Chapter 103 - The Devourer’s Trial

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