Chapter 365: Kingslayer Alliance
A week had passed since the catastrophic sinking of the island, and with it, the final hope that Oracle King, the once indomitable protector of the US, had perished in the depths of the ocean. The majority of the salvage teams dispatched by the US had been pulled back, leaving only a fraction behind, clinging to the hope that some trace of their fallen king might emerge.
But the truth was becoming undeniable—the Oracle King was truly gone.
Meanwhile, negotiations regarding Excalibur, the fabled relic of the King of Horizon, had stalled. The US had been unable to make any significant progress in reclaiming the relic, which had been claimed by Alexis, a soul realm martial artist from Britain. The once-mighty weapon, a symbol of power and fear, was now in the hands of another, a foreign power that had no intention of returning it.
Enraged by this turn of events, the leader of the United States issued an ultimatum to Britain: the US demanded the return of Excalibur within a month. If not, Britain would face the consequences.
The British government responded with derision.
The US, still reeling from the grief of their fallen hero, could not come to terms with the fact that their guardian saint—the man they had placed all their faith in—had met such a strange and unresolved end. Their top leader, in a somber speech, announced that the US flag would be flown at half-mast for the coming week to honor the Oracle King. But for many, this was just a final admission that the Oracle King, their king, was truly dead.
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the site of the gene experiment base that had been destroyed by Oracle King, work had resumed. A new team of British scientists now ran the operations, ensuring that the work carried on smoothly. The decision to rebuild the base at the same location was, perhaps, a subtle provocation—a check to see if the Oracle Palace would react. No response came.
This same pattern of rebirth was seen in India, Congo, and even Canada, where new gene experiment bases were being set up under the auspices of Britain, with Britain providing critical technical support.
With the collapse of the Oracle Palace and the rise of new powers in the martial arts world, the British martial arts community formed the Kingslayer Alliance. It was an alliance born not out of humility, but a sense of triumph and vengeance. The very name—Kingslayer—was a direct challenge, a deliberate insult to the legacy of the Oracle King, whom they now referred to as the "King" in their eyes.