(Planet Ixtal, Soron’s Castle, Soron’s POV)
*Crinkle*
*Fold*
Soron bit his lip as he folded the letter, his eyes still moist as he pressed the parchment flat between his fingers in an attempt to regain the composure that had slipped from him moments ago.
The faint laughter of Caleb and Mairon playing in the courtyard slowly drifted out of his awareness, replaced by the steady thrum of his own heartbeat, as he focused on slowing it down with focused breaths.
’How pathetic have I become to be so emotional over a mere letter?’
He wondered, as he set the parchment gently on the table, his hand lingering atop it as though anchoring himself to something fragile yet irreplaceable.
Across from him, Amanda, Su Pei and Dumpy remained in respectful silence, each giving him the space they knew he needed.
"My apologies..."
He said quietly, his tone still rough around the edges.
"It seems I lost myself for a moment."
He said, as Amanda rose slightly from her seat, her expression warm and steady as she offered him a gentle smile.
"It’s alright," she said, her voice softening further as she met his gaze.
"If you need some time to yourself, we can leave you in peace. We don’t want to burden you."
She offered, as her sincerity gave him room to exhale, his shoulders loosening a fraction as the tension around his chest eased.
"Yes," he murmured, nodding slowly as his eyes drifted back toward the folded letter.
"That would be best. I would prefer some quiet today, as there is much I need to think about."
He said, as he let his fingers graze the parchment’s edge.
"Let us continue this lovely tea session tomorrow, for I need to make up for this inconvenience I have caused you today..."
He said, as Amanda nodded immediately in agreement.
"Of course. Thank you for welcoming us today,"
She said, as she turned toward her children with Su Pei and Dumpy following behind her.
"Mairon. Caleb. Time to go."
She called, as the boys turned from the wooden dummies they had been assaulting with wholehearted enthusiasm, their tiny wooden daggers clenched tightly in small fists.
And although Mairon looked ready to protest, Caleb tugged him gently, guiding him back toward their mother with quiet maturity, as together the four of them left Soron’s castle at once.
—----------------
(Meanwhile, on the GalaxyNet)
The GalaxyNet servers stuttered for a brief moment as two videos dropped back to back, both carrying the same uploader tag.
[Uploader: Shadow Dragon’s Second Fang | Source Origin Unknown]
The first video opened with Commander Yu Zu screaming, sobbing, begging naked, as Leo dragged him by the hair across a blood soaked floor.
His voice cracked as he pleaded.
His knees buckled.
His dignity dying long before his body did, as Leo showed him no sympathy whatsoever.
*Slash*
Leo decapitated him, before looking into the camera, as although he spoke no words, it was clear by the fury in his eyes that this video was the Cult’s response to the humiliation that Veyr had suffered at the Righteous Faction’s hands.
"He’s first, but any of you can be next..."
He said before cutting the tape, as the comment counters on this video spiked into millions within minutes of it being uploaded.
"Holy shit—"
"Did this really happen?"
"Am I dreaming? Or was that spineless coward really a Righteous Faction Commander?"
The netizens wondered, as although the first video was shocking in itself, what made the situation even worse was the second one that was released alongside it—
As in the second one, Leo stood alone on the ruined plains of Planet Nemo, surrounded by a sea of corpses, whose blood pooled to form small streams merging into a tiny river.
"Nemo is first to fall. But your planet can be next. I am sure many of you laughed at the Cult’s supposed demise. However, backing a wounded beast into a corner is never a wise choice, for you never know when the beast stops retreating and chooses to pounce forward instead."
Leo said in this second video, his voice calm yet threatening, as those who listened to it could not help but feel a chill run down their spine.
Leo did not shout, there was no fury in his tone, and yet within a few hours, his words caused an online meltdown to start on the GalaxyNet.
—--------------------
Comment Thread: Righteous Faction News Hub
Viewers: 237,221,004 (Live Updating)
[Spurgeon54]:
Is this true? Somebody tell me this is another Cult propaganda clip. Nemo cannot be gone. It cannot.
[Robinhood]:
My brother was dispatched to Nemo. I have been calling for twenty minutes. There is no response. None of his friends are picking up either. I feel sick already.
[Dynisor]:
Established: Yu Zu is dead. Confirmed by internal sources. The humiliation footage is real. The kill timestamp predates the broadcast.
[Terry_Williams]:
I thought Soron was the only monster capable of conquering a planet alone. How does the Cult have another? What kind of training do they put their warriors through to create something like Skyshard?
[Cervantez91]:
One man cannot kill that many soldiers in that timeframe. He had an army. He had to. Please someone tell me he had support.
[AceKing137]:
The terrain damage matches concentrated, single-user energy traces. I studied battlefield signatures. This was not an army. This was one man.
[Shard_6761]:
That second video ruined me. I have never felt fear like that. There is no emotion in his voice. None. He speaks like death itself learned to walk.
[LordMongrel327]:
We provoked them. We invaded their worlds. We mocked their messiah. We pushed them into a corner. And now the most feral parts of the Cult are off their leash. We did this.
[SerafimG1]:
Do not talk like that. The Cult deserves worse. We will retaliate. We always retaliate.
[HighlanderCharles]:
Retaliate against what? They literally have nothing left to lose anymore.
[SunnyBunni]:
Skyshard said any world can be next. Any. Do you understand what that means?
It means our home planet can be invaded tomorrow.
Either by him, or Soron.
But either way, we are screwed.
[AtomicVip3r]:
No. No. I refuse to accept this. These videos are staged. They must be staged. Nobody can conquer a planet alone. The Cult is bluffing. Right? Right?
[Laysha_Jenkins]:
People do not shake like Yu Zu shook in staged videos.
[Liljay439]:
Stop. Stop saying that. I want to believe something else. Anything else.
[Buklii]:
Where are the universal government officials? Why have none of them come forward with videos debunking this massacre?
[DocTheSailorMan]:
They are silent because they are afraid. Because they know this is real. Because they know they have no answer to Skyshard.
[Ecco966]:
This marks the first time since ancient times that a single individual who is not a God has exterminated a full military planet alone. The precedent is catastrophic.
[TeoSwig]:
People forget Leo is young. Too young. If he is already capable of this, what will he be in a century?
Where do his limits lie?
[Wafflen]:
If you invade a beast’s den, do not cry when the beast bites back. Do not cry when it tears your hand off. Do not cry when it learns to enjoy the taste.
[Stanna_4351]:
This is the consequence of the Government ignoring centuries of warnings. They said the Cult was contained. They said Soron was dying. They said the Cult’s Dragons were weak. They lied. They always lie.
[Blanket]:
This is not a war anymore.
This is retaliation.
This is vengeance.
[Buusolos]:
This is only the beginning.
—--------------------
By the end of the first hour, the videos had crossed six hundred billion views.
By the end of the second, riots began in three outer colonies.
By the end of the third, a Universal Government official finally appeared on screen—
pale, sweating, trembling as he delivered a statement that convinced no one.
For although the Righteous Faction had always claimed strength, stability, and divine mandate, something had shifted irreversibly.
For the first time, the citizens witnessed proof that Soron was not the only calamity the Cult had raised.
That there was another.
Younger.
Faster.
Colder.
Hungrier.
And if the Cult could still produce monsters as capable as Skyshard, then they were still a long way from not being considered serious universal threats anymore.
As that broke their morale more than watching their own Commander beg for mercy or being whipped naked.