It was the day like any other when Penelope, dressed in white ceremonial dressed, was walked up to the execution stage guarded by an army of over hundred thousand men. Duke Acrisius accompanied her up to the stage of brick and magic with the smile like an eager gigolo about to cheat a woman out of her inheritance.

Penelope stepped into the middle of magic circle drew with mercury and took one more glance at the cloud, knowing this might be the last moment she witnessed the wonderful expanse of blue.

…

Outside the canyon which the Hidden Vault located, the army of Eurytheus and Minos surrounded the entrance, readying their war machines. It was an unlikely truce that fated to shatter. The three 33 Stars, ZZZ Millione, Balos Aurorin and Elish Metis met each other with their respective Dukes in the most awkward meeting of the last centuries.

“Well,” Balos, relaxing on the table like the entire universe was under his control, stated. “This must be awkward.”

“No shit, plaster-face,” Elish glared at him.

Balos glanced with Millione and Eurytheus with newfound respect.

“Is he this awful the entire trip?” Balos asked.

“Yes, and yes, I threatened to kill him,” Millione said. “It didn’t take.”

“Because you are not strong enough, narcissistic banshee,” Elish shrugged off Millione burning gazed. “What is the plan? Should I go first? Or should I let you go first and get stabbed by whatever surprise they have? Or should we go together and used the shrieking bard as a meat shield?”

ZZZ Millione silently counted to hundred to stop herself from ripping her ally in half.

“We will not attack until they started the ritual. They will be at their weakest then,” Balos answered.

Duke Minos, who had spent the entire discussion enjoying Balos’s tea collection suddenly realized something, “What happens after we crush Acrisius? Someone must ascend to the throne. I want to make a confirmation before we find ourselves backstabbing each other in a middle of the battlefield.”

“That is simple,” Balos replied. “We do a point base system game. Whichever team gets more point out of three wins.”

“Killing or capturing Acrisius is one point. The other is to secure the Hidden Vault,” Millione said. “What about the last one?”

Balos smiled charmingly, “I heard former queen Penelope is also in there. Whoever capture the failure get a third point then.”

“Well, man,” Elish Metis said with grudging respect. “I am fascinated that you can be this reasonable.”

“As an Aurorin noble, fairness and sportsmanship are my tenet.”

Balos believed he got this covered. Truth was he was expecting them to either win or lose against those Dukes. What happened next was the series of unpredictable landslides that awarded both teams zero point, a beating of their lives and trauma for masked superhero.

…

It was then the ritual began. Blue light floated from the platform as a multiple tendril. Penelope gasped when the tendril joined as one a quickly speared her through the chest.

Acrisius smiled as a crimson light broke from Penelope and the entire valley shook. Rocks stumbled from behind the vault as a humongous winged reptile woke from beneath the earths.

From the entrance, the allied army of the two Dukes marched into the field with a thunderous momentum. Siege machines and magics crashed against the magical barrier erected by the defender in colorful volleys of flames, ices and winds. However, it was Balos’s butler, Ornith, supported by several buffing spells from ZZZ Millione who rose to occasion. The butler shot out like a silver bullet and pierced the barrier with his blades. The metal point dug inside the barrier surface, and with the power of an S-ranker, he divided the translucent barrier.

“Sorry, Aurorin, I am getting the point!” a woman in a cowgirl getup, S-Ranker Elin Rockshooter, emerged from the alliance army and sniped at the podium with her finger, unleashing a beam of magic glowing in the starry combination of purple and blue.

It was then the figure of woman cladded in red metal armor intercepted the beam, and rocketed toward allied army. She clashed in mid-air against another S-ranker, a barrier specialist invited by Elish Metis. The S-ranker began enveloping the woman in red-armor inside a multi-layer barrier that was rapidly failing to hold her in place. Yet, the S-ranker construction was unbreakable.

Ornith, facing against the army, attempted to close the gap between him and Acrisius and Penelope on the ritual stage. Balos waved a golden knife and shot several magic to cover the butler as he made his way through layers of magical protection, turning soldiers attempting to stop him into swizz cheese.

He lunged his blade into a trooper who received it with his stomach. Ornith ran through two more soldiers without stopping, but surprised when the three skewered men did the unbelievable and halted him. Ornith looked into those unnatural crazed eyes and shivered.

Something was wrong with these men.

Ornith suddenly felt the heat from above and jumped back to avoid the hell fire.

He, and the army of both Eurytheus and Minos, looked up to see raw terror.

It was a massive black dragon whose head long could fit snuggly inside a ravine. Its length stretched over a kilometer long. Its snout towered hundred meters over the army like a skyscraper of despair. The shadow it cast was insurmountable. Even when only with its top half rose over the earth, the dragon already blotted out the sun and radiated raw killing power upon over soul beheld in its gaze.

The Earthshaker had awakened

…

Acrisius laughed madly at the dragon’s advent. The holographic crimson seal shaped as the Earthshaker’s head glimmered, levitating victoriously in his hand. Penelope collapsed in exhaustion beside him, powerless to do anything.

“Well, thank you my niece,” Acrisius reveled in his success, basking in the glory of Centuria’s guardian beast. He admired the six ruby-like eyes lining the beast head, the black shining scales and the claw that could kill Godzilla with a swipe. The oppressive black-tinged Mana from this humongous king maker was unbelievable to behold. “Your final parting gift is well received. With this—”

Acrisius drew his sword and finished his farewell, “You can die happy that your blood shall be shed in the name of a Nation Reviving King.”

Acrisius swung his sword down.

Penelope starred at the coming blade with acceptance in her powerlessness. She wasn’t happy with how this turn out, but she did her best like he believed she could. If Penny were honest, she would say she even surpassed her own expectation.

But like many tyrants would soon find out in near future; thou shall not gloat until the sunrise is surmounted.

Clang!

Storm of poppies petal erupted in front of the strike, heralding the young man who blocked the attack. Acrisius at the peak of his power wasn’t stopped by a knight of Dawn, but a young hair man with flaxen color hair. His face was ordinary, but Acrisius only took one look into his eyes to see the burning determination.

“Phillip?” Penelope said and then saw a woman kneeling beside her. “Atlanta? How?”

“It is a long story,” then Alanta, garbbedd in the royal guard uniform, addressed her master and friend with a long-awaited scolding. “What are you thinking? Using yourself as a bait? You are lucky Kakia didn’t-“

“Stop! You two have to leave right now. You are going to die!” Penny panicked at the thought of two people she cared about being caught in this mess.

Acrisius swung his sword at Phillip. The young man responded with a maneuver learned from his mentor, dropping his weapon to grab coming wrist and twisting Acrisius’ arm over his shoulder to break his hold on the blade. Acrisius’ sword, glamorously studded with jewelry, dropped to the ground as Phillip released an electrically charged palm strike at the duke, knocking him off the stage.

That simple martial art moved got everyone's attention.

…

“Where the hell did that guy come from?” Elish Metis asked as he disintegrate another frenzied attacker with high-intensity sound waves.

“From the look of it, he is on Penelope’s rank,” Balos Aurorin slit a man's throat with his knife. “This is ridiculous. Penelope have no hope of making a comeback and her faction should know this.”

The believes Balos subscribed through was ripe in everyone's mind. They knew for certain the Penelope’s fall was set-in-stone. With only two people on her side in this skirmish, the best she could ask for was a graceful death. It was a mindset which displayed the difference between them and the Dawn.

Phillip Odysseus wasn’t here to make Penelope sat on that painful throne again.

The journey of his life and the path placed before him meant much greater than a page in history. Those countless poppies scattered in the air wouldn’t come to his aid for less.

Acrisius, the man still obsessed with those pages, angrily staggered up to face Phillip. The two men didn’t know each other, and they didn’t need to. Both of them had enough reason to trample on another. The dukes couldn’t afford to let a stranger out of nowhere arriving to trample upon his sovereignty. Meanwhile, Phillip couldn’t let the Duke’s ambition crept toward the girl he swore to protect and the dream they could share.

Beneath the gaze of the ancient dragon, two ideal, two selfishness, ambition and love were about to crash.

“No, shit sherlock,” Elish spat at the making of history and pointed toward Phillip. “Hey, if that guy beat Acrisius and takes Penelope away, doesn’t that mean our point is gone?”

“We also needed to do something about that dragon,” ZZZ finally brought the attention back to the humongous dragon who got the show stolen by a mere human. Her sharp eyes already spot the solution to that problem. “I think Acrisius is controlling the dragon through the magical seal he was holding.”

“We needed to attack,” Balos suggested. “Temporary alliance?”

The three 33 Stars nodded.

…

Protected by the gaze of the dragon, Acrisius tried for the last time to use reason.

“Young man,” he addressed Phillip. “I can see you have skill.”

“If you are here for the recruitment, I reject,” Phillip kicked up the sword he dropped. “I already have a place I belong.”

Acrisius waved to the growling Earthshaker who eyed Phillip with a disdain reserved for an insect, and the vast army fighting behind him. He spread his arms opened like he was making the speech for the world.

“A place you belong? I can give you rank, status, and wealth! If you like it, I can even give you Penelope. What does a place to belong give you!?”

“First, happiness,” Phillip slowly twirled his sword. “Second, pride.”

“Phillip,” Penelope tried to warn him away from the fight. “Just try to get out of—”

“Penny, you already do enough,” Philip said to her. “You might already work this out, but your disguise suck. These past few days I am wondering, whether my last encouragement to you is the right thing I should do given hot it ended.” Phillip glanced at the crowd so busily fighting and the explosion rocking around. “Now, looking at all this, even with this failure, I still think I said the right thing. You tried your best to hold an impossible situation with no reward. You have already gone beyond what I have asked for. As a friend, I am proud of how far you have come.”

Phillip turned toward her, “Although a part of me wants you to try again and succeed, I doubt you want that, so I have one question. Penny, now that your duty is already complete, do you want to hang out with me in another market place? Sure, it isn’t as big as the capital, but it is growing.”

Penelope’s lip trembled. Her heart was yelling out for a yes, but amid pain, confusion and magic attacks being flung amongst the ranks of enemies, she couldn’t say it. The monstrosity of Kakia, the madness of Acrisius, and the humongous shadow of Earthshaker dragon sat upon the girl chest like a towering mountain to her dream.

For Penny, her freedom was an impossible wish.

“Oh my, that is a touching speech,” Acrisius mockingly applauded. “There are many problems with thought. You are alone, surrounded by all sides by enemies.” He pointed at the Earthshaker. “I have Centuria’s guardian beast as my proof of kingship. Only me can grant your wish. What miracle are you hoping to accomplish by coming here? Just what reason make you believe I will allow you to walk out of here alive?”

It was then the voice everyone was waiting for proclaimed from the sky.

“Because I am here.”

And the hero arrived, leaping from the camouflage of attention dissonance he wove with [Tenshou], and landed on the ground precisely where he aimed — right on top of the invisible Balos Aurorin who was in the middle of his attempt to enact his own plan.

It was an ingenious plan by the 33 Stars, Balos, armed with Elish’s camouflaged tech, would score a sneak kill Acrisius and Phillip using a point-blank attack and captured Penelope. But alas, a certain knight of Dawn saw it coming from a mile away.

…

From everyone perspective, he appeared out of nowhere.

He slammed into the ground, hitting the heir of Aurorin out of his invisibility, crushing the deluded noble’s lofty ambition under his metal studded boot. Black long coat waved like a fluttering cape, showing forth the symbol of the dawn for all to see. The dynamic of his impact contained such a speed and power, the stage itself splintered in the collision.

Balos, receiving the traditional hero-landing in the spine, fainted in a single hit, coughing up blood from what was certainly the worst injury in his life.

Dream rose from his dynamic entrance, standing tall against all opposition with the prone body of 33 Stars under his heel. It was an image of the generation. He proclaimed his purpose proudly for all to hear. The power of Primal Arcane resonated his voice with every mind.

For a second, the war stopped. The army of the three Dukes watched his thunderous entrance which sent a psychic boom through every mind. The two other 33 Stars gawked at the man in the black mask. Acrisius, being close enough to feel the force of his power, immediately relied on his new found pet to attack.

Duke Acrisius wasn’t the only man in maintaining his composure. Upon witnessing, his charge being stomped to the floor like a toad, Balos’ butler Ornith, rushed at the knight of Satholia like a silver bullet.

As for Penelope, the entrance of the knight ignited one emotion that she believed she would never feel again.

Hope

“Young master!” Said the butler.

“Earthshaker,” Acrisius launched his order. “Kill him!”

Two events unfolded.

A beam of scarlet flame slammed into the humongous dragon casting a shadow of despair upon all beneath. Despite being an ant compared to the beast, the lance of [Astra] backed by the power [Authority], rippled across the kilometer length of the dragon in a tsunami of force. The Earthshaker groaned in pain, a six-eyes rolling in their socket, before Melody Solarmaria, Empress herself, slammed a flying kick into its snout, knocking the head blocking the sun flat to the floor. The shock from her collision rocketed through the battlefield, and the force of the humongous beast hitting the ground quaked the earth.

Melody landed on the dragon's ringing forehead with one message.

“Down and behave, Fido.”

As for Balos’ ever so loyal butler, he made the perfect lunge, but Rem’s [Enlightened Trajectory] rendered that attack muted. Instead, Orninth’s face sped into Rem waiting uppercut while his sword brushed past the air where Rem’s face used to be. Not wasting time, Rem, Dream, executed a five-hit combo, abusing the aged butler’s torso. Bruised and winded, Orninth could only pick upon Rem’s twisting foot and arching fist which brought an entire back muscle in one final haymaker fueled by encroaching Origin and telekinetic armor of [Tenshou].

The haymaker, fueled by the entire strength of the reality-altering garden world, plowed into the S-rank’s cheek. The fist left an imprinted on his skin, fractured his jaw and broke all of his teeth. The butler armored broke to pieces. Consciousness immediately surrendered as Ornith’s head slammed into the splintered stadium, cracking it in half. Poppies exploded from the punch as the raw psychic pressured reverberated, freezing the crowd in ice-cold psychic wave and sending the weak will to their knees or dreams.

Men and woman of all ranks couldn’t dare move as the knight in black coat, mask and necktie addressed the entire battlefield after one-shotting an S-ranker.