THE LAST BLOOD SOVEREIGN

CHAPTER 32: THE MESSAGES OF THE FORGOTTEN SOVEREIGN

The battlefield froze.

Thousands of Abyss creatures hovered in the sky.

The Celestial Knights stood ready.

Even the massive Abyss Dragon remained motionless.

All eyes were on the masked stranger standing above the clouds.

Kael tightened his grip on his swords.

"Who are you?"

The stranger slowly removed his silver mask.

A young face appeared beneath it.

But his eyes...

His eyes carried the weight of centuries.

"My name is Aurel Veyr."

He bowed slightly.

"I am the last disciple of the Fourth Blood Sovereign."

Kael's expression changed.

"The Fourth Sovereign..."

"Is he alive?"

Aurel looked away.

The answer was already clear.

"No."

The wind became silent.

"He held the Desert Shrine alone for three hundred years."

"He waited for the moment the final heir would arrive."

Aurel looked directly at Kael.

"That moment came too late."

Kael's heart sank.

"What killed him?"

Aurel's face became serious.

"The same thing that is awakening everywhere."

"The Abyss."

The masked disciple turned toward the Abyss army.

The Abyss giant stepped forward.

"You have delivered your message."

"Now leave."

Aurel ignored him.

Instead, he looked at Kael.

"The Fourth Sovereign left one final command."

"He said..."

"Do not seek my power."

"Seek the truth I protected."

Kael frowned.

"What truth?"

Aurel looked toward the black vortex above the Imperial Capital.

"The Seven Sovereigns were not created to defeat the Abyss."

"They were created to prevent something worse."

Everyone became silent.

Selene stepped forward.

"Worse than the Abyss?"

Aurel nodded.

"The Abyss is a wound."

"But something is trying to enter through that wound."

Kael remembered the golden eye in the heavens.

"The First Watcher..."

Aurel's expression changed.

"So you have seen it."

Kael nodded.

"Then the cycle has already begun."

Suddenly, the Abyss Dragon beneath Aurel roared.

The masked disciple jumped backward, landing beside Kael.

The Abyss giant raised his axes.

"You have spoken enough."

"Destroy them."

The dragon opened its jaws again.

This time, Kael was ready.

But before he could move, Aurel raised one hand.

"Wait."

Everyone looked at him.

Aurel walked toward the dragon.

The creature growled.

Yet it did not attack.

Kael noticed something strange.

"The dragon..."

"It's afraid."

Aurel nodded.

"Because it knows what I carry."

He placed his hand against the dragon's forehead.

A silver mark appeared.

The creature's black scales began changing.

The darkness covering its body slowly faded.

The Abyss soldiers behind it began shouting in confusion.

"What is happening?"

"The corruption..."

"It's disappearing!"

The dragon lowered its enormous head.

It was no longer controlled.

It was free.

The Abyss giant stared in disbelief.

"You purified an Abyss Dragon?"

Aurel looked at him calmly.

"No."

"I reminded it of what it was before the Abyss touched it."

The giant's face twisted with anger.

"You dare interfere with the King's will?"

He charged forward.

The ground shook with every step.

Kael prepared to fight.

But Aurel stopped him.

"This one..."

"Is mine."

Aurel reached behind his cloak.

He pulled out a simple wooden staff.

Everyone stared.

The staff looked ordinary.

Almost fragile.

Then Aurel tapped it once against the air.

The entire sky changed.

The clouds separated.

The wind stopped.

The giant froze.

"What..."

Aurel whispered,

"Fourth Sovereign Art."

"Echo of the Ancients."

The giant suddenly heard thousands of voices.

Voices from every warrior he had defeated.

Every village he had destroyed.

Every life he had taken.

The weight of centuries crashed upon his soul.

He dropped his axes.

"No..."

"I served the Abyss King..."

"I had no choice..."

Aurel looked at him sadly.

"Everyone says that."

The giant fell to his knees.

Then his body turned into black dust.

The entire Abyss army retreated in fear.

Even the Abyss Dragon flew away, carrying Aurel into the clouds.

Before leaving, Aurel threw something toward Kael.

Kael caught it.

A small crimson crystal.

"The Fourth Inheritance."

"Do not use it until you understand what it means."

Kael looked up.

"Where is the Desert Shrine?"

Aurel's voice echoed from above.

"Under the place where the first betrayal happened."

"The place where the Seven Sovereigns broke apart."

"The birthplace of the truth."

Then he vanished.

The battle of Skyhaven was over.

But victory felt empty.

Kael looked at the crimson crystal in his hand.

Four Sovereigns.

Four inheritances.

Four pieces of a truth hidden for centuries.

Selene approached him.

"You know what comes next."

Kael nodded.

"The Desert of Echoes."

Prince Kaelor looked toward the distant Imperial Capital.

"And after that..."

"The truth about my father."

Kael closed his hand around the crystal.

For the first time, he no longer wanted revenge.

He wanted answers.

But far beneath the Black Citadel...

Emperor Malachar suddenly opened his eyes.

A single tear fell from his face.

Because he had felt it.

The Fourth Inheritance had awakened.

And he knew exactly what that meant.

"The boy is getting closer..."

He whispered.

"Closer to the truth I tried to bury."

Behind the Eighth Seal...

The darkness smiled.

"Let him come."

"The son will finally learn what his father truly sacrificed."