CHAPTER 147: A KING’S HUNGER

They stood in the silent street, the five bodies at their feet a testament to Nox’s brutal efficiency. The faint light from the distant lighthouse cast long, distorted shadows that danced around the corpses.

Elisa poked one of the bodies with the head of her warhammer. "Well, that was anticlimactic. I was hoping for a real fight."

"His methods are... effective," Mela admitted, though she looked a little pale.

Serian just watched Nox. The cold, detached way he had dispatched the entire guild was terrifying. The boy she knew, the one who smiled at racing games and got flustered by a simple compliment, was buried deep under this new, monstrous power. ’Is this what it means to be a king in this world?’

Nox was ignoring them, his attention focused on his new interface. ’Liona, allocate points. Fifty points. All into Strength.’ He felt the familiar surge of power, his muscles coiling with a new, satisfying density.

[Strength: 162 - 212]

’Now, the boxes.’

[Rare Skill Box opened! Skill Acquired: Minor Regeneration.]

[Rare Skill Box opened! Skill Acquired: Basic Mana Sense.]

He almost laughed. ’Useless.’ He already had a better regeneration skill, and his Void Gaze was leagues beyond basic mana sense. ’Liona, consume them.’

[Acknowledged. Consuming redundant skills... Skill data assimilated. Void Eater has gained a marginal amount of experience.]

’So I can even eat my own useless skills. Good to know.’

"What are we waiting for?" Elisa asked, getting impatient. "There are more of them out there, right? Let’s go get ’em!"

"No," Nox said, dismissing the interface. He looked at the map in his vision. The blinking red dots representing the other Candidates were all moving now, like sharks that had smelled blood in the water. And they were all moving in the same direction. "They’re not coming for us."

"What do you mean?" Serian asked.

"They’re all heading for the same place," he explained, pointing toward the center of the city. "The auction was just the opening act. The main event is starting."

They made their way back toward the city center, moving through the shadows of the warehouse district. As they got closer, they could hear the sounds of battle, the clash of steel, the roar of spells, the screams of the dying.

They found a high vantage point on the roof of a tall building overlooking the main plaza. The scene below was one of utter chaos. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of players were locked in a massive, swirling battle. It was a free-for-all, a storm of flashing skills and desperate attacks. Guilds fought against other guilds, loners picked off the weak, and in the very center of it all, a new Royal Flag had appeared.

It was a banner of brilliant, shimmering gold, and it was being defended by a single, powerful figure. A woman clad in the gleaming, full-plate armor of a paladin, her sword a beacon of holy light as she cut through the waves of attackers.

"By the spirits," Mela breathed. "Who is she?"

[Analysis: Candidate ’Aria’,] Liona’s voice supplied. [Holder of the Royal Flag of the Sun. Her abilities are highly effective against multiple, lower-level opponents. Her combat style is defensive, designed for a battle of attrition.]

"That’s our next target," Nox said, his eyes fixed on the golden flag.

"We cannot fight our way through that," Serian stated, her voice full of a grim certainty. "There are too many. We would be overwhelmed."

"We’re not going to fight through them," Nox corrected, a slow, predatory grin spreading across his face. "We’re going to let them do the work for us."

He looked at Elisa. "You wanted to crack some skulls? Now’s your chance. Go down there and make a mess. Don’t go for the Flag. Just cause as much chaos as possible. Draw their attention."

Elisa’s grin was a mirror of his own. "Now you’re speaking my language." She hefted her warhammer and, without another word, leaped from the edge of the rooftop. She landed in the street below with a ground-shaking boom that sent a shower of cracked pavement into the air.

"FOR GLORY!" she roared, and charged into the fray like a natural disaster.

"Mela," Nox continued, not even watching Elisa’s chaotic entrance. "You’re our sniper. From up here, you can pick off anyone who tries to break away, anyone who gets too close to the Paladin. Don’t let her rest."

Mela just nodded, a swarm of her sharpest, most potent needles already forming around her.

"And you, princess," he said, turning to Serian. "You’re with me. We wait for the opening."

The battle in the plaza intensified. Elisa was a whirlwind of destruction, her warhammer crushing skulls and shattering shields. Mela’s needles were a silent, deadly rain, picking off mages and healers who thought they were safe in the back lines. The chaotic free-for-all began to shift, the players forced to deal with the two new, terrifying threats.

The Paladin, Aria, was left with a moment of breathing room. She stood over the bodies of her fallen attackers, her chest heaving, her golden aura flickering.

"That’s our cue," Nox said.

He flickered.

He appeared on the plaza floor, a hundred feet from the Paladin, a silent shadow in the midst of the chaos. Serian was right beside him a moment later.

Aria’s head snapped toward them, her eyes, burning with a holy fire, narrowing as she saw the black Flag on Nox’s back. "The Void Monarch," she said, her voice ringing with a clear, unwavering authority. "You have come."

"Just here to pick up my new flag," Nox replied, his voice casual.

"You will find me a more difficult opponent than that brute Ragnar," she declared, raising her glowing sword.

"I’m counting on it," Nox said.

Serian stepped forward, her own sword drawn. "This is not a fight you need to face alone, Nox."

He just looked at her, then back at the Paladin. ’Liona, what’s the play?’

[The entity ’Aria’s’ power is based on sustained, defensive combat. A direct assault is inefficient. The optimal strategy is a coordinated, high-impact strike to overwhelm her defenses before she can adapt.]

"Fine," he said to Serian. "You take the lead. I’ll back you up."

Serian nodded, a determined look on her face. She charged, her body wreathed in the golden light of her own divine power. It was a battle of suns, a clash of two holy warriors under the gray, dead sky.

Their blades met in a shower of sparks, the sound a beautiful, terrible song. Aria was strong, her technique flawless, but Serian was just as skilled, her movements a graceful, deadly dance.

Nox just watched, a silent shadow on the edge of the battle. He wasn’t just watching; he was waiting, his senses spread out, analyzing every block, every parry, every flicker of Aria’s golden aura.

’There,’ Liona’s voice noted in his mind. ’After her three-strike combo, she has a 0.7-second recovery window where her right flank is exposed.’

Serian unleashed her own powerful attack, a wave of golden light that forced Aria to take a step back.

"Now, Nox!"

He didn’t need to be told. He was already moving.

He flickered, appearing at Aria’s exposed right flank in the exact 0.7-second window Liona had identified. His fist, already coated in the jagged black armor of the Infernal Monarch, was pulled back.

Aria’s eyes went wide. She tried to turn, to bring her shield around, but she was too slow.

Nox’s punch wasn’t just a punch. He poured every ounce of his will, every drop of his corrupted mana, into the blow.

’Void Eater.’

His fist slammed into her side. The impact was not a boom; it was a silent, devouring implosion. Her gleaming plate armor didn’t just dent; it dissolved, the holy metal turning to black dust as the void consumed it.

Aria screamed, a sound of pure, agonized disbelief as her own divine energy was ripped from her body, siphoned away by the insatiable hunger of the void. Her golden aura sputtered and died. Her sword clattered to the ground. She collapsed to her knees, her body trembling, completely powerless.

Nox stood over her, his fist still smoking with black energy.

[Divine Energy assimilated. Your affinity with Pure Mana has been slightly increased.]

[New Skill Acquired: Holy Light (Beginner). Consumed.]

[Void Eater has gained a significant amount of experience.]

He ignored the notifications. He just looked down at the defeated Paladin.

"It’s over," he said.

He reached down and pulled the Golden Flag from the ground.

The battle in the plaza stopped. Every player, from Elisa to the weakest loner, just stared as the Royal Flag of the Sun dissolved and flowed into the black banner on Nox’s back.

[Royal Flag Acquired!]

[Current Flag Count: 114]

[You are now the Candidate with the highest Flag count in the region.]

[A temporary marker has been placed on your location, visible to all other Candidates.]

A massive, pulsing purple beacon erupted from Nox’s position, shooting up into the sky, a giant "kill me" sign for everyone in the city to see.

Nox just looked up at it, a slow, dangerous grin spreading across his face.

"Good," he said to the silent, watching city. "Come and get it."