By the time they reached the entrance to Ashura, the sun was already high in the sky. The closer they got, the worse Alkan felt. He had a strong feeling that something terrible would happen the moment he stepped into the council’s territory. But they were already here—there was no turning back now. With firm resolve, he stepped into Ashura. What greeted him was a row of warriors. Alkan blinked in surprise. "I, the general of the First Region’s army, have been tasked with stopping the Third Region from invading the Second Region—the land of the monsters! Prepare yourselves! We will strike at nightfall!" a man on a shining white horse declared. It was no ordinary horse. Its radiant body glowed under the sunlight. "Master, it looks like a war is about to break out in Ashura," Asha murmured, glancing around. "I can't sense any snakes nearby, so I can't gather any information." Alkan’

"It has been millennia since I last saw you. You were just a small child then, but now, here you are, planning to slaughter the very beings who once nurtured you." Alkan clenched his fists at the words. "Nurtured?" He let out a dry laugh. "You stole my power and stripped me of my freedom in the name of the fairy kingdom. You murdered my parents. All you've ever done is ruin my life and the lives of the beings in Tribal!" A smile played on the anito’s lips. "Why wouldn’t we? The inhabitants of Tribal are nothing but weak creatures. A mere flick of our fingers, and your lives would vanish into the wind. Shouldn’t you be afraid of the council? And yet, what happened? You established three kingdoms and enslaved all the beings in Tribal. You made yourselves gods, but… before us, you are nothing more than an ant." "An ant?" Alkan laughed at the insult. "So that’s how you see Tribal?" His grin widened. "Why don’t you ask the gods and goddesses of the first region who the real ants are? Did

Alkan nodded. "They never witnessed any movement in or out of the wasteland." He turned toward the third region. "And it seems there's an imposter among the ministers of Ashura’s palace." "What do you mean?" "No one should have known about the pit inside the wasteland unless they had planted a spy. But I rule the wasteland, and no one from the third region has infiltrated it. This can only mean… that minister is from the first region! We need to return—it’s a trap!" he declared, flying back to the third region. Just as Alkan suspected, the minister who first spoke at the meeting was an agent of the palace from the first region. Once he confirmed that Alkan was in the wasteland, he quickly signaled his allies stationed around the third region. A battalion stormed and took over Bendito, another army occupied Ashura, and the prince of the first region went to Celes to seize the queen. Whe

Her name was Matilda, one of the loyal followers of the ancient king. Since the first century, when the king fell into slumber, and up until Alkan’s time, the woman had remained faithfully by his side. She was also the one who set Alkan’s destiny in motion, leading him to this dimension. "Your ancestor was the descendant of the ancient king. He sent his own heir to another dimension to keep them safe from those who lusted after power." Matilda sighed. "At that time, not a day passed without blood spilling upon this land. When the ancient king learned that others sought to kill his only heir, he did not hesitate to use half of his power to open a portal to a world he believed would accept them." Alkan stared at the sleeping man. Time had not affected his appearance—in a single glance, one might mistake the ancient king for his older brother. "He tasked me with setting the fate of his descendant’s heir so they would one day return to this world—to save a land filled with conflic