I clicked with my tongue as the skill description settled in my mind as if it were always there. That skill was almost exactly what I needed. Its main downside, however, was the time limitation or to be precise, the skill's cooldown. I could use it for ten minutes and then it had a twenty-four-hour cooldown. It had an interesting mechanic to it as I could extend the duration of the skill over ten minutes, but the cooldown would increase. The maximum duration was one hour, resulting in a one-week cooldown. There was also a fairly important caveat in the skill's description stating that it could never be unsheathed without the result being the death of a man.

  I focused on my Enemy who eyed my newest swords with scorn. I discarded Durandal and re-summoned the Blade of Doom. With Gram in one hand and Tyrfing in the other, I was ready to face Vestargo. I felt that he was also preparing something nasty so I needed to hurry. I dashed at him, this time utilising my full speed, which shocked my opponent. He abandoned his chant mid-spell and desperately guarded his head against Gram but left the rest of his body exposed. While the previous blows made with Durandal were certainly painful, they weren't especially lethal to him. He seemed to realise his mistake too late. I slashed him with Tyrfing across his chest, leaving a deep cut. He jumped back with his face twisted in pain and blood flowing between his fingers pressed to his chest. Very slowly, his face twisted in a grimace of shock and pain as his wound wouldn't heal. He roared angrily, but that only made his wound worse.

  With a satisfied grin, I Blinked and delivered a kick toward his stomach that he barely managed to block. Its power was enough to send him into the air, and I Blinked again, appearing behind him. This time, I managed to cut off his wings. With that, Vestargo became as helpless in the air as most people. With a flurry of Blinks, I delivered a staggering amount of damage. Before the first five minutes of wielding Tyrfing elapsed, I was more than sure that Vestargo was mortally wounded. In a crushing blow from above, I send him tumbling down into the broken arena below. His wound began to turn black as the green tendrils slowly but noticeably spread across his body. While I knew he was done for, I wasn't sure how long it would take for him to die. He was still dangerous but severely weakened. With a slight hesitation, I de-summoned Tyrfing which immediately began its twenty-four-hour cooldown as I gracefully landed a few steps from Vestargo. Reacting, he tried to jump up but only managed to rise to his elbows and knees.

  He stared at me with hatred and fear as he groaned, slowly stood up, and wiped the blood off his face. The System’s barrier was still holding so this wasn't the end. He launched another barrage of vines and sharp stakes towards me, but they dissolved upon crossing the boundaries of my Aura of Doom. I deflected two spears he threw at me one after another but, compared to his previous attacks, they were weak. He was losing strength, or he was trying to bait me into doing something reckless. I felt a sudden surge of mana and barely caught a glimpse of something moving at the edge of my field of view. My personal shields were suddenly overloaded and broke as something managed to pierce them. I managed to parry another spear held by what looked like a thick vine but two others hit me. One of them broke on my chest plate but the second one slid into my left arm joint. Its blade was caught by the chain mail and padding underneath, but the force alone was enough to dislocate my arm from its shoulder joint.

  "Just give up, you bastard," I muttered as I summoned a plain helbard and accidentally used the Blade of Doom skill on it as I repositioned from his attack.

  To my surprise, the helbard was covered in the same power as Gram. Huh... The more you know. Without losing momentum, I swung the blade with as much power as I could with only one hand and buried it deeply between Vestargo's shoulder blades. I exhaled as I took a step back, convinced that he was dead only for him to continue standing as if having a helbard in the back was a minor inconvenience. His eyes were bloodshot as he looked at me with spite and conjured some sort of ice magic.

  "I won't let you win that easily." He growled angrily as his arms were covered in frost and his nails turned into large ice claws. "I cast Winter's Embrace!"

  "Oh, fuck you." I summoned a hand cannon that was based on a reliable revolver and aimed it at his left knee. "I cast gun."

  Then I pulled the trigger.

  There was no mana swirl, no charging, no fancy magitech. Just the recoil of a .500 Magnum cartridge, a bit of smoke, and the supersonic boom of the bullet that pulverised Vestargo's good leg. A second bullet blew off his right arm below the elbow, effectively finishing our duel.

  "Prepare to meet your gods..." I aimed at his head and tried to infuse the bullet with the same power as Gram but since a bullet wasn't a blade, it didn't work. I watched him writhe in agony as he tried to heal his wounds but they were too extensive. The Curse of Tyrfing was slowly consuming his body and made his regeneration ineffective. Vestargo screamed in pain as I holstered my weapon and delivered a kick to his stomach. "Actually, no. I'm not done with you, vermin. You are done, but before I kill you and drag your soul into eternal servitude, I must tell you what will happen once you are dead."

  He looked at me through his tears of pain. His face twisted with anger, but upon seeing my cold expression, it slowly turned to fear.

  "Your precious Vespids will be exterminated-"

  "NO!" He yelled in near panic.

  "Yes..." I said with a solemn nod. "I will spare no effort to find every single one of them. Their nests will burn. The Vespid race will be utterly erased from the face of Nilmerthis."

  "Why?!" He screamed, half in pain, half in sorrow, knowing that I was going to do what I promised to him.

  "They killed my daughters, Lilly and Iris. They killed my friend, Vernon. They killed the people of my Empire. That's why Vespids will be eradicated." I said slowly and without anger although I still felt immense sadness at the very memory of holding their dead bodies. "Your forest will be tamed and thinned. It will never again be a den of evil like you."

  "You can't..."

  "I can't? Who will stop me? You?" I laughed coldly. "The others who helped you? They will be judged. There will be no leniency. No mercy."

  Then, I released my magic pressure mixed with my killing intent upon him. As a last effort, he tried to retaliate but he was too weakened. He was pressed to the ground and started begging me to spare his enclaves, residents, and even his life. That made me laugh. He tried to beg, to prove how he could be useful, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. I clenched my teeth as I readjusted my dislocated arm and I took a deeper breath as I felt it click into place. I embraced the scene of a defeated Vestargo with cold eyes and finally felt his will break like a twig.

  <>

  <>

  The invisible bounds of the World System fell upon Vestargo and ripped away his titles and transferred the authority to me. With a wave of my hand, Kirin and Ceallach appeared near the defeated core. Both of them were in their battlegear and they immediately restrained Vestargo. The beaten Core had nowhere to run but it was more about sending a message than anything else. I looked at his denizens and snapped my fingers with a region echoing crack.

  "Die." In an instant, all of them vanished back to their spawners which I destroyed in my next breath.

  All except one.

  The Mantis spawner remained but it was unable to spawn any monsters. A pair of my Praetorians appeared in front of Vestargo with his former Scion between them. Galahad, whose entire being radiated with glee, grabbed Hunter by his neck and looked at him.

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  "Now you will watch the promise I made fulfilled." The Death King said with a cold voice but seeing the stupefied gaze of the large mantis, he chuckled shortly. "You have forgotten already? I promised you that I would tear your spawner into pieces while you watched. Then I will kill you."

  "No... I beg you! Lord Vestargo! You must stop them!" Hunter looked at Vestargo and, only then, realised that his master was beaten and broken. "No..."

  "Have fun, Galahad," I said in a cold, merciless voice. "I still have some things to do here."

  "Yes, my Lord." Galahad lowered his head with reverence and dragged the mantis by his neck. "Let's go."

  I nodded briefly, dismissed the very existence of Hunter, and focused on Vestargo's Dungeon. There were some slaves in the depths that I summoned to the surface and they were immediately transferred to the ships of my Navy. My Guardsmen were aiding the evacuation and helped to facilitate the rescues on board. All the clean up being done under the hateful gaze of Vestargo. While I was slightly curious about his history, the path to becoming a monster, and the knowledge he gathered, I wouldn’t give him the pride of teaching me anything. I used my authority to start looking for his archives. To my surprise, I found no traces of a library so he either destroyed it before I could capture it or never had one in the first place. Questioning him with force would be pointless because he was still powerful enough to resist my authority. Instead of wasting my time any further, I forced all of his, for lack of a better word, Vassals, to swear their loyalty to me. While the World System offered them some freedom, I managed to evacuate the slaves they imprisoned. Then I turned back to Vestargo who powerlessly observed my clean up.

  "Your empire is now dead." I grinned at him but Vestargo only lowered his head.

  Out of the remaining nine, only two former Vestargo Vassals immediately complied while the rest began to rebel. Their mana vaults were almost depleted, their spawners were still relatively low level, and their scions were inexperienced. With the knowledge of where they were exactly, their rebellion was bound to be quelled before becoming serious. Once we were done with Vestargo, I would give Galahad proper orders and end the threat dwelling in the Ancient Forest once and for all.

  "My Lord? Lady Lavender asks what you plan to do with the Dark Dryads?" Morrigan gently landed near me and stood at attention.

  "The Dark Dryads?" I furrowed my brows as I looked at the blonde Vampire. "Ah.. who now?"

  I realised that there were still hostile signatures scattered below the surface and I teleported to Victory. I only needed just a single glance at the fuming Lavender standing over two restrained and kneeling Dryads to realise that this wasn't going to be easy or quick.

  "Execute them all for complicity of the highest sort, Theon." She said without even looking at me.

  Well... It was quick at least.

  "They helped Vestargo, I assume?" I asked just to be sure.

  "No." She said with anger I rarely heard in her voice. "They created him."

  I took a deep breath and cast an incredulous stare at the two Dryads who were terrified.

  "Would you mind elaborating, my Dear?" I asked in an emotionless voice as I tried not to get angry.

  "Normally I wouldn't." She grimaced and sighed with closed eyes. "I interrogated them already and my Sisters heard their testimonies. We all agreed that they are as guilty as Vestargo. However, I agree that a word of explanation is more than necessary in this situation."

  She took a deep breath and I simply waited. I saw that she wasn't happy about sentencing her own kin to death but it must have been weighing on her soul. She finally nodded and looked at me with her green eyes full of shame and sadness.

  "A long time ago, Dryads were brought to the brink of extinction by the Dark Empire. All this time I was convinced that only those who were sheltered by Kirin survived. It turned out that some of them managed not only to find shelter in Vestargo's Dungeon, but they also managed to save a Dryad Tree sapling. Yes, they were persecuted and experimented on by Vanush, so I can understand why they started hating other Mortals. But their hatred helped to make Vestargo the monster he became. Worse, they corrupted their tree and I can't allow it to live. It must be destroyed. However, with it, the Dryads of the Ancient Forest will wither, lose their powers, and eventually, they will die."

  "Will they die just like that without the tree?"

  "No." Lavender shook her head. "Without the Dryad Tree, they won't be able to have children. They will die of old age. But their tree must be destroyed. It's corrupted beyond cleansing and just a step or two from turning evil."

  I blinked, trying my best to comprehend how the hell a tree can be evil, but arguing with a Dryad about something like that was pointless. And most probably she was right anyway. Instead, I asked another important question.

  "What would happen if we let it grow?"

  "It will corrupt the forest, creating Treants. They are mindless and powerful tree monsters that can easily tear down entire villages." My Dryad wife answered immediately. "They are powerful enough to be troublesome even for our people."

  "In that case, I will follow with your judgment, Lavender." I slowly nodded. "Call them to surrender. Those who will give up peacefully, we will imprison and they will work until they repent of their crimes. Those who will resist, I will destroy along with this Dungeon."

  The two Dark Dryads looked at me in abject horror.

  "You will kill us?" One of them asked Lavender with disbelief in her voice.

  "You have chosen the path of death yourself," Lavender answered sadly. "My duty as the Queen of Dryads is to end this. If you surrender, you will be judged for your crimes. You will live albeit in prison. There are many flavors of prisons and your imprisonment doesn't have to be harsh. But my pity towards you won't stop my husband from ensuring the safety of our Empire. All threats shall be eliminated."

  One of them dropped prostrate and simply started weeping while the other tried to break free. The Praetorians who stood over her pressed her down, flattening the furious woman on the deck. Meanwhile, I tasked Galahad, who just finished executing Hunter, with giving the remaining Dark Dryads our ultimatum. An hour later, I teleported back to the ground and looked at Vestargo who was still firmly gripped by the two Cores. I received reports from the forces sent to clear the rest of Vestargo's Dungeon that only a few of the Dryads gave up. The rest chose death. Or more precisely, they tried to break through the ranks of the Fourth Legion in an attempt to free Vestargo.

  Which was basically one and the same.

  I approached Vestargo unhurriedly as the last Arcadian forces were teleported away. Only the four of us and Victory hovering above remained in the Dungeon.

  "I don't understand..." Vestargo tilted his head as he looked at me. "You're leaving my domain?"

  "Yes. I won't waste any more of my time than necessary." I said as I stopped in front of him. "Besides, I am going to shut down this place forever."

  "What!?" He snapped but Ceallach and Kirin held him firmly. "Let me go! You can't! You-"

  A massive pillar of golden light connected the sky and Nilmerthis released countless souls. I received so much mana that I had to increase my storage. I would have been happy if not for the knowledge of how such a vast amount of mana was created in the first place. Vestargo looked at it with a stupefied expression but, once he realised what was happening, he started snarling and making empty threats. Once Irene finished releasing all the souls imprisoned in Vestargo's graveyard, Victory vanished. I knew they were safe in Avalon.

  "It's over, Vestargo," I said as I grabbed his greasy hair and lifted him up. "Time to die."

  <>

  "I haven't submitted!" Vestargo yelled in panic and tried to thrash but Kirin and Ceallach held him firmly. "You traitorous scums! Help me and I will forgive you!"

  He yelled at the air but I knew he was addressing O'llina, Vanlin, and Lapis. I could feel their anger and indignation that painfully backlashed on Vestargo.

  "No one will help you, you mad tyrant." Lapis' voice made Vestargo sag. "Everyone will celebrate your death. This day will be forever remembered as a day when our world became a better place."

  "Indeed, Lady Lapis." I smiled coldly. "I should probably make it a state holiday? Or maybe not... I don't want your name to be remembered at all, Vestargo. You shall be forgotten by everyone and everything."

  <>

  "Time to die, Vestargo. No one is going to miss you."

  I summoned Gram and plunged it down Vestargo's throat as he tried to say his last words; I didn’t want to hear them anyway. The light in his eyes slowly faded as we all teleported to Avalon. Straight to the unconsecrated graveyard where a deep and black pit was already waiting.

  "I shall seal you in darkness outside the reach of stars and sun. You won't ever be able to harm anyone else." I said as I tossed his body and the ground shut with an ominous thump. I raised my head high and smiled warmly. "People of the Empire of Arcadia! Vestargo is dead! The war is over!"

  I wish you all a great day and as always I wait for your comments.

  A big thanks to who edited the chapter!

  The map of Aderon is on my Discord :)

  https://discord.gg/G6SVrBeDdG