The Path of Ruin

The capital was... big.

Kael couldn't even compare it to the metropolis before he teleported, let alone the town. The walls on the other side of the huge city were so far away that they looked like... a pale mountain.

And not only that. The area allocated to the teleportation field was also much larger than where he had stood only a few seconds before. There were many more big square floors, and the area was much more crowded.

So crowded and noisy at the same time that it was almost overwhelming...

But despite all this, there was one place Kael couldn't take his eyes off. Not far from the teleportation field, a structure whose top seemed to touch the grey sky.

'Is this... a palace...?'

It was big... too big. So much so that Arcanoa's palace was nothing compared to it. And at the same time, it was mesmerizing. It was so clearly a magnificent palace, belonging to a great ruler, that Kael... felt small looking at it.

Not just 'small' in size... but in everything.

He swallowed involuntarily. Barely tearing his eyes away from the palace in the distance, he turned them in the direction of Hakon and General Loukan.

He saw the two of them side by side, talking about something. But it was probably nothing overly serious as they didn't look like anything like that.

Not Hakon, at least. The general named Loukan... he always looked serious. Even though Kael had seen his smiling face, his normal expression was so stern that he couldn't help but doubt his memory of it.

Nevertheless, their conversation was short. Neither of them said anything for a short while, then looked exactly in his direction and Kael suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

'H- huh? Were they talking about me?'

Why else would they both be looking in his direction for no reason at the same time?

'No, it must be about their mission. I'm not that important of a person...'

But despite his words, he had to hold back a gasp when Hakon's image flashed before him.

"Our main mission was to catch a criminal, you know. And we did, even if he's dead. So we'll go to the palace to report back, and the other soldiers will disperse to their barracks. And you... will come with me."

"I'm going with you to report the mission...?"

Hakon shook his head from side to side.

"Of course not. That's for the lower ranks. Am I the commander of a whole unit for nothing? What am I supposed to report and do?"

Kael paused. Slightly agitated, but without a trace of it in his tone, he spoke slowly.

"Then... where are we going?"

"To decide what to do with you, of course."

"And shouldn't it also be the lower ranks who do that...?"

"Not if I feel like it. Now... follow me."

And... that was the end of their conversation. As much as Kael wanted to ask, he kept the question of where they were going to go to himself, deciding not to bother Hakon as he would soon find out where they were going anyway.

And so, the two began to walk out of the teleportation field, leaving their group of two hundred and fifty soldiers behind.

Kael was not idle in the meantime. He continued to imprint everything he saw in his mind. He tried to learn more about the capital.

And, well... it wasn't much different from the previous city to be honest.

The only thing about the capital was that it was much bigger and more crowded.

But that was it. Nothing more or less.

*******

They easily passed the guards who, thanks to Hakon's authority through his rank, checked everyone who entered and left the teleportation field. Then they went out into the street. And the place they were heading for was...

'Palace, huh...'

Yes, they were heading towards the palace.

He didn't know why, but Kael had thought at first that they were going to a secret place that would be like a base for assassins. But that was not the case.

Why hadn't he thought simple?

Sighing lightly, Kael noticed another difference this time as they continued to approach the palace step by step.

'Huh...'

Although the palace... was quite far away, the street ahead of them was devoid of buildings and opened out wide. This was because... there was another large and wide wall blocking their way.

They lined up in front of the gate on this wall as Kael studied everything he saw with interest. Again, thanks to Hakon's rank, they moved forward smoothly and got behind this wall as well.

And so Kael was amazed again.

The gardens of the palaces were naturally large. Even the garden of the palace in Arcanoa was large enough to be filled with buildings where people with many different tasks worked and stayed.

But not as big as this one.

'This...'

The palace in the capital of the Empire was like... a city in its own right.

Kael could tell at a glance that none of the people he saw were normal folk. Each one was a palace servant, a soldier, a healer, a gardener... and so much more. It had much wider roads and was more spacious than the city streets. But it was certainly nothing less than a city!

So much so that there must have been almost two kilometers between the main building of the palace and the entrance gate they had just passed! So from one end of the palace walls to the other must have been four kilometers apart...

"Pretty big, isn't it?"

All he could do in response to Hakon's words was to simply nod his head. Hakon smirked simply at his reaction, but said nothing more. So they kept moving forward.

After walking for about five minutes, Hakon finally paused at the corner of a path that led to a building and turned towards it. Kael also gave his full focus to this building.

A few meters away from the building, there was probably a sign telling what it was. But Kael could not read or write, so he did not focus on it.

The building was three stories high and, like the whole capital, quite big. Too big, even. The walls were made of concrete with different colored patterns on them, and it looked very high quality. Just like all the other buildings in the capital.

"This place..."

"It doesn't really have a specific purpose, it's more of a general building. But the most common use is for some kind of entertainment."

"Entertainment?"

Hakon nodded his head.

"Exactly.

It's where they used to have duels between people, plays, and stuff like that. It's not used for anything today. So it's empty."

Kael asked curiously as he followed Hakon, who slowly walked into the building.

"If it's empty... why are we here?"

"Exactly because it's empty. So we won't be disturbed."

'We won't be disturbed...?'

He thought about Hakon's words for a while. A few things started to come to mind, but... he couldn't help frowning when he realized that none of them were good things.

'Does he want us to be alone? But why?'

He continued to follow Hakon, for there was nothing he could do.

But... for some reason, he had a bad feeling.

*******

"And... here we are!"

Hakon pushed open a double door on the first floor of the building. Kael quickly looked into the room.

And what he saw was...

"Is this an... arena?"

In front of him was a rather huge space with chairs that gradually descended. After a few meters down, instead of descending further, the floor became flat, creating a large space.

"Sort of, but it's empty as you can see. This is where the duels are held. Follow me."

With a smile beneath his mask, Hakon began to descend, passing through the myriad of chairs. Kael followed him, slightly uneasy.

The moment Hakon set foot on the flat floor at the bottom, Kael heard the door behind them slam shut, but he didn't turn around. Instead, his eyes were fixed entirely on Hakon, who was walking on the flat floor.

"Now... what do we do?"

"What we do now is quite simple."

Hakon paused and turned around, leaving about five meters between him and Kael.

The smile under his mask was still there. But his eyes... his eyes were sharp this time, completely on Kael.

"We're going to find out how strong you are and exactly who you are. In short... what you can do, how valuable you are. You will show me a few things I want you to show me. And of course, you will answer the questions I ask."

Hakon placed one of his hands on his waist, his expression serious.

"Without telling a single lie."

Kael's eyes narrowed at the threatening tone. He never looked away as his expression became serious too.

"I see..."

It seemed that he was going to spend some time here. No wonder he had a bad feeling back then…