Chapter 3: Blood Crown
The taste of dominance still lingered on Kael's tongue as he stood over Lyria's broken, trembling body. She lay sprawled across the stone floor, bare and filthy, the evidence of her defeat soaking her thighs. The other slaves in the cell watched in silence, a mixture of fear and arousal burning in their hollow eyes.
Kael's cock twitched again, already stirring with renewed hunger.
But there was something else tonight.
Something darker awakening inside him.
The Sovereign Core pulsed within his chest, hotter, heavier than before.
> [Sovereign Blood Awakening.]
[Condition: First Slave Submission Achieved.]
[Proceed with Blood Crown Ritual?]
Kael's mouth curved into a cruel smile.
"Yes," he growled.
---
Without warning, the Core erupted in his chest.
Kael grunted as a burning sensation surged through him, red-hot tendrils snaking across his veins. His vision blurred, the world warping at the edges, and then — clarity sharper than ever before.
He felt them — every soul in the cell — their fears, their hungers, their hidden, desperate lusts.
He felt Lyria most of all.
A fragile, flickering flame of pride... smothered under the heavy weight of shame and arousal.
Good.
Perfect.
Kael seized Lyria's hair and dragged her upright.
The other slaves shrank back as he dragged her, limp and gasping, toward the center of the room.
"On your knees," he snarled.
Lyria obeyed with a shudder, her eyes glazed, her body trembling.
Kael towered over her, his cock glistening with the remnants of her shame.
The Core spoke again:
> [Mark the First Slave. Spill her Blood. Crown Yourself.]
Kael grinned savagely.
---
With brutal efficiency, he grabbed a shard of broken iron from the floor.
He knelt before Lyria and seized her wrist, slashing a shallow cut across her pale skin.
She whimpered as blood welled from the wound.
Kael captured the blood on his fingers — then smeared it across his own forehead, drawing a crude crown of crimson lines.
Heat exploded through him.
The Core roared in his mind, and invisible chains lashed out from his soul, wrapping around Lyria's.
Her body arched, a cry escaping her lips as the bond seared itself deeper into her flesh and spirit.
Kael's vision sharpened again.
A crown of dark energy, visible only to him, shimmered above his head.
The Blood Crown.
He was no longer just a slave.
He was a Sovereign in the making.
---
Kael gripped Lyria's chin, forcing her dazed eyes up to meet his.
"You belong to me," he said, voice heavy with command.
Lyria nodded shakily, tears streaking her cheeks.
Without hesitation, Kael shoved his cock against her lips.
"Prove it," he ordered.
Trembling, humiliated, broken — Lyria parted her lips.
Kael thrust into her mouth, deep and brutal.
Her gagging sounds echoed through the cell, her throat convulsing around his thick length.
He fucked her mouth mercilessly, hands tangled in her hair, forcing her head to move exactly as he desired.
Her resistance was gone.
Her pride, shattered.
Her submission, complete.
When he came, he forced her to swallow every drop, holding her face tight against his pelvis until she choked and coughed, the taste of him burned into her memory.
---
As she sagged to the floor, Kael turned his gaze on the others.
The Sovereign Core pulsed:
> [New Targets Available.]
[Expand Your Harem.]
[Crush. Dominate. Breed.]
Kael smiled coldly.
Tonight, he had crowned himself.
Tomorrow, he would crown a kingdom.