"That's … new." Reign said with some confusion as he stared at the green land that surrounded him.
All of his previous evolutions, as well as those of others, had been incredibly violent and would leave destruction around them, but this time, it was the complete opposite.
The land that had been ravaged by war, the soil that had drank blood and was charred by fire had been revitalized by his evolution and returned to normal.
The spirits of the dead had passed on and had left the planet thanks to basking in his light, while the vengeful spirits were devoured by the darkness and sent god knows where.
"It's only natural that this would happen kid." Aethion suddenly said with a calm voice.
"You have control over both light and darkness, two powers that are extreme in nature, their manifesting during your evolution would bring such a result, everything bad and evil would be devoured by the darkness, while the light would bring back life."
"It is the circle of life, after all."
Reign nodded to Aethion, still not fully understanding the impact that his powers had or would have in the future.
Ding!
[ The player has successfully passed the evolution and reached Tier IV, congratulations to the player. ]
( Author: I will post Reign's current status in the next chapter, I know that I haven't updated it in a long time, so that will be done tomorrow. )
Ding!
[ The player has successfully passed the challenge and evolved, the challenge is deemed as complete and the player can leave the planet and return to Earth at any moment. ]
Reign nodded happily to the notification, but before going back, he needed to have a conversation with Raigon and Eisenhorn, alongside the other higher-ups.
Lightning blasted around Reign as he disappeared from the spot and made his way over to the capital. With the evolution, his powers had increased greatly and he was almost double as fast as before, making the trip back much shorter than previously.
People weren't able to even see him when he passed next to villages and small towns as he was many times faster than sound at this point.
The evolution had taken over 10 hours to be completed, and it was now afternoon.
The people of Riplas had all been made aware of what had happened last night and they all knew that their king, alongside his entire family, had been murdered.
Some panicked, not knowing what was going to happen to the kingdom now, while others stayed calm as they knew that the change of the ruler wouldn't really impact the common folk that much.
The biggest change with something like this happening would always be at the very top of the kingdom, and common folk had no need to worry much as nobody really wanted to mess with them as they held no real power in the kingdom.
It was usually the opposite, the new ruler would try to placate the people and would give them benefits so that they wouldn't oppose him. With the people happy, the rule would be further secured.
As for the higher-ups?
Those were the people that truly had to worry and despair about the future.
Reign would occasionally stop and listen in to conversations that the people were having in the villages and towns.
He was wearing a robe that diminished his presence and he was pretty much invisible to the common folk when standing in the shadows.
He found out that people didn't really think that Raigon and the others truly were traitors. They had the love of the people and most were confused when the news of their rebelling broke.
Since the kingdom had been at war for so long, most people had family members or friends that joined the army, and they heard tales of Raigon and the others from them.
Eisenhorn coming back was something that only happened recently, but the older folks still remembered the tales and his legend, making them further believe that something else was going on as the protector of the realm was the last person they believed would be a traitor.
Of course, nobody previously could say a thing as that would mean going against the king and the kingdom. Most stood silent and simply followed the orders the royal family had given, but there were of course some that fully believed the news as they were loyal to a fault and believed that the royal family would never be wrong.
The biggest topic that people discussed was simply what would happen to them right now. With the kingdom being victorious and there not anyone that could go against them, they all expected a time of peace and prosperity to come.
They had previously been afraid that the kingdom would once again suffer from a prolonged war thanks to half of the higher-ups turning traitors, but with them managing to get such a fast and decisive victory, those thoughts were now gone.
Most people simply wished to see their friends and family that had joined the army once again and to live the rest of their lives peacefully, without a war.
Reign's trip back took about 30 minutes more than it should have thanks to him spying on people and listening in on their conversations. As he finally made his way to the capital, he quickly passed through the streets and entered the castle without anyone noticing him.
It was only once he was inside the castle that the soldiers noticed him and were at first shocked to see a hooded figure appearing inside. Most immediately grabbed their weapons, but after Reign took off the hood and showed his face, they all calmed down and bowed down to him as they all knew who he was.
Reign nodded at the soldiers before making his way over to the throne room where Raigon and the rest were currently located at. Upon entering, he made his way over to the table before sitting down.
"I guess your evolution went well," Raigon said calmly as Reign nodded to him.
"Yes, I'm Tier IV now."
Gasps of awe and amazement filled the throne room from those that had supported Raigon and the rest, while the nobles that were in cahoots with the royal family and were forced to be here all had despair plastered on their faces upon hearing his words.
"Congratulations, Reign," Eisenhorn said as Reign nodded at him with a smile on his face.
"So, have you guys decided what to do with them?" Reign said as he pointed at the nobles that were involved in the queen's plans and had members who had died after she was gone.
"Well, not all were privy to the truth, so we're not sure just how to punish all of them, on the other hand, the guys that were with us and have taken over as heads of their respective families had already cleaned up most of them by themselves, so there is no need for us to meddle there," Raigon said with a sigh as it was a headache for him and the others as to how to proceed with punishing the nobles that had taken the queen's side.
They could strip them of their titles, but that would mean that they would have a lot of work to do in the future as some of the noble houses had dealings with all kinds of industries in the kingdom, and replacing them wouldn't be easy.
On the other hand, there were many people in those houses that really had no idea of what was truly happening and had no real say as to what the house would do.
Most of the higher echelons of those houses had already been placed in the dungeons, as was the entire secret force that worked for Raigon's father. The things they had done were truly despicable as many innocent people had been murdered by them during the one week that Raigon and the others had been outed as traitors.
Their crimes were heavy, and almost all of them were going to be publicly executed in a coming couple of days in order to placate the people. Raigon and the others had decided to be honest and would tell the people everything that had happened.
They would of course also tell them just how many were killed by the secret force and executing them would be the only way to ease the pain of those that had lost friends and family to them.
As for how they were going to tell the people?
It was going to be via a broadcast.
The royal family had previously built a network of speakers and arrays that would broadcast a sort of hologram in all towns and cities of the kingdom. It was done with the help of Licht and his kingdom who were very proficient in magic and were able to help out immensely during the construction of the entire network.
It was initially used as a way to alert the kingdom of any attacks that would happen, but now, it was going to be used in order to broadcast Raigon and the speech he and the others would give.
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