Chapter 46—The Trojan General.
Chapter 46—The Trojan General.
The thunder of orchestral brass and the muffled cheering of the high nobility leaked through the thick granite foundations of the Grand Palace, drifting down into the damp darkness of the upper service conduits.
Fifty meters below the gilded ballroom, four figures glided silently over the rusted iron catwalks of the central ventilation shaft. The air smelled of ozone, stagnant groundwater, and old iron—a sharp contrast to the perfume and champagne scenting the halls above.
At the front walked Kaelen, his dark coat swallowing the faint ambient light, his violet eyes tracking every mana pulse surging through the palace’s structural runes.
Behind him, Ren moved with eerie precision, his glowing crimson eyes flickering with geometric streams of system data as his fingers danced through a floating holographic interface that cast faint red grids across his pale face.
"The palace’s primary defense barrier is a Grade-8 Divine Array," Ren whispered, his voice barely louder than the steady drip of condensation from the copper pipes above.
"It scans every living entity for registered soul signatures every three seconds. If an unregistered S-Rank enters the perimeter, a hundred automated mana turrets lock onto the intrusion point instantly and reduce it to atomic dust."
"Then it is fortunate we hold the keys from the inside," Kaelen replied smoothly, his tone icy and detached.
High above them on the primary security catwalk, a heavy iron hatch creaked open. A tall, broad-shouldered figure clad in the gilded crimson plate armor of the Royal Defense Force stepped out into the dim conduit light. The crest of House Vance burned brightly on his chest plate.
Brigadier General Darius.
His face was pale, a thin bead of cold sweat running down his temple, but his movements were rigid and precise under the absolute, inescapable influence of Kaelen’s Sovereign Imprint.
He reached into his leather belt and pulled out a heavy brass master key engraved with royal runes, inserting it into the central junction box mounted against the stone pillar.
CLACK!
Darius turned the mechanism three times to the left, then pressed his trembling palm against the crystal interface.
"Override code: Delta-Seven-Vance initiating emergency maintenance protocol on Sector Sub-2."
The pulsing blue runes along the ceiling flickered violently, turned dull amber, and then slowly went dark.
CLANG!
---
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Regional Defense Array: Sector Sub-2 Temporarily Disabled
Security Status: Maintenance Mode Authorized by Brigadier General Darius
---
Ren’s lips curled into a cold, satisfied grin. His fingers flew across his holographic screen with blinding speed, injecting a string of distorted code directly into the system log.
"Access granted. I just locked the security loop in a five-minute diagnostic feedback cycle. To the central control room in the Royal Keep, Sector Sub-2 appears perfectly nominal."
"Well done, General," Kaelen said, vaulting silently onto the iron catwalk beside Darius without making a single sound.
Darius bowed his head deeply, his voice trembling slightly beneath his heavy steel helm.
"My Lord... the main halls are overflowing with royal guards and high nobility. Marquis Vance has placed double shifts along the primary corridors leading to King Alden’s private wing. He expects no trouble, but his arrogance makes him paranoid. However... the eastern service stairwell remains open under my direct command."
"And the Silverwing quarters?" Lyra asked, stepping onto the catwalk with her hand gripping the hilt of her holy blade. Her pale face reflected intense, suppressed emotion that had been building since they entered the capital. "Where is my sister?"
Darius glanced at Lyra, his eyes showing a flicker of nervous hesitation before bowing toward her respectfully.
"Lady Elena has been moved to the East Tower under house arrest. Marquis Vance intends to announce her forced betrothal to his eldest son at midnight during the main toast to consolidate the Silverwing estate once and for all. But... her condition changed two hours ago."
Lyra’s breath hitched, her fingers tightening until her knuckles turned white. "Changed? What do you mean?"
"The necrotic poison in her blood completely dissolved," Darius reported softly. "The royal physicians are utterly baffled. She is conscious, her mana core has fully stabilized, and she is currently resting under guard in the glass conservatory."
Lyra let out a shuddering sigh of pure relief, closing her eyes for a brief moment as a quiet, tearful prayer escaped her lips.
"The night lily worked... She is alive. Kaelen... she is alive."
"We stick to the plan," Kaelen commanded, his icy violet gaze sweeping over the group with uncompromising resolve.
"Lyra, you will secure Elena and prepare the extraction route once we breach the Treasury. Tsubaki covers her shadow and eliminates any guards silently. Ren and I will secure the Second Heavenly Seal inside the Royal Vault."
Tsubaki nodded silently, his black katana sliding half an inch from its sheath with a razor-thin hiss. "Consider the East Tower secured, my lord. No guard shall raise an alarm."
"Move," Kaelen ordered.
The group vanished into the shadows of the service corridor, moving like specters through the subterranean arteries of the royal palace.
---
The East Tower Conservatory was a magnificent glass-domed garden filled with rare luminescent flora gathered from across the kingdom. Pristine white moonlight filtered through the vaulted glass panes, casting soft blue shadows across marble statues, manicured hedges, and quiet stone fountains.
Two elite Vance Knights clad in silver plate armor stood guard outside the arched glass doors, their heavy halberds held loosely in their gloved hands as they listened to the distant, muffled music echoing from the main ballroom.
"Did you hear?" one knight grunted, adjusting his heavy visor. "The Marquis is giving a ten percent gold bonus to all house guards tonight. The Underworld is completely cleared out, according to General Darius."
"Aye," the second guard chuckled softly. "Darius did a clean sweep in the sewer canals. No more sewer rats, no more Silverwing rebels... House Vance rules this kingdom now."
A whisper of wind rustled through the ivy walls behind them.
Before either guard could turn his head or grasp his weapon, two thin black threads of spatial shadow shot from the high ceiling arches. The threads wrapped precisely around the knights’ throats, choking off their breath before pulling them backward into the dark foliage without producing a single clatter of armor.
THUD.
Tsubaki dropped silently from the ceiling beam, his boots landing without making a sound on the polished marble tiles. He dragged the two unconscious guards deep into the bushes, stripped their alarm crystals, and gave Lyra a brief, decisive nod.
Lyra stepped up to the glass door, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs. She gently pushed open the ornate frame and stepped into the quiet, fragrant garden.
At the center of the conservatory, sitting on a carved stone bench surrounded by glowing azure lilies, sat a young woman with long, silver-white hair.
She wore a simple white linen gown, her face pale but radiating a healthy, pristine holy light that matched Lyra’s own aura.
Elena Silverwing.
Elena looked up, her soft blue eyes widening in utter disbelief as she saw her sister stepping out of the shadows.
"Lyra...?" Elena whispered, her voice trembling as she stood up unsteadily from the bench. "Is... is it truly you? Am I dreaming?"
"Elena!" Lyra cried softly, dropping her sword and rushing forward to throw her arms tightly around her sister.
The two sisters embraced tightly, tears streaming down Lyra’s cheeks as she felt the warm, steady pulse of Elena’s revived mana core.
"You’re alive... your core is restored," Lyra sobbed gently into her sister’s shoulder. "I swore I wouldn’t let them take you. I swore I would find the cure."
Elena held her sister tightly, her eyes flickering with sudden dread as she looked toward the main palace towers.
"Lyra... you shouldn’t be here. Marquis Vance has mobilized the entire Royal Guard. He believes he has won, but he is planning something terrible for the Silverwing lineage tonight—"
"He has won nothing," Lyra interrupted, pulling back with a fierce, unwavering confidence that Elena had never seen in her before.
"The Underworld has fallen under a new sovereign. Kaelen has returned, Elena. And tonight, House Vance pays for everything they have done to our family."
Elena gasped, her hand covering her mouth in shock. "Kaelen... the Sovereign candidate? He survived the execution?"
"He did," Lyra said, picking up her sword and strapping it back to her belt. "And right now, he is standing outside the royal treasury."---
Deep within the subterranean core of the palace, directly beneath the throne room itself, stood the colossal adamantine gate of King Alden’s private treasury.
The gate was thirty feet tall, forged from dark star-steel and etched with thousands of glowing crimson runes that hummed with pure, concentrated S-rank barrier magic.
Four massive stone statues of ancient dragon-knights stood guard along the perimeter, their hollow stone eyes burning with eternal guardian flames that reacted to any unauthorized mana signature.
Kaelen and Ren stood at the edge of the central vault bridge, looking across the vast subterranean chasm at the glowing gate.
"Impressive craftsmanship," Ren murmured, analyzing the glowing runic lines floating across his crimson holographic interface.
"This isn’t standard system architecture. This barrier is linked directly to King Alden’s personal health pool and soul core. To break it by brute force, you would have to deal enough raw damage to kill an S-rank king twice over."
Ren paused, his eyes narrowing as he dug deeper into the system layers. "Wait... look at the soul signature powering the gate. It’s distorted. King Alden isn’t just an S-Rank ruler... his profile is flagged with [SYSTEM CORRUPTION: LEVEL 4]. He’s being controlled."
Kaelen took a slow step forward, his dark coat billowing as dark violet spatial mana surged from his core like a cosmic tempest.
The air pressure within the vault room plummeted instantly, causing the stone dragon-knights to crack and tremble on their granite pedestals.
"Then it is fortunate," Kaelen said smoothly, drawing his black spatial blade from its void sheath with a dark metallic ring, "that I do not break barriers with brute force." I erase the space they occupy."
Kaelen raised his blade, his galaxy-bright violet eyes burning with absolute cosmic authority as spatial distortions coiled around the steel like black lightning.
"Ren... prepare the code injection," Kaelen commanded cold-bloodedly. "We take the Second Heavenly Seal now."