191 OFFER TO BE KING
Nicaesa took the badge, turned toward Dan, and pinned it to his chest.
Dan blinked. "What is this?"
"This," Nicaesa said, his tone both commanding and warm, "is the badge of an honorary General…one-star."
"What?" Dan's eyes widened. "How did that happen?"
"You turned back the tide of the Shadow of Anubis," Nicaesa said. "You saved Fortress Myrone. You earned this title."
"But it was just luck… the Shadow of Anubis didn't give its all."
The hall erupted in applause. Cheers echoed against the steel walls..
"Black Halo!"
"Our God of War!"
For the first ti, Dan stood among them not as an outsider but as one of their heroes.
As the crowd settled, he leaned toward Lord Nicaesa and whispered, "You made fight the Shadow of Anubis on purpose, didn't you? You wanted to earn this rank."
Nicaesa's grin deepened. "It was about ti you had one. You've done more for this fortress than anyone. Even if you hadn't stopped the Shadow, you deserved this long ago."
Dan couldn't help but smile.
For all the danger, for all the tests and battles, this was the first ti soone of Nicaesa's stature had honored him for what he had beco.
-----
[Liberty city]
Dan returned to Liberty City at last.
The skyline was no longer the one he rembered. The ruins had been replaced by new rising towers of steel and glass.
The scars of war were still visible in the cracked pavents and half-nded walls, but new life had already begun to grow through them.
The city had changed…utterly in the past year.
Though many of the old districts were gone, new streets teed with energy. Markets bustled. Children laughed. The air was alive with industry and renewal.
To Dan's surprise, the people seed happy.
These were the sa people Sienna had once taken from the slums—the followers of the Church of Rejuvenation, who had vanished into her grand design.
Now, they walked the streets freely.
Their clothes were clean, their eyes bright. There were no nobles, no overseers, no chain of command dictating who could live or eat.
He passed his old middle school.
It was thriving again.
The classrooms were full, teachers smiling, young voices echoing in the courtyard. Poor children no longer needed sponsors to study; education was open to all.
It was one of Sienna's reforms…radical, sweeping, and impossible by the city's old standards.
Everywhere Dan went, he saw improvent.
Humanity and tahumans lived side by side without fear or division. The bullies, the corrupt officers, the self-proclaid elites… all of them were gone.
The city no longer needed chains to stand upright.
He stood on a bridge overlooking the main avenue, watching the sun descend through the haze.
"Is this the world I wanted?" he murmured.
In truth, it was.
Deep down, he agreed with Sienna's dream… a world without oppression, without walls between the powerful and the powerless.
It was the thod he had despised… the blood, the coercion, the blackmail…. the cruelty she had justified in the na of liberty.
But now, looking out over Liberty City's reborn heart, he could no longer deny it. The job was done. The past was written in ashes.
And the result… was good.
Out of curiosity he tried to track Liorea, Eryn and Cyara in his tracking function. To his shock, they were still in the city.
"Damnit Sienna, here I am praising you for a job well done", Dan said before adding, "and then you have to blackmail again."
-----
[Liberty city- Queen Erythos's palace]
The ceiling of the throne hall split with a thunderous crack as he crashed through, descending slowly and deliberate toward Erythos's dais.
The courtiers scattered like leaves.
"How dare you break into my palace?" Queen Erythos scread, her voice brittle with outrage.
Guards moved to seize him, but their bodies went slack as arcs of electricity snapped through them. Dan's fingers flicked as half a dozen lightning bolts lanced out and chained across the soldiers.
"Erythos, do you want to die again?" he asked, coldly.
She staggered back, stunned by how much stronger he'd beco since their last encounter.
Sienna entered with Argent, flanked by ta soldiers. Behind them, Liorea, Eryn, and Cyara were escorted in, their hands bound.
"Hi, nephew. You're back," Sienna said, smiling a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
Sienna reached for his mind as she always did… a subtle, probe. This ti her psychic searching slamd against an invisible wall and ricocheted back.
She scread, staggering as feedback burned through her.
"Arggh!" she spat. "What is this?"
"Don't try that again," Dan said. "It won't work on ever again."
He knew she was testing him for his psychic tolerance. With a Blood Core Level 7, his psychic defenses were no longer playgrounds for her tricks.
"How did your psychic defense get so strong?" Sienna demanded, still recovering from the earlier episode.
"Forget that. Release my friends and I'll walk away," Dan said.
"You are in our territory. Don't be arrogant," Erythos shrieked.
"Really!!" Dan replied. "That coming from soone I almost killed a year ago."
Sienna's jaw tightened. Psychic probing has failed on Dan. Brute force wouldn't work on him either. But she still held leverage: the hostages.
"If you don't do as I say, I'll kill these girls," Sienna warned, her voice flat.
Dan laughed, "You tried that with Ralph and the others. How well did that work for you?"
Despite his bravado, he felt the hard knot of worry tighten.
If Sienna ordered the shots, nothing he could do at that mont would stop the bullets. These girls weren't Ralph and his family…. He would do anything to protect them.
Sienna's expression paled. She wanted to coerce Dan, but she doesn't want to break him. Dan wasn't her enemy.
Liorea broke the silence like sun through ice. "There's no need to be hasty," she said, calm and quick.
Sienna gestured for the soldiers to halt the execution.
She was relieved that the girl gave her the chance to de-escalate. If Dan was truly heartless and let the girls die, she would have lost her last leverage on him.
"What do you say?" she asked Liorea.
Liorea's smile was slow and asured. "You gain nothing by killing us. You can't blackmail my boss…he's known to have an alien heart."
"What do you propose?" Sienna asked, curiosity piqued despite herself.
"Negotiate. There's room for both sides to prosper instead of mutual destruction," Liorea said.
Dan felt relief washing through him.
He'd been on the edge of giving in. Liorea's deft diplomacy bought ti and opened a path out.
"What do you want then?" Sienna asked.
"Depends on what you want," Liorea said.
Sienna's reply ca smooth as a blade. "I need you to stay in Liberty City. I can offer you the throne… make you king. Isn't that a fair trade?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers