Imperial Throne

Chapter 1: Awakening

“Bow!”

“Deezu Baisus!”

Cries of alarm rang out one after another.

But louder than the exclamations were the high-pitched screams and wails.

Robin awakened amidst the cacophony.

His entire body felt scorching hot, as though it were being seared by raging flames.

The next moment, a powerful tremor surged through him.

It felt like an earthquake.

“An earthquake?”

Robin froze, then instinctively tried to run.

But to his shock, he realized he couldn’t move at all, he couldn’t even feel his limbs.

“Clang——”

A metallic clash rang out.

Robin was immediately hit by another intense tremor, and he began to struggle in terror.

“Ku Bans!”

“Visendenio!”

Strange shouts, the burning heat, and the repeated tremors that felt like quakes, everything overwhelmed Robin with panic.

The helplessness of losing all sensation only made him struggle more desperately, crying out incessantly for help.

“Kon Wikirstel Baimai……”

“Visendenio!”

“Deezu Baisus!”

Another piercing, ear-splitting roar resounded.

Immediately after, Robin caught the pungent scent of blood.

As the metallic scent spread, it was as if a radiant light pierced through the surrounding darkness. Robin found that his vision had finally returned.

But to his utter astonishment, he discovered that he had become a sword!

A long, slender sword with a body as black as an abyss.

The one wielding the sword was a middle-aged man with a face full of resolve. Yet at that moment, his body had been pierced through by a spear. In front of him stood dozens of soldiers clad in heavy armor.

These soldiers didn’t dare to approach; they simply pointed their spears at the man from a distance.

“Hah!”

The middle-aged man panted heavily, letting out a disdainful and sinister laugh. “If this demon sword hadn’t suddenly gone out of control, do you really think you could have stopped me!?”

Robin suddenly found that he could understand what these people were saying.

“Lord Carnes, we hold you in great respect, so we ask that you surrender.”

A voice sounded from behind the enemy formation.

The formation of dozens of heavy infantry immediately parted to both sides, allowing a heavily armored man to step forward.

Several younger-looking men followed closely behind him.

“Shulman…” The middle-aged man’s expression turned deeply conflicted. “Why…”

“Don’t you understand yet?” The armored man shook his head. “The gods have fallen. Divine grace is no longer exclusive to the godfolk.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the armor of the heavily-armored soldiers beside him began to melt.

Then, like water rushing into a vessel, the molten metal surged toward the man’s own armor. His armor grew thicker and more complete, even the tiniest gaps being filled in, until it became a seamless, solid suit. The excess iron formed an exaggerated and imposing horse-slaying blade.

The unarmored soldiers quickly retreated under the direction of the young men.

In the blink of an eye, only the middle-aged man and the heavily armored warrior remained on the battlefield.

“This…”

The middle-aged man looked on in disbelief at the sudden transformation. “What is this?!”

“[Iron Mastery].” The heavily armored man had all but transformed into a metal puppet, and his voice grew deep and muffled. “The gods have been devoured. Their blood, flesh, and spirit have merged into the mortal realm. Divine grace is no longer the privilege of godfolk. All people can now wield this power. It belongs solely to us, the common people. We call it… [Universal Bloodline Power]!”

The middle-aged man's expression turned exceptionally grave.

“Lord Carnes, I respect you. Though the godfolk rejected your bloodline, we the common folk acknowledge it. If you are willing to surrender, I can guarantee the safety of you and your descendants,” the armored man said in a deep voice. “But if you remain so stubborn, then the end of your bloodline will be no fault of ours.”

Robin watched this scene unfold, horrified.

By now, he more or less understood his current situation.

He had undoubtedly transmigrated.

But what he couldn’t understand was, why did others get to be dragon-blooded protagonists, while he ended up as a weapon spirit?

And to make matters worse, the moment he awakened, he was thrown into this drama of betrayal from subordinates against their superiors.

He didn’t know what all this talk about godfolk and commoners meant, but from the fragments he heard, he pieced together that the commoners had apparently killed the so-called “gods” of this world, and had transformed the divine blessings into something they could use themselves, so-called “bloodlines.”

“The Oath remains unbroken.”

Robin was startled. He suddenly sensed the unwavering resolve in the heart of the middle-aged man, an unflinching determination in the face of death.

The scorching heat surged once more.

Robin realized that the burning sensation he felt as if being scorched by fire was, in fact, real flames being lit on his blade!

The middle-aged man suddenly charged forward with a raised sword and slashed at the armored man who had already become a metal puppet.

But the next moment, Robin saw the middle-aged man get knocked back by a single swing from the armored man, and the second strike pierced straight through his body.

That exaggerated, massive horse-slaying blade not only skewered his torso but also shattered his spine and internal organs, carving a gaping wound from his neck down to his lower abdomen.

A look of disbelief crossed the middle-aged man’s face. “You…”

“The gods are dead. The power they once bestowed upon the godfolk naturally no longer exists,” the armored man said solemnly. “Only the power of our [Universal Bloodline] truly belongs to us. We no longer need to pray to the gods!”

The middle-aged man gripped the blade of the horse-slaying sword, his expression complicated.

He tried to speak, but the moment he opened his mouth, a torrent of blood gushed out.

“You didn’t lose to me.” The armored man’s armor began to melt and flow to the ground like a pool of iron, but the horse-slaying blade in his hand remained. “You lost to yourself.”

With the death of the middle-aged man, the younger men soon returned with more people.

The armored man made no unnecessary movements, yet the iron on the ground writhed as if alive, crawling back to everyone’s bodies, once again forming their heavy armor.

“Father, this demon sword…”

“Seal it,” the armored man said with a shake of his head. “There’s no need to bring relics of the age of gods into the new era. We common folk now possess the ability to ‘forge’. We must believe that in the future, we can craft weapons even more powerful than these old relics.”

“Then why not destroy it completely?”

“Do you know why it’s called a demon sword?” the armored man countered.

The young men shook their heads.

“All other relics from the age of gods were divine gifts, but this sword, it is said, was once a divine artifact wielded by the Creator,” the armored man said solemnly. “The so-called gods were merely thieves who stole and divided the Creator’s power. Fearing the Creator’s return, they not only dismantled the Creator but also destroyed and exiled every artifact once used by Him, except this sword. It cannot be destroyed, nor banished or broken.”

“This…”

“We, the common folk, are merely repeating the filthy deeds the godfolk once committed,” the armored man said grimly.

“This sword cannot be destroyed. Without the divine power it once held, no one can wield it. Now it’s merely a sharp, hard piece of metal, not worth the effort to deal with. … What we need to do now is embrace the coming of the new era. Nothing more.”

Robin listened to the conversation between father and son and then watched helplessly as they sealed him inside a stone box.

He struggled and cried out, but his efforts only brought more hands to help with the sealing.

Everyone thought the demon sword was acting out of control, but only Robin knew he was struggling to survive.

But as darkness finally consumed his vision, Robin too fell completely into despair.

…

Time ceased to have any meaning for Robin.

He gradually noticed that even though his emotions were beginning to fade, he no longer felt the seven emotions or six desires in the true sense, and so he spent most of his time asleep.

Only on rare occasions, when he sensed a strong scent of blood, would he stir awake. But his consciousness was always fatigued, making him increasingly drowsy.

The only impressions that remained were of shaking, trembling, the occasional stench of blood, and screams and cries from time to time.

Robin understood.

Every shake meant he was being moved.

Every tremor meant a battle.

As for the blood… it only meant someone had used him to kill again, which explained the screams and cries.

In that blurry state between dreams and waking, Robin felt only the weight on his eyelids and the difficulty of breathing, like something was pressing hard on his eyes to keep them shut, and something else was smothering his mouth and nose, preventing him from breathing.

Yet strangely, he never felt pain. On the contrary, his body and mind seemed to be in a constant state of satisfaction and pleasure, as if a void had been filled.

The only thing that annoyed him was the constant buzzing in his ears.

He couldn’t hear it clearly.

But it seemed… someone was praying to him.

Only on very rare occasions would he instinctively give a faint response.

But such responses were almost always followed by the shaking, and then the screams and cries would return.

After this happened several times, Robin learned to suppress his instinctual reactions.

And then,

He never heard those voices again.