23. REBELS IN AN UNDEAD ARMY?

Zachery was playing with the status option and analyzing the new update when he saw he had overlooked something critical.

'Wait, how is Alexa replying to me???' Zachery's mind blared alarm signals as he agitatedly shouted the question. Alexa was unquestionably an alien lifeform. As a result, she would have little interest in childcare or child welfare.

Imagine his body falling in front of Elsa in the center of the house. That was all but enough for Zachery to freak out.

[Don't worry, I can communicate with you even if I'm in the middle of desolate zones. How could a different dimensional plane separate us, Muhahaha!!] Zachery's heart relaxed, but by the end of the talk, Alexa's laughter had become so obnoxious in Zahcery's thoughts that he cut her off with his spirit.

Zachery shook his head, ignored Alexa, and gazed ahead, trying to detect changes in the castle. When Zachery pulled the metal orbs out, he felt the castle rumble and energy fluctuations appear on the castle's sides.

He could also sense the castle more closely after the inheritance was completed. Zachery gradually sent his spirit into the castle to test his notion.

And it proved... correct!

This entire fortress was an Artifact of the level that even Zachery was unaware of. He could also sense the castle growing more majestic rooms that appeared out of nowhere, abutting the castle's sides.

But Zachery had a hunch this was something more. This entire castle felt more than just an artifact. It felt more personal to Zachery. It was as if the entire castle was sitting obediently in his body.

If Zachery wanted to be certain, he had to wait until the Mother System descended. Because Mother System had a technology that allowed everyone to scan their bodies in great detail, similar to how Zachery's status functioned.

When thrust into the ambient energy-rich environment of the Axis, all bodies would evolve to a massive level, gaining Ability Factor, Ancestral Factor, and Bloodline Factor.

But that was not important now, is it?

Zachery rose up and took a step forward, his regular brown eyes flashing with ethereal intensity. He caressed his beard and brushed his unruly black hair back with his hands.

And then...

Zachery moved forward.

Moving Zachery forward was like somebody had turned the cogs in the machine. The four beasts of power yielded to Zachery's like four commanders yielding to their monarch.

"My Lord, where do you want to go?" Cornelius' behavior towards Zachery resembled that of a zealous Cult Believer towards a Cult Leader. But now that he could feel Death's aura swirling around Zachery, he had become more crazy and reverent towards Zachery.

"Take me to the Throne Room," Zachery argued that if a castle was built with this much diligence, then a throne chamber should be built with even more magnificence.

And what more appropriate place to call the king's subjects than the Throne Room?

Of course, one question still remained, would they heed his call?

"Follow me, oh, Mighty Grodos," Zachery was surrounded by a lovely, almost hypnotic voice. It wrapped him like a mother cradling her children, but Zachery knew that if he didn't wake up, a venomous viper would choke him to death.

Zachery awoke from his trance and looked forward, only to find Auset smiling at him, sending shivers down his spine and, at the same time, sending butterflies in his stomach.

Zachery bit his lips hard enough to draw blood and chanted the Buddhist mantra in his head furiously in order to resist the hypnotic pull that was creeping into Zachery's consciousness.

Zachery finally opened his eyes after what seemed like a year of dispelling the draw that Auset had placed in him through just words. Even though it felt like a year to Zachery, saying 5 seconds had gone in real-time was an exaggeration.

When he opened his eyes, four huge pressures clashed against each other, as if they wanted nothing more than to rip each other apart.

Alecna and Auset stood next to each other, each with violet iris and black sclera and grey iris and red sclera respectively. Alecna was holding back as much as she could in order not to strike the woman with her entire being.

But her pressure was no joke.

Even Auset was having physical difficulties dealing with Alecna's pressure. But that was no surprise; Auset was never a brawler. It had been 10 million years since she had had to activate the second form of her Bloodline. As a result, she was rusty in the physical department.

But she was more than capable of shackling Alenca's mind. And Alecna's wincing at regular intervals proved it.

Helios, on the other hand, was going to save his sister when he realized she was in danger, but the pressure from Corniluos had disrupted all of his distraction plans.

But Cornelius was just a blacksmith, an excellent blacksmith, but a blacksmith nonetheless. He was also backing away from the strain Helios was putting on him. Zachery's eyes had opened after all of this, and while it irritated him that Auset would pull such a cheap trick, he had to look at the greater picture.

As a new heir, he needed to concentrate on stabilizing and reigning in all of his summons. He also needed to learn more about his ancestors so he knew what cards he held in his hands and what all cards others like Auset had in their hands.

Only then could he put his plan to restrain people like Auset into action.

But for now, he had to keep it in.

Zachery struggled to raise his arm. Even standing was difficult in the face of such overwhelming pressure.

All of the tension in the air was relieved when Zachery raised his hand and all eyes turned to Zachery; if he said anything, Auset would be erased off the face of the... well, void. Of course, even if a country had some rebels, the monarchs would always have supreme power.

But as always, there would always be some exceptions.

Auset glanced at Zachery with a mixture of remorse, agony, and regret on her face, but she didn't show it. All that was missing from her as her expression showed amusement and indifference.

She needed to see for herself if this alleged 'King' was any better than her 'Queen'.

Auset had expected Zachery to lash out at her, but instructing Alecna to kill her was well within her Grodos. After all, she had attempted to poison the mind of her ruler; death was the least she deserved.

But when Zachery's eyes laid on hers, her eyes went wide-eyed.

Zachery smiled a very humble smile, one that would make even the most sworn enemies hesitate to kill, towards Auset as he opened his mouth.

"Lead me to my Throne, Auset,"