The victor of the Uncrowned King Tournament stood victorious in the center of the arena.

Miara’s Monarch core pulsed proudly, standing with the bearing of a queen. It sent a whirl of royal madra swirling around her, rustling her clothes and red hair.

All around, the broken stands began to reassemble from the battle. The massacre that had taken place in Eithan and Miara’s fight was slowly reverting. In a flash of blue light, the dead crowds were brought to life as Northstrider returned everyone back to existence. The walls repaired, the Monarch tower rebuilding themselves. The shattered tiles fitted together like puzzle pieces.

The puppet constructs reformed, dotting around the arena in a black and white pattern.

Miara looked over the crowd, feeling Northstrider and all the other Monarchs unveiling themselves. She eyed each Monarch tower coldly.

“Bow down to your new Uncrowned King.”

Her voice pierced through the confused crowd.

Many were getting up and leaving before they were killed again. The Ninecloud Soul continued to praise Miara as she fed Royal madra into it.

“Wow! Who knew a Monarch could be so beautiful! Did anyone see the way she said that line. Like man, enough to set any young man’s heart on fire!”

The sky above her began to glow a rainbow color as the Ninecloud Soul presented the Uncrowned King crown, a broken silver circlet. It matched the Uncrowned tattoo on Miara’s shoulder. She began to walk towards it, reaching for it. Some of the evacuating crowds who stayed behind began to clap awkwardly and cheer.

Miara jumped back as the Monarch appeared.

He was a chiseled short man with a broad figure. His face was handsome, and his white-gold beard connected to his mane. It surrounded his face, hinting at his origins as a sacred lion. His white silken skirt fell to his ankles, and a white wrap covered his chest.

Reigan Shen, the Emperor of Lions. He was the Monarch that now ruled the Rosegold continent.

The King of Lions looked up from his chalice with gleaming eyes, his mane bristling with rage. His features looked like they belonged to an ancient king.

“Someone broke the rules.”

His voice was languid, but it carried a hint of anger.

Miara’s eyes flashed dangerously.

“You dare show your face to me.”

He growled deeply, showing his fangs. His fingers tightened on his chalice, which began to crack in his grip.

“Your disrespect has gone on long enough, girl. You are no queen. Allow me to instruct you on the difference in experience.”

Behind Miara her group of Heralds landed, standing in front of their queen.

“You will not lay a finger on our queen.”

Shen threw his chalice to the side, clattering to the ground. With his other hand, he made a claw with his fingers and rested it over his core, his jewel-ringed fingers glowing as blue symbols of keys began to appear on each finger. They began to blink in a select combination s he turned his hand, and a gaping hole began to open up in front of his core, a swirling whirlpool of wind being sucked in as he activated the Path of the King’s Key.

Miara appeared in front of him, grabbing his wrist.

The technique faded away as Miara canceled it.

Her Heralds shouted.

“My queen. Stay away from him!”

“Don’t taunt him!”

“Kick his butt!”

Sha Relliar covered his mouth, the Herald caretaker blushing.

“Uh, I mean bad. Very bad. Get over here, your Highness!”

From the wooden tower eight golden figures gleamed in the sunlight as they landed on the tile floor. Their golden intricate armor gleamed in the sunlight. They had their helmets off, revealing their faces. One of them had a red eye in the center of their forehead.

The Eightman Empire, the group of Sacred Artists who together collectively had the power of a single Monarch.

“We will not stand by and accept this,” one of them said. “You broke the agreement we had.”

Northstrider appeared next to Reigan Shen, looking grim with his wild hair and beard. His mismatched clothes did not hide the tension in his muscles.

“We can’t accept the outcome. But it’s not up to us to change the results anymore.”

Seshethkunaaz, Monarch of the eastern Ashwind continent, appeared next to Shen, his arms crossed.

He was a pale boy in a worn wrap, his hair sandy and his eyes golden. Golden sand swirled around him.

He looked at Miara with calmness, his face round and smooth.

“She should have never been allowed to participate in the first place. It was a mistake.”

Akura Malice appeared next to Northstrider, wearing a black fabric with a web of silver chains bearing fat amethysts. One silver chain encircled her forehead and held a large amethyst. Her hair was darker than black, billowing liquid smoke. It matched the color of her lips.

“We are causing a commotion.”

Indeed, the crowd around them were beginning to scream and run.

Northstrider glared at his mortal enemy, speaking stiffly to Seshethkunaaz.

“What’s done is done. I am still judge here. Everyone of you return to your seats. Now.”

Larian from the Empire stepped forward, her yellow hair framing her tight face. She was the renowned archer of the Eight-Man Empire.

“Northstrider, we cannot allow a 15-year-old girl control this weapon. She was to remain an Underlord the whole time, never to unveil herself.”

“I am well aware of that.” He never took his eyes off Sesh. “But I can’t do anything about that.”

Larian lifted her helmet as she put it on, nestling it over her shoulders. It glinted in the sunlight.

“Then we have a problem.”

Behind her the Empire put on their helmets. They lifted their spears and shields, the aura around them trembling.

Sesh ignored Northstrider’s glare, uncurling his arms.

“I will correct this mistake.”

Northstrider’s jaw tightened as he unfolded his black scaly arms as well. He walked up to the boy. Looming over Sesh, Northstrider’s eyes were golden and vertically slitted, matching the Dragon King’s eyes.

“I won’t ask again.”

There was a moment of silence as the Monarchs waited in tension, the strongest Sacred Artists in all of Cradle. The presence of all the Monarchs gathered made the air feel thick.

The last Monarch to join was Emriss Silentborn, Queen of the Everwood Continent and Monarch of Titan’s Grove. She had taken the form of a Remnant tree, made of blue-green light. The bark was detailed, the leaves showing veins and had eyes in the center of each leaf. She gave off a reassuring spiritual pressure, trying to reassure the Monarchs.

“Please,” she cooed in her calm voice. It was rich and motherly, as relaxing as a message. “Think about this. We have no reason to fight. Miara, dear, please we know you have been through a stressful ordeal just now. Please, reassure us you will use Penance responsibly.”

Miara opened her mouth to speak, but she stopped as golden sand began to gather around the King of Dragons.

Sesh looked up at Northstrider, meeting his glare.

Blood aura flickered across Northstrider’s body, his fists clenching.

Emrirss Silentborn spoke, “No! A fight here would bring casualties numbering—"

“I said—”

Seshethkunaaz backhanded Northstrider, cutting him off, swatting him as if shooing a fly away.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The arena exploded in a firestorm, consuming the entire arena to cease to exist and reducing everything for miles around to ash.

Sha Miara shoved the blast away, quenching the aura away calmly. She brushed her mouth with her fist, stretching her other arm and then her neck.

When the firestorm died, the Monarchs were the only ones alive for miles, standing in a massive crater.

Miara looked horrified where her Heralds had been, feeling guilty. She had caused this.

Emriss Silentborn had protected herself with a wall of sap. She exerted her Authority and began to revive everyone who had died, teleporting them miles away where they would be safe

Northstrider was revealed standing in the same place. He had taken the hit calmly, one black scaly arm raised. Blood aura leaked from his arm, forming tiny blood dragons that swam away in the air. He began to growl, causing an earthquake miles away.

Malice face was stone-cold, her family now dead.

The King of Dragons shot into the air in a pillar of golden sand. He grew into a giant golden dragon. It towered over them, covering the entire Ninecloud Court city. Calling upon his Path of the Wasteland, earth and wind aura took the form of Wasteland madra. Blowing golden sand rested as a cloud under his body which stretched all the way to the horizon, his golden beard flowing to the ground like a waterfall.

A massive sandstorm began to gather around him.

Malice’s purple eyes burst in a violet light, and she enveloped herself in her Akura armor. Her armor grew into a giant so big it was inconceivable, one leg bigger than an entire mountain. Malice controlled it from the center.

Northstrider Forged a crimson blood dragon as dense as a Remnant, using a touch of his Dragon Icon to bring it to life. He sat on its head it elongated, matching the King of Dragons in length. It was the Serpent’s Maw, the Forger technique he used to break through barriers. It was flooded with soulfire and carried a Monarch’s presence. If any Underlord had been left, their souls would have been snuffed out in its presence.

Above, rising to the atmosphere, Northstrider and Malice clashed against the Dragon King.

They met in an explosion of madra, and the land around them shattered, chunks of dirt lifting from the ground. Cracks appeared in the ground, leading to the center of Cradle. The atmosphere ignited with madra, dispersing the clouds all around the continent. Everyone on the continent began to experience an earthquake.

The Eightman Empire gathered, forming into formation as they began to pool their madra into the Path of the Eightfold Spear. Their formations allowed them to manipulate aura.

Miara turned to them as they released their techniques. Each of them practiced their own path, their Striker techniques rushing at the Luminous Queen. She Forged a wall of royal madra, catching the techniques and sending them flying back.

The Empire raised their shields, weathering through the storm, as they marched forward.

In the atmosphere, Northstrider punched the Dragon King in the face with a giant blood fist, sending an explosion that burst with blood madra. Miara caught the blood madra with her royal madra, integrating Northstrider’s Path of the Hungry Deep as her own.

Blood aura enveloped her, and Forged into serpentine dragons that shot from her, swimming through the air towards the Empire.

Their armor lit up, and they blocked the blood madra, pushing it to the side with their shields. Miara shot her Royal madra at them but they caught it on their shield, dispersing the madra among all eight of them, ripping it apart. The remains of it shot out like exhaust fumes from their armor.

Larain lowered her shield and Forged a bow and arrow, releasing the glowing white arrow. It tore out so fast the ground blasted away from it.

Miara spun to the side, kicking her leg around her. It trailed blood madra behind her foot. She made a ring of blood madra around her that transformed into a dragon, draping itself over her shoulders. It roared and opened its mouth, swallowing the arrow of light. The arrow exploded in its mouth and the blood dragon dispersed. Miara’s head was knocked back from the explosion, the ground underneath her liquifying from the heat.

Miara turned back to the Empire with a smirk, not a single strand of hair out of place.

They rushed at her, shoving their shields. Miara jumped back, throwing the blood aura Northstrider had leaked out and Forging a massive dragon of blood that rushed at them. It dispersed against their shields, and Miara cast a net of Royal madra, aiming to take control of their next technique.

Together they sluiced through the fire, shields out and spears stabbing through the Miara’s Forged creations.

Their armor was a mix between a Remnant and a construct. An army of ten thousand Golds wouldn’t be able to even scratch the armor.

Miara Forged a madra sword, glowing with the color of the rainbow. It radiated power and authority. She leapt on them, slashing down with her sword. Del’rek of the Shann slashed with sword aura, blocking her strike. He had once participated in the Uncrowned King Tournament as an Underlord, having beaten Adama in the solo matches.

The aura around him burst with sword aura, and as Miara dispersed it, the Empire surrounded her.

A barrage of madra, shields, arrows, and swords rained down all around Miara. She dodged them all, Royal madra exploding from her as she caught their techniques and used it against them. Their armor flashed in the sunlight, blinding any surviving onlookers who happened to glance in their general direction. Larian the Archer shot arrows at Miara, who Forged a wall of blood aura to block. She slapped the wall and it rushed at Larian.

Behind Miara she felt a blast of lightning. She flipped backwards as the lightning pierced the air where she had been standing, grabbing it with her hands and forming a massive jagged lightning bolt. As she landed, she smashed the bolt onto the Empire, but they pushed back. One of them Forged a Ghost-blade gray sword that slashed out at her, turning to green as it began to touch her life aura. Miara ripped it apart and threw it back, but their pooled madra swallowed it up.

In that moment, the Empire went to their knees, raising their shields over them. Larian jumped on their shields, and they threw her up like a golden wave to Miara.

Larian raised her bow, and behind her, millions of arrows were Forged. They burned with white arrows, and they all fired at once.

Miara met the tsunami of arrows by Forging a massive blood dragon head, swallowing the techniques. It burst the dragon head apart, and she was forced to make another dragon head to swallow the last of the arrows.

As Larian fell to the floor, Miara raised a hand to the sky, her royal madra swirling with the Ghost-blade, blood, and lightning madra she had taken.

Taking up a quarter of the sky, a phoenix burst from the blue sky. Its feathers were made of green Ghost-blade, its eyes lightning, and its beak blood. It shot down onto the Empire, lightning streaks flailing from its body like long whips.

On contacting their shields, it detonated in power, the land around them collapsing, crumbling into darkness that led to the center of the planet.

Behind Miara she felt a power surge.

A whirlpool of force madra opened in front of Reigan Shen’s core as he activated his Path of the King’s Key. The swirling whirlpool grew bigger and settled behind him, giving off a spatial aura. It grew tall enough to tower above even the fight between Malice, Northstrider, and Sesh as they fought in the atmosphere. Their fight caused explosion of light lighting up the entire sky, and cracks began to form in the sky.

The light was reflected off Shen’s black vault.

It formed into a black metal sculpture of a roaring lion. Its maw began to crack open, revealing a dark dimension. It opened in an archway, revealing his spatial vault where he stored his weapons, techniques, and enemies.

It stretched to eternity and was pitch black. The floor was made of iron and stretched like a floating platform, hoisting a variety of weapons. A scripted container contained an unconscious Monarch floating in green liquid, curled up in a fetal position. He had blonde hair and wore the Arelius robes.

Shen summoned his armor form the vault, and the white plating covered his body. His shield had a lion face and swirled with toxic venom aura. A red feathered cape hung from his back, created from the Bleeding Phoenix’s feathers. His belt of goldsteel links floated off his waist, turning into a giant golden key that he held like a sword

From the lion’s maw, a white light began to form. Miara’s Monarch eyes were able to see the atom-sized pinprick of light, watching as it grew bigger, traveling at light speed. It began to fill the entire lion’s maw, exploding outwards with such power it made Miara hesitate.

Behind her the Empire had dispersed her phoenix and were regrouping against her. Miara prepared herself.

As the Monarchs fought in the first twenty seconds, Emriss Silentborn’s Herald Chryleia helped protect the rest of the city, enveloping the crater they fought in with blue-green light. The Titan Grove Monarch reinforced Chryleia’s barrier, also busy reviving everyone on the continent who was dying and teleporting them to safe zones.

As the fight wore on, the sky began to glow sapphire. It was unnoticeable at first, but it started to become bright enough to pierce through the explosions of light occurring between Malice, Northstrider, and Sesh in the atmosphere.

“Enough, children.”

The voice called from the heavens.

Miara froze, Shen’s swordkey inches from her face. Behind her the Empire were locked in place in their formation. In the sky, Malice, Northstrider, and Sesh were still. They slowly floated to the ground, their techniques dispersing.

A blue light descended from the sky, piercing through the sky and healing the cracks that had appeared. He looked human, his hair cropped close and his beard thin. His eyes were beady black and rat-like. His armor was an eggshell-smooth white. Over his shoulder was an eye with a purple iris, the size of his head.

The Abidan had arrived.

As the Monarchs unfroze, their techniques faded away. Shen’s armor and vault vanished in the air, his swordkey turning back to his goldsteel belt.

Northstrider crossed his hands, closing his eyes.

Seshethkunaaz brushed gold sand out of his hair, ignoring Northstrider.

Malice looked gravely at Kiuran.

The Empire lowered their shields.

Emriss Silentborn respectfully bowed her head.

Miara looked up excited, knowing what was coming next.

Kiuran of the Hounds floated over them all, his hands behind his back. As he descended, the world around them began to heal, reverting back to normal before the Monarchs had begun their battle.

“The winner has been decided. Sha Miara has won Penance. Makiel’s word is final.”

Shen looked up at him, his eyes wide. He snarled at the heavenly messenger, his sharp teeth glinting in the azure light.

“I bow to no one.”

He roared like a lion as he turned to Miara, his fist pulling back.

Kiuran caught his fist, appearing in front of Shen.

In slow motion, Kiuran of the Hounds had lightly grabbed Shen’s wrist back with two fingers, and Shen stilled.

The punch stopped in midair and shot a wave of wind that sliced around the air, causing a massive hurricane that decimated the newly rebuilt Ninecloud Court city, blasting it to rubble.

Kurian looked over his shoulder at Shen with contempt, his lip curling up.

“Settle down, my king.”

He shoved Reigan causally down, and the Emperor of Lions slammed into his knees with a crack. Shen was unable to move, his hands gripping the tile floor so tightly it turned to dust under his strength. He strained to stand up, but Kiuran lightly kept his hand on Shen. The Abidan instantly healed the Ninecloud Court city.

All around them, the arena returned. The crowds were screaming now, everyone leaving.

Kiuran turned to Miara as stairs appeared behind him, leading to the Uncrowned King crown. Above it, floated Penance.

“Your prize.”

Miara ran up the stairs, grabbing the crown and placing it onto her head.

Miara looking down to the Monarchs and the arena. She summoned her Monarch clothes of feathers, revealing her identity. She let her Royal madra expand, and all the puppet constructs around the arena went to their knees and bowed their heads.

‘I am Luminous Queen Sha Miara, daughter of deceased Sha Leiala. I am the Monarch of the Ninecloud Court, and I will have my prize.”

She gave a bow and turned to Penance. It reflected off her eyes as she cupped it in her hands. It was a black arrowhead that was silver-edged. In her hands, Miara held the power of a life: she could kill anyone in the world, even a fellow Monarch.

The Ninecloud Soul, having come back to existence, began to talk nervously.

“I present the winner of the Uncrowned King Tournament! With it, she has the most powerful weapon the world has ever known….”

Miara raised Penance above her head with one hand, smiling widely as Penance spun. It sent her hair fluttering back.

“For my first order of business….”

The Dragon King and Reigan Shen teleported away.

The Eightman Empire vanished as well in a flurry of light.

Miara closed her eyes, and Penance glowed with blue light as she activated it.

Scripts of blue exploded outwards, blinding the entire world as Penance let out a shrieking noise that began to cause an earthquake.

It shook the entire planet of Cradle.

***

Kiuran smiled above Cradle as he looked over the new Abidan recruits.

The Eightman Empire, Reigan Shen, and Seshethkunaaz stood in front of him.

They would rather forcibly join the Abidan if it meant keeping their lives.

Kiuran didn’t hide his smirk.

“Come. We are needed.”