A year later, the Sorbet Kingdom was thrown back into a nightmare it had already suffered through once before.
The king had left the people alone for sixteen years, but now he returned to the same cruelty—only worse.
This time, the order was simple.
Pay the Heavenly Tribute...
Or be burned alive.
Fires spread through the southern part of the kingdom as homes were set ablaze. The old people of the town, the same ones Kuma had cared for all these years, called out to him in desperation.
Kuma didn't hesitate.
He ran straight into the flames.
One by one, he carried people out, shielding them from the fire with his own body. The heat burned through his clothes, setting parts of them alight, but he didn't stop.
The younger, stronger villagers rushed to help him, putting out the flames on his body as he staggered back out.
He was already exhausted.
He had saved so many.
But then he heard it—
A child crying.
A little girl calling out for her parents.
Kuma turned immediately.
Despite the people shouting for him to stop, telling him he'd done enough—
He ran back into the fire.
At the same time, the king stood at a distance, watching everything unfold.
What he was doing wasn't new.
It was the same thing that had happened in the Goa Kingdom when Gray Terminal was burned down.
An act so ruthless it had even impressed the Celestial Dragons.
And that was exactly why he did it.
But things weren't going the way he expected.
A crowd had formed.
Even his own people were shouting now.
Telling him to stop.
Calling him a monster.
The king's expression hardened.
He gave an order.
Several soldiers raised their weapons and shot four or five of the protestors.
"For the greater good."
The crowd fell silent.
And then—
Through the smoke—
Kuma appeared.
He stepped out of the burning wreckage, carrying the child safely in his arms.
But something had changed.
He wasn't the kind, gentle priest anymore.
Not in that moment.
He looked... furious.
There's a saying.
There are three things all wise men fear—
A sea in a storm.
A night with no moon.
And the anger of a gentle man.
Kuma embodied the last one completely.
He handed the child off to the villagers behind him.
Then he moved.
In an instant, he charged forward.
There was a loud impact—
And then another—
Explosions echoed as he tore through the soldiers in his path.
From the church, Bonney watched everything.
She didn't understand what was happening.
But she knew something was wrong.
And she was worried about her father.
By the time it was over—
Kuma stood inside the castle.
He had destroyed it almost entirely on his own.
The structure still stood, but barely. Cracks spread across the walls, rubble covered the floors, and parts of it had collapsed inward from the force of his attacks.
In front of him, the king lay on the ground, terrified.
Begging.
He tried to bargain.
Offered Kuma the land he had just burned down, claiming he had already cleared out all the "human garbage."
That was enough.
Whatever patience Kuma had left—
Disappeared.
The king, panicking, pulled out a gun and fired repeatedly.
Shot after shot hit Kuma.
But none of them mattered.
Kuma didn't even react.
The king shouted desperately, insisting that he would pay for this, that a king must never be harmed.
Kuma didn't respond.
He simply raised his hand.
Focused his power.
And released it.
The castle was destroyed from the inside out in a single overwhelming blast.
That moment would later be known as the solo revolution of the Sorbet Kingdom.
After that, there wasn't much debate.
Kuma, despite everything, was made the new king.
He didn't want it.
But he couldn't refuse.
Even then, he chose not to live in the castle.
He stayed in the church.
The kingdom itself was run by Mr. Bulldog, a former king from two generations prior.
Kuma remained more of a figurehead than an active ruler.
And for a while—
Things felt lighter.
The kingdom, at last, had a chance to breathe again.
And that's a wrap
Sorry for the short chapter I just felt this was a good place to end and I'm super tired
