The walls of the fortification rose like a jagged boundary between the waking world and a nightmare, covered in a mist of throbbing veins that seemed to pump the blood of some colossal demonic beast.
Ethan stood at the highest point, observing the limits of his domain. At his side, Seraphina remained as still as a marble statue bathed in gold and silver. Her blue eyes scanned the wasteland and the fog before them.
"My Lord, the Seekers have returned." Lyra emerged from the shadows behind them. She walked toward the edge, her new high-heeled boots—forged from Blood Steel—clacking against the stone.
Behind her, two quadruped creatures followed like kittens. Upon sensing their Sovereign, both raced to his side. Lyra's eyes narrowed as if offended by their immediate betrayal.
"What did they find?" Ethan asked, feeling a subtle nudge from one of the creatures against his leg. He reached down and stroked its head.
With a furrowed brow, Lyra answered, "Broken people." Her shoulders slumped as the Seeker rolled onto its back, belly exposed to the sky. "Porters, farmers, and low-rank artisans. They say they are escaping the Great Tree. It seems rumors travel fast."
'Porters...' Ethan clenched his fist. 'They are exactly what I used to be... the refuse the System classified as trash.'
"Let them pass," he paused, "but have the Sentinels watch them closely."
Hours later, a group of approximately twenty people emerged from the fog. Each dragged their feet with visible effort, wearing dirty, tattered rags. Their faces were emaciated, bodies marked by the exhaustion and abuse suffered under the Great Tree System.
Upon seeing the wall and the Void Sentinels perfectly aligned before it, their tired eyes widened with terror. Knees buckled and hands trembled uncontrollably.
With a heavy metallic groan, the great gate opened to reveal the world within. The first thing they saw was a massive structure rising from the ground like a throbbing spear of darkness. Walking toward them, a man unlike anything they had ever seen approached with calm, thunderous steps. Sensing the powerful presence, the refugees lifted their heads. They found two deep eyes filled with terrifying power.
The group shuddered. It was as if the entire Void had been compressed to fit within his pupils. After a few moments, the Void stared back.
"Who is the leader of this group?" Ethan's voice resonated with the authority of a Sovereign. It was calm, imperturbable, and heavy.
After a few seconds of doubt, a young man barely twenty years old—with calloused hands and a scar running across his neck like a gallows—stepped forward.
"We have no leader, Lord. We heard rumors of a new system capable of facing the Tree and... we are fed up with being sacrifices. We wish to join you." The man's voice trembled, and the people behind him lowered their heads, fists clenched.
Ethan looked at him fixedly, seeing the reflection of his own past in the youth. He paced before the group as he spoke. "In my valley, you will not have missions that require you to sacrifice yourselves. You will have work, shelter, and protection. In exchange, I demand only one thing: loyalty. If you cannot offer me that..."
Suddenly, the young man's eyes turned a violent red. His body shuddered as a strange, sickly energy enveloped him. He wasn't the only one; every porter, artisan, and farmer began to convulse. They clawed at their heads, some screaming as if their minds were being forcibly overwritten.
The Great Tree was corrupting them, planting a single, overriding desire: to kill.
[SYSTEM ALERT: LEGENDARY CLASS REWARD ACTIVATED]
Objective: Assassinate the Sovereign of the Void - Ethan Thorne.
Reward: All his possessions shall be yours; immediate promotion of two ranks; title of "Hero of the Tree."
The young man, who a second ago seemed docile, pulled a small iron dagger hidden in his rags. His eyes, bloodshot and wild, locked onto Ethan. Madness, greed, and a sudden thirst for power consumed him.
"For the Great Tree! I will be a Hero!" he screamed, lunging forward with the weak dagger held high.
The blade was only millimeters from Ethan's neck when time seemed to freeze. Ethan's cold eyes shifted to look at him. There was only one feeling in them: contempt.
"Poor, stupid fool."
Then, a spear imbued with lightning struck the young man in the head, driving through his entire body and impaling him into the ground.
Seraphina descended beside him with lethal elegance. She walked calmly to Ethan's side, reclaimed her spear, and let the body slump to the dirt. She flicked the blood from the tip and glared at the remaining villagers.
"Does anyone else wish to claim the Tree's reward?!" Her body surged with electric waves, and her wings deployed to their full, terrifying span.
The villagers regained their sanity instantly. They collapsed to the ground, pleading with all their strength. "Mercy! We did nothing! It wasn't us!"
Ethan watched with cold satisfaction. He turned back toward the fortress, speaking as he walked away. "Take the body to Malphas. His remains will be useful."
He didn't need to say another word about the price of betrayal. The gates remained open behind him. The refugees hesitated for a few seconds before finding their courage and sprinting inside. As they crossed the threshold, their eyes flashed with a deep violet light before returning to normal.
Hidden in the shadows to the side, Lyra gripped her dagger tightly.
"The Tree is getting impatient," she whispered.
Meanwhile, at the highest level of the Aleskra Guild, the tension was unbearable. Inspector Marcus observed a mana-hologram map showing the entirety of Volks Valley.
"Lord, more than a hundred have left this past week," Lucia's voice informed him tremulously. "Porters, artisans, farmers… even some low-rank warriors. They are draining our labor force."
Marcus struck the table with such force his fist pierced the hologram. "How can they prefer a damn hole of death over the protection of the Great Tree!? They are traitors!"
He lifted his head slowly, staring at the holographic valley. "No. It's that damn Porter. His system is corrupting the people. He is a virus in the Great Tree's code... If this continues, the Tree will discard us."
The Inspector walked to the center of the room, where a magic crystal communicator rested. He pressed his palm against it.
"Prepare the Third Battalion. Contact the allied guilds. Prepare for a siege."
"What do you plan to do?" Lucia asked.
"We are going to purge that bastard from that valley. We will gather so many soldiers that he won't be able to stop us. We will turn Thorne's empire into an empire of corpses."