Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 51 - Empress Aria and Narinder

The path to the audience chamber took them through parts of the palace Lumi hadn’t seen before.

Even in his past life, by the time he stepped into Herene with enough status to enter the palace, it was completely different and more wartorn.

As they moved, there were grand corridors painted with scenes from Herene’s history. Some of the windows looked out over the floating island’s edge, showing clouds far below. Many decorative objects held magical lights that shifted color based on some pattern Lumi couldn’t quite determine.

As they approached massive double doors carved with the imperial seal of the Aria Knights, Lumi felt the weight of the moment settling on his shoulders. This wasn’t just a formal recognition. This was the beginning of something larger. The Empress would remember them after today.

Empress Aria.

The group that captured Afton. As of today, Empress Aria would have some recognition of them.

Lumi took a deep breath, calming his nerves. He knew the Empress wasn’t as strict as it seemed. She was wise, calm, kind, and even a bit innocent.

However, when considering everyone that opposed the Dark One, she was the most important person alive. More important than Merath, any Chief Knight, or even any ancient hero. It had to be remembered that she wasn’t just the Empress of Herene. She was the Empress of Masteria. The entire world.

My Empress...

Lumi felt an urge to kneel right then and there. He recognized there were many people worthy of respect, and Empress Aria was one of them. She absolutely deserved his fealty.

His mind silently drifted to his past life...

Empress Aria was the world’s last hope.

Despite the fact that she failed in the final hour, she was the one who confronted the Dark One personally at the end. She herself became the strongest warrior the world had to offer. She was close to godhood herself. Yet so far....

The doors began to open, and light spilled out from the audience chamber beyond.

It was time to meet Empress Aria.

As they moved in, they were greeted with a sight most marvelous.

Azure pillars stretched toward the ceiling, which was painted with constellations that moved in real time, mirroring the actual heavens above Herene.

The floor was polished marble shot through with veins of gold. But all of that paled in comparison to the throne itself, or rather, what served as one.

For it was not the architecture that took away their breath, but a divine beast.

Empress Aria didn’t sit on anything one would imagine when the word throne was said. It wasn’t golden. Neither was it stone, wood, metal, or any such material. She sat upon the folded wing of a Divine Beast. Narinder, her bonded companion, was magnificent beyond description.

The creature resembled a bird in the way a candle resembled a light bulb. The basic shape was there, but the scale and intensity transformed it into something else entirely.

Narinder was covered in pure white feathers that reflected light in ways indescribable. It looked down upon everyone with predatory, yet wise eyes. When it shifted slightly, adjusting the wing that served as its Empress’s throne, the movement sent ripples through the air.

Narinder was easily the size of a house. Its head turned to regard the approaching party, with unknown thoughts behind those shining blue eyes.

"..." If it weren’t for the coaching they received, a few of the players would have been unable to keep silent at such a magnificent sight. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Empress Aria herself was perched upon Narinder’s wing, from where she looked down upon the court, projecting authority.

She wore robes of silver and white, complementing Narinder’s coloring. Her features were youthful. She appeared no older than her mid-twenties, despite her actual age being way beyond it, with the kind of beauty that made it hard to look directly at her for too long.

Her eyes held weight.

That weight was the weight of command, responsibility, and years making decisions that affected millions of lives.

As they entered, Lumi’s mind wandered to the history of the Imperial line. Every Empress would have a single daughter, created through divine prowess, who would one day be the next Empress.

Should both the Empress and Princess somehow die, their divine essence would reappear in a random civilian.

At bare minimum, they held potential lifespans measured in centuries at least, usually millennia. But potential and reality were different things. Mistakes happened. Enemies struck.

Hundreds of years ago, two generations back, when the Dark One had first walked the world in his terrible glory, Dawn and Twilight had murdered the sitting Empress. The twins, in their prime, had held terrible power, both powerful among demigods. That Empress, despite her celestial blood and centuries of accumulated power, had fallen to their combined might.

One generation past, Empress Aria’s mother had ruled for over three hundred years. A golden age of prosperity and growth, where the floating island of Herene had become the undisputed center of civilization. But twelve years ago, she’d vanished. Not necessarily dead, but simply gone.

Where did she go?

Nobody knew. Not even Lumi.

Which meant Empress Aria was young by Imperial standards. Twelve years on a throne meant for centuries.

The Knights that bore her name, the Aria Knights, were still adjusting to serving a new sovereign after generations under the previous Empress. Every Empress renamed the Knights upon ascension, marking the beginning of a new era. Some traditions held weight beyond mere ceremony.

Lumi knew from his previous life what kind of person Empress Aria truly was.

At her core, she possessed a gentleness that bordered on innocence, a fundamental kindness that made her want to see the best in everyone. However, she also understood, perhaps too well, that an Empress couldn’t afford to be any of those things. The world demanded strength from its leaders, it demanded decisiveness and cruelty in service of the greater good.

So she wore authority well, projecting nobility and power even when her heart called for mercy.

Because she was the Empress.