After making sure that everyone understood he was not soone they could push around, the Scarlet King withdrew the power of Null Eternum, making the Quietus Force vanish from the hall.
Normally, Cain would have been much more severe when proving his might, but it would not be wise this ti.
For all his confidence in his strength, the Scarlet King had yet to find a way to confront the Dark Blood King's Ancestor Domain. Until he understood the full extent of that power, caution was necessary.
Fortunately for him, a wide smile appeared on the Dark Blood King's face as he nodded.
"The Scarlet King is correct. The Kalos Kingdom and the Aztorus Kingdom both fell to his power. Any assistance they might have provided would pale in comparison to what he alone can offer."
Although the words sounded like praise, a sharp light soon erged in the Dark Blood King's eyes.
"Which is precisely why I will be watching you closely," he continued calmly. "You will need to prove that you are as effective as those two kingdoms would have been in the coming war."
Cain imdiately understood the warning hidden behind the complint. He t the king's gaze and nodded with a serious expression.
With that matter settled, the Dark Blood King turned his attention back to the entire group.
"There will be an imnse amount of bloodshed soon," he said. "But before the war begins, it is paramount that we recover the fragnts scattered across the Dark Blood Realm."
As he spoke, a trace of frustration appeared on his face.
"The unfortunate part is that locating these fragnts is an incredibly difficult task."
The Dark Blood King waved his hand. A mont later, a gauntlet appeared in his palm.
It looked old and worn, its surface covered in rust. At first glance, it seed like nothing more than a discarded piece of ordinary equipnt from a low-level warrior.
"Go ahead," he said. "Examine it with your consciousness and your souls."
The Heartcram King, Evernight Queen, and Scarlet King imdiately extended their senses toward the gauntlet. However, none of them detected anything unusual. It felt completely mundane. If they had encountered it elsewhere, they would have dismissed it without a second thought.
The Dark Blood King then tossed the gauntlet toward the Heartcram King.
"Infuse it with the power of your Ancestor Drop."
Abrahman nodded. As he did so, a strange seal appeared over the gauntlet a radiant symbol resembling a yin-yang sun.
"That," the Dark Blood King explained, "is the mark of a fragnt of a Sacred Treasure. We cannot detect its uniqueness through sight or spiritual perception. Only by infusing it with Ancestor Power does the mark reveal itself."
A hint of exhaustion appeared in the Dark Blood King's expression as he continued.
"It is only when two or more of the fragnts of a Sacred Treasure are gathered and fused that their true power is revealed. Until then, they remain like this-indistinguishable from ordinary objects!"
His gaze swept across the table.
"You may have already co into contact with one without realizing
it."
"Why make it so complicated?" the Heartcram King asked as he passed the gauntlet to the Evernight Queen so she could observe the
symbol for herself.
The Dark Blood King simply shook his head.
"Who knows? So say the Ancestor placed great importance on destiny, making the fragnts difficult to find so that only the 'right' individual would gather them."
A faint, ambiguous smile appeared on his lips.
"Or perhaps it was simply the Ancestor's twisted sense of humor."
"It is pointless to question the difficulty," the Evernight Queen said calmly. "We should focus our efforts, coordinate our forces, and assign our best logistical minds to the search."
She then handed the gauntlet to Cain.
The Scarlet King accepted it, his expression turning solemn. He
examined it carefully with his consciousness, but detected nothing. Even when he tried to analyze it through the Flow, the result was the
sa-emptiness.
Just as he was about to return it, an idea surfaced in his mind.
"It wouldn't hurt to try."
Shrugging slightly, his scarlet eyes glowed as he infused a trace of the
Power of Chaos into the fragnt.
The mont the energy made contact, his perception expanded violently.
His awareness traveled across vast distances, crossing countless kiloters in an instant, until it reached a remote shoreline in an
unfamiliar region. There, half-buried beneath layers of sand, lay a shoulder guard.
It took every ounce of Cain's control to keep his expression calm. The shock that surged through his mind was imnse, but not a single hint of it appeared on his face.
Carefully, casually, he returned the gauntlet to the Dark Blood King.
Fortunately, no one seed to notice anything unusual. The Dark Blood King stored the fragnt away without suspicion.
"Our first objective," the king continued, "is to search every inch of
the Dark Blood Realm for strange or unusual pieces of armor. At first glance, they will appear to be scrap, but they will react to Ancestor
Power-and they are indestructible."
His eyes sharpened.
"It is essential that we secure all fragnts within our realm. Once the
war begins, the parts of the Sacred Treasure will enhance our strength and significantly increase our chances of success."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"The last ti the Ancestor Tomb opened, we discovered six
fragnts. However, there is no guarantee that those were the only ones present. Spies from other realms may have infiltrated our
territory and obtained fragnts before we did."
His voice grew colder.
"The only way to be certain that all pieces have been gathered is to combine them and forge the complete Sacred Treasure."
At that point, the Dark Blood King turned toward General Fausto.
The bulky Royal Bloodline t the king's gaze and glanced at all the kings. His presence was heavy and imposing, and when he spoke, his voice carried a sharp, commanding authority.
"For this operation," General Fausto said, "it is essential that all our
forces act as one."
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