Take it! Use the Passive I gave you!" Sylvia suddenly remembered.

[Passive: Cryo-Stasis (Corrupted).]

[Effect: Absorbs Cold Damage to heal HP.]

She dropped her shield. She opened her arms. "Come to me," Sylvia muttered. The blizzard hit her. It didn’t freeze her. It fed her. The storm swirled into her body. Her skin repaired itself. Her aura grew massive.

Freya landed, panting. She expected a frozen corpse. Instead, she saw her daughter glowing like a supernova.

"Thanks for the mana, Mom," Sylvia grinned. A cruel, evil grin that looked seemed to be exactly like mine. "My turn."

[Skill: Glacial Railgun.]

Sylvia pointed her finger at Freya’s chest.

BOOM.

A beam of condensed ice blasted Freya backward uncannily. She hit the Ice Throne. The impact shattered the ancient seat of imperial power. Freya collapsed to the ground, coughing pure blood.

"Impossible..." Freya coughed out blood. "I am... the Empress..."

Sylvia walked up the stairs in distasteful strides. She stood over her mother. She conjured an ice sword.

Freya looked up, eyes wide with panic. "Sylvia... wait. I am your biological mother. Have some mercy."

Sylvia hesitated immensely. The blade hovered still above Freya.

I walked up the stairs. "Do it," I said tenderly. "Mercy is for the weak."

Sylvia looked at me. Then at Freya. "No," Sylvia said.

Freya let out a breath of relief. "Good girl. I knew you—"

"Death is too easy for the likes of you," Sylvia interrupted. She placed her hand on Freya’s forehead.

[Skill: Mana Leech.]

"NO! STOP!" Freya screamed.

Sylvia drained her. She drained the Level 50 mana core. She drained the Ice Monarch Bloodline entirely.

Freya wilted. Her hair turned gray. Her skin turned wrinkled. In mere ten seconds, the Empress became a decrepit and powerless lady.

Sylvia stood up. She looked at her hand, now pulsing with S-Rank power. "Put her in the dungeon," Sylvia ordered the guards. "In the cell she kept me in when I was six years old." The guards rushed to obey. "Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Wait," I interrupted them. "Your Majesty?"

I sat on the throne. "Sylvia is the Governor but I am the Emperor," I corrected.

The room went silent.

Sylvia knelt to me immediately. "Hail Emperor Cain," she roared vehemently.

The guards looked alarmed and puzzled. After they realized the situation, they also followed suit. "Hail Emperor Cain!" They hailed intensely.

I leaned back on the jagged ice shards.

[System Notification]

[Territory Acquired: The Northern Empire.]

[Resource Gain: infinite Ice, Starlight Ore Mines, 1 Million Citizens.]

"Good," I said. "Now. Open the Imperial Vault."

————————————————————

[The Imperial Vault]

We walked into the vault. It was filled with gold, yes. But I ignored the gold. I went straight to the back of the vault. To a pedestal, it was holding a blue, beating heart frozen in a block of Ice.

[Item: Heart of the Ancient Dragon]

[Grade: Mythic.]

This was the energy that powered the Great Wall.

"Master," Sylvia said, walking confidently beside me. She seemed taller than before. "If you take that, the Wall falls. Monsters will flood in."

"I already know that," I said.

"Are you going to let them in?"

"Nah, not really."

I picked up the Heart. "I’m going to move the Wall."

"Move it? To where?"

"To the South."

I looked at the map on the wall. "The Church of Light is getting annoying. I think they need a winter."

I pocketed the Heart. "Pack up, girls. We’re done here."

"What about Glacies?" Ahri asked. "He’s eating the imperial horses outside."

"Let him eat. He earned it."

I walked out of the vault. I had conquered a nation in 24 hours. Now that’s historical moment. But first... I looked at Sylvia. She was glowing with her mother’s power.

"Sylvia."

"Yes, Master?"

"You leveled up decently."

"I did."

"Good."

I grinned. "Tonight, we celebrate. We’ll have a celebration party. Bring the most exquisite wine to my abode."

Sylvia blushed deep red. But she didn’t look down. She met my gaze.

"Yes, Master. I will wear... any outfit you’d like. I’ll satisfy Master tonight."