Ruler Of Iron And Flesh

Time moved slowly for Inian. The sound of cheering outside seemed never to stop, yet he didn't go out to see what was going on.

Marc's body stayed where it was. Inian didn't have the heart to move it yet, so he set up a chair and waited in that dining room.

Silent tears streaked down his face. He killed his brother...

Banging came from outside the room as doors were being kicked open.

Soon the dining room door banged open, and Janae came running through with a few soldiers from Irigia.

"Inian! We've been looking everywhere for you!" She called out and came marching up to Inian. She froze when she saw Marc's body, however.

"That's him. It's Marc."

Inian slowly nodded his head.

Janae gave a look of sympathy, "I'm sorry, Inian. It had to happen, but that doesn't make it any easier."

"Janae...all he wanted to do was the right thing. He truly believed he was saving the world. Maybe if I could just have talked to him some more, then..."

"Don't you do that to yourself Inian!" Janae abruptly cut him off.

Inian froze mid-sentence, trying to say something more, so Janae continued, "you did your best. There is nothing left for you to do."

Inian sighed, "yeah, I want to give Marc a good burial."

Janae nodded, "that can certainly be arranged."

She left along with the guards to finish clearing the keep, and Inian stayed right by Marc's side.

In the aftermath of the battle...

The allied army occupied the Aysel Palace, and any remaining imperial soldiers surrendered.

The cleanup process was massive, with behemoth level sh.i.p.s littering the land outside the city. Every imperial soldier available left to go and clean up.

Inian gave an order to the monsters not to attack any human cities or undefended towns and had them split up to spread the word. That would help some of the monster attacks, but it wouldn't stop any servants of the Dragon.

Queen Irigia and Master Predo who had survived the battle had taken over control of the Empire until a new leader could be chosen.

Most of their armies returned to their homelands while a few stayed to police the Empire.

Now that the Empire had been defeated, many forms of safe transportation had opened back up, such as the sky trains.

Inian and Janae, along with Sophia and Burt, were riding a sky train. The sky train flew straight and quickly far above the ground to Seyukha.

When they landed at the newly rebuilt train station, they got off with a casket behind them. They obtained a vehicle and rode all the way back to Inian's home city.

There, much of the city had already been rebuilt from when the Empire invaded it. The citizens had been hard at work, and all vital structures had been restored.

The ones who recognized Inian waved at him, but their eyebrows rose up when they saw the casket.

Inian led them to the gravesite where their family was and set up a gravestone right next to them that read, 'Here lies Marc Tafel. One who died a hero fighting for what he believed in.'

Janae, Sophia, and Burt were the only ones who came for his burial, so Inian gave a short speech, "Marc was a very kind man. Growing up with him, he was always adventurous, and I would always go with him. He knew what he wanted and would go after it. In the end, he thought he was doing the right thing, but the pain the Empire caused him twisted his mind. Now, he can finally rest and have peace."

He went to open up the casket once more, and there lied Marc looking so peaceful in his final moment listening to their song.

He kissed his forehead and closed up the casket once more. He and Burt began digging the grave, and it took them all day.

It was nightfall by the time they finished digging and lowering the casket down. So Janae and Sophia went and grabbed some torches so they could fill the grave back up.

They did that then stood around the grave to pay respects one last time.

Inian looked towards Sophia, "Sophia, you've proven yourself to be an asset to the allied forces. Queen Irigia and Master Predo can't always be overlooking the Empire. Would you be willing to become the next Empress of the Kotus Empire?"

Everyone's jaw dropped as they heard Inian's question. Sophia was the most surprised, "wh...why me?"

"You've lived in the Empire the longest and handled a lot of its administrative work. It would cause the least amount of friction if you became Empress, rather than an outsider taking over."

Sophia bowed, "it would be my honor to take that role."

Inian smiled, "good, then let's head back."

They walked back towards the train station and slept there until the train that heads back to the Empire arrives in the morning.

When the train came, they hopped on board and traveled back to the Aysel Palace. There, Inian announced his idea to Queen Irigia and Master Predo. They didn't dispute his idea much, as Inian had as much power as an entire nation all by himself.

Thus, the Empire had a new Empress.

The crowning ceremony was small and quick to give more time to rebuild the Empire and other nations.

One of Sophia's first proclamations was that the Empire would withdraw out of every conquered nation.

The allied forces rejoiced, and the Queen and Master both went back to their home nations.

Later that evening...

Inian sat on top of the keep in the Aysel Palace. He stared up at the starry sky and remembered all the good times he had with Marc. He smiled, happy that they actually have saved the world in a sense.

But Inian's brows came together when he remembered that encounter while crossing the ocean and how the dragon's descendant said to him, 'my elder brother has been waiting for you.'

Inian sighed; it appears that he does not get to rest yet. It's time now for him to get stronger.