Free Web NovelChapter 216: Chapter 216: The Vassal’s Court
The Grand Council Chamber of the Kentari Dominion was a masterpiece of arrogant, precursor architecture.
It was a massive, amphitheater-style room built of blinding silver and white gold, designed to make anyone standing on the central floor feel incredibly small.
Lucifer did not feel small. free𝑤ebnovel.com
He stood perfectly still in the center of the chamber, his void-swirling eyes scanning the tiered seating. The heavy, ruby-red Blade of Ruin hung casually at his hip.
The room was packed. Hundreds of wealthy, heavily jeweled nobles, high-ranking generals, and elite merchants of the Ringworld had been summoned.
They did not look like conquered subjects. They looked furious, insulted, and aggressively defensive.
Empress Lyriana sat on a raised, polished silver chair at the head of the room. She wore the heavy, ornate silver crown Lucifer had given her. She looked exhausted, but she held her posture rigidly straight, projecting as much authority as a newly installed, vassal monarch could muster.
"This is unacceptable!" a fat, red-faced Duke bellowed from the front row. He wore a ridiculously ornate uniform plastered with unearned medals.
He pointed a trembling, jeweled finger at Lyriana. "You declare yourself Empress because your brothers are dead? You ally with a savage from a floating rock? The Dominion does not kneel to outlanders!"
"The Dominion kneels to whoever holds the orbital cannons, Duke Aris," Lyriana replied coldly. Her voice was steady, cutting through the murmurs of agreement from the other nobles.
"The Warlord vaporized the Aegis Wall. He annihilated the Royal Fleet. He decapitated Prince Pine in his own throne room. If you wish to challenge his authority, you are welcome to draw your sword."
Duke Aris scoffed loudly, waving a dismissive hand at Lucifer.
"He has a trick with explosives, nothing more!" Aris shouted, attempting to rally the room. "The Aegis Wall is breached! The lower levels are completely exposed! The Xenophage swarms are already pushing toward the upper districts.
His floating city cannot protect the entire Ringworld from an infinite, parasitic swarm! If we submit to him, we will be eaten alive by bugs while he hides in the sky!"
A chorus of angry, panicked shouting erupted from the tiered seating. The High Generals slammed their swagger sticks against the silver railings. The merchants wailed about their exposed cargo depots.
They didn’t doubt Lucifer’s ability to kill them individually. They doubted his logistical capacity to secure a continent-sized ring from a billion starving insects.
Lucifer didn’t shout over the noise. He didn’t offer a defense of his tactical capabilities.
He looked at Lyriana.
"They doubt my logistics," Lucifer noted smoothly, a cold, predatory smirk touching his lips.
"They are idiots," Lyriana sighed, rubbing her temples, the silver crown slipping slightly. "But they control the industrial sectors. If they panic and lock down the factories, we won’t get the production quotas you demanded."
"I don’t need them to work willingly," Lucifer stated. "I just need them to understand the new math."
He raised his right hand. The Gauntlet of the Void King crackled with fierce, pitch-black lightning.
He didn’t cast a spell at the screaming nobles. He opened his Dimensional Vault.
"System," Lucifer commanded quietly. His voice was a low, echoing rumble of absolute Void magic that cut effortlessly through the chaotic shouting of the chamber.
[Target Acquired: Blueprint - Cryo-Pylon (Legendary Defense Tower).]
"Apply the Apex Multiplier to the deployment protocol," Lucifer ordered. "Maximum output. Disperse across the capital’s defensive grid."
[Divine Talent: Apex Multiplier Activated!]
[Applying 10,000x multiplier to Automated Deployment...]
[Warning: Massive Spatial Displacement Imminent.]
Lucifer didn’t drop a single tower. He dropped an entire, pre-fabricated planetary defense network.
The massive, floor-to-ceiling windows of the Council Chamber suddenly flashed with a blinding, catastrophic blue light.
The ground beneath the Ringworld shuddered violently.
The arrogant nobles and panicking generals gasped. The shouting died instantly. They scrambled out of their tiered seats, rushing to the windows to look out over the sprawling, ruined capital city.
The sight was incomprehensible.
One hundred thousand massive, towering spires of solid, flawless blue glacier ice erupted from the durasteel streets simultaneously.
They shot hundreds of feet into the air, landing in a perfect, geometrically flawless defensive ring that completely surrounded the entire capital sector and the immediate surrounding industrial zones.
The massive crystal orbs atop each spire ignited with piercing blue light.
A localized, impenetrable dome of absolute zero magic snapped into place, sealing the capital instantly. Any Xenophage bugs attempting to climb out of the lower levels or breach the durasteel grates were flash-frozen and shattered into dust before they could even reach the surface.
[System: Terraforming Complete.]
[Defense Perimeter: The Frozen Ring (Expanded) Established.]
[Status: 100,000x Cryo-Pylons Online. Target Acquisition Active.]
The entire capital was secured in less than three seconds.
The Grand Council Chamber fell dead silent.
Duke Aris staggered backward from the window, his jaw hanging open in absolute, unadulterated shock. The fat noble tripped over his own ornate robes and fell heavily onto the silver floor.
The High Generals dropped their swagger sticks, their hands trembling violently as they stared at the infinite wall of blue ice piercing the sky.
They had just watched a single man instantly construct a defense grid larger and more powerful than the Aegis Wall that took their ancestors centuries to build. He hadn’t used a construction crew. He hadn’t used a massive industrial forge. He had simply snapped his fingers.
Lucifer lowered his hand. The black lightning on the gauntlet faded to a steady, dormant pulse.
He turned his void-swirling eyes back to the stunned, silent politicians.
"I am the God-Emperor of the Void," Lucifer stated coldly, his voice echoing perfectly in the silent room. "I do not negotiate with my tenants. I do not ask for your faith. I demand your output."
He took a slow, heavy step toward the tiered seating. The Sovereign’s Eclipse aura bled into the room, a fraction of his true pressure, but enough to force several of the weaker merchants to their knees.
"The capital is secure," Lucifer announced smoothly. "The bugs will not breach the ice. You will return to your estates. You will open the factories. You will obey Empress Lyriana’s quotas, or I will drop you into the lower levels and let the Xenophage eat you."
He paused, letting the absolute terror sink into their aristocratic minds.
"If anyone has a complaint about the new zoning laws," Lucifer offered, a dark smirk touching his lips, "speak now."
Nobody spoke. Duke Aris scrambled backward on the floor, desperately trying to put distance between himself and the Warlord, shaking his head frantically.
"Excellent," Lucifer said.
He turned his back on the conquered nobility. He walked toward the massive silver doors of the chamber.
"Empress," Lucifer called out over his shoulder.
Lyriana stood up from her crystal chair. She looked at the cowed, terrified nobles who had bullied her family for decades. A fierce, highly satisfied smile broke across her face.
"Yes, Emperor," Lyriana replied, her voice ringing with newfound, absolute confidence.
"Get to work," Lucifer ordered smoothly.
He didn’t wait for her salute. Lucifer pushed the heavy silver doors open and walked out of the chamber. Elara and Sarah were waiting for him in the corridor.
"That was incredibly aggressive," Elara noted, spinning her violet-flaming spear casually. The Twilight Sovereign’s golden eyes gleamed with approval. "You didn’t even let them try to bribe you."
"I don’t need their bribes," Lucifer replied, walking briskly down the hall. "I have their factories. But the Duke was right about one thing."
"The bugs," Sarah guessed, falling into step beside him. Her new, midnight-blue dress swished softly against the floor. Her cosmic, eclipse-ringed eyes tracked the magical flow of the Ringworld beneath them.
"The Cryo-Pylons secure the capital, but the Xenophage swarm controls the remaining ninety percent of the Ringworld’s lower levels. They are an infinite, breeding horde."
"If we don’t clear the lower levels, we can’t access the deep-core mineral deposits or the Precursor shipyards," Lucifer stated coldly. "The ice wall is a band-aid. We need an extermination."
"You said you weren’t going to waste the Vanguard on trash mobs," Elara reminded him, her brow furrowing slightly.
"I’m not," Lucifer said.
He stopped at the massive, shattered window at the end of the corridor, looking up at the sky.
Hovering directly above the capital, massive and imposing against the dull red light of the dying sun, was Zephyria. The floating black mountain looked like an apocalyptic spearhead aimed directly at the Ringworld.
"I’m outsourcing," Lucifer declared.
He activated Void Step.
The Warlord, the Valkyrie, and the Oracle vanished from the silver corridor, teleporting instantly through the miles of open air and landing flawlessly on the high balcony of Zephyria’s central keep.
Lucifer didn’t pause. He walked directly into the grand hall.
Waiting for him near the obsidian war table was Lady Scarlett.
The scarred mercenary captain looked entirely out of place in the majestic, polished dark-matter hall. She wore her dented, scratched crimson plate armor.
Her twin curved swords were strapped to her back. She looked exhausted, having just finished organizing the logistics of the thirteen million mortal soldiers who were currently settling into Zephyria’s lower tiers.
She snapped a crisp, respectful salute as Lucifer entered.
"Grand Marshal," Scarlett greeted, though she quickly corrected herself, a faint, wry smile touching her lips. "Apologies. Emperor."
"Scarlett," Lucifer acknowledged smoothly, walking up to the table. "Your company performed flawlessly during the Umbral invasion. You secured the Vanguard. You held the line."
"We bleed for the gold, Emperor," Scarlett replied pragmatically. "And you pay better than any King I’ve ever served."
"I am officially dissolving the Rose Company," Lucifer stated coldly.
Scarlett blinked, her smile vanishing instantly. Her scarred hand dropped toward the hilt of her sword instinctively, before she forced herself to relax.
"Dissolving us? Sir, with respect, my veterans are the best irregular infantry in your army."
"You aren’t irregular infantry anymore," Lucifer corrected her.
He swiped his iron gauntlet over the obsidian table. The holographic map shifted, displaying a massive, three-dimensional cross-section of the Kentari Ringworld.
The lower levels of the projection were entirely colored a violent, pulsing red, indicating the massive Xenophage infestation.
"You are a naval commander now," Lucifer announced.
He looked directly at the hardened mercenary.
"I am founding a new division," Lucifer declared. "The Crimson Corsairs. You are the Admiral. I am giving you unrestricted access to the Aether-Forge. Thrain will build you a fleet of fast-attack, heavily armored gunships. I am giving you priority requisition for all newly forged Star-Metal weaponry."
Scarlett stared at the hologram, her mouth slightly open. A fleet. He was giving a mercenary captain an entire mechanized navy.
"In exchange," Lucifer continued, his voice dropping into a low, lethal rumble, "you take your Corsairs, you fly down into the bowels of that Ringworld, and you do not stop shooting until every single Xenophage bug is reduced to green paste. You clear the lower levels."
Scarlett looked at the massive red blob on the map. It was an extermination contract on a planetary scale. It would be brutal, dirty, and endlessly violent.
It was exactly what she wanted.
"And the loot?" Scarlett asked, her mercenary instincts kicking back in, a fierce, hungry grin spreading across her scarred face. "The bugs hoard Precursor tech in their hives."
"Standard contract rules apply," Lucifer stated smoothly, a cold smirk matching hers. "You keep eighty percent of everything you scavenge. The empire takes twenty."
Scarlett didn’t hesitate. She slammed her fist against her crimson breastplate, dropping to one knee in absolute, fervent loyalty.
"The Corsairs accept the contract, Emperor of the Void," Scarlett vowed, her voice rough with genuine awe. "We will burn the bugs out of the basement."
