Roles Reversed

When the Sacred Sun illuminated the sky, the radiance covering Wilhelm abruptly dimmed. Black flames ignited across his wings. The irises in his eyes lost their colors, turning into vertical slits flowing with molten sulfur, and even the halo of light behind him morphed into a crimson inverted pentagram magic circle. "No, no—what in the world have you done to me?!" Wilhelm contorted his body high in the sky, letting out labored gasps and agonized wails. Even the melodious holy hymns transformed into the mourning wails of dead souls. Zariel's voice echoed in his heart: "Come, Your Majesty Wilhelm. Embrace the power of Hell and accept your reborn self—" "Deceive yourself no longer! The sun is dead, and in Avernus, you shall attain eternal life!" As the light intensified, the skin across Wilhelm's entire body ignited. Countless dense fissures and wounds ripped open, as if gnawed by ravenous beasts, oozing a tar-like substance from within. It was the deepest darkness of Hell consuming what little remained of his divinity. *Rrrrip!—* Under Hell's corruption, all six wings upon his back snapped simultaneously, devoured by thick, pitch-black mist. Countless burning feathers fluttered across the high sky before drifting down. In the end, all the onlookers could see was a cluster of black mist. Within it, a hideous silhouette and twisted limbs loomed indistinctly, terrifying beyond measure, repeatedly accompanied by the shrieks of spirits and the roars of wild beasts. Cassius gazed at Wilhelm enveloped in darkness in the distance and declared in a resonant voice: "Look upon this, people of the Kingdom of Thrace! "Wilhelm rallied under the banner of the Lord of Eternal Radiance, styling himself as the 'King of Angels' and the 'Emperor of Fadlan,' yet all he has ever done are the foulest, filthiest, and most wicked deeds! "Now that I have torn away that glamorous facade, you should understand—that is the king you pledged fealty to: a devil devoted to Baator, a pathetic fallen wretch, a tyrant who sacrifices his own subjects!" Toward the end, Cassius's tone grew all the more impassioned, rising and falling with measured cadence. Backed against the Sacred Sun, his entire form was bathed in pure, holy radiance, his scales glittering with brilliant luster. In truth, he looked every bit like an angel passing judgment upon sin. At this moment, justice and evil seemed to have traded places, leaving the people feeling utterly disoriented and lost. "Gods..." "By Amaunator... His Majesty Wilhelm, he... he has truly fallen to Hell!" "Alas, to think the former King of Angels would end up like this!" The people of Thrace raised their heads and looked up into the sky. Beholding the sacred, majestic red dragon and then turning their gazes to the monster shrouded in pitch-black mist, their hearts were completely convinced of everything Cassius had proclaimed. So it turned out that the Cinder Emperor was the one chosen by the Sun God—or rather, the dragon chosen by the Sun God! Meanwhile, His Majesty Wilhelm, to whom they had pledged their allegiance, had become a monster that had plunged into Hell! At this thought, the resolve in the Thracians' hearts began to waver. Now that Wilhelm's disguise had been stripped away, were they truly going to remain loyal to the death for a tyrant who sacrificed souls? They had once firmly believed that dying for Thrace would allow them to ascend to the heavens, but what about now? Were they to plunge into Hell instead, becoming fodder for devils? "No, what he says isn't true! That evil dragon is deceiving you! "I am still the Wilhelm of before! I am still the rightful heir to the throne! I will lead you to restore Holy Fadlan!" A hoarse roar echoed from within the black mist. By now, the dark mist had expanded to a diameter of a thousand meters, pulsating like an infernal womb, as though gestating something unspeakably dreadful. *Roar—!* The black mist dispersed, and Wilhelm rose from the viscous darkness. From where his broken wings once were, devil wings bristling with bony spurs had sprouted, and ridge after ridge of spines grew along his back. The physique that had always been flawless had grown elongated, gaunt, and warped, standing a full fifty meters tall. The power of original sin wound around his twisted body: pride materialized into a crown of thorns atop his head, envy coalesced into hideous, venomous vines, and wrath was forged into the spear of molten lava in his grasp. At this moment, Wilhelm had completely abandoned the Sun God, forsaking his glorious identity as an angelic godblood to be reduced to an apostle of Hell—a true archdevil. From the instant his fall was complete—every rose within the city of Auguste withered, their thorns turning into venomous vipers; the feathers of the solar holy doves were sullied with gore, wailing as they transformed into infernal ravens; and blood gathered in the sky, condensing into crimson dark clouds that blotted out the earth. Witnessing such an omen with their own eyes, every Thracian was struck with sheer terror, lingering dread gnawing at their minds. Dayev gazed up at the monster—or rather, the devil—in the sky, his expression growing increasingly conflicted. Only after lingering in silence for a long while did he murmur under his breath, "Farewell, Your Majesty Wilhelm." In his heart, the king of the past had completely perished. What lived in this world now was nothing more than a monster hailing from Hell. When he looked upon the devil again, Dayev's eyes were filled only with hostility and vigilance. Suddenly, his expression froze as a realization struck him, and he muttered, "Not good, the refugees inside Auguste..." Setting his resolve, Dayev drew the longsword at his waist, leaped down from the city wall, and dashed into the city of Auguste. Cassius, on the other hand, watched the newly born archdevil with great interest, saying softly, "A fallen angelic godblood... Quite intriguing." [Fallen Sovereign - Wilhelm] [Challenge Rating: 29] Had this been several years ago, this fallen sovereign would have indeed counted as a formidable adversary. But to the present Cassius, he was merely an elite mob that was slightly troublesome. He had not even broken through the threshold of thirty; what right did he have to clamor before Cassius? In Cassius's eyes, his true opponent was never Wilhelm, but the archdevil who had lurked behind him all along, scheming to drag all of Auguste down into Hell—Zariel. "Splendid, truly splendid! With this power... I should be able to slay that red dragon and reclaim Holy Fadlan!" Feeling the infernal power surging through his body, Wilhelm laughed unrestrainedly, paying no heed to the astonished, terrified gazes cast upon him by the populace. Soon, however, he looked down and was shocked to discover that his hands had turned into hideous talons, and his formerly smooth skin had become like molten lava. "No, how could I have become like this? Th-this isn't me! I am supposed to be flawless! I am the scion of the Sun God!" The expression on Wilhelm's face shifted from shock to disbelief, before descending into utter wrath and madness. He flapped his six tattered bat wings, whipping up waves of gale-force winds as crimson light claimed several thousand meters of the sky around him. "It's you! It was you!" Wilhelm glared with venomous hatred toward the distant red dragon, hellfire bursting from those pitch-black eyes. "Red dragon! You took everything from me! You made me into this monstrosity! "I will make you pay! I will destroy your empire! I will listen to your soul wailing in Hell!" Cassius hovered above the Sacred Sun, gazing down at him with cold detachment, like a judge about to pronounce a death sentence. "How truly pathetic. Did I hold a gun to your head and force you to sign a pact with that madwoman Zariel? "All of this is merely your own doing. It was your mind intoxicated by power, devoured by the greed within your heart, that led you to this end." Cassius's mockery struck Wilhelm's heart like a thrusting sword, yet it was undeniably true. In Cassius's memories of the previous life's storyline, Wilhelm had likewise signed a pact with Hell to maintain his power and attain eternal life, leaving faint clues that many players managed to uncover. It was only that in that timeline, the Cinder Empire had never existed, allowing Wilhelm to preserve his glamorous facade and maintain his nominal title as the King of Thrace throughout the Strife of Kings. Having his true nature ruthlessly exposed by Cassius, Wilhelm flew into a rage, unleashing a heart-wrenching roar. "Cassius, I want you dead—!" Wilhelm beat his six tattered bat wings, once again stirring up a crimson tempest that swept across the firmament. He himself transformed into a shadowy, monstrous silhouette, streaking across the sky enveloped in dense black fog and boundless hatred, hurtling directly toward the high-altitude red dragon. In an instant, the shrill shrieks of souls resounded across the heavens! "Who gave you the gall to engage a red dragon in hand-to-hand combat?" Cassius shook his head with an amused scoff, his demeanor calm and composed, his movements unhurried. *Whoosh!—* The Sacred Sun flared once more, releasing ten thousand beams of brilliant light. It instantly dispelled the dense black fog, illuminating Wilhelm's gaunt silhouette while burning his entire body in excruciating agony. Cassius unleashed the True Dragon Sorcerer's Sorcery Surge, stacking numerous buffing spells upon himself in an instant. His strength, constitution, and speed all surged dramatically. Flapping his wings, the sixty-plus-meter-long red dragon crossed over a thousand meters in a single breath, arriving directly above Wilhelm's head alongside a thunderous sonic boom. His broad dragon wings cast a vast shadow, engulfing Wilhelm completely. Wilhelm's vision plunged into darkness. He jerked his head upward in sheer terror, his throat trembling. "He... he is clearly a red dragon—how can he be so fast?!" Cassius, however, gave him no breathing room whatsoever. The red dragon wheeled rapidly high in the sky, gliding on spread wings before swooping down with irresistible momentum. He clamped onto two of Wilhelm's bat wings in one grab, as effortless as an eagle seizing a chick. Wilhelm roared, "Damned reptile! The present me is far stronger than you! I am an apostle of Hell!" He struggled frantically, trying to flap his devil wings. Torrential hellfire erupted from his eyes and mouth, while his corrupted spiraled spear thrust fiercely toward the red dragon's heart. Facing the downpour of hellfire, Cassius did not even dodge. His body remained entirely unscathed, as though he were merely bathing in the flames. As a sub-ancestral red dragon and an elemental noble, no fire could harm Cassius in the slightest unless an elemental lord on the level of Imix, the Prince of Evil Fire, took action personally—not even hellfire was an exception. The red dragon extended a claw, firmly gripping the spear aimed at his heart. "Die, die! Arrogant reptile, I will make you pay—" Wilhelm's hands trembled as he glared at the foe inches before him, yet he could not advance the spear forward by even a fraction. Only now did he finally realize that he had been far too conceited and drastically underestimated the red dragon's might. This was an evil dragon who had driven an avatar of Gruumsh out of the Material Plane! Even with the backing of Hell's power, standing against him was a nearly impossible feat. Looking back now, most of Zariel's sweet promises had been lies! Cassius met his gaze, curling his lips into a sinister grin. "Is this the infernal power you intended to defeat me with? How truly pathetic..." He exerted immense force. Muscles bulged along his thick arm, veins standing out starkly. Plumes of white steam hissed from the gaps between his scales, and even space itself fractured beneath the colossal might, groaning in protest. Immediately following, solar divine power surged forth. A golden radiance enveloped the red dragon's massive claw, magnifying his strength even further. The spiraled spear in Cassius's grip vibrated violently, unable to withstand the burden after just a few seconds. With a crisp snap, it shattered into pieces. *Boom!* A violent tempest of energy erupted and expanded, sending shards of precious metals such as adamantine and meteoric iron scattering across the sky, raining down upon the earth. This minor artifact-grade weapon, the Spear of Final Judgment—an heirloom passed down for centuries within the Kingdom of Thrace and the proud symbol of the angelic godbloods—had been snapped in two with a single arm by the red dragon! Immediately after, Cassius stomped violently onto Wilhelm's back. His right claws tore through flesh and bit deep into bone, seizing the infernal monster's spine directly! The red dragon spread his wings, pouring forth deep-crimson flames of light. Holding the infernal monster aloft, he beat his wings, soaring into the sky until he reached an altitude of ten thousand meters. "Look down, Wilhelm. This was once your city, such a fertile territory, yet you ruined it into such a wretched state. "Fret not. After I kill you, I will look after this place on your behalf. I might even fulfill your wish of unifying Holy Fadlan for you. "Well? Isn't that quite a surprise?" Cassius's voice dripped with mockery. Wilhelm struggled and thrashed madly, his hoarse shrieks ringing through the sky: "No, no! You cannot kill me! I am the one chosen by the Sun God! Only I possess the right—" *Boom!* In the next instant, his voice was drowned out by the sonic roar of air. Tucking his wings in, Cassius entered a free fall from ten thousand meters up, spiraling downward in a steep dive. Soon, their descent broke the speed of sound. The surrounding air turned razor-sharp, lacerating Wilhelm's body until it was riddled with wounds. The friction-heated air glowed brilliantly, while the red dragon's own surging deep-crimson light flames blazed, painting half the sky behind them a vivid scarlet. "You cannot kill me... The Sun God... He will never forgive you!" Wilhelm rasped with great effort. Cassius merely chuckled. "The Sun God? Do you still think of yourself as some angelic godblood? Even if His Divine Majesty were to awaken, I suspect the first thing He'd want to do is rid the world of you!" "No, impossible..." Wilhelm continued to argue weakly, yet his tone had already sunk into utter despair. Even he knew full well that the sins he had committed were beyond the pardon of any deity. Under the watchful eyes of millions, the red dragon held the infernal monster captive, plummeting like a meteor toward the distant wilderness. Only now, Cassius seemed like the emissary of justice bathed in divine light, while Wilhelm was reduced to the background's brutal monster.