Chapter 34: Night King
Inside the front hall, Sayeto at the very front had already reached the inner corridor and quickly entered the central hall. She looked at the high platform at the deepest part of the central hall, where the Black Throne sat.
Su Xiao and the others also entered the central hall. Although he could not become the new king, given his status in the empire, he certainly had the right to witness the coronation of the new king.
Sayeto continued to walk forward step by step, but whether it was an illusion or not, she felt the crown on her head growing colder and colder, even causing a faint stinging pain on her forehead.
Fifteen meters, ten meters, eight meters.
When Sayeto was only eight meters from the Black Throne, she stopped and looked down at her hands. Her hands... were trembling involuntarily.
‘I cannot sit on it, or everything will be over.’
This thought appeared in Sayeto’s mind and would not go away. She looked at Su Xiao again. Su Xiao extended his hand forward, making a gesture of invitation.
“Outdated notions need to be broken, and so do ceremonies.”
Sayeto turned around, her back to the Black Throne. The five officials before her were all stunned, unable to understand why Sayeto would say such a thing.
“The ceremony cannot be abolished!”
The old divine stick spoke in a deep voice, his eyes seemingly filled with black mist.
“No, the ceremony is not important. I am... already the Black King!”
Sayeto’s tone was firm. She was not stupid; she sensed that something was wrong with the throne.
“Guards...”
Sayeto shouted loudly, but no soldiers rushed into the hall.
In the front hall, Zos sat on more than a dozen corpses, while hundreds of dark blue crows circled within the hall.
“What a pleasant task, tsk tsk tsk. Sina is a good woman. Should I marry her? If the boss finds out what I did last night, will he kill me? It seems he already knows. Oh no~”
Boom!
The sound of impact spread across the hall doors. Outside, it had turned into a hellscape. One side of the palace wall was smashed open by a giant war beast, and a full ten thousand cavalry charged into the palace. Crossbow bolts rained down from behind the wall like a downpour. When the city guards clashed with these border soldiers, they collapsed almost instantly.
“My lord, something terrible has happened. The border troops have mutinied.”
A soldier in golden armor, his face covered in blood, rushed to the outside of the hall doors.
“Mm, I understand. You may withdraw.”
The commander of the Guard Corps, Trollope, spoke. If one observed closely, they would notice that flames seemed to burn within his pupils—the flames of demons.
Inside the central hall.
Drip, drip...
Blood dripped from the long blade. Su Xiao stood near dozens of royal guardsmen. On the other side of the hall, the old divine stick also stood amidst a large pile of corpses.
“You... are planning a coup?”
Sayeto held a broken longsword. Until now, she had always believed she could defeat Su Xiao in a single exchange, but after actually fighting, she realized this was a mistaken judgment.
“My lady, you should have sat on it. If you had, Wayne, Ander, Alfred, and Hoy wouldn’t have had to die. You killed them. You.”
The obese Evan spoke. He was the fourth-in-command under Sayeto, and last night he was even responsible for receiving guests at the mansion’s entrance.
Now, Evan’s body was covered in black tentacles, and demonic flames burned in his eyes.
Sayeto couldn’t understand why Evan would betray her. He was a subordinate who had served her faithfully for over a decade. Though greedy and lecherous, he was utterly loyal. Once, when she was assassinated, Evan even took an arrow for her.
“Princess, the Black Throne belongs to you.”
After saying this, Evan’s body quickly cracked and exploded with a pop into large black fragments.
“You all...”
Sayeto looked around at everyone in the room. She truly hadn’t expected that these people would dare to act within the palace. This was a situation that could never be resolved. Even if she died here today, these people would bear the crime of regicide. The empire’s power structure would split at an alarming speed, and no one would come out well.
“The ceremony is too slow. Wasted an entire morning. Sayeto, you are the Black King, but only after you sit on the Black Throne.”
Su Xiao pointed his long blade at the Black Throne.
“You know... what will happen if I sit there, don’t you? That’s why you gave up. You’re afraid!”
Sayeto threw down the broken sword in her hand. Who would have thought that last night was the most glorious moment of her life, not today when she was to be crowned king.
“Princess, stop wasting words. Go on up.”
Woof came to Sayeto’s side and made a gesture of invitation.
“You will all die horribly.”
Sayeto kicked Woof away. Caught off guard, Woof staggered back a few steps.
Just as Sayeto was about to fight to the death, she noticed two pairs of eyes staring at her.
Boom!
Blood qi and black smoke filled the central hall, one on the left and one on the right. Sayeto, caught in the middle, felt a weight on her shoulders and a terrible sensation. The blood qi on the left was sharp and ferocious, while the black smoke on the right was eerie and viscous.
“You will all die horribly!”
Sayeto shouted again. She tore open the buttons at her collar—the thing was choking her, and she had long wanted to rip it off.
Now, Sayeto had two choices: sit on the Black Throne or die here. After hesitating for a moment, she continued walking toward the Black Throne.
Each step was longer than the last, each step heavier than the last. Whether it was an illusion or not, Sayeto felt that every step she took closer to the Black Throne aged her by a year.
Finally, Sayeto arrived before the throne. Her hand pressed down on the armrest, feeling the metallic texture.
The throne was something she had always pursued. But now, she resisted it with all her might. She, Sayeto, still had her own ideals and ambitions. She could not be assimilated by this throne.
For some reason, seeing the Black Throne brought back childhood memories. Back then, the Black King sat on the throne, watching her from afar. That gaze held affection, reluctance, and even some guilt.
“Sayeto, you are still young and cannot understand what I am saying. But I deeply regret that you became my descendants. One of you will one day sit here and face the same fate as me. This is the price—the price of awakening those things. I should have... let them sink forever in the sea. Was it the gods who were wrong, or was it me? It no longer matters. Civilization should be developed step by step, just like this empire, which already has electricity but can only use it for lighting. It could have driven massive machinery, allowed people to see farther, and even made steel fly into the sky, soaring above the clouds.”
Even now, Sayeto could not fully understand the Black King’s words, but she understood the first part, especially the line: “I deeply regret that you became my descendants.”
“I am the king. You are only fit to kneel at my feet.”
Sayeto raised both arms high, leaned back, and sat on the throne.
The central hall fell into dead silence. Everyone’s eyes were on Sayeto. She remained in her pose, arms raised, sitting on the Black Throne. Her face was tense, as if she had already prepared to face her fate.
“Huh~”
Sayeto’s eyes showed confusion. Aside from feeling that the Black Throne was a bit hard, she had no other unusual sensations.
“Ha, hahaha...”
Sayeto laughed, rocking back and forth, pointing one hand at Su Xiao and the others.
“You, you are all so ridiculous! Hahaha! This is it? You went through all that trouble for this?”
Sayeto’s laughter was almost manic, but soon she realized something was wrong. Su Xiao and the old divine stick were both slowly stepping back, while Woof and the finance minister looked as if they had seen a ghost.
Su Xiao did not look at Sayeto but instead stared at something above her head. A mass of black mist hovered there. If his perception was correct, this was Polaris·Elders, that extraordinarily terrifying existence.
The smile on Sayeto’s face gradually stiffened. She raised her right arm, which was wreathed in black smoke.
“I...”
Before Sayeto could finish her words, her pupils turned pure black, and her silver hair quickly darkened.
Black scales appeared on Sayeto’s body, wrapping around her form and face. She sat silently on the throne.
“Roar!!”
Countless furious roars erupted from within the Black Throne.
‘You... insignificant mortals!’
‘The appointed day is near.’
‘This place belongs to us. This is the agreed-upon thing. All living beings belong to us, all belong to Dead Silence City.’
‘The King... still exists. The appointed day, three hundred years later.’
‘Pure Black! Polaris! Eternal Night...’
‘Night King, the appointed day, three hundred years later. By then, all living beings will belong to us, belong to Dead Silence City.’
‘Black King.’
‘Day King.’
‘Night King.’
‘Black King·Adegash belongs to us.’
‘Day King·Elders belongs to us.’
‘Night King... does not yet belong to us. She is named... Adegash·Sayeto.’
‘Soon, three hundred years is nothing. Soon...’
...
The murmurs gradually faded. Su Xiao rubbed his throbbing forehead. Hearing those voices made him feel as if all the blood in his body was freezing, and his brain ached in waves. But after the murmurs disappeared, the sensation quickly subsided.
Su Xiao looked around. The old divine stick was lying on the ground, his body twitching involuntarily. Strangely, Woof and the finance minister showed no reaction.
“Bubu, did you hear anything just now?”
“Woof?”
Bubu Wang shook his head, indicating he had heard nothing. This made Su Xiao glance at the [Black·King’s Fall Sacrifice] on his left arm.
Clearly, the kings of this continent were not limited to the Black King. The Black King’s eldest son, Polaris·Elders, was also crowned king—the Day King.
As for Sayeto, she was not the Black King but the third king—the Night King.
Su Xiao approached the Black Throne and snapped his fingers twice near Sayeto’s ear.
“Sayeto?”
As if hearing Su Xiao’s voice, Sayeto slowly raised her head.
“The appointed day, three hundred years from now. At that time, find the next king. It must be the bloodline of the first Black King. They are... whispering to me. They are... telling me how to become strong.”
Sayeto was like a puppet devoid of all emotion, sitting on the throne, muttering to herself.
From the information he had obtained, Su Xiao roughly understood what was going on. The Black King must have made some agreement with Dead Silence City during his lifetime, securing three hundred years of peace.
If Su Xiao’s guess was correct, the Black King was initially in this same state until his eldest son, Elders, became the Day King, replacing the Black King himself, allowing him to recover.
When the three-hundred-year deadline was approaching, the Black King entered Dead Silence City and was never seen again. As for why he did not choose a successor, that was unknown. Or perhaps he entrusted this heavy responsibility to the old divine stick, who initially did cultivate a new king—the father of the young duke. But who would have thought that the duke suddenly died, causing the old divine stick to be expelled from the power structure.
Just as the old divine stick was preparing to find an opportunity to cultivate a second new king, Su Xiao, wearing the [Black·King’s Fall Sacrifice], appeared.
“My lord, can this... govern the country?”
The finance minister also noticed that something was wrong with Sayeto. Cold sweat covered his back, and he felt fortunate that he had chosen to support Su Xiao last night. The reason for his choice was simple: Su Xiao had taken down Silver Feather Duke and Bloomer in just two days. He did not believe that such a person would willingly hand over the throne. He would never believe it, even if beaten to death.
“She indeed cannot. So the Night King needs a Left Guardian and a Right Guardian.”
Su Xiao glanced at Woof and then at the finance minister.
“Me?”
Woof pointed at himself, looking at Su Xiao in shock.
“That’s right. You are the Right Guardian, and Walkley is the Left Guardian.”
Woof and Finance Minister Walkley stood frozen in place, staring at each other.
“Left Guardian.”
Woof placed his hand on the finance minister’s shoulder, a foolish grin on his face.
“Right Guardian.”
The finance minister looked Woof up and down. He felt that the other party did not look like a Right Guardian at all, and he himself did not feel like a Left Guardian.
“Ha, haha.”
Woof laughed stiffly, looking somewhat foolish no matter how you looked at it.
Happiness came too suddenly, so suddenly that even the finance minister was stunned for half a minute.