Dark Court

Inside a dark room, a group of extremely important figures sat around a circular table made of mahogany.

In each of the 30 throne-like chairs sat a member of the Dark Council and Emperor-Tier warrior.

The Dark Council has ruled Apeiron with an iron fist for over 1 million years and not only holds the most Emperor-Tier warriors in the surrounding worlds but also has the top 2 forces on the List of 1 Million.

When both the Dragon ancestor and Phoenix ancestor mysteriously disappeared 3 million years ago there was a battle which lasted for over 2 million years until both races were completely wiped off of Apeiron.

Each of these council members had the ability to destroy a small planet with a casual wave of their hands, but right now they all had excited smiles plastered on their faces and were eagerly conversing about the Guardian's message.

"I can't believe the legends are true!"

"The Myths of the Trial of the Gods are actually real!"

"The God-King Throne genuinely does exist!"

Yesterday all of these powerhouses had received a message they were both hopeful and slightly scared to accept.

The Guardian, also known as the System for Castle Lords, only appears when an era changes.

In legends, the Guardian is the will of the universe but no one knows for sure just what it is.

All conversation stopped when the massive doors swung open and two handsome men walked into the room. If anyone below the Peek of King-Tier looked at them, they would look like ordinary human mortals, but everyone in this room was certainly not normal.

The energy in the room instantly turned violent and it became hard to breathe. All the people in the 30 chairs, no matter how strong, immediately got on one knee and forced themselves to shout, "Greetings my Lords!"

The two men merely nodded, allowing the onlookers to bid them obeisance, and took their place at the head of the two tables.

At first glance, the two men, excluded power. Both carried themselves with a strength that was both appealing and terrifying. They walked as one, nodded as one, and were equally handsome and regal, but on a closer look, one might be able to sense a bit of unease. Not with the surrounding room, but with each other.

These men were rivals, intense and deadly. When in each other's presence, they were calm, respectful, and commanded the masses. However, with just one slip, one slight mistake, one eye looking the other way, certain death would take just but a second.

This rivalry was as ancient as time, the Hydra and Titan Clans were both of the Dark Court but that didn't mean they were friends.

While the light court focused on unity, the Dark Court was a den meant for harboring, chaos and strife were par for the course for these clans.

Having defeated their external enemies on Apeiron over 1 million years ago, the two Dark Court clans focused attacks on each other and have been striving for supremacy ever since.

Now that the God-King Throne was on the table, neither was going to sit back and let the other take control.

When the two were seated the energy in the room finally calmed down and the council members were able to breathe and slowly sink back down in their chairs.

Chalice, Hydra Clan's patriarch, looked like a dark demi-god strikingly handsome with shoulder-length golden hair, tipped his head to the side, and casually eyed the group. While his posture spoke ease, his hazel eyes were hard like steel. He spoke with a deadly smile.

"As I'm sure everyone knows, the message by the Guardian signifies the changing of an era."

"Over 3 million years ago when the Dragons and Phoenixes still roamed the lands, and the light court was still a threat to us, we received scrolls about the God-King Throne and the Trial of the Gods."

Thundron, the wavy auburn-haired Titan leader, continued the explanation. Unlike Chalice, Thundron was tense, his muscles taught, his wide jaw clenched and his fists axed down on the stone table.

"It is said that whoever claims the God-King Throne will have the secret to becoming a God open up for them, so not only can they ascend, but their followers can as well."

A momentary silence took over the crowd before both sides erupted in yells.

"Let's claim the Throne."

"It's ours for the taking."

"None can stand in our path!"

Thundron raised his large hands to quiet the yells.

"But now is not the time to be complacent. We of the Hydra and Titan clans are Warriors of the highest order."

Chalice motioned around the table, "There is no one on Apeiron stronger, braver, and deadlier than the Hydras and the Titans. Our time is now. Let's mow them down and claim what's ours."

Of course, both Chalice and Thundron were thinking how the "them" they were referring to might be closer than the others expected.

But that was for later.

Chalice glanced at Thundron and nodded. Thundron nodded back. Neither smiled. Both knew what would happen in the days to come.

Back at the castle…

It was the day after the first Castle Siege and Enzo had just finished building the new buildings he had acquired from the siege yesterday.

He took a moment to appreciate how far he had come in the first 8 days on Apeiron and how much it had changed him.

He not only was a lot happier but strangely enough, he was less stressed. Living paycheck to paycheck on Blue Star was not fun and having his confidence increase every time he rode the dragons and killed monsters, really brought out his masculine aura.

But, he knew that all this happiness could never last. In order to remain alive and live unhindered, he needed power and lots of it.

His first goal was to get the 10 Level 5 Buildings he needed to upgrade his kingdom to Duke-Tier.

This not only required a lot of resources but also buildings that were at least rare in rank.

The ranking in building not only classified how good the original building was, but it also specified how far it could be upgraded.

Common and uncommon buildings could be upgraded to level 3, rare and epic to level 5, and other buildings could be upgraded past level 5 but Enzo wasn't sure just how high yet.

Opening his Castle Panel he noted that the only buildings that could be upgraded to Level 5 were the Inn, and Barracks which he had just finished building.

Enzo estimated that the cost just to upgrade one of these structures to Level 5 was around 100,000 wood and stone.

He knew it was time to raid some Castles.

Not only would raiding Castles be the most efficient method of gathering building materials, but it was right after the raid, meaning they had just been given a multitude of materials for their successful clearance of the siege.

Calling his warriors out of their nests, he set out to hunt some fellow Castle Lords.

In a castle not so far away…

Matthew woke up with a big smile on his face. Yesterday he had survived the first Castle Siege and was rewarded by the System with a lot of materials, tokens, and blueprints.

Today Matthew's confidence was as big as his Castle was tall, and he wanted to prove to everyone that he was the protagonist in Apeiron's story and be the first to enter the List of 1 Million.

Confidently striding out of his castle, he decided to check on his supplies at his main warehouse. The day was incredible, blue skies, bright sun…

A shadow moved over Matthew, covering the hot rays of the morning sun. He looked up and squinted.

He saw a small dot in the distant sky that was quickly becoming bigger and bigger.

Barely discernably wings appeared to each side of the magnificent beasts which seemed to be as big as his daddies old McLaren which he drove and showed off to all the girls he could on Blue Star.

Matthew was never the brave man his father wanted him to be, seeing the huge intimidating dragons and phoenixes Matthew lost all semblance of reason and immediately screamed and began running back towards the safety of his castle.

Enzo, who was atop Shaz, was a bit stunned for a second. He had expected at least a little bit of resistance, and not some coward just running away and hiding at the first site of him. Where was the fun in that?

"Dragons!" Matthew screamed. "No! No! Why me? Why me?"

Matthew in his daze of delirium and panic didn't even call his troops to defend him, but even if he did it wouldn't have made any difference.

One of Shaz's claws grazed Matthew's arm. A bright splash of red appeared on his arm and trickled down and stained his shirt.

"AAGH!" Matthew yelled, "Not cool, really not cool."

Kai, realizing that Matthew was easy prey, toyed with him. She blew out a stream of fire, just enough to catch the tips of his hair with heat and start to burn his hair.

"Crap!" Matthew stumbled toward the castle, beating his head, trying to keep his hair from lighting up in flames.

Fingal decided to step into the action and belched out a torrent of water, extinguishing the flames, but also sending Matthew sliding across the ground in a river of muddy water.

Tormu, deciding to finish things off, crashed and landed on the ground, opening it up and letting Matthew fall deep into the crevice. No way out.

His body became one with the earth and his life was no more.

After Matthew died Enzo felt… nothing. Unlike what he expected, he didn't feel guilty for taking another human's life.

Although Enzo wasn't a saint on Earth, he never harmed anyone intentionally. Sure he had gotten in a few drunken brawls, but it wasn't anything serious.

This world and its harsh reality had changed him faster than he anticipated, and he didn't know how to feel about it.

Leaving the psychological introspection for later, Enzo viewed the message he received right after killing Matthew.

[Ding! Congratulations on taking control of an enemy castle! You receive the following rewards:

5200 Wood, 4875 Stone, 480 Iron

5 Blueprints

5 Tokens

1 Item]

Looking through the new things in his warehouse, he checked and sure enough, he got Matthew's Troop Blueprint!

For defeating Castle Lords you got the same blueprint of their original Troop Building.

For Matthew, it was his Top-Tier troop "Blood Bear", and now they were Enzo's.

Although this Troop Building happened to be from the Dark Camp, it still was extremely valuable and could be traded with other Castle Lords for different Troop Buildings of the same rank.

After putting the items back in the Castle Warehouse, Enzo set off to find his next target.