Divine Beast Ascension

But Rhyner didn’t struggle much with evading the strike. Lightning essence poured out of him as he sidestepped the attack.

“A dual cultivator...”

“I hope you’re at least a challenge!” jokingly replying, Rhyner cloaked his body in dark essence as well. Surprisingly, the bright, white-yellow lightning essence and the black as night dark essence weren’t clashing, but ebbing and flowing around Rhyner’s body. “Now, don’t waste my time!”

Rhyner threw himself into the snake’s side. Despite being so large, Portro was agile and quick with his body of muscle. Slinking back just enough to miss the swing of Rhyner’s sword was but a simple task.

“Good... Then you’re worth the effort!”

Chuckling, Rhyner sped up yet again. The serpent was startled to see Rhyner suddenly reach his darting body. It didn’t make sense until the blade effortlessly carved through the wind essence around Portro’s body.

.....

“THREE AFFINITIES?!?!”

But as Portro changed tactics and whipped up multiple tempests as diversions, the snake failed to reach the doors of the throne room before getting cut off. And when he tried to shout, Portro realized something else, “You... You’ve already–”

“You were busy with your meeting, so I didn’t bother you while I raised a silence formation,” Rhyner chuckled. “Didn’t I mention that stealth is one of my strong suits? Perhaps I didn’t...”

“Foolish Human! Relying on tricks and false strength to–”

“None of that matters now. We can do anything, so long as it leaves the other drowning in blood!”

Pushing off the ground, Rhyner was launched into Portro’s face. But his agility was unlike anything from earlier as he danced around the lashing serpent. At the moment, the two essences swirling around him were mainly wind and lightning with dark essence flickering out every second or so. And it was the same case for the sword, which bathed in electrifyingly sharp essence as it cleaved into Potro’s neck.

“Hmm... I thought a low-king would have a stronger backbone...” Just then, the snake’s head toppled and crashed to the floor, exposing the clean cut Rhyner had made through the snake’s neck and spine. “Well... I guess we move on to phase two.”

While the rest of the snake’s body fell lifelessly, Rhyner kept his blade at the ready. His other hand grabbed Portro’s lip and dragged the oversized, decapitated head. It had landed and rolled over, now upside down. Ready, Rhyner dropped the silenced formation and kicked the doors open with no delicacy whatsoever.

THUD!

The crash of the doors filled the palace halls. Nothing was as ornate as Bore Palace but that was to be expected of a lesser-known region and not what Rhyner cared about. His focus was on the guards, those who had been thrown back by the slamming doors.

“Your king is dead. Do you dare object to me replacing him?”

Unsure of themselves and even more so of the situation, the guards were speechless. Their eyes darted back and forth between the human king that had suddenly appeared and the severed head of their now-deceased master.

“If there’s any opposition, let them act now!” Rhyner’s voice boomed and echoes across the hallways. “Your snake king is dead and found guilty of prefectural treason! All who dare to uphold his former way of running things and object to the necessary changes must speak up now!

“... No one?! Then, all servants are to enter the main courtyard! Either hurry there within five minutes or be slain as an enemy of the new regime!”

The guards standing before Rhyner were still speechless, reeling from shock. One left immediately while another soon followed but others lingered in their confusion.

“Either move or die! I have no use for any servants unable to handle such a simple order!”

No more time was wasted as the guards shook themselves out of their trance-like state and scurried away for the courtyard. They shouted and spread orders as they went, making sure that everyone understood the severity of the mighty claim.

Sighing and relaxing slightly, Rhyner glanced back the head and chuckled. He shared no more words but his unsatisfied grin said enough. He slipped back into the throne room and made an upward slash into the corpse on the ground. The deep incision was near the decapitating blow and revealed the no-longer-beating heart of the beast. There was also a glint from the beast’s divine core, which Rhyner snatched without hesitation. Now satisfied, Rhyner returned to the severed head and began dragging it toward the main courtyard for all servants to see clearly.

It was a mad scramble for the many, many servants of the palace. They were frantically rushing in and out of the main courtyard with whispers and murmurings of what was going on. But it was only after three minutes had passed and the entering traffic began to slow down that someone noticed something.

There was a man standing in the air, above the crowd of servants. Most everyone there was a perennial, yet all of them struggled to understand how that man was floating without any active essence.

“There’s no need to worry!” the man in the air shouted and laughed heartily. “Everyone here will be treated fairly!”

“W-what’s going on?!” one bold servant shouted from below.

“Just protocol. We can’t have any loose ends join the new ruler.”

“W-who are you?” another servant asked, feeling more confident after the man answered the first question.

“Me? I’m just my master’s right-hand man. You’ll meet your new king in a moment, so relax for now. So long as you remain in this courtyard, you’ll be questioned fairly.”

“And what about those that don’t? Those that are too busy to get here in such a short time?”

Finding the exact servant who had spoken up, the man above grinned and shrugged. “Who knows? They’ll face a different kind of questioning, one that will test their power to survive.”