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  [SYSTEM ALERT: Location: Kingdom of Flancde – Northern Peaks]

  [Time: 25 Years Before the Fall of Gladius]

  [Status: The Golden Age of House Flancde]

  [Warning: A shadow is about to be born]

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  The Kingdom of Flancde shone atop the northern peaks like a crown of carved diamonds.

  Its high white walls were not merely for protection, but a mirror reflecting the glory of the Flancde lineage.

  In the marble-paved corridors, King Jani de Flancde walked with dignity, surrounded by the scent of royal incense, accompanied by the Queen, whose smile could soothe the fiercest of storms.

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  Before his brother's birth, the Crown Prince Eduardo was eleven years old, the very embodiment of early talent.

  His hair fluttered with every sword stroke, and his eyes gleamed with boundless ambition. Nobles stood on the balconies, watching how he wielded the blade as if it were an extension of his own body.

  King Jani (Cheering, approaching his son, wiping the sweat from his brow with a royal handkerchief):

  "Well done, Eduardo! Every strike of your sword tells the world that Flancde shall never fall."

  Eduardo (With a proud smile, sheathing his blade):

  "I do this for you, Father, and for this land. I want to be the King Flancde deserves."

  King Jani (Leaning in, whispering warmly):

  "You will be greater than I, my son. Your wisdom in history and your speed on the field keep me at peace regarding our people's future."

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  Those days were Eduardo's golden age.

  Until he reached the age of twelve—the year the second prince was born.

  Eduardo ran to his infant brother's room. The moment his eyes fell upon the child, he felt a sacred bond.

  Eduardo (Whispering, holding the baby):

  "Arthur..."

  The baby possessed pale blonde hair and striking eyes: the right one white as snow, the left red as ember.

  "Fear not, little one. I am Eduardo, your big brother. I will teach you how to hold a sword, and how to read the stars. I will be your shadow that protects you from the heat of the sun and the cold of winter."

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  But the innocence of those promises began to erode when Arthur's talent started to show.

  When Arthur turned six, Eduardo had reached eighteen.

  One day, Eduardo stood stunned in the corner of the training yard. Little Arthur, who barely reached his brother's waist, was wiping a trickle of blood from a wound on his hand after managing to touch Eduardo's chest with his wooden sword during a sparring match.

  Eduardo (With a tone trying to be playful, but worry seeping into his heart):

  "How did you do that, Arthur?"

  Arthur (With innocence):

  "I don't know, brother... I just felt you were going to move your right shoulder before you did, so I anticipated you. Are you angry with me?"

  Eduardo (Forcing a smile):

  "No... of course not. You... you're just talented."

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  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  But "talent" turned into a terror surpassing Eduardo's years of experience.

  Arthur did not grow like humans; he evolved like a god.

  Eduardo reached the age of twenty-five, while Arthur was fourteen. Here, jealousy reached its peak.

  Arthur read forbidden books that took Eduardo years to comprehend, in mere hours.

  The nobles who once applauded Eduardo now whispered loudly:

  "Arthur is the first founder returned... As for Eduardo, he is but a faded shadow beside him."

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  Eduardo entered his room and slammed the door with such force that the paintings trembled.

  He looked at the mirror and saw a face slowly consumed by jealousy.

  Eduardo (Screaming, smashing his desk):

  "Why him?! I sacrificed! I studied! I trained! And he gets everything with a mere glance?! Even Father... no longer looks at me with the same pride."

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  [SYSTEM ALERT: Dark Entity Detected]

  [Source: Forbidden Magic Books]

  [Target: Eduardo's Soul]

  [Warning: Corruption in Progress]

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  In that dark moment, under the influence of the forbidden magic books he had begun secretly collecting, the Entity appeared.

  Black smoke boiled in the middle of the room.

  The Entity (In a voice like grinding bones):

  "Eduardo..."

  "You are fading... Arthur is absorbing your light as the sun absorbs the stars. Do you not want to reclaim your place?"

  Eduardo wept. His tears were a mixture of love and hatred.

  "I want to be strong... I want this feeling of inferiority before him to vanish!"

  The Entity:

  "The price is simple. Steal his talent. Take the essence of the soul that the Creator placed within him. But to do so, you must sever every thread connecting you to this world. You must drown Flancde in blood so that you may float above it."

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  On the night of the Great Betrayal, the beloved prince transformed into a monster.

  Eduardo entered King Jani's chamber.

  King Jani (Rising from his bed with concern):

  "Eduardo? What is wrong, my son? Why are your eyes so red?"

  Eduardo (Driving the blade of treachery into his father's chest):

  "I have grown tired of being your 'second son' in his heart, Father."

  He did not stop there. He killed the Queen as she tried to protect the King's bed.

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  He headed to Arthur's room.

  He found the young boy standing in the middle of the room, calm as always.

  Arthur (His voice trembling for the first time):

  "Brother... I smelled blood... Why?"

  Eduardo (Screaming, binding him with black magic chains):

  "Because I will take what is not mine! I will take those eyes, that intelligence, that power that made everyone forget my existence!"

  He used dark rituals, extracting the "Talent Essence" from Arthur's body, leaving him a lifeless corpse in the corner of the dungeon, before throwing him into the Great Abyss.

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  That same night, Eduardo stepped out to the arena where the "Eternal Dragon," protector of the kingdom, roared in rage.

  With Arthur's stolen power, Eduardo flew into the air and severed the dragon's neck with a single strike, turning the blood of the guardian into fuel for his new empire.

  Eduardo (Screaming, looking at the corpses of his people):

  "From today... I am Gladius! And this is Melngradnia! There is no place for the weak here!"

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  [SYSTEM ALERT: Era of Tyranny Begins]

  [Ruler: Gladius]

  [Duration: 18 Years]

  [Fallen Kingdoms: 6]

  [Slain Eternal Dragons: 7]

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  While the blood of Flancde's Eternal Dragon still boiled on his sword, Gladius did not stop at the borders of his shattered kingdom.

  He swept like a black hurricane, dragging behind him armies that no longer fought for honor, but out of fear.

  Within a few years, the continent became a stage for his massacres. He stormed the capitals of ancient kingdoms, not merely to rule them, but to kill their very hearts.

  In the coastal kingdom of Zuria, Gladius stood over the corpse of its aged king, while the Aquatic Eternal Dragon gasped its last breath under the weight of black magic chains.

  The Defeated King (In a trembling voice):

  "Why? We gave you gold... we gave you land... why kill the guardian?"

  Gladius (Plunging his hand into the dragon's neck to extract its core):

  "Gold rusts, and land withers... but eternal power is the only language the universe understands. I do not destroy your kingdom because I need your throne... I destroy it because the existence of another dragon besides myself in this world is an insult to my greatness."

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  Over eighteen years, the dragons fell one after another.

  With each kill, Gladius's body grew more massive and majestic, but his eyes grew emptier.

  Eduardo no longer existed; only "Gladius" remained—an entity feeding on the blood of legends.

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  On the other side of existence. At the bottom of the Great Abyss.

  The silence there had a voice... a voice like the tearing of the soul.

  In that eternal prison visited by no light, Arthur lay like human wreckage. His emaciated body, stripped of its "essence," was covered in the ashes of lost dreams.

  He remembered the day Eduardo taught him to read the stars.

  Arthur (Whispering in the darkness):

  "You betrayed the stars, Eduardo... You extinguished every light in this world to ignite your own fire."

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  Over the years, sorrow slowly transformed into something hard and dark.

  Despair began to simmer into anger, and anger began to freeze into a desire for revenge that transcended reason.

  He began scratching the walls of the abyss with his nails, writing the name "Gladius" in his blood on the cold stones.

  Arthur (His red eye gleaming with mad light in the darkness):

  "If this is the eternal prison... I will turn its walls into fuel for my fire. I will wait... I will reclaim every drop of blood my father shed, and every scream of every dragon he killed."

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  At the deepest point of the abyss, "Nothingness" itself trembled.

  A digital blue glow began seeping into the darkness, forming a tear in the void.

  From within this rift, two figures stepped forth.

  Elias stood calmly, and beside him, Flora smiled with terrifying beauty.

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  [SYSTEM ALERT: Cosmic Entities Detected]

  [Identified: Elias & Flora]

  [Purpose: Unknown]

  [Power Level: Unmeasurable]

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  Elias:

  "Do you like this show, Arthur? Or have you enjoyed conversing with the walls for the past eighteen years? Look at yourself... Do you like dying here, forgotten, while your brother devours stars and calls himself a god?"

  Flora (Approaching):

  "What do you think of a power that would make your old talent seem like a ridiculous myth? A power that would make the Eternal Dragon King, whose death your brother boasts of, seem like a flea beneath the foot of a star blazing like the sun?"

  Elias opened the [Mod Menu] in the air.

  Elias:

  "The contract is simple. I will grant you 'Admin Permissions.' In return... your future, your emotions, and whatever remains of your humanity will become ours."

  Arthur (Without hesitation):

  "Take my emotions... take my future... just give me the power to make 'Eduardo' wish he had never been born."

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  [SYSTEM ALERT: Executing Override]

  [Target: Arthur de Flancde]

  [Procedure: Complete Existential Rewrite]

  [New Designation: Admin-Level Entity]

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  With a single press of Elias's thumb on the [Execute Override] icon, the abyss exploded with indescribable light.

  Arthur screamed as he felt his body disintegrate and be rebuilt with pure cosmic data.

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  The light faded, returning to the shattered throne room in Melngradnia.

  Gladius now wept blood as he saw Arthur standing before him in his black robe.

  Arthur no longer felt sorrow; he had become moving "Void."

  Gladius (In utter terror):

  "Imp... impossible... I killed the Absolute Eternal Dragon! I am the strongest being in this world!"

  Arthur took a single step. The earth cracked beneath his feet.

  Arthur:

  "You killed an ant, Eduardo... and thought you became a king. You are now looking at a star that will burn your empire with a mere blink."

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  Elias turned to Flora, while Arthur began "dismantling" Gladius's armor with just his gaze.

  Elias:

  "The data is precise. As expected, the power we granted exceeds the logic of this world by ten thousand times."

  Flora:

  "Look at him begging, Elias... Isn't this more beautiful than all the dragons he killed?"

  Arthur thrust his hand into the air, pulling Gladius's soul without touching him, and began inserting it into the "Infinite Pain Loop."

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  [SYSTEM ALERT: Gladius Status]

  [Physical Body: Destroyed]

  [Soul: Trapped in Infinite Pain Loop]

  [Estimated Duration: Eternity]

  [New Ruler of Melngradnia: Arthur de Flancde]

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  [To be continued...]

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