A Story of Evil
Chapter 74: The Monarchs

Sol was blown away by the explosion. His space wall was barely able to hold on, shattering as soon as he hit the trunk of a tree. With all of his other skills deactivating at that time. A huge gust ow wind followed, bending all nearby trees from the force as the black flames were also wiped out.

Sol must've been seeing things at that moment. Maybe it was from the fatigue. Maybe it was from the exhaustion. But he could've sworn he saw Prince Blaze screaming for help as he was slowly consumed by his own flames.

"I definitely didn't see that." Sol said as another problem came up immediately.

Pain rushed all over his body. Finally feeling the effects of forcibly developing his mana veins and, using it to the brink at that. He was paralyzed at that moment and, his consciousness almost faded. Yet the pain kept him awake, needing to bite his own lips just to stop himself from screaming.

It was too much stress for his body. He did expect some rebound effect but, Sol didn't anticipate that it would be that much. He stayed where he dropped and focused solely on breathing. Hoping that no other titan would come to where he was at the moment because, his body already retired for that day. That was why he was thankful for the announcement that came shortly after.

[Attention! Good evening to all the titans participating in this year's Culling. We know that you have exerted effort and have continued displaying so in these part days. Unfortunately, due to some tampering with the rules, the culling is temporarily ending. All titans which survived will now be teleported back to Mercury.]

[Please note that the non-violence pact is still in effect. You may rest or return to your domains. But the results of the Culling will be announced after the monarchs have reached a final verdict on the events.]

Sol knew that it was only logical. After the transformation of the earth titans and Prince Blaze, this was the course of action that the council needed to take. Why it took so long and, why it was only announced at that moment were questions he needed to save for later.

All the answers he needed was with King Jubilee. A ruler who was in a meeting with the other monarchs while the fights went on. Discussing what they needed to do with King Reckon.

…

…

…

"Is everyone here?" Queen Aqua, the Vice-Chair was the one to lead the meeting. There were two major reasons for this.

One was because Reckon, the Chair, was still absent. And the second was that, this same king was the person they needed to execute.

"Here ~ " Everyone took a good look at Jubilee.

It was the first time he ever came early for the meeting, Aside from this, they also remembered the fact that, his Voids were the ones leading on the scoreboards. Not just on the first day but, for five consecutive days.

"The old coot is the only one missing." King Nova began, irritated at King Jubilee but even more so with King Reckon.

"I say we begin now because he has no say on this matter."

"Says who exactly?"

All the rulers were surprised. That same old man suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Sitting perfectly still on his chair. They didn't even feel his transporter glowing nor notice anything. Yet the strangest thing about it was how the king was wearing a mask just like his titans. An item which even King Jubilee couldn't get a read on.

"Are you too embarrassed to show your face old man?"

"Now why would I be embarrassed Nova? If anything, you're the one who should be embarrassed by that loud mouth of yours."

"What – "

"Settle down." Aqua said, stopping the two from exchanging any more words than what was needed. Of course everyone complied and, as soon as things were in order, Queen Aqua continued speaking.

"Okay. I'm sure all of us are aware as to why we are holding this meeting."

Nobody had any idea on how to deal with such a situation. An incident of cheating within the Culling has never occurred before. Not even once. And to have it at such a scale of titans mutating and, it being done by the council's elder made things a bit more complicated.

"As we all know, there has been some…weird occurrences within this year's culling."

"Aqua why are you mincing words? Let's cut to the chase." Nova said in a still irritated tone.

"Reckon cheated." He said – like it was an undeniable fact.

"Oh? And do you have any evidence to support that claim?"

"Evide– WHAT THE FUCK? Is a screw lose on that head of yours? Your fucking titan mutated old man. We've got the recordings on the Odd Balls and all the citizens from the ten domains as witnesses."

It was the first time Jubilee actually agreed with Nova. He was still a king after all and, performing his duties properly required that he somehow had some of his brain cells functioning properly.

"As much as it disgusts me to say it, Nova is right." King Jubilee remarked.

"Unless you have any way to prove your innocence, then we all know that you need to be executed."

"Now why would we have to resort to that?" Reckon's tone was calm. As if there was nothing wrong with what was happening as he continued speaking.

"Those citizens of the earth domain, they have inherited a strange gene. That's specifically why I chose them."

"Strange gene?"

"Yes. It allows them to transform momentarily. You see, they could actually revert to their human forms. If we go back now and look at the clips, you would see that they are normal earth citizens."

"If that is true, why did you forget mentioning it during the meeting for the Culling? We were supposed to disclose all current information on our titans during that time, correct? Especially of special abilities and gifts."

There was an air of silence. Nobody spoke for a while and, they simply waited for King Reckon's response. They wanted to believe that he wasn't bad. The kind and reasonable king who always disciplined the council. Yet all the evidence was against him and, deep down they knew that, only execution awaited him.

More than anyone else, it was Jubilee who was anticipating it. He wanted to get see just how far the old king was willing to go. What he was willing to do for the sake of his goals.

"King Reckon, the council is awaiting your response." Queen Aqua commented as the old king was still silent. For a few seconds there was this dense air of silence that nobody invaded. Even Nova kept his mouth shut as they needed the testimony of Reckon.

Yet, instead of an answer, what they got was the hysterical laughter of the king. Beastly and hair raising in tone as he finally gave his response.

"Okay I give up. You totally got me." He said, raising his hands in the air and surprising everyone.

"What?"

"It's true. My Earth titans have been genetically modified."

"So are you accepting the punishment that awaits you?" Aqua asked.

"What are you saying dear queen? It's not me who'd be executed." King Reckon placed his hands on the table. Creating a strong tremor as he followed:

"It's all of you."

The floor they were stepping on began collapsing at that point. Some monarchs tried attacking King Reckon but, stone pillars came and defended him from their attempts. Shielding him as Sanctuary continued collapsing.

With the monarchs unable to use their spells, they tried teleporting out. But it was no use. None of them could get away and, soon enough, the whole of Sanctuary crumbled from the peak of the mountain where it was. Creating a large crater filled with its debris as they were exposed to the chaos air and the cold winds.

Many of the monarchs were wounded. Some were heavily so. They staggered and tried to make sense of what was happening. Looking for Reckon immediately.

"As you can see, this is your execution ground." They found him on top of a high stone pillar. Looking down on all of them as he sat, with legs folded and his fist supporting his chin.

Green flames immediately came to meet him. This was blocked by two stone hands that appeared out of nowhere. Perfectly blocking the first attempt at damaging him.

"Now, now, there's no need to be hasty about this. You will all get an equal amount of chance to meet your maker soon enough."

Nobody gave him a response. Instead a hail of frozen needles and water needles rained down upon him. A vicious attack that caught him in a thick mist as steel swords floated towards him. Attacking the rock hands nonstop until they were destroyed. Then came a hurricane directed at him.

The monarchs, as mentioned, were powerful. Each of them was at least worth the strength of five titans combined and, that may even be an understatement for some of them. They were the strongest warriors of their respective domains and, hearing someone talk down on them hurt their pride like nothing else.

There was no going back at that point. They were going to take down King Reckon, in the most merciless one-sided beatdown they could give.

On top of the stone pillar, the old king was still standing. Part of his mask was broken, revealing his eye. But the group was too far to notice the anomaly on it.

"King Reckon! By the power vested in me as the new Chair of the council." All of the monarchs went into battle position as Aqua said:

"I hereby sentence you to death."