Her face was completely clean of the gray soot now; there was no point in wearing a disguise anymore. The box from yesterday had made it clear that her hiding game was completely finished.

*Gasp.*

*Gasp.*

Her breath came in short, ragged gasps that hurt her chest. The thick cloth wrapper she usually wore around her neck was gone. The skin below her collarbone was burning so hot it felt like a flame was licking her flesh, and the faint smell of singed skin rose into her nose.

Beneath her collar, the black manticore crest was fully alive. The dark, ink-like lines were pulsing with a blinding, wicked purple light that shot sharp lines of agonizing pain straight up into her jawline and down into her energy core.

Every single time a flash of lightning tore through the sky outside, Lin Wan’s inner core would twist with a sharp, violent cramp. She was connected to him.

Through the royal mark burned into her soul, she was physically feeling the raw, world-crushing energy that Cassian was unleashing upon his final brother. It was a dark, suffocating power that made her feel like she was drowning in a sea of thick ink.

"Weiwei," Lin Wan whispered, her teeth chattering violently from the intense, cold spiritual pressure vibrating through the window glass. "Is it... is it the end?"

A faint, heavily glitched digital chime rang inside her ears.

[The... the divine golden array of the crown prince is fracturing, host...] Weiwei reported, her digital voice running at an incredibly low, weak frequency as if the system itself were being suppressed by the outside aura. [The eldest brother has activated the ancient ancestral core. It is the strongest defensive shield in the history of the Upper Realm. But... but it doesn’t matter. Prince Cassian’s royal bloodline has fully evolved during these past three days. His core is no longer just fixed... he has officially entered the sovereign realm. Host, look at the high palace towers! Look right now!]

Lin Wan strained her eyes, pressing her face against the cold, wet glass of the window, staring through the dark, rainy fog toward the distant, golden spires of the imperial palace citadel.

Suddenly, a giant, blinding flash of dark red and gold lightning tore straight through the center of the spinning black vortex.

*BOOM!*

The sound was so loud it shattered three of the glass panes in the kitchen window, sending small shards of glass flying onto the floorboards. Lin Wan didn’t even flinch.

Her eyes were completely glued to the sky.

High above the palace towers, the thick darkness began to twist and shape itself into a massive, terrifying creature.

It was a giant shadow manticore, its body so large it completely blocked out the mountains, its massive bat-like wings stretching across the entire horizon.

The creature’s giant, golden slitted eyes glowed like two burning suns in the void, filled with a lethal, ancient, and heartless fire.

The giant shadow beast raised its massive, clawed paw, the dark claws humming with a power that made the space around it rip into small black tears.

With a slow, ruthless movement, it slammed its paw straight down onto the golden protective shield surrounding the inner palace.

*CRACK!*

A sound like a million glass mirrors shattering at the exact same time echoed across every single corner of the Upper Realm. The beautiful golden shield, which had protected the crown princes for ten thousand years, disintegrated into billions of tiny, dull sparks of light, dying out in the rainy black sky like falling ash.

A single second later, a distant, long, and absolutely agonized scream echoed from the high citadel. It was the sound of a royal soul being completely ripped apart from its core.

The crown prince had fallen.

Instantly, the violent shaking of the tavern stopped. The loud, deafening thunder that had been roaring for days died down into a dead, terrifyingly heavy silence.

The rain stopped falling, the heavy drops of water hanging frozen in the cold air like silver beads, before dropping straight into the mud.

Down in the dirty, narrow streets of the lower slum, the iron doors of the houses slowly opened. Thousands of low-tier beastmen, merchants, and mercenaries walked out into the open air.

One by one, without a single word being spoken, they dropped to their knees in the dark mud, their faces completely pale with pure, unyielding submission.

"The eldest is dead," a voice shouted from the end of the street, its tone filled with awe.

"The bloodline is settled," another voice cried out, weeping from fear. "Long live the Supreme Sovereign! Long live Prince Cassian!"

Lin Wan let go of the shattered window frame, her legs completely losing their strength as she slid down onto the dirty floorboards. Her hands were ice-cold, shaking so badly she had to press them against her stomach.

The intense, burning heat below her collarbone suddenly died down, turning into a cold, heavy sensation that felt like a thick iron collar locked around her neck.

The black mark had finished its growth. The lines were solid, deep, and unmoving under her skin. It was no longer just a tracking mark—it was a solid brand of absolute ownership.

"His war is over," Lin Wan whispered into the cold, silent kitchen. Her voice sounded completely dead, empty of any hope or survival instinct. "He has won his throne. He has no more distractions left."

[Host...] Weiwei’s voice suddenly cut through her mind. This time, the digital tone was filled with a raw, genuine panic that made Lin Wan’s skin crawl. [My backend long-range grid... it just picked up a massive royal energy signature leaving the inner palace gates. It is moving at an incredible, terrifying speed. It didn’t take the main royal highway. It is cutting straight through the air.]

Lin Wan’s heart gave a violent, painful thud against her ribs.

*Gasp.*

"Where?" she asked in her mind, though her soul already knew the answer. "Where is it going, Weiwei?"

[It has just crossed into the lower sector, host!] Weiwei screamed in her head, the digital static buzzing wildly. [His personal royal carriage... it has just landed at the entrance of our specific street! He is coming for you right now! Get up, host! You need to run! You need to climb out the back window! You need to hide in the sewers! Please, get up!]

Lin Wan sat perfectly still on the dirty floorboards, looking at her raw, red hands. She looked at the gold stones that were still sitting in the pouch in her pocket.

"Hide where, Weiwei?" Lin Wan said, a faint, sad smile touching her lips as a single tear ran down her clean cheek. "The entire world is his palace now. Every guard is his soldier. Every beast is his eye. There is nowhere left to hide."

......

The silence inside ’The Drunken Goat Tavern’ was absolute.

The loud, drunken shouting that usually filled the building was completely gone. The low-tier beastmen who lived in the slums had fled deep into their basements, locking their heavy iron doors from the inside and holding their breath, terrified that the new ruler’s shadow hounds would catch their scent.

The fires in the kitchen below had completely gone out, leaving the entire three-story building cold, dark, and smelling faintly of dead ash and cold grease.

Lin Wan sat alone in her tiny attic room on the third floor.

She was sitting right in the center of the narrow straw bed, her knees pulled tightly against her chest, her small arms wrapped around her legs to keep herself from falling apart.

She had removed the cloth wrapper from her neck hours ago. The black manticore crest was fully visible in the dim, gray light of the room.

The dark, ink-like lines had crawled all the way up to her jawline, glowing with a faint, steady, and unyielding purple light that marked her dark connection to the new king.

Her breath came in short, ragged gasps that rattled in her throat. The silence was heavy, suffocating, and terrifying. It was the exact kind of silence that happens right before a massive predator springs from the darkness to snap its prey’s neck.

Suddenly, a deep, heavy vibration echoed from the ground floor of the building.

*Thud.*

The front door of the tavern below had been opened. There was no sound of breaking wood, no shouting of guards. Just the sound of a single, heavy leather boot stepping onto the wood floorboards.

The step carried such a massive, commanding weight that the entire three-story building trembled slightly from the vibration.

*Creak.*

*Creak.*

Slow, heavy footsteps began to walk up the old wooden stairs.

Every single step was perfectly timed, slow, and completely confident. The person walking up did not hurry. He did not rush like a guard hunting a criminal.

He moved with the casual, absolute grace of a king walking through his own private bedroom, completely aware that everything inside belonged to him.

*Creak.*

*Creak.*

The footsteps reached the second-floor landing.