Duke Kriad wasn't a man who believed in fate or manifestation. And he definitely wasn't the kind who'd think the universe was favoring him.
If anything, he saw the world as a jungle and himself as the hunter. Everyone else, was, ofcourse beasts. Some were more useful than others but at the end of the day, were all beneath him.
That belief was why he got where he's today.
Abandoned in an orphanage during a war time, he had to fight kids above his age to survive.
From a very tender age, he learned that his victory meant someone's loss. The laughter of the victory was always accompanied by the sob of the loser.
The world just had a favorite. They listened only to the one success story and ignored the million failures.
To the young mind of Kriad, the nature of such world was clear.
Winner. Loser.
Hunter. Hunted.
Win and Thrive. Lose and Perish.
This world view wasn't unique in and of itself. Many people thought such things at least once in their lifetime.
But his difficult life experiences drilled those experiences and made them his 'truth'.
When the girl who he saved and fed back from starvation promised to take care of him when he fell sick abandoned him when he's on a dangerous fever which nearly killed him or the disciple he cherished as family selling him out for some treasures.
These experiences weren't a one or two time things.
It was a pattern of Kriad's life.
There were more relationships that broke than those that did not. More people who betrayed his love than those who remained loyal.
It's like he's cursed by some supernatural entity, perhaps the universe itself. He could be in the most lavish party of the kingdom, but he'd still feel alone.
For such a man to support Prince Rudolph's faction wholeheartedly was a great surprise.
But Kriad had his own reasons. Besides the obvious factor of Martial Saint Kong favoring the orthodox Rudolph, the Archduke himself wanted something.
An autonomous prime world.
In exchange for his full support to Prince Rudolph, he openly stated that he'd want a prime world completely away from the kingdom's laws and a few trillion humanoid lifeforms.
People, including the now dead Prince Rudolph, had many guesses.
A taboo process to increase strength using normal people?
A sick scientific research that'd turn citizens into livestock?
A grand conspiracy to build up an army for the ambition to topple the kingdom?
These were all great speculations but none came close to the truth.
Kriad wanted a simple thing.
He intended to take all these sentient humanoid beings, erase their culture, history and knowledge. He would return them to their most primitive state.
And then, he'd play God.
The people of the world would have no idea about the kingdom or the Palarian race.
They'd wake up one day and find themselves living in a world they believe they've alawys lived in. Their lives would continue until a being that claims itself as a God would descend.
And then—that's where Kriad would have his fun.
Since life had been so unfair on him, he reasoned it was okay to be unfair to the lives of others as well.
The so-called good and evil of people were things he wanted to test in his private playground.
How many mothers would sacrifice themselves for their child about to be drowned in flames?
How many men would kill their wives over their mothers?
How many children would kill their parents for their lovers?
The many situations that would push a sentient being to the limit of their conscience—these were all things he watned to try and play out in his little world.
But why? Why do all that? What even was the benefit for doing those complicated, time taking experiments?
Kriad wanted answers. He wanted justifications. The man sought to prove to himself that it wasn't his fault, that it's the world's.
The only reason he killed his own mother, wife and chidren was because he was forced to do so. That's what everyone or at least, most of the people would do. Not just him.
Even though he didn't call it as such, Kriad saw it as a chance to convince his broken conscience that he wasn't a broken soul.
For the sake of his dream, the Archduke joined Rudolph's faction. Even though Prince Merov was in the lead, he believed that Martial Saint Kong would eventually take care of this dark horse.
If Kong didn't, then he would.
But the recent events came as a huge shock.
Not only was Prince Merov killed, Rudolph too suffered the same fate.
Worse, the man who squashed his efforts proclaimed it proudly in the throne hall. And there's nothing he could do about it.
Kriad wanted to kill Varian. But not at the cost of his own life. Isadora was too big of a powerhouse for him to even offend. Yet, a corner of the man's mind was consumed by hatred.
Now, the chances of him getting his wish fulfilled was much lower.
The faction would have to support a new candidate. Everything needed to be built again from scratch.
That's what he thought until he was asked to visit Martial Saint.
A huge surprise awaited the Archduke.
Prince Robert.
The younger brother who was always overshadowed stood with a brilliant light of his own.
Rank 8!
It was a ridiculous thing to even imagine. But the Martial Saint did the impossible.
"Support him well and your wish will be granted."
Archduke Kriad took those words to heart and began to think of all the ways he could act to support Prince Robert.
But as he was returning to his home city, a quiet but definite buzzing of aura caught his senses.
Something was trying to stay hidden but traces of it were being leaked.
"Who dares to sneak into the region I oversee?"
A fierce red light spread across space and a powerful aura locked onto a translucent room.
