CHAPTER 47: CHAPTER 47: RELIC OF THE ROARING KING

The dust hadn’t yet settled.

Lucas Carter stood at the edge of the collapsed ravine, his breathing ragged. Each inhale stung, drawing in smoke and the scent of scorched stone. His Twin Phantom Blades, once brilliant, now flickered weakly, the magic inside them exhausted. The battlefield below was quiet—too quiet.

Kaela climbed the shattered incline beside him, dragging one of her cracked axes behind her. Her armor was battered, a long gash bled across her brow. Still, she grinned, panting.

"You alive, boss?"

Lucas didn’t answer immediately. His eyes scanned the debris field.

Elira appeared next, helping Luna limp over fallen rubble. Her cloak was torn and half-burnt, and her bow was strung but empty. She winced, placing a hand on her side.

"No sign of Agram. Just... rocks and silence."

Lucas lowered his blades. "Angel. Status?"

{Scanning... Agram’s life signature has ceased. No regeneration. No illusion traces. Conclusion: Target neutralized.}

Lucas let out a long breath. The tension that had gripped his spine finally loosened.

"We did it," he said quietly. "We killed him."

Kaela collapsed to a seated position, exhaling hard. "Then why doesn’t it feel like victory?"

Elira dropped beside her, eyes distant. "Because he still got to Reynard. Because too many died."

Lucas clenched his fists. "This war isn’t over."

His gaze drifted to a soft glow at the bottom of the ravine. Amid the shattered sigils and ruins, something pulsed.

"What is that?" Kaela asked.

Lucas slid down the slope carefully, limbs aching. The glow came from a jagged shard embedded in the ground—obsidian black with veins of gold. He reached out and touched it.

[Core Fragment Detected: Agram - Relic Class]

Angel’s voice returned.

{Hybrid relic: part beast, part forged essence. Corrupted, but not irredeemable. Energy signature matches ancient Bloodline Relics. Compatible with User Signature.}

Lucas frowned. "Bloodline? This again?"

Kaela and Elira joined him, peering over his shoulder.

"It feels... old," Elira murmured. "Like something waiting. Watching."

Lucas hesitated.

Then the system chimed again.

[Alert: Relic resonance triggered. Access Inheritance Memory? Y/N]

He didn’t need to think.

"Yes."

The world around them warped.

...

Light engulfed them.

When Lucas opened his eyes, he stood upon a battlefield painted in twilight. Giant beasts loomed around him—tigers with wings, serpents wreathed in fire, lions with crystal manes. They knelt, bowing not to him, but to a man who stood atop a dais of stone.

He looked like Lucas. Older. Wiser. Hardened. A crown of horn and steel adorned his brow. In his hand, a great weapon forged from fang and soul.

The Roaring King.

Lucas heard his voice.

"I did not rule for conquest. I ruled so beasts and men could breathe the same sky. My bloodline does not conquer. It protects."

The vision changed.

War. Betrayal. The Roaring King fallen. His crown shattered and scattered. The beasts weeping in the ruins.

{Lucas. You carry his legacy. Accept it. Rise beyond it.}

...

They awoke.

Lucas fell to one knee, gasping. Kaela was beside him, sweating.

"That wasn’t a dream," she said hoarsely.

Elira stared into nothing. "That was... history. Your history."

[Beast Emperor Path Awakened]

[New Title Gained: Scion of the Roaring King]

[New Feature: Dominion Command]

[New Crafting Path: Ancestral Relic Smithing]

Lucas felt it—the bond within his soul deepening. Umbra stirred in his mark. Zephyra’s heartbeat echoed faintly. Even Luna purred louder.

{Your will now guides your beasts. Your allies will feel it. And so will your enemies.}

Lucas stood.

Pain still wracked him. The Aegis backlash. The Will of the Unbroken lingering.

But this power—this legacy—was worth it.

He turned to Kaela and Elira.

"We’re not done yet. This was just the beginning."

Kaela grinned. "Good. I was getting bored."

Elira looked toward the horizon. Her voice was quiet. "Then let’s make the end worth it."

...

Hours passed.

Lucas slept at last.

His body needed it. His soul needed it. But even in sleep, he saw flashes.

Reynard’s face. The final arrow. The blood.

He awoke with a scream.

Kaela was there, holding his arm. "You’re safe. You earned that nap."

Lucas sat up slowly. Elira stood at the edge of the room, watching the darkening sky.

"Anything new?" he asked.

Kaela nodded. "Malrick said scouts spotted movement in the far north. A miststorm, unnatural."

Lucas stood. His knees didn’t buckle this time.

"Then we don’t rest long."

Angel chimed again.

{Lucas. Would you like to activate your next feature: Roaring King’s Warpath?}

"Not yet," he replied.

He looked at his companions.

"First, we prepare. Then... we reclaim the world."

...

Far away, beyond the misted borders of Elarion, a tower of bone rose from a cursed valley. Cultists knelt in circles, chanting around a sealed crypt.

The stone cracked.

A low rumble echoed.

Something ancient had heard the Roaring King return.

And it was not pleased.

...

The skies above Greystone were no longer choked with ash and smoke.

For the first time in days, sunlight touched the scorched earth, gilding the castle’s battered towers in hues of orange and gold. Greystone had survived. Barely. But the scent of war still clung to every shattered wall and bloodstained brick.

Lucas stood in the great hall of the inner keep, now repurposed into a triage center. The once-pristine marble floor bore burn marks and blood trails. Physicians moved from cot to cot, tending to militia and beast alike. Thunderfang lay in the far corner, bandaged but breathing steadily. Luna was curled next to Elira, both recovering in silence.

Kaela leaned against a broken pillar, her arms crossed, one leg bandaged tightly beneath torn armor. She watched Lucas without speaking.

Lucas moved from cot to cot, nodding to the wounded, checking in with commanders, lending a word where needed. Every smile he received in return was weighted with pain and pride.

"You don’t need to visit everyone," Malrick said, stepping beside him. The merchant looked thinner than usual, his robes torn, with dark rings under his eyes. "They know what you did. What you gave."

Lucas shook his head. "I need to. For Reynard. For the ones who didn’t make it."

A hush fell across the room as the main door opened.

Angel’s voice chimed in Lucas’s mind.

{System Update Complete. War Campaign Phase I: Concluded. Uploading Summary and Reward Notification.}

A translucent interface unfolded before Lucas’s eyes.

...

[Campaign Complete: Defense of Stonewatch]

Primary Objective: Survive Agram’s Assault ✓Secondary Objective: Defeat General Bragg, Corven, and Nera ✓Bonus Objective: Unlock Ancient Relic (Roaring King’s Core) ✓

Total Militia Survival Rate: 61%Civilians Saved: 94%

[Rank: S]

Rewards:

[New Title: Defender of Greystone][Unique Passive: Battle-Scarred Resolve – When defending a fixed location, gain +15% defense and magic resistance][Beast Bond Level Cap Increased to 35][Quest Unlocked: Reclaim the Eastern Wilds]

...

Lucas dismissed the screen slowly. A lump formed in his throat.

"Defender of Greystone," he said aloud. "Reynard would’ve liked that."

Kaela joined them, arms folded. "He’d say it should’ve gone to the one who punched Agram in the face."

"Then I’ll share it with you," Lucas replied with a faint smile.

Elira approached next, limping slightly but walking under her power. She reached for Lucas’s hand and squeezed it.

"You gave us a future. Now we make sure it doesn’t burn again."

Lucas nodded, his gaze distant. "Stonewatch is just the first step."

For the next three days, the castle bustled with rebuilding.

Lucas met with town elders and war mages, assigning labor forces and rationing supplies. He coordinated beast patrols across the eastern ridge and ensured that the wounded could be moved to cleaner quarters. Every morning, he awoke before sunrise, despite the pain, and walked the ramparts.

On the fourth day, a message arrived.

A sealed scroll bearing the symbol of the Beast Lords Council.

Kaela opened it first.

"They’re calling a summit," she muttered. "High priority. They know Agram’s death shifted the power balance."

Lucas read the names of the attendees. Several minor lords. A few rival beast summoners. And one name he hadn’t seen in years:

Victor Carter

His older brother.

"So it begins," Lucas whispered. "The real game."

Elira looked up from polishing her bow. "Then we better be ready."

Angel’s voice returned.

{New Campaign Tree Available. Would you like to review the branching warfronts?}

Lucas nodded. A new set of glowing paths appeared before his vision:

Reclaim the Eastern Wilds – Clear the corrupted beast lands near Stonewatch. Enemy: Unknown feral cores. Council of Beasts – Attend the summit. Uncover political unrest and prepare for succession conflicts. Ruins of Serakar – Anomaly detected. A lost forge that may hold relics tied to the Roaring King.

Lucas touched the second path. "We prepare for the council first. We need allies."

Kaela grimaced. "You trust them?"

"No. But we can’t win alone."

...

That night, Lucas sat alone in Reynard’s quarters. The room had remained untouched.

A sealed journal lay on the desk. Lucas picked it up and opened it.

Reynard’s handwriting was neat and steady.

"If you’re reading this, then I’m gone. Good. I died doing my job. I always told you you were meant to lead. You just needed a war to believe it. Now win it. And don’t forget to let the pain remind you that you still feel. That you’re still human."

Tears welled in Lucas’s eyes.

He closed the journal and stood, feeling the weight of a legacy not just of blood, but of choice.

He stepped into the courtyard where Kaela and Elira waited beside their beast companions.

Malrick stood nearby, already inscribing travel glyphs.

"Tomorrow, we leave for the council," Lucas announced. "Let them see the ones who survived Agram. Let them remember why we fight."

Kaela nodded. Elira’s eyes gleamed.

Above them, dawn broke.

And the war-born began to march once more.