Chapter 85 - 85 King Novik and King Fenris

'The Celestial Locator, an interesting piece of technology, capable of tracking creatures above a certain power level with absolute precision.'

After a few seconds Valen walks through my portal with a case in his left hand and a large hammer, powered by Sentinel energy in his right hand.

"Isn't this?..." Valen says, confused as he looks around.

"Yes, it's the Night Sentinel palace in Exultia."

"Are we here for the Celestial Locator?" Valen asks.

"Yes, we are."

We make our way through the palace, towards the throne room. We enter the room as a voice starts to whisper. "Why are you here?"

Without saying anything, Valen walks to the middle of the room as a floor panel reacts to his armor and splits open, revealing the Celestial casing. Valen picks it up and opens the case he took with him from hell. He then takes out a power source for the Locator and puts it in the casing, completing the Celestial Locator.

"That is not yours to take." The voice says as a flash of light shines from the throne.

Valen and I watch as the spirit of King Novik, former King of the Night Sentinels appears, sitting on the throne.

Valen kneels before his former King.

"Betrayer, how dare you show yourself before me after what you've done!" Novik says, now recognizing Valen.

"I did not come to ask for forgiveness, I came at his command to get the Celestial Locator." Valen says, gesturing to me.

"At his command?" Novik asks as he looks at me. "And who are you to command a warrior of Sentinel blood?"

"A God."

He looks at me like I'm nuts at first until he looks to Valen who nods, confirming my claim.

"...Oh, right. What are you doing here?"

"He just told you. We came for the Locator." I say matter of factly.

"And nothing else?" Novik asks.

"No, nothing else. Why? Is there something else here we should want?" I ask, curious as I look around.

"Are you a warrior?" Novik asks me.

Valen looks at king Novik shocked. "Your Highness, you don't mean..?"

"Silence!" Novik shouts, interrupting Valen. "Answer please, stranger."

"Yes, I am a warrior. Why do you ask?"

"I ruled over Sentinel Prime for many years as its warrior patriarch, ordained protector of the sovereign Sentinel worlds. The Sentinel people, defined by a legacy of war, deem only those of warrior caste fit to rule, and in times of battle it is expected that the King lead from the battlefield rather than from the safety of the throne. As it is written in Sentinel law, a King unfit for battle is likewise unfit to rule.

For millennia, the Sentinel people have secured their civilization against the threat of invasion from beast and man alike, passing on the mantle of battle to each subsequent generation and refining the craft of war into an art of ultimate mastery. Even in times of peace, the Night Sentinels remain vigilant, developing new technologies of conquest, each the more capable of securing their dominion across the sovereign worlds." King Novik explains.

'Reminds me of Sparta. I like it.' I think to myself as I listen.

"If Valen is taking orders from you, then perhaps they should all take orders from you."

"But he's not of Sentinel blood, your Highness." Valen says.

"Do you see any Sentinels lining up to become king? Our civilization is fractured, most of our people are dead. All that's left is a few pockets of resistance and maybe three hundred Sentinels fighting for whatever else is left. The other six hundred are all working for the Khan Maykr now.

If this man really is a god, then maybe he can perform a miracle and lead them to victory." King Novik says, before he turns his head to me. "So, what say you, stranger? Are you willing to take the trials of kings?"

"Trials of kings? Sure, why not. What do I do?" I say nonchalantly.

"Any one thing the previous king wants you to do to prove your worth." Valen explains.

"I see. So what do you want?" I ask Novik.

"Save my people and they will be your people." King Novik says before disappearing, leaving his crown on the throne.

"Hmm, that won't be too hard." I say as I take the crown and toss it to Valen. "Hold on to this until I'm done. Let's go outside."

I close my eyes and focus intently, gathering as much aura as I can.

Once I've got enough, I spread my aura around the planet, covering it in a thick, light blue fog.

As it engulfs the planet, information rushes through my mind as a single specimen of every animal species is devoured. Every wound is healed, every illness cured and I sense everything that's happening within my aura's reach.

I cover every single Argenta citizen and every Night Sentinel in a thick layer of aura.

Streams of blue energy start racing across the skies all throughout Argent D'Nur as they gather in one spot, before me. Four thousand people, nine hundred of them are Night Sentinel warriors, including the ones who work for the Khan Maykr.

I devour as much Sentinel technology as I can, including one of their flying fortresses.

'Interesting technology. A slipgate, allowing teleportation even across dimensions. More gravity manipulation technology. And very impressive weapons technology. A ballista, a beautiful, precise weapon, the Ballista fires a twin beam of superheated Sentinel energy, vaporizing its target on impact. 

I also devour a Sentinel mech, capable of going toe to toe with a demonic Titan.

'All this delicious technology. I can't wait to devour Urdak entirely. The technology I'll get there should be the most advanced in this multiverse.'

As I'm done, I retract my aura to only cover the people before me as I neutralize any corruption of demonic hell energy.

Immediately, the six hundred Night Sentinels who worked for the Khan Maykr come to their senses for the first time in years.

I open my eyes and turn to Valen. "I am finished. You can give me the crown."

Suddenly, King Novik appears next to Valen again, holding his hands out. "May I?"

Valen gives him the crown and Novik steps forward, facing his people.

"Poeple of Argent D'Nur, there is hope. And he will be your king henceforth as he has passed the Trial of Kings." King Novik says before he turns to me. "What is your name?"

"Fenris."

"Hail your new king, King Fenris!" Novik says before he puts the crown on my head.

Immediately everyone kneels, including Novik.

"All hail King Fenris!" The Argenta people chant.

"Rip and tear!" The Night Sentinels follow afterwards.

Novik nods to me before dissipating and passing on for good.

I turn around and hold my hand up to the sky as I focus on Genesis and exactly what I want it to make.

Genesis turns to liquid as it starts floating up into the sky and expands to an enormous size. 'Creating a fortress that big will take even Genesis a few hours.'

"Valen, I want all Night Sentinels to gather together before me. And you are reinstated as the Commander of the Night Sentinels."

"Yes, your Highness. Thank you." Valen says before he walks to the Sentinels.

Meanwhile, I quickly turn myself into a stream of energy as I appear on the side of Argent D'Nur that has been consumed by hell.

I can see a large ball of pure Sentinel energy floating up in the sky as three streams of energy continuously fill it with more energy while a fourth stream pours energy through a portal, presumably to Urdak for refinement into Argent energy.

I jump high up in the air to locate the three sources of energy and fly down towards the first.

There's an altar and atop the altar lays the corpse of a wraith. Its soul, in the form of a ball is continuously being drained of its energy.

I take the Demonic Crucible and jam it in the Wraith's soul, absorbing all of its energy and putting the soul to rest.

I then do the same to the other two, at least temporarily shutting down Urdak's supply of Sentinel energy.

The Crucible, which was already a source for hell energy, combined with the Wraith's Sentinel energy is now a potent source for Argent energy.

I grip the sword handle tightly as the energy blade extends, now hotter and more powerful than before.

I put it at my waist and return to my new people.

"Your Highness, the Sentinels have gathered together as you ordered." Valen says as he kneels before me.

"Good. Join them, now." I say as I spread my aura once more to cover the Night Sentinels.

I use my aura to turn them all into werewolves and give them the ability to use their own aura.

I then read their collective minds, gaining knowledge of their training methods, preferred battle tactics and their society's rules.

I spread my aura further to cover the civilians as well and turn them into werewolves as well but without the ability to use aura.

Last but not least, I implant them with knowledge of what just happened and who and what I am.

I notice Genesis is almost done and turn to take a look. I raise my hand towards the large metal ball that is now almost two kilometers in diameter and lower it to the ground.

Genesis slowly retreats back to me and forms my armor. I redesign it, using Sentinel technology and turn it into Aegis metal. It now looks like Thanos' armor from the MCU.

I look at the marvelous structure Genesis made using Sentinel technology with a little of my own input, especially in its aesthetic.

Whereas the usual Sentinel fortress sh.i.p.s look like cathedrals built on a rock-like surface, mine is a large, pristinely white castle that is over 800 meters high from top to bottom and 2 kilometers across.

It can't fly yet as I've changed its power supply from one of Argent energy to one that only I can fuel.

I enter the castle, followed by the Argenta people who go look around and I go down to its engine room. In the back, there's a circular door. As I approach it, the door opens automatically and reveals a large spherical room.

In the middle of the room, I use Apollo's divinity and create a miniature sun.

Immediately the ship's systems activate. I walk up to the throne room that provides a perfect view of everything in front of the ship and has monitors displaying the sides and back of the ship.

I walk to a control panel and take VEGA's interface out of my realm in my storage space.

"Hello Fenris. What was that place?" VEGA asks.

"That was my own realm."

"It's beautiful."

"Thank you, VEGA. I want you to operate my fortress."

"Of course, no problem."

I slide the interface into the control panel. After a few seconds the lights throughout the fortress turn off and on. "I have successfully integrated with the ship's systems."

"Good, prepare the slipgate."

"What is the destination?" VEGA asks.

"Earth."