Chapter 104 - The Enforcer’s Blade

The ninety-eighth dawn tore across Kael El's Ashen Empire with a fractured golden fury, the continental dominion—a sprawling titan—quaking under an unseen pulse. The capital's skyline blazed—bone steel keeps dwarfed by the Golden Colossus, its hundred-meter frame a radiant fortress, core pulsing a volatile violet-gold that cast glitching shadows over the plaza. Kael stood atop the eastern ramparts, 1,200 kilometers from the capital, Stormforged Blade in hand, shard-pommel screaming like a chained storm. EX: Dragonflame Reaver glowed at his hip, Stormhide Armor scorched and dented, the shades' beams and Lyra's chaos burning in his grazed arm. His flirty smirk flickered, a cool dominance veiling a gnawing dread—the Empress's trial, the "Error Rift," and Rhea's trembling plea clawed at his blood. He flexed EX: Gold Dominion, golden veins surging through the stone, molten but heavy, answering the shard's jagged wail.