What... what... so am I overpowered from the start, like those isekai protagonists?" he mutters, a smirk tugging at his lips as the absurdity of the situation hits him.
For a moment, he feels it-the urge, that ridiculous, cliché moment where he should lower his head, place a hand over his face, and let out that slow, ominous chuckle. The kind that echoes with menace. The kind the overpowered protagonists always do when they realize their strength.
"Mwahaha, I am gonna be unstoppable!"
Mwahaha...
He stops midway, sighs, and mutters, "Wait... this is way too cringe."
His fingers twitch. He takes a breath.
...Then, he scoffs. "Tch." He clicks his tongue, shaking his head. "Yeah, that really won't suit me."
Then he grins.
Not the exaggerated, theatrical grin of a villain, but something darker, sharper-one that could freeze the blood in your veins. A grin that promises something no one wants to see.
He exhales slowly, and a laugh slips from him-low, guttural, and dripping with malice. It doesn't explode. It doesn't need to. It slides into the air, filling every inch of the room with a quiet, suffocating certainty.
"Ah... haha... heh."
He wasn't just Vael Seraphis. He realized he was something beyond the limits of this reality.
The Elias Varn he once used to be now is dead. Vael Seraphis had been born anew. And this was only the beginning.
[WATTY'S 2024 SHORTLIST] When the Ravos Kingdom abducts the Nyrial Emperor's dragon, princess Aeryn Glastos must marry the demon prince planning her assassination to save her empire and end the war while guarding her heart and a dangerous secret.
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The twenty-two-year-old draconian princess is starting her final year at Insignia Academy during the height of the war between the draconians and demons. Aeryn's dream is to graduate as a bonded Champion in the Fire Force and fight in the war. The only problem is, she is the only draconian to never receive a power by age twenty. Ashamed of his powerless daughter, the emperor of the Nyrial Empire proposes a marriage between Aeryn and the Ravos Kingdom's demon prince to end the war and get his dragon back.
Shade Cross is ruthless, cunning, and dangerously powerful. Everything he touches dies, except Aeryn. He awakens something in her she has never felt before and she acquires not one, but two powers. She must navigate both nations built upon lies, betrayals, a forbidden alliance, and a deadly curse. When she discovers the truth about her empire, she must make a choice: protect the secrets and save her father, or side with the enemy. Aeryn needs to be careful because when it reigns, it pours, and she is caught right in the middle of a feuding storm between both nations.