Even if she was only a system-appointed, and not a humanity-appointed monarch, Ashtoreth still had to make her first official announcement while looking like a queen.

  She wore ceremonial robes that imitated the look of infernal royal silk—a matte black that drank light so well it was almost an optical illusion, yet occasionally iridesced with a violet sheen when the light struck it at the right angle. The hem of her robes, which would normally be embroidered with high infernal script that described her lineage and accomplishments, was instead embroidered with a long string of human characters—the first and last letters and digits of many different alphabets and systems of numerals.

  Her hair was loose, and she’d given it stronger highlights and a gentle waviness that gave it the appearance of much more volume as it flared out around her face to tumble down to the small of her back. She’d debated for a while on whether or not to give herself the violet eyes she’d had before becoming undead, but eventually decided just to keep her red ones. Everyone knew she was a vampire anyway.

  And of course she’d taken off her crown. She didn’t want to look like she was putting on airs, after all.

  For setting, she’d decided on a grassy knoll in one of the lower level zones on Orchard. A quirk of the atmosphere there gave it incredibly colorful sunrises, and so she’d decided to take full advantage and have the whole thing filmed in the morning.

  She sat in a plain chair, low-backed so that she could move her wings. A range of tiny, snow-capped mountains glowed under the light of the rising sun, completing the image. Hunter held the camera: he had the steadiest hands.

  She’d been nervous as they’d gotten prepared. Sure, she might have a performative personality. But she was only going to get to say hello to humanity at large once in her life.

  And this was it.

  “Hello,” she said. “I’m Ashtoreth. I know you haven’t heard much about me, but the decision has been made to change that fact. So: here I am. And since I’m here, I’d like to explain some things.”

  Her demeanor was composed, but not overly regal. Her tone was cordial, but not overly friendly.

  “On the day that Hell began its invasion, I set in motion my plan to betray my kind and spare humanity the horror of being conquered by Hell. And while I may be a very talented fighter, it must be said that this never would have been possible if not for the fact that I had stolen something that looks like this.”

  She held out a hand, creating a glamour of an antithesis shard to float in the air above her palm. “An antithesis shard. It allows one to circumvent the rules of the system, including those that limit the level of travellers. I recruited several humans from my tutorial, then used my shard to ensure we could come to Earth at a much, much higher level than any of the invading forces. After arriving, I halted Hell’s invasion—first by destroying all of its bastions and then by winning the election to become Monarch of Earth.”

  She was careful not to smile. She couldn’t come off like she was boasting, especially not for what came next. “And until the Earth Defense Alliance can find a competitor of equal level who can defeat me in single combat, I’ll remain the Monarch. As unfair as it may seem, the system demands that a singular champion be the most important line of defense for every realm is the cosmos.”

  She paused, then said, “It’s important to say that on the day of the system’s election, I didn’t win the Monarchy by fighting against other infernals, or even humans. Now, there were humans who, against my advice, participated in the election, doubtless because some countries wanted to see one of their own soldiers become the monarch of Earth. But while the best of humanity’s fighters are impressive warriors indeed, they would have had no chance whatsoever in a fight against an equal-strength fighter with the same amount of training, but who was used to using system-granted powers in combat.”

  She moved her wings, straightening and spreading them just a little to emphasize them. “And I am not of equal strength to a human,” she continued. “I am far, far more powerful at level 350 than any human is. Beyond just the raw power of stats and abilities, I was created for no other purpose than war, then trained from early childhood in the depths of Hell itself by the very best immortal instructors that a civilization built on interplanar conquest could produce. The humans who chose to participate in the election were warned about what would happen if they tried for the monarchy… and exactly what they were warned about was what came to pass. The cores that I gave to their leaders to strengthen humanity were wasted—along with their lives.”

  She paused again, giving her hypothetical audience time to let the fact that Ashtoreth had just confessed to killing a few people sink in. It wasn’t pleasant, starting things like this… but the point of her message wasn’t to cheer people up, or to make them feel safe.

  “I did face a challenge in the election,” she continued, “but it wasn’t from humans… or even from infernals, who were all too weak to oppose me. The true contenders were angels. Two archangels, to be specific, each taking on the form and appearance of one of the horsemen of the apocalypse. I fought them both, killing each in order to keep Earth’s fate in humanity’s hands.”

  Another pause. She had to take her time, after all: she was carpet-bombing humanity with the truth.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Now the appearance—even the existence—of angels may be confusing to you. But you see, Earth, at this moment, is at the center of a cosmic power struggle that the Earth Defense Alliance and I still don’t fully understand. But what we do know is that there isn’t just one other faction, Hell, vying for control over humanity’s destiny. There are three.”

  She let her tail snake through the air behind her, well within the bounds of the frame. “The first is Hell, my home realm. Hell we understand, though I should mention that while Hell has invaded and conquered many worlds as they initialize, it attacked Earth with more than twice as many forces as it has used to conquer any other planet in its long and bloody history. They want Earth more than they’ve ever wanted anything.”

  She paused again, trying not to let her expression darken as she thought of Dazel.

  “The second is more mysterious. You see, once, thousands of years ago, humanity was a cosmic power to be reckoned with. You shook the very pillars of the cosmos and waged war on Heaven itself. Your ancient king created my species, the fiends, and united Hell to use as a weapon against them, inadvertently planting the seeds for Hell to become the mighty power that it is today.”

  A strange, intrusive thought entered her mind, one that she hadn’t considered until this very moment. Was Dazel her grandfather? Did he count? Probably not.

  But… maybe?

  Focus, she told herself.

  “And while much of your ancient history seems to have been purged from the other realms, the oldest among the immortals still remember you. More importantly, the same human king who created my father, the King of Hell, has been biding his time, waiting for the moment when Earth would be re-initialized so that he could make their move to once again seize the reins of humanity’s destiny and lead all of you to whatever ends he desires.”

  What an absolutely fucked up family, she thought. And that’s without considering how badly mom wants to eat me.

  It’s a miracle I turned out so well, she thought, before adding, focus, Ash!

  “And that brings me to our third, most mysterious adversary,” she said. “Heaven itself. Angels are trying to seize control of Earth—angels with the power to ignore the system’s restrictions on travel. We don’t know if they can do this through use of antithesis shards, or through means we don’t yet understand, but their powers to interfere are both limited and unpredictable. None of us know for certain why the archangels came to try and steal your destiny from you, but I believe they spent an antithesis shard to do so for the very same reason that Hell chose to invade in the first place. The two greatest powers in the cosmos… are afraid of you.”

  Again, she tried not to smile. It wasn’t exactly good news, even if she would have taken it as such.

  What came next was even worse.

  “Now, you may think that the restrictions that I and your leaders have chosen to impose on travel to Earth will keep you safe. This is wrong. It’s only a matter of time before any of them make another move to take what they want—Earth—and there’s no telling how they’ll go about it or who will be put in danger when they do.”

  Another pause. She’d essentially just told everyone on Earth that they were in more danger than they had thought—hardly good news. But essential, for what was coming.

  “That,” she said, “brings me to the reason that I’m telling you all of this. You see, the ancient humans left you some things. Earth, as it turns out, is but one of five realms that together constituted what was once the human homeworld. And as Earth’s system-appointed monarch, I have limited access to the other four realms.”

  She wove her fingers through the air, conjuring five spheres that rotated in the air above her palm.

  “The first realm, Cradle, is Earth. The next realm, Core, seems to have where most of the ancient humans actually lived, though after so much time having passed, their cities have almost completely returned to nature. The third, Orchard, is full of monsters that have been sorted into zones of different levels, and is meant to allow humans to gain power in the safest conditions possible. It’s this third realm, Orchard, that is most important.”

  She dispelled all the spheres but one, then gazed at it for a moment.

  “You see, a day ago I gained the power to grant mass access to Orchard. I can give all of humanity access to this new world, allowing those of you who desire it to fight and get stronger in preparation for whatever new struggles may come. Now, doing so would undoubtedly allow any human agents of Hell, Heaven, or humanity’s former king access to Orchard as well, and we don’t know what the consequences of that would be. But the alternative is to be so afraid of what might happen that you never gain the strength to face what inevitably will. And Earth will face more challenges. Inevitably.”

  It wasn’t just about digging her thumb into high command’s pressure points. Hunter’d had a point when he’d gone all idealistic and said people deserved the truth. She had to assume that even if it might ruin their day, people deserved to know that they had enemies who were coming for them and their loved ones.

  “Your ancestors left you these worlds before they vanished. These worlds are your birthright. Creatures whose level would make them a rarity in the greater cosmos exist in abundance on Orchard, and the power they will grant you can ensure that no matter what is to come, humanity has the power to stand against it.”

  She gave slight tilt of her head. “There is, however, a complication. A day ago, when I gained the power to grant mass access to Orchard, I also learned that the fourth of the Five Realms, Diadem, has been overrun by the spawn of the Near Ones—creatures who inhabit the unknowable chaos that borders all of reality. And while I wish we had more to tell you, we don’t know what this infestation means for the safety of the lower realms. Until it’s been dealt with and the safety of Orchard can be guaranteed, we won’t be allowing access.”

  She nodded. “And that’s all for now. Expect an update within the next two weeks. Until then, I continue to serve at the direction of the Earth Defense Alliance. Goodbye!”