Free Web NovelChapter 97: The Engagement Gala...
The evening of the grand engagement Gala arrived under a sky that looked like broken glass. Silent purple lightning flashed through the air, casting a strange and chaotic light over the Crown Domain.
Zen stood before a full-length mirror in his private chambers, adjusting the cuffs of his perfectly tailored Imperial black and gold tunic.
The shadows in the corner of the room suddenly warped, bending inward before spitting out a sleek, familiar figure.
"You clean up incredibly well, Emperor," Nyx purred, stepping out of the darkness. She was still wearing her form-fitting black stealth suit, her purple digital eyes tracing the broad lines of his shoulders with unconcealed hunger.
"Shouldn’t you be elbow-deep in Aurelia’s central mainframe?" Zen asked without turning around as he adjusted his collar.
"I am a multi-tasker," Nyx smirked, gliding silently across the plush carpet. She stepped up right behind him, her hands sliding over his waist and trailing up his chest. "Part of my processing power is currently ripping through the deep archives. But the rest of me... wanted a taste before the Empress parades you around like a show pony."
Zen finally turned around.
Without saying a word, he just grabbed her by the waist and pulled her flush against him.
Nyx let out a soft gasp as his mouth crashed against hers. The kiss was deep, demanding, and instinctively territorial. Thanks to the ’Shadow’ fragment he had siphoned from her, their mana signatures resonated in perfect alignment, sparking a cold, electric friction between them.
She tasted of dark wine and raw data, her fingers tangling desperately in his dark hair as she arched her back into his touch.
For a brief, intense moment, the impending doom of the reality quakes faded entirely, replaced by the sheer, intoxicating rush of the Spymaster surrendering her control to him.
Suddenly, Zen’s Low B-Rank senses picked up the heavy, rhythmic thud of armored boots marching down the corridor, accompanied by a violently fluctuating mana signature.
Zen broke the kiss, keeping his hands firmly on her hips. "Someone is coming."
Nyx’s eyes flashed with annoyance, her chest heaving as she wiped a smudge of lipstick from her mouth. "Duty calls. I will have the assassin’s identity by the time they serve the main course."
With a wicked smirk, she melted backwards. The shadows wrapped around her ankles and swallowed her whole, leaving the room perfectly empty just a second before the heavy mahogany doors clicked open.
Valeria stepped into the room.
She looked breathtaking in her ornate Vanguard ceremonial armor, a striking blend of crimson silk, gold plating, and a heavy broadsword strapped to her back.
But despite her imposing appearance, she was pratically vibrating with anxiety. The reality quakes were deeply messing with her combat instincts.
If they were in Ares, Zen was sure Valeria would have hit a Fracture Zone to let out some steam.
"Are you ready?" Valeria asked, her voice uncharacteristically tight. She rubbed her armored forearm, her crimson eyes darting toward the warded windows. "The sky... it feels as though the entire world is going to cave in on us tonight."
Zen didn’t answer with words. He closed the distance between them in two long strides, cupping her face in his hands.
Then he kissed her hard, pouring a steady, calming stream of his mana through his lips. Valeria let out a soft sigh, her tense, panicked posture instantly relaxing. She rested her hands on his chest, clutching the lapels of his tunic as she returned his kiss with passionate, desperate heat.
Where Nyx was cold and calculating, Valeria was all smoke, burning gold, and raw emotion.
Zen deepened the kiss, using his dominant aura to forcefully anchor her wildly fluctuating core.
"Better?" Zen asked softly, pulling back just enough to look into her dazed, crimson eyes.
"Much," Valeria breathed out, a heavy blush spreading across her cheeks. The erratic sparks of golden mana around her shoulders finally settled into a dull, manageable glow.
"Good," Zen said, smoothing down the front of her ceremonial armor. "Keep that focus. We need to head down before Aurelia sends her hounds to drag us to the ballroom."
Valeria nodded.
She kissed him hard again before pulling back and locking her hand around his elbow. "Sure... let’s head down... together."
—
The grand ballroom of the Crown Domain was incredibly fancy and overwhelming, but the atmosphere was thick with suppressed terror.
Thousands of floating crystal chandeliers tried to push back the dark from outside, but it was no use. Every time the glass dome above flashed with the chaotic purple light of the Void, the nobles flinched in unison.
The string quartet played their instruments a fraction too fast, rushing their tempo out of fear, while the aristocrats sipped their wine with trembling hands.
Zen stood near the center of the bright hall, looking completely bored. Aurelia held tightly to his left arm. She wore a glowing gold gown and smiled at the dukes passing by, acting as if the world wasn’t falling apart above their heads.
Positioned directly behind Zen’s right shoulder, acting as his official shadow guard, was Valeria.
Despite Zen’s grounding earlier, Valeria was once again vibrating with restless energy. Since Zen had siphoned a large part of her ’Body’ fragment at the penthouse, her mana felt unstable without its anchor.
Surrounded by so many people from the Crown Domain, her power fluctuated wildly, sending tiny golden sparks flying around her like a live wire.
A high-ranking noble, entirely distracted by the glitching sky above, took a careless step backward to point at the dome and accidentally rammed his shoulder hard into Valeria’s armored arm.
Valeria’s eyes flared a dangerous, blood-red color.
With her instincts frayed and her patience gone, she snarled like a cornered beast. Her hand instantly snapped out, her armored fingers curling like a vice as she reached to grip the noble’s throat and crush his windpipe.
Zen noticed the shift in her mana immediately.
Looking to his side to see Aurelia currently occupied laughing at a hollow compliment from a primary minister on his left, Zen smoothly unlinked his arm from the Empress’s grip.
He stepped backward with terrifying speed, intercepting Valeria’s armored wrist just millimeters before her fingers could clamp down on the terrified noble’s neck.
"Stand down, Vanguard," Zen murmured in a whisper meant only for her ears.
He didn’t just hold her back; he pumped a heavy, condensed pulse of his own Low B-Rank mana directly into her skin through her wrist, artificially stabilizing her erratic core. "Deep breaths. You are with me. Control yourself."
Valeria blinked, the crimson haze rapidly fading from her eyes as she looked down at his hand wrapped around her wrist. freёwebnoѵel.com
She leaned subtly into his physical touch, her fluctuating power settling down the moment his mana anchored hers.
"I’m sorry," she whispered, looking genuinely confused and shaken by her own sudden loss of control. "I don’t know what’s wrong with me tonight. Everything feels too loud."
"You’re just on edge. Hold the line," Zen lied smoothly, releasing her wrist as he stepped back to Aurelia’s side before the Empress even realized he had moved.
He slipped his arm back into hers, offering the pale, shaking noble a flawless, aristocratic smile that warned the man to walk away quickly.
After a few minutes, Aurelia gently released Zen’s arm and glided gracefully up the marble steps to the grand dais. She picked up a crystal goblet, raised a silver spoon, and gently clinked the glass.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
The sharp, clear sound silenced the ballroom instantly. The string quartet stopped playing, and every eye turned toward the Empress.
"My loyal subjects," Aurelia announced, her voice magically amplified to reach every corner of the massive hall. "Ignore the shifting skies. The Void cannot touch what is divine. For tonight, we celebrate a union that will mend this broken world and cement the Crown Domain’s supremacy. I raise my glass to the Emperor, and to our impending..."
BOOM.
The massive, diamond-studded doors didn’t just open; they were blown violently off their hinges. They crashed onto the marble floor with a deafening sound, sending diamond shards flying everywhere like shrapnel.
Screams erupted from the terrified nobles as the elite Crown guards drew their weapons, forming a desperate defensive line between the entrance and the dais.
Through the clearing smoke and settling dust, two heavily armored, hostile contingents marched flawlessly into the ballroom.
On the left were elite paladins clad in blinding white and silver armor, their heavy tower shields bearing the glowing, divine crest of Selene, Goddess of the Sanctum Domain.
On the right were gravity-mages draped in flowing, star-woven cloaks, the air around them warping with intense kinetic pressure as they carried the banners of Lyra, Goddess of the Aether Domain.
Leading the group were the two Goddesses, their auras radiating pure, murderous rage.
"There will be no wedding, Aurelia!" Selene’s voice boomed. "Your selfish hoarding of the Emperor is tearing the very fabric of reality apart!"
"And we... I won’t let it happen."
