Chapter 933: I came to bring your subordinate.
In the Imperial Capital, the Heavenly Emperor’s office was far too silent for a place that had just received news from the far East.
The tall windows were open, letting in the pale light of late afternoon, while golden curtains swayed gently with a breeze controlled by magic. On the main desk, maps of Aelyra’s territory were spread beside letters, broken seals, and reports received in sequence since Strax had sent his message. The Emperor stood before the desk, one hand resting on the wood and the other holding a still-sealed report.
Derick stood at his side, motionless, serious, and clearly expecting the next document to be worse than the last.
The Emperor opened the seal.
Read it.
Then frowned.
"What became of her territory?"
The subordinate kneeling before the desk raised his head only enough to answer, maintaining a rigid posture. He had just arrived by official teleportation from an observation post near the eastern coastline, and still carried dust, sweat, and salt on his uniform.
"Surprisingly intact, Your Majesty."
The Emperor raised his eyes.
"Intact?"
"Yes."
Derick also turned his face toward the man.
"Explain precisely."
The subordinate took a deep breath.
"There was no attack against civilian cities. No coastal village was destroyed. The ports remain operational, though in a state of panic. The royal fleet was not burned. The outer garrisons remained alive. The palace royal guard, for the most part, was also spared."
The Emperor fell silent.
That was not what he had expected.
Not after the letter.
Not after what Aelyra had done.
Not after learning that Strax had personally gone to her territory accompanied by other dragons.
"For the most part?" he asked.
The subordinate nodded.
"Three of Aelyra’s direct subordinates were found dead. All connected to the intelligence operation that supposedly coordinated agents in Asgard. In addition, the upper part of the palace was almost entirely torn away. The throne room is exposed to the sky. Some towers collapsed. But there are no signs of a general massacre."
Derick narrowed his eyes.
"And Aelyra?"
"Missing."
The Emperor slowly closed the report.
Then looked at the map of the far East.
He had expected ruins.
Expected ashes.
Expected an entire coast marked by the passage of a furious dragon.
But Strax had gone there, invaded the castle, removed Aelyra, and left without turning the population into a statistic. That was almost more concerning than indiscriminate destruction. It meant control. It meant intention. It meant his fury had a target, method, and limit.
The Emperor released a heavy sigh.
"How did a dragon in that state not destroy the entire city?"
The answer came from a voice that belonged to none of those present.
"My master is a kind man, Your Excellency."
The entire room exploded into motion.
Imperial soldiers appeared around the figure in less than a second, weapons raised, spears pointed, magical circles lit on the floor, and swords drawn in perfect synchronization. Derick placed himself between the newcomer and the Emperor, his eyes cold and his hand already on his own weapon. Defensive seals activated on the walls, illuminating the office with golden lines.
The woman, however, did not move.
Albedo stood at the center of the room as if she had been invited.
Without wings.
Unlike the full demonic presence she had displayed in Aelyra’s castle, now she appeared with an almost ceremonial appearance. Her long black hair fell down her back, framing a face too beautiful to seem safe. Pale horns adorned her head, a dark halo hovered above her, and her white dress with golden details contrasted with the shadowy aura still subtly escaping her body. In her gloved hands, she carried a large box, reinforced by green, black, and white runes.
She smiled before dozens of blades pointed at her neck.
"I did not come to attack anyone."
No soldier lowered their weapon.
Albedo seemed to find that adorable.
The Emperor observed her for a few seconds, evaluating not only her posture, but the absurd confidence with which she remained in the heart of the imperial palace surrounded by elite guards. Then he raised one hand.
"Lower your weapons."
Derick looked at him for a fraction of a second.
The Emperor did not repeat himself.
The weapons lowered.
Not completely.
But enough.
Albedo tilted her head with theatrical elegance.
"Very kind."
"What brings you here?" the Emperor asked, without taking his eyes off the box.
Albedo smiled.
"On behalf of my master, I came to return your subordinate."
She placed the box on the floor.
The impact was heavy.
Not like wood touching marble, but like flesh and metal contained by magic. Some runes on the lid blinked once, and small dark fragments leaked through the lower cracks before being immediately contained by a green circle that formed beneath the box.
Some soldiers instinctively stepped back.
Derick remained still.
The Emperor did not move, but his gaze hardened.
Albedo knelt calmly and unlocked the side clasps.
Then opened the box.
The smell arrived first.
Several soldiers held their breath.
Inside was something that, for a few seconds, the minds of those present refused to recognize as a person. Aelyra’s body had been reduced to a mass of destroyed parts, held together only by threads of green mana pulsing like luminous roots. Limbs, flesh, exposed organs, and fragments of bone had been arranged in a brutally functional manner, as if the box had been made not to preserve dignity, but merely to prevent everything from spreading across the floor.
And, amid that horror, was Aelyra’s face.
Alive.
Her eyes opened.
Slowly.
Unfocused.
But alive.
The Emperor became genuinely motionless.
Derick lost some of the color in his face.
"She is alive?" the Emperor asked, incredulous.
Albedo smiled as if that were a perfectly ordinary question.
"Yes."
Aelyra tried to move her mouth.
No words came out.
Only a low, broken sound that made one of the younger soldiers turn his face away to avoid looking.
"I came exclusively to explain what happened," Albedo said, rising again. "My master considered it important that Your Excellency understand exactly why one of your Monarchs was returned in this state."
The Emperor slowly raised his eyes to her.
"Explain."
Albedo crossed her hands in front of her body.
"Aelyra, Monarch of Stormy Tides, ordered infiltrated agents in Asgard to kidnap Vex, the child under my master’s direct protection. The girl was followed, sedated, chained, placed in a containment box, and transported through underground tunnels toward an extraction route linked to maritime magic."
The office grew cold.
Not from ice magic.
From understanding.
Albedo continued with the same serenity.
"The child woke during transport. Tried to fight. Broke part of the chains by herself, despite the sedative. My master recovered her before she could leave the city."
Derick closed his fists.
The Emperor remained silent.
"The captured agents confirmed Aelyra’s involvement," Albedo continued. "It was not a coincidence. It was not an isolated action. It was not a misinterpretation. It was an order."
The succubus briefly looked at the box.
"The punishment was proportional to the crime, considering my master’s exceptional patience."
The Emperor cast a glance at what remained of Aelyra.
"Exceptional patience?"
Albedo smiled.
"He did not destroy cities. He did not kill civilians. He did not annihilate your fleet. He did not execute the royal guard that merely fulfilled a defensive function. He only removed the one responsible and three subordinates directly connected to the kidnapping."
She tilted her head slightly.
"That, Your Excellency, is kindness."
The Emperor did not answer immediately.
Because, from a certain terrible point of view, she was right.
Strax could have done much worse.
Everyone there knew that.
Albedo then touched the edge of the box with her fingertips.
"As for Aelyra, she is alive because death would be too kind. My master decided she should remain conscious enough to remember. Remember the box where she placed a child. Remember the chains. Remember the fear she tried to cause. And remember the worms consuming her body while she begged for an end she was not granted."
The kneeling subordinate behind her swallowed hard.
Even some experienced soldiers looked away.
The Emperor stared at Aelyra for a long moment.
The former Monarch tried to find authority somewhere in her own gaze.
There was nothing.
Only terror.
"Can she be saved?" he asked.
"Probably."
Albedo said it with an almost cruel lightness.
"If there are mages specialized in advanced healing, bodily reconstruction, and spiritual stabilization, perhaps they can return her body to a usable state. Naturally, there will be consequences. Physical, mental, and political."
Derick looked at the box.
"And the time?"
Albedo smiled at him.
"Be quick."
She pointed to the green threads of mana still keeping Aelyra alive.
"The magic of one of my master’s wives is preventing death for now. When it disperses, her body will not survive for more than six hours. Perhaps less, if they panic and try to restore everything in the wrong order."
The Emperor clenched his jaw.
Albedo gave a perfect bow.
"My message has been delivered."
"Wait," Derick said.
She looked at him, still smiling.
"What?"
"What does Strax want?"
Albedo seemed genuinely amused by the question.
"He wants no one to touch his daughter again."
The silence that followed was absolute.
Then she turned her gaze back to the Emperor.
"Your Excellency is wise. I am certain you will understand the simplicity of that request."
The Emperor held her gaze for a few seconds.
"I will convey it."
"I am glad."
Albedo straightened.
"Now, with your permission."
A dark shadow opened behind her, like a vertical rift in the air. The soldiers immediately tensed, but the Emperor raised his hand again, preventing any rash reaction.
Albedo took a step back.
Before disappearing, she smiled once more.
"Oh, and my master asked me to inform you that this was the moderate response."
The rift closed.
She disappeared.
The office remained silent.
The box stayed on the floor.
Aelyra remained alive.
The Emperor slowly passed a hand over his face.
"Call the best healers in the capital."
Derick nodded immediately.
"And afterward?"
The Emperor looked at Aelyra.
The woman who had once commanded seas, fleets, and territories now fit inside a box, returned as a warning by a smiling succubus.
"Afterward," he said, his voice heavy, "we will decide how to explain to the continent that the Monarch of Stormy Tides ceased to exist politically before she even died."
Derick walked to the door to transmit the order, but stopped when the Emperor spoke again.
"And Derick."
"Yes, Your Majesty?"
The Emperor looked toward the window, in the distant direction of Asgard.
"No one provokes Strax. No one threatens the child. No one touches anyone under his protection."
Derick nodded.
"Understood."
The Emperor closed his eyes for an instant.
"Because next time, he may not be kind."
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