He was swimming.
He wasn't sure what he was swimming in.
Water?
No.
Blood.
And guts.
Why?
Who did this?
Who brought so much ruin unto his people?
He saw something in the distance.
It looked like death personified.
The grin of a somewhat human skull stared right into his soul, uncaring for the pain it caused.
It had a completely different goal.
It came to steal.
And then, it reached its hand towards him, and-
…
"... hey... hey! Vilius!"
Suddenly, a voice.
"Wake up, brother!"
And so, he did.
He opened his eyes to see that the sun was already up, and the marble ceiling of his bedroom was illuminated thoroughly by its rays.
And then, a pillow struck his face, and it was dark again.
"Wake up already, you oaf!"
His sister raised the pillow from his head, clearly preparing to strike him repeatedly until he responded. Sighing internally, he moved his eyes to look at her. When the pillow moved to strike him again, he caught it.
"There you are! Are you going deaf, Vilius? Come on, we need to go attend the Hearing of Horns!"
He sighed again, out loud this time. After a few seconds, he quickly sat up with one swift movement.
"What hour is it, sister?"
"It's almost nine. Come on, lazy ass!"
The woman who was currently shouting rudely at him was one of his many half-sisters, Ophelia. She was quite tall for a female, and he had to admit her large horns made her quite the imposing minotaur. Her fur was also unusually light in colour, just barely able to be classified as brown, as her father was an albino.
Her adamantite billhook peaked out from behind her back. It was a weapon he learned to respect many a painful sparring session, even if it was not one of the great treasures of their nation left behind by The Sage, like his own weapon. Her enchanted orichalcum armour was no less impressive, even if she clearly didn't care to polish it as she should.
"Nine hours? Is it now? Hm. I see. Why did you come personally to see me? I would have arrived regardless, as the servants know well to wake me on such a day."
Her expression then immediately soured.
"Y-you know why! I don't want to spend even a single second in the presence of those- those filthy mongrels who think me a brood sow! Not alone! We're coming together!"
His expression did not change. He indeed knew.
"Alright then, I'll have breakfast before I depart, however."
"Ugh."
She made a noise of intense displeasure and disgust, and then hastily walked out of the room.
With yet another sigh, he reached for Theseus. It was an axe of unparalleled make, its edge an obsidian black and its handle a gleaming gold, with every inch of both bearing curlicue carvings so intricate the naked eye alone could not discern their full detail. Its weight was so great that no ordinary minotaur could ever hope to lift it, yet to Vilius it felt as light as a feather.
Grabbing the mighty bequest of his ancestor by the handle, and carrying it in a manner where its head was pointed towards the floor, he followed his sister out of his room.
The servants bowed to him as he walked through his luxurious home, towards the dining hall.
When he eventually reached it, and had the large and decorated double doors opened for him, he saw his sister pouting and drinking juice at his table, which already had a small feast of a breakfast prepared for him. He sighed at her familiar rudeness, and prepared to join her for the meal.
But then, he was interrupted by his butler, who hastily came up behind him.
"Your Glory, three sows have arrived during the night. I assume they will be made to wait for your return from the Hearing?"
By sows, he of course meant the females who he was meant to breed with.
Some of the females came willingly, but most arrived in chains, with their horns broken off and their faces bruised. Many of these females were his fellow descendants of The Great Sage, the only difference between him and them being that he had Awakened the great power his bloodline had the potential to achieve.
The Parliament intended to keep the bloodline as pure as possible to ensure the highest chances of success in creating more Awakened descendants, so many of those females were probably very closely related to him. At his age, some were likely even his daughters.
But he did not know, and he did not care to know. He never protested this state of affairs, nor did he even especially ponder it.
It was simply his duty to the nation.
And the same went for those females.
... ...
Vilius, now wearing his set of enchanted adamantite armour, was striding along through the Great Marble Halls, towards the Parliamentary Chamber. Ophelia was following from his side and a little behind him. He sensed her unease without effort, something only he could do, being her brother.
When they reached the already open great doors, they stopped, and his sister grabbed his hand discreetly.
They stood like that for several moments. She squeezed his hand, and he squeezed hers.
When she felt ready, they stopped, and moved on as if nothing happened.
Entering the hall, he could immediately see a great deal of familiar faces eyeing him. Present were both allies and foes in political matters. It was shaped like a great circle, surrounding the podium and large lectern where the First Seat Minister stood.
Sitting down together with Ophelia at their usual spot, he gazed at the First Seat, a man named Minos. The large minotaur was always hard to read, as his face bore a permanent frown and little else. As always, he was wearing the red robes decorated with golden trinkets befitting his position, as well as the Orderly Staff.
Unexpectedly, his sister then sat even closer to him, so much so that their hips were touching.
Although he was surprised, perhaps he shouldn't be. He understood her situation well.
And her fears.
...
Once the many Ministers and few Awakened had all gathered, it was time.
The First Seat's forceful hitting of the Orderly Staff against the marble floor had compelled all chatter to end, and everyone's attention to snap onto him.
"First Seat, Minos. I declare this session started! Raise your concerns!"
Many Ministers then stood up, even more so than usual. Without worrying about who it would be, Minos simply pointed the staff to whichever one he saw first. Whoever that person was would then remain standing and state their issue, while the others would sit and wait their turn. And so, that's exactly what happened.
"Minister Ivrer. I believe we should further discount the price of the shipment of human cattle to the Beastman Country!..."
Quiet chatter immediately broke out once again, as it did after any issue was raised.
"... With the Sorcerer Kingdom expanding to conquer or vassalise so much of the continent, we must build strong relationships with our allies!"
Vilius looked to Minos. While they were already selling them at an enormous loss, he understood perfectly the want to basically give them away for free, in order to foster better ties.
Minos nodded deeply before speaking.
"Vote! In favour?"
Around half of those present in the room then raised their hands, or at least that's what it felt like to Vilius. Minos was probably able to get a far better look, and based on what he saw, he would be better able to make the right call. It could be said that in the end, it was all mostly up to the First Seat holder, though there were processes in place for challenging his decisions.
In the end, Minos nodded once again.
"Proposal accepted, the cattle shipment's cost will be further decreased, by two cows of silver."
Seeing the lack of immediate objections, Minos smashed with his staff.
"Raise your concerns!"
He then once again picked a seemingly random person from the many that stood up.
"Minister Varalr. I wish to discuss deepening our ties with the Karsanas City-State Alliance."
"Accepted. Everyone, raise proposals."
A few people stood up, and one of them was picked.
"Minister Trius. I suggest sending military aid to combat the reported monster infestation. A small group of skilled veterans."
Vilius did not know the details, but apparently a basilisk had been spotted around that area.
"Vote!"
Most people raised their hands, and so the staff was heard hitting the marble.
"Granted! Raise more proposals."
It seemed most had this specific idea, as only few people stood up this time. One was chosen.
"Minister Veleklan. I suggest that we lift some taxes on imports from there."
The staff hit the marble.
"Granted. Raise proposals."
And then, no one stood up.
"Concern addressed, raise more concerns."
Most of the hall stood, and one was selected to speak.
"Minister Aligius. I believe we should increase breeding of The Sage's descendants, and force ALL the Awakened to participate in-"
"No, fuck you!"
His sister interrupted with a furious tone, and stood up with stunning speed.
"I'm not just a fucking tool for you all to use! I'm more than a birthing-"
The staff hit the marble, and Minos spoke using volume-enhancing magic.
"SILENCE!"
Ophelia did indeed fall silent, crossing her arms and staring at Minos with wrath in her eyes.
Sighing internally, Vilius stood up.
"First Seat, what I believe my sister means to say is that she is more valuable when not hampered by pregnancy. In these uncertain times, temporarily compromising an Awakened could be a most fatal mistake, especially when the benefits are so little, considering the existence of male Awakened, who can impregnate many sows each day."
He felt Minos' glare pierce him, but did not let it affect him at all.
After what might've felt like an eternity to those not used to such pressure, a resounding voice was heard.
"Proposal accepted. Female Awakened will not be forced to breed yet."
And then, the staff struck marble, making the verdict final.
"Raise concerns."
As many others stood up, he turned to his sister, who he could tell was extremely relieved, but also exhausted.
"Come on... let's sit down."
He whispered to her gently, and then gently grabbed her by the shoulder.
IAs they were moving to sit, someone else was chosen to speak.
"Minister Terliran. I believe we should send our people to investigate the new catfolk nation forming to the far east, the one led by the spiritual caster named Alaart."
While Vilius was mostly focused on comforting his sister, he still paid some attention to the Hearing, especially now that this strange figure was brought up. The self-proclaimed Emperor Alaart was supposedly a caster of a very high tier, using spells none had seen before. His nation formed abruptly, and quickly secured a great deal of land. But besides that, there was only hearsay.
"Raise your proposals for how this should be-"
Just then, someone suddenly burst through the door, making Vilius tense up as he readied himself for a potential assassin.
But it quickly became obvious that this was some sort of messenger, and what he had to say was so important it warranted the interruption of the Hearing of Horns.
"The treasury! The treasury is under attack!"
Quickly, all the Awakened in the room jumped out of their spots and sprinted straight for the door.
As he was running out the chamber along with his sister and other trusted comrades, a thousand questions were rushing through his mind.
How come the intruders made it so far before alerting anyone? This was the centre of the capital, and the most guarded building in the nation. How was this possible? They had several people here who could see through invisibility...
And who were these intruders? Did they not know about the Hearing of Horns? All the Awakened were now here. Surely they had no chance of survival. Was it some sort of distraction? Were they aiming to assassinate those in the Parliament?
After rushing through the Great Marble Halls for a bit of time, everyone was now nearing the stairs leading down to the underground, where the treasury was. They stopped as they reached the destroyed gate to these stairs.
They could now see some of the carnage. There was damage done to the gate and its guards that he couldn't discern the source of at first glance, making his anxiety rise. It was just another thing they didn't know about the enemy.
He looked towards the other Awakened. They were 6 in number, and included him, his sister, the warrior Herlis, the holy caster Uvia, another warrior named Percius, and the arcane caster Ivrin. They had been through many real situations together, and at this moment, they could tell they were all thinking the same things, and were ready to move as a unit.
Feeling a surge of confidence in knowing that nothing in this world could challenge 6 Awakened at once, he led the way, followed closely by the rest.
Stepping down into the rather well-lit underground, more bodies of the nation's best could be seen lining the floor. Looking at their carcasses without dropping his guard, he saw that they had all sorts of wounds. Some corpses were charred beyond recognition, some seemed to have been pierced by a mighty lance, some seem to have been struck by great and powerful claws, and some had no obvious wounds at all.
After turning a corner, he tensed up.
What he saw was... demons?
There stood several massive creatures of a most foul appearance, each vastly different.
But before he could process what he saw, he was attacked by one of them, a strange pig-like creature with black fur and iron claws.
"[Royal Guarding]!"
Thankfully, Herlis managed to use his greatshield to block the attack coming at him, though he was knocked back.
"[Chain Dragon Lightning]!"
"[Brilliant Radiance]!"
Some of his earlier confidence returned as he heard his companions chanting spells far above what most in this world were capable of.
And so, he tightened his grip on his axe, ready to strike the strange demon which looked like a bizarre pale human wearing partial plate armour.
But just then, he noticed something else. Something that made him hesitate, and prepare to block instead.
In the distance, far behind the demons, there stood a small masked figure.
A dwarf? No, it was too slim for that. A demon with the appearance of a child, most likely.
Whatever it was, its equipment caught his eye. It had two gauntlets, one resembling the forearm of an angel, and the other of a devil.
It then raised some sort of dark staff high above its head.
He could just barely make out its distant voice using his potent senses, but only a few of the words.
"... strong opponents... Lord… s-said... Okay! [Petit Catastrophe]!"
And then, pain from all directions overwhelmed him.
His limp body fell to the ground with a clang.
...
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