"The sky is bluer than I remember," he said taking in the view, a stark contrast to his previous kingdom.
He stood atop a moss-covered cliff just beyond the vault's exit. Behind him, the sealed doors of the ancient bunker had vanished into the rocks as if it never existed.
Before him stretched the rolling highlands of central Ervandros, full of wildlife and vegetation-once a heartland of his empire, now claimed by wilderness and time.
The world had moved on forgetting his empire's existence.
Giant trees stood where cities once thrived. Invisible magic danced faintly in the wind like pollen from a flower. Strange birds circled in the sky casting their shadows like rulers of the open skies, their feathers shimmering faintly with spirit energy.
As he looked around, in the far distance, a walled city gleamed with spires and domes made of pale white stone, its architectural structures strange to Leonhart-not built by machine assistance but by prayers and faith.
Leonhart narrowed his eyes. "They really did abandon it all."
[Mapping region... scanning the surrounding areas... Update complete.][Warning: Mechanical presence: extinct. Arcane dominance: extreme. Faith-based theocracies: ruling class.]
The Iron Saint stood silently behind him like a statue, constantly scanning the horizon. "We were gone too long it seems, my lord."
Leonhart didn't respond. The truth was difficult for him to swallow. In the age of his reign, logic, machinery, and innovation had lifted humanity beyond the shackles of gods and monsters. But now…
[Analysis: Divine entities dominate 83% of continental belief systems.][Magic users control infrastructure, resource flow, and military dominance.][Technological heresy level: Maximum.]
"…They rewrote the rules of power," Leonhart muttered still shaken by the realisation that his empire was gone. "Turned their fear into faith. Turned wonder into worship."
The System responded coldly:
[New Objective: Analyse the Faith and Magic Ecosystem.]
Leonhart turned his gaze toward the distant city.
Far to the east in the Holy Dominion of Calvareth, a sermon echoed through the halls of marble cathedrals.
"My children," the high priest spoke, arms outstretched gazing at the crowd beneath a golden sun. The halls were illuminated by the golden sun, the pale smooth marble reflecting the light cast making the inside of the cathedral look like it was made out of gold. "The world thrives because the gods hear your prayers," he scanned the crowd. "Magic is their gift. Faith is your weapon. Doubt is your enemy."
Beneath him, thousands knelt in reverence in complete silence. Lines of golden faith power flowed from the crowd, a smile forming on the high priest's face witnessing the amount of faith power generated. Above him, statues of radiant deities glowed with runes-drawing in the faith generated from the crowd, feeding off the collective belief of the masses.
In a gilded chamber high above the altar, a robed figure leaned forward overlooking the ongoing process of collecting faith below. His eyes weren't human-they glowed with golden holy fire.
Suddenly, he felt something that was thought to have gone extinct, that they had erased from the records of time, something that brought a deep sense of dread inside him, the kind of dread that he hadn't felt for a long, long time.
"It seems the day has come. He has awakened," he whispered. "The heretical king is back."
Meanwhile, west of Leonhart's position…
A hunting camp of bloodline warriors tracked a spirit beast through the dense misty woods. Their bodies were inhumanly massive, scars scattered across their bodies, their eyes like those of beasts. One of them-a woman with horns and shimmering tattoos covering various parts of her body-paused as her heart began to race unnaturally.
"That heartbeat…" she growled. "This heartbeat doesn't belong to a beast." Her pupils constricted. "I remember this feeling, this sound." "It's a machine's."
She wasn't wrong.
Back on the cliffside, Leonhart wrapped the Sovereign cloak tighter around his shoulders. The wind was colder now, and it carried whispers of unknown languages, chants that were strange and reverent.
The world was full of gods, but not of the kind who earned their thrones. These were beings born from the collective faith of the less fortunate, not truth. Constructed by the need of the suffering. Fed by fear.
These false Gods. He would challenge them all.
But first-he had to learn. It used to be a common saying in his kingdom that knowledge is power.
"We need information," he said. "If this world runs on faith, bloodline and magic, I must understand their essence and integrate them into my system before I crush them all. "
The Iron Saint nodded. "There is a village nearby. One of the pilgrims mentioned it before stasis. Perhaps we can begin there as a starting point?"
Leonhart nodded. "Then we go there. No armour. No banners. Just eyes and ears."
The voice of the system chimed again.
[New Mission: First Contact]
[Objective: Infiltrate a small settlement and observe the faith-magic structure.]
[Rewards: Local map, Arcane sample, Sociological data, Unit adaptation node.]
As they descended from the highlands into the thick wooded valley below, Leonhart looked back only once towards the vault where he had emerged from. Memories of his glorious empire resurfaced again in his memories and then ended in the last scene of fire and ruin that had occurred before he lost consciousness.
He felt no fear now as it was replaced by determination, his new goal to establish his presence and bring the same fear they felt back then of his potential.
He felt nothing but hatred towards the Gods that tried to erase his existence. His face now cold and emotionless like that of a machine.
Gone was his benevolence and hope towards a peaceful future. A future built on logic, reasoning and innovation.
Now shedding his mortal ties he was like a cold and calculating AI machine whose objective was to control and demand absolute loyalty.
A king has returned. Not to pray. Not to beg. But to learn how to conquer a world ruled by gods who tried to erase him and his empire's existence.