Lord of the realm

Chapter 231: Battle against the Gods

Jaenor’s foot lowered slowly, no longer poised to crush Suyajna. He turned fully to face Wendelina, and the movement was deliberate and controlled, carrying weight that made the air itself feel heavy.

"Is that true?" he asked, and his voice was loud enough to carry across the entire battlefield. Loud enough that every being present, Sovereign and Sin, demon and witch, could hear clearly.

"Mother Supreme Wendelina. Did you plan to kill me? Did you scheme with the Sovereigns to eliminate me once I’d dealt with the daemon goddess?"

"That idiot, I knew she wasn’t trustworthy," Chronalis said.

"We should have restrained her or something."

"And what? Will you go there and do what is needed?"

"Couldn’t she have waited a little longer before showing herself?"

"Maybe she was curious."

"Now we may have to deal with that barbarian because of her curiosity."

The gods talked among themselves.

Wendelina’s mouth opened, but no words came out. She was trapped between truth and lies, between honesty that would confirm Jaenor’s worst suspicions and deception that everyone would see through immediately.

Her silence was answer enough.

Kaelthrys, standing at her elevated position, sighed with profound disappointment. The sound carried despite the distance, and her golden eyes showed something rare: genuine frustration with mortal stupidity.

"Humans," she said, her voice dripping with disdain.

"Humans and their idiocy. Their short-sighted scheming and their inability to recognize when they’re catastrophically outmatched."

She looked at Wendelina with an expression that mixed pity and contempt.

"Didn’t have a good view from back there? Just have to announce yourself."

The Sovereign Queen shook her head slowly.

"The Coven Council’s involvement was their decision, not mine. Some of my fellow Sovereigns may have entertained the notion that the boy represented a threat to be eliminated, but I certainly didn’t authorize this... farce. If I wanted him dead, I’d handle it myself rather than relying on mortals with delusions of adequacy."

As Wendelina stood frozen, before she could attempt any defense or explanation, other figures began emerging onto the battlefield.

The older Chosen Ones, elite witches who’d served the Covens for decades, who’d achieved power that placed them just below the council members in the hierarchy.

There were perhaps a dozen of them, all wearing combat robes, all radiating confidence that bordered on arrogance.

One of them, a man perhaps in his sixties with silver hair and a face marked by countless battles, stepped forward. His name was Torvald, and he was legendary among the Covens for his combat achievements and his complete lack of political tact.

"Mother Supreme," he said, his voice carrying clear disdain for protocol.

"Why are we waiting? The brat’s right there. He’s distracted. Inga has the artifacts. We have a numerical advantage. Just kill him and be done with it."

"We could even use his family," Torvald interrupted, warming to his theme.

"Hold them hostage if he resists. Make him choose between submission and watching his friends die. His friends. That little girl who’s clearly in love with him. Leverage is leverage, and we have plenty of—"

He never finished the sentence.

One moment, Torvald was speaking, gesturing expansively as he outlined his plan to use Jaenor’s loved ones as hostages.

The next moment, he simply lost his head.

Jaenor was standing before the headless man, his right fist covered in blood.

He just punched him in the face with so much strength that right after it landed, it just smashed his head into smithereens.

Jaenor moved so fast that they couldn’t follow his movements; it felt like he teleported.

The other Chosen Ones froze, genuine terror replacing their arrogance. The other chosen’s face had gone white, her mouth open in a silent scream as she stared at the empty space where her companion had stood seconds before.

Jaenor spoke, and his voice was absolutely cold. Each word was precisely articulated, carrying force that made reality itself pay attention.

"Let me make something clear to everyone present. To the Sovereigns, to the Sins, to the Covens, to anyone else entertaining thoughts of using my family or friends as leverage."

His power flared not aggressively, just present.

The simple fact of his existence manifested as a force impossible to ignore.

"Touch them, threaten them, harm them, or even think too loudly about using them against me, and what just happened to that man will seem merciful by comparison. I will erase you so completely that reality itself will forget you existed. No afterlife. No resurrection. No divine intervention will save you. You will simply stop being, and there will be nothing left to mourn."

He took a step toward the remaining Chosen Ones, and they scrambled backward like frightened children.

"I am patient with ignorance. I am forgiving of honest mistakes. But I am absolutely merciless to anyone who threatens the people I care about."

His eyes found Wendelina specifically.

"So I’ll ask again, Mother Supreme, and I expect complete honesty this time. Did you plan to kill me? Did you position Inga and your Chosen specifically to eliminate me once I’d served my purpose against Suyajna?"

Wendelina’s mouth opened to speak, but before she could form words, Kaelthrys’s voice cut through the tension like a blade.

"It’s true," the Sovereign Queen said, her golden eyes fixed on Jaenor with unwavering intensity.

"Every word Morgana spoke was accurate. The Coven Council and several of my fellow Sovereigns did scheme together. They planned to eliminate you once you’d served your purpose against Suyajna."

She took a step forward, and her presence seemed to expand, filling more space than her physical form should occupy.

"But understand something, child. This wasn’t personal malice. This wasn’t cruelty for its own sake. You’ve become an entity that transcends our established order. Something that cannot be categorized, cannot be controlled, cannot be predicted. In cosmic governance, such anomalies must be addressed. Either integrated into the existing structure or removed before they destabilize everything."

Jaenor’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"So you’re saying it was justified. That trying to kill me was reasonable because I make you uncomfortable."