The unified realm of the Central and Western continents settled into a state of tense, calculated order under the shadow of the violet ether-shield.

The Great Merger was complete. The borders of fourteen conquered kingdoms had already been redrawn, their populations cataloged, and their ancestral temples replaced by the dark, towering spires of the Dragon Empire.

Yet, there remained one loose thread in the tapestry of Adonis’s new world, a small, stubborn territory nestled in the northern valleys of the Central landmass: the Kingdom of Fernis.

​Fernis was not a military superpower. It possessed no world-eating beasts or divine armaments. Its value lay entirely in its history, specifically in the bloodline of its royalty.

​The imperial vanguard arrived and the sky above the capital city of Fernis simply died.

The golden sunlight that the kingdom had enjoyed for generations was abruptly choked out, replaced by an oppressive, pulsing violet canopy that caused the stones of the royal castle to vibrate.

​In the grand throne room of Fernis, King Magnus stood by the tall arched windows, his knuckles white as he gripped the stone sill. His crown sat crooked on his thinning grey hair, and his breath came in short, ragged gasps.

​"They are in the lower valley," the Royal Chancellor whispered, his voice trembling so violently he could barely hold his ledger. "The reports say there are no soldiers marching, Your Majesty. It is just him. Him, the rebel princess, and the spectral guide."

​Queen Eleanor, sitting stiffly on the consort throne, clutched her silken robes. "How dare she bring that tyrant to our gates? After everything we did to preserve the purity of this family, she returns with a conqueror to flaunt her shame?"

​"Silence, Eleanor!" Magnus snapped with pure terror. "Look at the sky! Look at what he did to the High Cathedral of Ascalon! He didn’t just defeat the Archons; he deleted their entire directory! Do you honestly think your courtly pride means anything to a man who moves continents?"

​The massive oak doors of the throne room did not burst open. They did not shatter. Instead, the heavy iron bolts simply liquefied, dripping onto the marble floor like hot wax. The doors swung inward with a slow, agonizing creak.

​Adonis stepped into the hall. He wore his black imperial robes, the fabric woven with threads of raw, dark ether that seemed to drink the ambient light of the room. His violet eyes scanned the court with total indifference, the gaze of a man looking at an empty room.

​At his side walked Mariana. She was no longer wearing the tattered garments of an exile. She was dressed in the raiment of an Imperial Consort, a gown of silver silk and violet velvet that flowed behind her like a train of starlight. Her pink hair was pinned with an obsidian tiara, but her face was pale, her lips pressed into a tight, nervous line as she looked at her parents.

Adonis spoke domineeringly,

​"Magnus, You haven’t changed your decor. Still using the same old divine-gilt chairs. It’s very inefficient."

​King Magnus took a step back, his knees buckling. He hit the seat of his throne with a heavy thud, his scepter slipping from his hand and clattering down the marble steps.

"Adonis... Kingsbane."

​"That is Emperor Kingsbane to you, old man," Vexa said, her holographic form appearing in a burst of violet code right next to the royal altar.

"Or simply ’The Architect’ if your vocabulary can handle the upgrade."

​Queen Eleanor stood up, her face flushed with a mixture of fear and ancient spite.

"Mariana! You dare show your face here? You brought this monster to your father’s court? Have you no shame left after being banished for your degeneracy?"

​Mariana flinched, her hand instinctively reaching out to touch Adonis’s sleeve.

​Adonis did not look at the queen. He merely raised a single finger. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

​An invisible force slammed into Eleanor, throwing her back into her seat with a gasp. The air around her throne grew heavy, pinning her shoulders against the velvet cushions so firmly she could not even draw a full breath.

​"You speak when you are spoken to, woman," Adonis said coldly. "A year ago, I stood in this very hall. I was a man seeking a simple alliance, a writer of my own destiny. And you, Magnus, called me a lowlife. You said a man without a divine bloodline was nothing but dirt under the boots of the Fernis dynasty."

​Magnus swallowed hard, his eyes darting to Mariana.

"Mariana... please. Tell him. We did what we had to do for the kingdom. For the alliance! For peace."

​"You didn’t just banish me, Father," Mariana said sadly. "You stripped my name from the stone. You sent the royal executioners to hunt me across the border. You told the world I was dead so you could keep your trade agreements with your allied Kingdoms."

​"It was politics!" Magnus cried, tears finally breaking from his aged eyes as he slid off his throne and fell to his knees on the dais.

"The abyssal creatures were a threat! We had no choice! Adonis, please! We ask for your forgiveness! We will pay any tribute! We will hand over the entire treasury! Just spare our lives!"

​Queen Eleanor, tears of rage and fear streaming down her face as she remained pinned to her chair, managed to choke out:

"Mariana, you are my blood! You cannot let him do this to your own mother and father!"

​Mariana looked down at her father, who was now groveling at the base of the steps, his golden crown rolling into the dust. The man who had once seemed like an immovable mountain of authority was now nothing but a shivering old text block.

​"You thought the Abyss was absolute, Magnus. That was your mistake. You thought the rulers of Ascalon were the developers of this world. You thought I was someone you could discard like a failed draft."

​"We were wrong!" Magnus wept, pressing his forehead against the cold marble. "We see the truth now! You are the absolute power! Please, mercy!"

​"Mercy is a variable I rarely use for people who treat my family like trash," Adonis said.

He reached down and picked up the fallen golden crown, turning it over in his hand before tossing it to Vexa.

"Vexa, log the asset. The Kingdom of Fernis is officially dissolved."

​"Processing now, Master," Vexa replied, her eyes spinning with code. "The registry has been updated. Fernis is now designated as Sector 15 of the Imperial Core."

​"What... what will you do with us?" Magnus whispered, looking up with horror-filled eyes.

​"I’m not going to kill you, Magnus. That would be too clean. A quick termination doesn’t teach the target anything. When you banished Mariana, you sent her with nothing but the clothes on her back, hoping the monsters or the winters would delete us for you."

​"No... please," Eleanor begged, realizing what was coming.

​"You are hereby banished from the Empire. You will leave this castle immediately. You will wear nothing but the rags of peasants. You will wander the borders of the land you once ruled, and you will live on the ration credits provided by the very spires you despised."

​"Adonis, no! We are old! We won’t survive a month in the outer wastes!"

​"Then you can find out exactly how Mariana felt when you signed her death warrant. Guards, remove them from my sight."

​From the shadows of the hall, several Shadow Guards dressed in obsidian armor stepped forward. Their faces were hidden behind faceless violet visors, their movements silent and robotic.

They grabbed Magnus and Eleanor by the arms, dragging them off the dais.

​"Mariana!" Eleanor screamed as she was pulled down the hall, her fine silk robes tearing against the stone steps. "Save us! Tell your husband to stop this! You are a princess of Fernis!"

​"There is no Fernis," Adonis said, walking up to the grand throne and sitting down. "There is only Dragon Empire."

Bang!

​The doors slammed shut, cutting off the final wails of the former king and queen.

​The throne room became quiet again, save for the hum of the ether-shield outside.

Adonis looked over at Mariana, expecting to see the satisfaction of revenge on her face.

​Instead, she was trembling.

​Mariana stood in the center of the vast, empty room, her shoulders shaking as she stared at the empty space where her parents had just been groveling.

A single tear slipped down her cheek, catching the violet light of the sky, followed by another.

​Adonis frowned slightly, leaning forward. "Mariana? Why are you crying? The people who wronged you have been handled. They will never hurt you again. Their names are gone."

​Mariana covered her face with her hands, a soft, choked sob escaping her throat.

"I know, Adonis. I know."

​"Then why the tears? Was the punishment too light? I can have Rai turn them over to Gracia if you prefer a more permanent solution."

​"No!" she gasped, looking up, her silver eyes red and glistening. "No, please don’t do that. It isn’t that, Adonis."

​"Then speak," he commanded gently.

​"It’s just... it’s finally over," Mariana cried, "For a year, every night I slept, I kept dreaming of this room. I kept hearing my father’s voice telling me I was nothing. I kept seeing my mother’s face looking at me with disgust because I chose to love a man from lower bloodline."

​Adonis reached out, his gloved hand resting on her silver hair, his fingers gently stroking the strands.

"They were fools who couldn’t see the patch notes of history, Mariana."

​"I thought that when I came back here, I would feel angry," she whispered, her tears soaking into the black fabric of his robes.

"I thought I would want to see them suffer. But seeing my father like that... so small, so broken... it just made me realize how much time we wasted. How much it hurt to realize they never loved me. They only loved the crown."

​"Most people do. They love the status the system gives them. When you take away the system, you see what they really are. Dust."

​Mariana wiped her eyes, looking up into his violet gaze.

"Thank you, Adonis. Thank you for rewriting my story."

​"You are my wife, Mariana. Your story belongs to me now. And I don’t write tragedies for my harem."

​He stood up, lifting her with him, his arm wrapping around her waist to support her. He looked at the translucent system screen that suddenly popped up in his peripheral vision.

​[Faction Update: Sector 15 Successfully Integrated.]

[Mariana’s Affection Level: Maxed (Eternal Devotion)]

[Harem Force Generated: +50,000]

​