Long Live the Emperor! (2/2)

Abruptly, the Brancotte emperor is awoken from his slumber in his palace. "Sire, sire!" he hears one of his aides cry out.

"WHAT!?" the emperor can't help but want to punch something after being woken up.

"We're under attack your majesty!"

"Is it Fisco?!" Suddenly, the emperor's irritation is gone, and it's replaced by fear.

"…I… I don't know! It's a bunch of strange pointy eared monsters!"

The emperor shoots to his feet with energy unbecoming of an old man, then he looks out the window. He's a mage himself, so he uses his magic to peer deeper into the city beyond his natural range of vision. He sees that the front gate of his palace has been ripped off its hinges.

"HOW DID THEY BREAK THROUGH THE SPACE FIELD AROUND THE PALACE!?" The emperor bites his fingernails in agitation. "I thought the reports said that all the space enchanters had died in the Threshold."

Indeed, the very mages who built the defenses of the palace also built the Threshold… and lived there maintaining the space locking spells on the fortress.

Of course, the emperor doesn't know that those very same enchanters now serve Haalfrin loyally in death as Arkin now.

The emperor freaks out even more thinking of this strange circumstance, so his voice raises even higher when he turns to his servant and says, "Fetch the guards outside the door! We're leaving NOW!"

The old monarch is in the middle of being helped out of the room on his aching legs, when suddenly, he feels a powerful presence just outside his window, and a familiar chill as death aura washes over him.

Before the emperor even has time to turn around, all the windows in his room shatter, and everything in his room – the walls, wardrobes, dressers, furnishings… and the people… all of it is yanked off the ground and pulled outside.

As tons of ornate furnishings drop a hundred feet below, the emperor is caught by an invisible hand and dragged towards the window. The invisible force then lifts him up, and he's caught by the pointy eared monster, who grips him by the throat.

He looks over desperately and sees a pointy eared "Monster" floating in the air. "Laura? I…"

"You thought I died in the Threshold?" the pointy eared woman says sarcastically. She used to be a court mage before she signed up for the Threshold, so of course the emperor knew her.

Laura rolls her eyes, looking at this pitiful man with disappointment. He used to be such a strong king, so when did he become so stupid? "Well, good bye former boss."

She then releases his neck and lets him drop. She only leaves after she sees him splat on the ground.

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The next day, all highest ranked nobles in the empire are summoned to court. Naturally, they all know about Fisco's terrifying military might, so none of them dare skip this meeting…

They came expecting to see a usurper, so none of them are particularly surprised to see Fisco sitting upright on the emperor's seat.

There, he's fiddling with the emperor's bloody crown, which he had notably not cleaned up yet.

Fisco watches as everyone files themselves into their assigned seats… and he waits for a few minutes as nobody dares to speak.

Sure, some of the nobles here are looking at Fisco resentfully, as they had been genuinely loyal to the emperor. It doesn't help that there are rumors that the crown prince had escaped…

…but even if any of the royalty had saved their own lives, that won't do them any good. No matter how many dukes and marquis support the "rightful king", they can never hope to defeat Fisco's pure military might.

Plus, from the reports they'd heard, just a single pointy eared warrior had incapacitated over a hundred military mages with a few spells.

Yes! Incapacitated! Everyone knows that it's infinitely harder to capture your enemy alive than to just kill them! That means Fisco's army was going easy on them!

Simply put, their best option was to shut up and hope Fisco allows them to stay in power, no matter how much they don't like it.

Seeing everyone settle down, Fisco finally sets the crown on his head and says, "So, nobody's going to object to this?"

There is silence.

"Good," Fisco nods. "Now, we have business to discuss. If you all behave, then I'll let you keep your lands and titles. I just want things to continue as usual – including getting the tribute from our subordinate kingdoms."

One particularly brave brave duke stands up and asks, "But… sir… um… your majesty… the world gate has fallen. What would we be using all these resources for?"

"I still have Commander Haalfrin on the other side," Fisco says, "He's found a way to stimulate a person's bloodline and evolve them into an Arkin – a more pure version of a human. They're the pointy eared folk, in case you're wondering."

Indeed, some of the Arkin have familiar faces, since many of the soldiers who perished in the Threshold were from noble families.

Fisco then nods to one of the Arkin guards at the side, and the man steps up.

To everyone's shock, another Arkin abruptly swings his ax and cuts the first Arkin's head off.

Everyone gasps at the sudden act of violence… Many of the more frail hearted folk faint or cry in distress. Only the Spirit mages among them keep calm and have fascinated looks… for they've noticed that the Arkin's spirit didn't leave his body after he was beheaded, nor did he release any Death Aura.

Seeing some of the people trying to stand up and leave, Fisco frowns and commands with a magically elevated voice, "WHO TOLD YOU YOU COULD LEAVE?!"

Everyone obediently sits back down.

Over about an hour, everyone watches in awkward silence… until someone shouts in shock, "His head is growing back!"

After another hour, the "dead" Arkin's face has fully healed up, and he suddenly takes a deep breath. The moment he comes back to "life", the splattered blood dissipates into black mist before being reabsorbed by the revived guard. Everyone watches in shock as the beheaded man gets back up and acts like he wasn't just "murdered."

"As you can see," Fisco says, "the Arkin are far stronger… and obviously immortal."

This time, there is hushed murmurs among the nobility, and Fisco smiled at this, knowing that he's won.

After all, there is a simple truth in this world that Fisco understands well, and that truth is this:

The people who have the LEAST in this world also care the least about their own future – their own lives. That's why most murderers and thieves are the poorest people; they have less to lose, so they don't care as much about going to jail or being cast out of society. In a way, you can say that much of their sin is committed because of jealousy and apathy.

Conversely, the people who have the MOST in this world commit sin because of an entirely different reason. They commit crimes and discard their moral codes because of fear – fear of losing what they have.

Thus, Fisco knows that most of these rich and privileged nobles will be far more susceptible to temptations of immortality than any other group of people. Now, even the people who secretly wanted the old regime back will no longer care for any of the remnants of the previous dynasty.

With everyone now on board, Fisco finally gets to explaining himself. "The new Threshold commander and I have a way of sending things across the world gate… but there are some really strong enemies occupying the Threshold – and consequently the world gate. The commander needs all the resources he can get so that we can retake the Threshold and open up the world gate for safe passage."

Hearing that the nobles all have the reaction Fisco wanted.

Just marching in and taking the capitol by force wouldn't be enough to solidify his rule and get the nobles on his side completely. He wanted them to have a REAL incentive to gathering resources. The faster they can get the world gate back open, the sooner they could find the man who can apparently make them immortal.

The carrot is certainly better than the stick.