Emperor of Steel

Karen fell asleep next to Reina after having her dinner.

It seemed like she was dreaming.

However, the landscape in the dream seemed way too familiar to her.

‘It looks like the garden of Symphonia Royal palace?’

She had lived with Luke for a while now, so Karen knew where she was standing.

Perhaps, it was her desire to see her father in her dream.

The moment Karen was about to smile…

Bang!

Dirt rose with great vibration in the palace.

As if that wasn’t done, the palace seemed like it was cut in half and began to collapse.

“A-avoid! Getting involved in the fight will destroy us!”

“What the hell is happening?”

“The descendants of Rakan are fighting! His Majesty and another direct line, Hiros!”

The soldiers and servants, who were guarding the Royal palace, were screaming and stepping back.

‘Huh? Hiros?’

Hiros was a fake man who was punished for pretending to be the descendant of Rakan when she met with Luke and entered the Symphonia Kingdom.

In the history of another time, he defeated his father and caused the death of Luke.

‘Am I dreaming about the thing which happened two years ago?’

As it was the day when the gloomy future had began to change, she seemed like she was dreaming of that day.

‘Because dad will win…’

With that thought, Karen approached the palace where her father and Hiros were fighting.

However, her eyes went wide upon looking at it.

It was the same with the two of them fighting, but the confrontation was very different from what she had seen or heard.

“Kuak!”

Thud!

Luke was hit back by Hiros’s sword and bounced over to the half-collapsed palace.

“Kuakaahah! Luke de Rakan! Even though you are a descendant of the warrior, I will reveal the true identity which you hide—the man who learned dark magic!”

Hiros laughed out loud and went toward Luke with a golden aura, not showing any mercy.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Whenever the golden aura shone brighter, the palace kept on shattering.

Luke barely managed to avoid all the attacks by using blink, but after that, he began to shift to a defensive stance.

“D-daddy!”

Scared, Karen tried to get into the fight.

Even if it was a dream, she wasn’t able to see her father in crisis.

However, something was holding her back, not letting her move.

Eventually, Luke’s sword, which was being used for defense, broke, and his right arm got cut off.

“Kuak, Dadddyyy!”

Karen screamed.

Something must have been extremely wrong.

According to her memory, Luke cut down the neck of Hiros without even using any dark magic or demon powers.

‘Yes, right, this is a dream. Yes, maybe I am dreaming of the story of the original time which I heard from mom.’

Karen, who screamed, calmed herself down.

But all of a sudden, time began to move at a fast pace.

After being defeated in the fight, Luke used black magic to escape to Jason estate where the Dark Moon Magic Tower was located.

Reina visited him and comforted him.

But, even she couldn’t save Luke with her Divine power. Luke suffered from anxiety and died.

At that side, Karen seemed puzzled.

She had heard that her dad got assassinated by an undead sent by Hiros.

‘Why is it different from what I know?’

The situation that followed it was also different.

It was because the Baroque Empire, which should have collapsed within a few years, continued to survive, further confusing the future of the Rhodesia Continent.

What was even more absurd was…

“The witch, who has defiled the name of God with her witchcraft and deceived the people, needs to be burnt!”

When Constantine, who became the pope, took Reina, who was in a shabby form, to the central square and tied her up.

Karen’s eyes went wide at the sight of the fire burning at Reina’s feet.

“NO! No! This makes no sense! Mom! Moommm!”

She struggled to save her mother by using magic.

But all she could do was watch their death.

“Kuak… I hate this! I don’t like this!”

It was a nightmare. A terrifying nightmare.

She wanted to wake up, but the nightmare continued, and she didn’t get a say in waking up.

Numerous undead were marching over the continent. Several nations collapsed in no time.

Eventually, before even Karen could properly grow up, the continent got destroyed again.

Under the red sky, on the dry land, the world of darkness and death, where only the undead lingered, formed.

And Arsene, who stood at the center of the gloomy world, smiled.

‘What is this? Why am I dreaming such things…’

No matter how much of a dream it was, watching her own parents die and the world perish was weird.

When Karen couldn’t understand it anymore and started to weep, a stern voice came from behind.

“Nothing is over yet. Someone else’s greed has changed the course of history once again.”

Startled, Karen turned her head.

She saw a person she had seen and met before.

A young man with a gold-embroidered robe, a golden staff, and a mysterious atmosphere around him, and an age that couldn’t be predicted.

‘Ah, he is…!’

The man who was watching everything, Watcher.

To humans, he was a being called El Kassel.

Karen knelt in front of him.

“This miserable daughter sees her parents’ death.”

“Woo hoo, how did it feel changing the past? Were you satisfied?”

“I will never be able to repay the grace that you have shown by giving me my parents back. Even my soul won’t suffice. But what were the things that I just saw?”

From the moment she saw El Kassel in her dream, Karen knew that it wasn’t just any dream.

And she was worried about what he mentioned before.

Someone else was trying to change history.

Wasn’t there supposed to be a law where one shouldn’t undo what had already been done?

So she knew it was wrong, but she couldn’t say it out loud.

El Kassel, with a smile on his lips, answered her, “This is a new future. It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but it is very likely to turn into that.”

“But as far as I know, to turn back time, we will need your permission. So how…?”

“I am the one who plans the original universe. I am neither on good or evil’s side… I am on no one’s side.”

“Th-then why are you appearing in my dreams and letting me see this?”

“Huhuhu, maybe on a whim?”

Karen’s eyes widened at his words. She never thought that the great man, who was referred to as the Mightiest God, would say such absurd words.

With a smile on his lips, he spoke, “Actually, you are the cause of this twisted fate.”

“I… understand. This was something I started.”

The person, which changed history by turning back time, was herself.

No matter how much she wanted to save the world, she too had endured tremendous pain as she violated the natural flow of God’s will.

She thought that God’s punishment was done after she received Aether and care from her mother. However, it seemed like she was still responsible for a lot of stuff.

“I have no intention of intervening in the work of the Middle-Earth. This is what you started, so finish it with your own hands.”

With that, El Kassel disappeared.

And Karen woke up.