Chapter 102 - The Lieutenant’s Truth

The ninety-sixth dawn seared across Kael El's Ashen Empire with a fractured golden blaze, the continental dominion—a sprawling titan—quaking under an unseen pulse. The capital's skyline gleamed—bone steel keeps dwarfed by the Golden Colossus, its hundred-meter frame a radiant fortress, core pulsing a volatile violet-gold that cast glitching shadows over the plaza. Kael stood in the war room, Stormforged Blade across the table, shard-pommel screaming like a chained storm. EX: Dragonflame Reaver glowed at his hip, Stormhide Armor scorched and dented, the construct's beams and Lyra's chaos burning in his grazed arm. His flirty smirk flickered, a cool dominance veiling a gnawing dread—the Empress's voice, the "Error Rift," and Rhea's trembling plea clawed at his blood. He flexed EX: Gold Dominion, golden veins surging through the stone floor, molten but heavy, answering the shard's jagged wail.