Strongest Kingdom: My Op Kingdom Got Transported Along With Me

Her tears roll freely, but her gaze… it is becoming hollow. Empty.

Alix sees her eyes. But he cannot bend here. He cannot show hesitation. His voice turns cold, unyielding.

"Give me an answer."

The wind stirs her hair. The warriors around her wait, breath held, every ear straining for her choice.

Velira swallows, her voice soft but firm enough to echo in the heavy silence.

"As the new leader of the Ashedge clan… we will uphold my father's wish."

She closes her eyes, as though forcing herself to sever what remains of her heart. When she opens them again, the tears still fall, but her words no longer tremble.

"Our clan will submit to the Erevaris Kingdom… and become your subordinates."

The wall is quiet, save for the sounds of warriors falling to their knees, the clatter of armor and weapons ringing like muted bells. The surrender spreads—not just as an act of will, but as inevitability.

Alix studies her carefully, the faintest shadow passing across his expression. The choice costs her dearly—he can see it in the way her hands tremble, in the hollowness creeping into her gaze.

He steps closer, the weight of his presence pressing down on the wall until even the hardened warriors dare not raise their heads.

"Because you chose the right thing," Alix says, his tone even, carrying no trace of triumph, "I will give you a gift."

Murmurs ripple among the Ashedge warriors. A gift? From the monster who just erased their leader and their mountains? None understand, and none dare ask aloud.

Alix lets his gaze sweep across them before returning to Velira.

"Though humans may hold a lower status than monsters within my kingdom… you are still my people. Your lives belong under my banner, and I do not discard what is mine."

He lifts a hand, and with a flicker of dark light, something appears in his grip.

A staff.

Its shaft is wrought from blackened bone, runes crawling across it like living worms of pale silver. At its crown rests a crystal orb, dark and hollow, as though it devours the light around it. A faint, mournful wail seems to hum from within the staff itself, pressing against the minds of those nearby. Even the most battle-hardened warriors instinctively recoil.

Velira grips the wall for support, her lips parting as unease twists in her chest. "What… what are you going to do…?"

The staff hums with a low, unsettling vibration, as though the stone beneath their feet resonates with its presence.

Alix runs a finger along the bone-carved shaft, his expression calm, almost detached. "This is Nyxveil, the Staff of Reversal. To most of you, it may look cursed. Perhaps it is. But power is rarely comforting."

The warriors nearest to him instinctively step back. One drops his weapon, the clatter loud in the tense silence. Even Velira's breath hitches—her instincts scream danger, yet her eyes stay locked on him, unable to turn away.

Alix lowers his gaze to the orb at the staff's crown. For an instant, something flickers there—shadows pulling inward, coalescing into a spiral of pitch-black light. It is not fire, nor frost, nor lightning, but something older, something that feels as though it should not exist.

He speaks, his voice steady.

"You chose surrender. You chose survival, not pride. And for that… I return what was taken."

Velira's lips part, confusion clouding her grief. "Return…?"

Alix plants the butt of Nyxveil against the stone wall. The orb glows with a pulse that seems to drain warmth from the air. A ripple of darkness spreads out, crawling across the ground like liquid night. The warriors tense, but none move—they are paralyzed by awe and fear.

The shadow pools where Velkain's body should be—but there is nothing left. No ash, no bone. Only the echo of his existence.

And yet…

The orb flares. The shadows twist. A form begins to rise—first mist, then flesh, then armor. Breathless gasps erupt from the Ashedge warriors as they see what should be impossible: Velkain's figure, kneeling, whole, alive. His chest rises sharply as he sucks in his first ragged breath.

Velira stumbles forward, covering her mouth with trembling hands. "F-Father…?"

Velkain lifts his head, his eyes wide, disoriented. His voice rasps, broken from the silence of death. "Velira…?"

The staff's glow dims. The shadows retreat back into the orb, leaving Velkain alive, whole, kneeling in stunned silence.

Alix withdraws the staff, his face unreadable. He doesn't explain the item, doesn't reveal its limits, doesn't tell them this "miracle" can only be used once a month. To them, it is something greater—a godlike act.

He meets Velira's stunned, tear-streaked eyes.

"Do not mistake this for mercy. It is responsibility. Your clan belongs to me now… and I do not waste what is mine."

Velira drops to her knees, sobbing, torn between relief and dread, her heart breaking in ways she cannot name. Behind her, the warriors are too stunned to move, their faith in everything they knew shattered a second time.

Alix stands over the staff a moment longer, the blackened runes faintly glowing, then exhales quietly through his nose.

Inwardly, he cannot help but reflect.

Nyxveil… the Staff of Reversal.

In this world, it radiates dread, awe, and mystery. But to him, it is little more than an old tool gathering dust in his inventory. Not a tier 6 artifact, not some legendary tier 9 treasure. In the game, it had been classified simply as a "special artifact"—rare, yes, but not powerful in the way most imagined.

Its function is absolute, yet narrow.

One ability. One purpose.

To revive the fallen—any being so long as they are not tier 7 or above.

That is all.

Its cost? A cooldown of one month before it can be used again, and ten million gold coins.

His eyes, cold and steady, shift from Velkain to Velira.

"Remember this," he says. "I revive what I choose. I destroy what I choose."

The air is still trembling from the echo of his words.

Velira's lips quiver, but she cannot speak. Her tears blur the sight of him, but her heart memorizes the weight of his presence as he turns away.

Alix's black cloak stirs as he rises slowly into the air, hovering just above the wall. The Ashedge warriors, still kneeling, dare not raise their eyes. Even Velkain, reborn and breathing heavily, lowers his head in silence.

Alix drifts backward, his figure dark against the burning horizon, until he reaches the edge where his forces wait.

Mhazul steps forward, kneeling deeply as the shadow of his master falls over him. "Let's go back," Alix says evenly, his voice carrying not just to Mhazul but across the silent battlefield.

"As you command, your Majesty," Mhazul replies, his tone steady though the embers of awe still burn in his chest.

Without another glance at the wall, Alix turns, his silhouette vanishing into the looming shadow of the massive floating vessel that hangs like a fortress in the sky. The boat's dark hull glimmers faintly with warding runes, swallowing him into its hold.

Her hand tightens at her chest, as though steadying the storm inside. The battlefield's distant roar fades in her ears, replaced only by the echo of his shadow—unshakable, untouchable. For a moment, her lips curve in a bitter smile.

"What kind of man are you… to break me and lift me up in the same breath?"

-----

The next day.

Across the empire's subordinate forces, palaces, clan halls, and fortresses, the same message spreads like wildfire. Carried by trembling spies, written in hurried script, whispered in torch-lit rooms.

The Ashedge Clan has submitted. Their leader slain. Their heiress bent the knee. And before all their eyes… Velkain was brought back from death itself by the King of Monsters.

In the great stone hall of the Veylar Kingdom, the council gathers. The king slams the report down, his voice shaking with disbelief.

"This is madness! One attack destroyed the mountains? A staff that revives the dead? Do you expect me to believe this?"

His minister, pale and sweating, bows his head. "Your Majesty, the words are absurd… but the spies swear it is true. They describe the same thing, down to the very breath."

"Then they are liars!" the king roars. "Or worse—already enthralled by this monster king."

----

In another land, deep in the Jadefang Clan's mountain hold, the clan head sits in silence as his elders argue around him.

One elder slams the table, snarling, "The Ashedge were stronger than us! If they bent, what chance do we have?"

Another spits back, "Cowards! They should have fought to the last drop of blood!"

A third, voice trembling, whispers the part that silences them all. "He revived Velkain. Dead one moment, alive the next. Tell me, elders… if such power is true, what is left for us to resist with?"

The chamber falls silent. The head of the Jadefang narrows his eyes at the lone candle flickering before him, its flame bending in the stillness. His voice cuts low, edged with suspicion.

"And where is the Empire?" he mutters. "Why are they still so quiet?"