The Verdant Nexus was silent.
Not with peace.
But with anticipation.
Selene stood before the Fae Circle, the ancient runes pulsing with energy.
She had summoned many Fae Lords before.
Each had brought new power to her Court.
Each had shifted the balance in her favor.
And now, it was time again.
The air thickened, twisting as reality bent to her will.
The System stirred.
---
《System Alert: The Fae Circle Has Been Activated》
《Summoning Two Fae Lords》
《Summoning Tier 1 and Tier 4 Fae Lords…》
The ground shuddered.
The shadows stretched.
And then—
The first to emerge was gentle and slow.
---
A being of ancient roots and whispering leaves.
They were tall, their form woven from living bark and twisted vines, their eyes glowing like soft green embers.
Their voice was like wind through the branches.
“I am the Fae Lord of the Elderwood.”
A Tier 1 Fae Lord.
“My domain is trees, roots, and the ancient wisdom of the forest.”
“I command the Verdant Sprites, the Rootbound Wardens, and the Hollow-Bark Guardians.”
Selene inclined her head.
A keeper of forests. A protector of nature.
She had seen such beings before.
But this one was not just a guardian.
It was a foundation.
A pillar upon which something greater could be built.
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“You will serve in my court.”
The Elderwood bowed, their branches creaking softly.
“As it is spoken, so it shall be.”
---
Then, the Fae Circle pulsed again.
And the air changed.
It became thick with something heavier.
Something wrong.
A presence stepped forward.
And the very space around it seemed to scream.
---
It was tall, but not in the way mortals were tall.
Its form was shifting, a shape that was neither whole nor broken, its flesh twisted in ways that defied understanding.
Its eyes—**if they could be called eyes—**were pits of black fire, burning with something unspoken.
When it spoke, it was not a voice.
It was a sensation.
A crawling thing beneath the skin.
A whisper at the edge of a scream.
“I am the Fae Lord of Agony.”
A Tier 4 Fae Lord.
“My domain is suffering, endurance, and the power that is birthed through pain.”
Selene’s golden eyes gleamed.
This was new.
---
It did not summon servants.
It did not command hordes.
But it spread.
It was a force, not of numbers, but of influence.
Selene watched as the very air around it seemed to ripple.
The lesser Fae in the chamber stirred uneasily, their gazes flickering toward it, drawn and repelled all at once.
And then—
A soldier stepped forward.
One of Blackwell’s men, one of those who had pledged loyalty after his Lord fell to Selene.
He fell to his knees.
His body shuddered.
And Selene felt it.
The shift.
The change.
The Fae Lord of Agony turned its gaze upon him, and the man screamed.
Not in terror.
Not in pain.
But in something else.
Something closer to reverence.
And when the scream ended, he rose changed.
---
His form was stronger.
His flesh darker.
His veins pulsed with something black and burning.
His breath came steady. Controlled.
And when he turned back toward Selene—
His eyes matched the flames in Agony’s.
Selene understood.
This Fae Lord did not command.
It converted.
It twisted.
It took those who sought power through suffering and made them something more.
A new type of force.
A new tool.
Perfect.
---
Selene turned toward the Lord of Agony.
“You will serve in my court.”
The shifting being inclined its twisting form.
“As it is spoken, so it shall be.”
Selene smiled.
A Lord that did not summon, but transformed.
A contagion of devotion.
An unspoken answer to those who feared pain, those who wished to master it.
And in the coming war, she would make use of it.
---
Then—
A pulse of power.
A shift in reality.
And the System spoke once more.
《System Alert: A High-Risk Entity Has Been Summoned》
《The Trial of Kings Has Detected a Unique Variable》
《Adjusting Challenge Parameters…》
The air stilled.
Selene’s eyes narrowed.
A System Adjustment?
That was rare.
---
Strategy spoke first.
“The System is adapting.”
Selene nodded.
She had summoned something outside its expectations.
Something that would alter the balance of the war.
The System did not favor one ruler over another.
It only sought to maintain equilibrium.
And now, it was adjusting because Selene had tilted the scales once more.
She smiled.
“Good.”
---
Elsewhere, Lords shudder as across the region, Lords felt it.
A ripple of wrongness.
A shift in the very fabric of the Trial.
They did not know why.
They did not know what had changed.
But they felt it.
A deep, unspoken dread.
Brannor of the Iron Pact tensed, his grip tightening on his blade.
Revera of the Verdant Accord felt her lands tremble, as if the very trees recoiled from something unseen.
Tarven of the Obsidian March—who knew only strength—felt his men hesitate for the first time.
The Lords did not yet know Selene’s name.
But they were beginning to learn its weight.
---
Back in the Verdant Nexus, Selene turned toward her gathered court.
“The game changes,” she murmured.
Strategy nodded. “And so must we.”
Selene smiled.
“No.”
“The game does not change.”
She turned toward the map of the Boundless Continent.
“The game ends.”
Her golden gaze burned.
“And I am the one who will end it.”
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