Chapter 765 (1/2)

“Why did I fail?” The Earth Golem who had been called High King asked to the empty sky.

The clouds held no answer. They hung thick and low above him, forming a dirty sky that warned of the coming rain.

For what felt like the hundredth time today, the Earth Golem reached up with his good arm and rubbed the stump at his left shoulder. He could still remember the cold glean off the reflective silver mech as it burst through the barricade and raised its sickle to strike. He had been confident, then. He had been high king.

That sickle was the sharpest thing he had seen in his brief reign.

“To survive in the prerogative of the great,” his mother had whispered to him when he was young. She would drag the sheepskin covers up to his chin then, and finish with, “As long as one lives, all is not lost.”

Oh Nana, I wish the world was like your stories…

Below him, the vast horde of the afraid traveled with a momentum that couldn’t be stopped. They marched and steamrolled the steams and lives of many without a thought. A few days ago one of the leaders of the Council of Fates had died and there had been some scrambling around, but the body was too large for the head to control any longer; the migration was considering down to the promised land.

And as one who had been neutralized and spirited away to be a critical appendage for the head to keep control of the body, the one who had been High King felt lost. For many reasons.

Most of the mechs had a rough grey hue from enduring the harsh winds of the Earth Golem Land, but not that terrible model that had struck him down. The one referred to as Seraphim. He had never seen the pilot, but he had seen her long tawny hair, cascading down her back.

At the time, his gaze was blurry from agony and the heartbreak of his loss, but he would never forget how the pilot had moved. She had stepped down out of the suit and glanced at him. She wore a black helmet. Then she turned and walked away.

“As requested, he has been delivered. I’ll expect the payment in the usual place.”

“Why…” He muttered again. In spite of himself, he sat up and looked over the edge of the cliff next to him toward the living mass of bodies moving below. It was somewhat mesmerizing, to look at them all flowing like ants over each other. They were about to reach the first line of defense for the Monster Race armies. Currently, a delegation of the monsters was in the heart of this horde, seeking to bargain for a peaceful passage.

But without a doubt, there was no stopping this force. The Monster royal family could either join in or have their entire land laid waste by the flood of people.

“Excuse me…”

The one who had been High King sat up quickly, reaching for the club at his hip. At the head of the path a slim man stood. There was an easy smile on his face, and he possessed short black hair. Immediately, the one who had been High King relaxed. Although he wasn’t overly familiar with this man, it was someone he knew.

“To be blessed by the presence of the Prince of Monsters… it is a rare honor for one such as I,” He said monotonously.

The Monster Prince’s eyes flashed emerald as his smile turned indulgent. “Please. I have never been recognized as half of what you have been named. It is my honor to stand before the High King, the greatest the Earth Golems have seen in generations.”

“To hear that title from you… it sounds like a sad joke,” The Earth Golem said. Laboriously, he stood. “Besides, the fact that I yet live is extremely sensitive. Since you are aware of me… it is possible that I may need to kill you.”

“Could you?” The Monster Prince’s smile widened.

For a second, the one who had been High King felt the urge to test out the young man’s resolve. The Earth Golem had no doubt that the monster before him was strong. Not only had he accompanied the group that went to the Land of Dreams, but he also returned to a Land and united it all within two years.