Chapter 118: A Comedic End
Lord Vorian opened his mouth to scream a final desperate curse.
Lucifer did not swing his sword. He did not use the Gauntlet of the Void King to crush the man’s skull.
He did not want to waste the mana!
Lucifer simply raised his left hand. The small dull iron Ring of the Calamity Eye rested on his index finger. He had picked up a second ring during the massive loot scan in the Umbra. It was identical to the one he had used on General Thorne.
[Item: Ring of the Calamity Eye (Cursed)]
[Effect: Permanently alters probability fields around the target.]
[Debuff: Luck -99,999.]
"System," Lucifer commanded smoothly. "Activate the Calamity Eye. Target: Lord Vorian."
[Target Locked: Lord Vorian (Level 42)]
[Applying Curse: Probability Collapse.]
[Luck Stat: -99,999.]
The dull iron ring flared with a sudden sickly yellow light! It did not shoot a beam or a fireball. An invisible wave of pure concentrated bad luck washed over the kneeling noble.
Vorian felt nothing. No pain, no magical shockwave. He just felt an intense overwhelming urge to kill the man standing in front of him!
Driven by pure unadulterated madness, Vorian screamed. He lunged forward from his knees and threw his entire body weight toward Lucifer.
His gauntleted hands reached for the Warlord’s throat! He intended to drag Lucifer over the edge of the floating city with him.
The curse took immediate effect.
Vorian’s right boot planted firmly on the black stone promenade to push off.
It did not find traction!
Earlier in the evening, Vexia had been working the Sanguine Grid into the outer walls of the Citadel. A single microscopic drop of highly concentrated frozen vampire blood had spilled onto the promenade. The blood drop had frozen into a perfectly smooth completely frictionless patch of red ice exactly the size of a coin.
Vorian’s heavy iron boot hit the patch of red ice perfectly.
His foot shot out from under him with comical terrifying speed.
Vorian’s forward lunge turned into a chaotic flailing slip! He pitched forward and his arms windmilled desperately. He missed Lucifer’s throat entirely. His gauntlets grasped nothing but empty air.
He did not hit the stone. His momentum carried him forward but his center of gravity was entirely lost. He stumbled past Lucifer with his boots scrambling wildly on the smooth black stone.
Vorian hit the absolute edge of the promenade.
He tried to dig his heels in. He tried to throw his weight backward.
But his heavy thick fur mantle snagged!
A single rusted nail, left over from a shattered supply crate dumped during the massive looting of the Royal Armada, was sticking out of the black stone near the edge.
The nail caught the thick fur of Vorian’s mantle.
Vorian gasped and grabbed the fur to stop himself. For a fraction of a second, he thought the nail would hold him.
Riiiip!
The heavy fur mantle tore completely off the rusted nail!
The sudden release of tension sent Vorian tumbling backward over the edge of the precipice.
The noble vanished into the dark!
He did not fall silently. He screamed. It was a high terrified hysterical shriek that echoed off the massive glowing blue Cryo-Pylons ringing the city.
He fell ten thousand feet.
It was a long way down.
Vorian tumbled through the freezing air. He tried to cast a levitation spell, but his mana core was completely depleted from casting the Abyssal Simulacrum.
He tried to grab the smooth black stone of the floating mountain, but his gauntlets just sparked uselessly against the indestructible rock.
He fell for a full minute and screamed the entire way down!
Miles below, the Shattered Plains were completely silent. The millions of paralyzed Royal soldiers lay unconscious in the dirt. The Titans stood perfectly still.
Directly in the center of the plains lay the massive smoking carcass of the dead War-Behemoth Lucifer had crushed earlier.
Vorian plummeted out of the sky!
He did not hit the soft dirt. He did not hit a snowbank.
SPLAT!
Lord Vorian slammed directly into the massive thick iron-plated skull of the dead War-Behemoth!
The physical impact of a heavily armored man hitting a solid iron plate at terminal velocity was absolute! Vorian was instantly and completely flattened.
His heavy iron-gray armor crumpled like tin foil. His bones were pulverized into dust. He was reduced to a messy unrecognizable smear of blood and shattered steel on top of the dead elephant.
[Target Eliminated: Lord Vorian (Level 42)]
[Status: True & Final Death Confirmed.]
Up on the high balcony of Zephyria, Lucifer stood near the edge.
He lowered his hand. The dull iron ring on his finger crumbled into useless gray dust. The single-use curse was entirely expended.
Elara walked up beside him. She looked over the edge and her golden eyes tracked the long distant fall all the way down to the tiny bloody impact on the plains below.
The Valkyrie shook her head slowly.
"Did he..." Elara murmured. Her voice was laced with a strange mix of disbelief and morbid amusement. "Did he just slip on a drop of blood, snag his coat on a rusty nail, and fall ten thousand feet onto a dead elephant?"
"The probability was against him," Lucifer stated smoothly. A cold highly satisfied smirk touched his lips.
Elara let out a short sharp laugh. It was a rare genuine sound that cut through the freezing wind. "It is a terrifying magic. You didn’t even give him the dignity of an execution."
"He didn’t deserve one," Lucifer corrected her. He turned away from the edge of the floating city. "House Iron-Heart is officially extinguished. The King has no Vanguard, no commanders, no heirs, and no decoys left to hide behind."
Lucifer sheathed the ruby-red Blade of Ruin. The sentient artifact pulsed warmly against his hip, satisfied with the finality of the kill.
"The perimeter is clear," Lucifer announced. His voice carried over the comms rune to the rest of the command structure. "The rat is disposed of."
He walked back toward the center of the promenade and headed for the heavy iron doors leading back into the keep.
"We are done on the outer ring," Lucifer ordered. "Elara, ensure the Glacial Wyrms are fully rested. The sky belongs to them tonight."
"It will be done, Warlord," Elara confirmed. Her Twilight wings shifted smoothly as she fell into step behind him.
They walked through the dark echoing halls of the Citadel and made their way back down to the lower tiers.
Lucifer did not stop in the grand hall. He did not check on the Aether-Forge. He headed directly for the same shattered balcony where he had originally left the broken King.
He stepped out onto the pristine white marble balcony of the Royal Palace. The massive golden-domed structure was completely empty. The Royal Protectors were still paralyzed on the floor with their armor cold.
King Carlos sat on his high gilded throne.
The frail monarch had not moved. He clutched the crushed ruined lump of gold that used to be his crown in his lap. His face was completely hollow, his eyes vacant and staring at the blood-stained marble floor.
The Sovereign’s Eclipse aura still pressed against his mind, but the initial screaming panic had burned out. It left only absolute catatonic despair.
Lucifer walked up to the base of the throne.
"Carlos," Lucifer said smoothly.
The King flinched. He slowly raised his head and looked at the dark-armored Warlord. He saw the swirling voids in Lucifer’s eyes, and he knew he had lost everything.
"My... my army," Carlos whispered, his voice cracking. "My Vanguard..."
"They serve Obsidian now," Lucifer stated coldly. "Your generals are dead. Lord Vorian is a smear on the plains. Your Cathedral is ash. Your treasury is in my vault."
Lucifer leaned forward. He placed his heavy iron gauntlets on the armrests of the gilded throne and trapped the King!
"You are no longer the ruler of the human kingdoms," Lucifer declared. "You are an administrator. You will sit on this throne. You will issue edicts. You will collect taxes from the outer provinces. And you will send every single piece of gold, iron, and mana crystal directly to the Aether-Forge beneath Zephyria."
Carlos stared at him and tears welled up in his tired eyes. "You... you are making me a puppet."
"I am letting you live," Lucifer corrected him brutally. "You exist to manage the logistics of my empire. If you refuse, if you try to raise another army, or if you hide a single copper coin from me... I will drop my city on your palace and crush you into the bedrock."
The King squeezed his eyes shut. He gripped the crushed gold crown tightly to his chest. He did not argue. He did not demand honor. He nodded weakly and was completely broken by the Warlord’s absolute dominance.
"I... I serve the Grand Marshal," Carlos surrendered. His voice was a pathetic defeated whimper.
Lucifer stood up straight. He did not offer a hand to help the King up. He did not offer comfort.
He turned his back on the broken monarch and walked out of the Royal Throne Room, stepping over the paralyzed bodies of the Royal Protectors.
The mortal plane was entirely secured! The political factions were erased, the economy was in his hands, and the human armies were bound by contract to his core.
Lucifer activated Void Step. He teleported instantly from the ruined palace back up to the golden observation deck of Zephyria.
It was time to look at the stars!