Chapter 116 - The Shadow’s Whisper

The hundred-and-tenth dawn crept over Kael El's Ashen Empire with a muted golden veil, the continental dominion—a sprawling colossus—stirring under a silent tension. The capital's skyline loomed—bone steel keeps dwarfed by the Golden Colossus, its hundred-meter frame a radiant titan, core pulsing a volatile violet-gold that cast flickering shadows across the plaza. Kael stood in the shadowed council chamber, a vaulted hall of bone and obsidian, Stormforged Blade sheathed at his side, shard-pommel humming like a wary sentinel. EX: Dragonflame Reaver gleamed at his hip, Stormhide Armor polished but scarred, the wraiths' echoes fading in his steady arm. His flirty smirk was gone, replaced by a steely gaze, masking a gnawing unease—the Nexus artifact's truth, the "Error," and Rhea's trembling plea burned in his blood. He flexed EX: Gold Dominion, golden veins threading through the chamber's floor, molten and sharp, answering the shard's restless hum.