Chaos and Order - A Multiverse Fanfic

0106 Old Ones, Brienne Stormborn, and Life Halt! (II)

For a moment, Kai couldn't believe what he was hearing.

How can this be? He thought, gaping. Didn't Marine Roland tell me she... no, She reached the top some 100-years-ago and toppled the empire by herself?

"The Empress was never a noble or a Set-lord," Meg told Kai. "So, it isn't a surprise that none knows much about her.

"As I have told you, master, the 1st Set is called Baron Set, and the 2nd Set is called Viscount. Then comes Count, Marquess, Duke, King, and Emperor. Brienne Stormborn was already a King-level Contestant on the 18th-floor when, some 100 years ago, madness possessed her. I don't know how... Nobody knows how... but She just ascended to the 21st floor, and brought about such slaughter and destruction that for the next 10 years blood dripped to the 1st floor of the Order's Peak."

Kai's bones shuddered.

In the back of his mind, he could see a towering monster holding a spear and brandishing it like a death whip. Blood running down like gurgling rivers, and flowing off the very world's boundaries.

This was the Absolute Power that Kai so dearly desired.

What kind of level would he need to just go up and claim the throne for himself?

He wanted it. He wanted it more than he had ever admitted it to himself. This blood... this power... this pure invincibility... Even if he had to wash the entire Tower with blood on this path, so what of it?

Kai licked his lips... and someone gasped.

The sudden noise snapped him out of his severe murderous state. Kai looked up and saw the appalling horror on Meg's face.

-/Pardon me./- he said, finishing his salad.

Meg's face had gone blue, her wild brown widening in pure terror. What thick bloodlust... she thought, looking at her fingers. The spoon she was holding in her hand was shaking beyond measure. It took her all her experiences and status to return to her normal state.

"I... I..." Meg stuttered, catching her breath. "They say... She even wiped out the name of the last empire from the memories of every single Contestant. Such was her hatred. That's why no one can recall the name of the last empire."

This made Kai raise his eyebrows. -/Oh! You can do that? Wiping out a part of the memories of all the Contestants in the Primordial Tower, I mean. Isn't she an Order's Contestant?/- Now Kai could understand why there was such awe on Meg's lips when she talked about the Empress.

Meg shook her head, placing her cutlery on the plate. "Logic doesn't apply to the Contestants above the 5th-Set," she said, smiling wryly. "And if anyone could do such an impossible thing, then it would be none other than the Empress.

"She has a Glitch and is known to have the highest Worth in the Primordial Tower. Some even say..."

Meg trailed off as if steeling herself to say the next words.

"Some even say that her starting Worth after the resurrection was well over 1000."

What?!

Kai forgot to breathe, an ugly expression replacing the tranquility on his face.

He sat there in stunned silence for some time, imagining the consequences of having such a Worth. Involuntarily, his hand lifted and rubbed his chest as if trying to get some deepest hidden answers from the thing churning inside him. Alas, he was bound to be disappointed.