Unable to Become King

Ense felt a moment of disorientation, and he found himself no longer in his original location but kneeling at the base of the seemingly endless staircase leading up to the pyramid's peak.

"The God's Temple?"

Ense was so frightened that he tumbled backward, sitting on the ground with a look of terror on his face.

"What is this?"

"How did I get here?"

"How am I here?"

He quickly lowered his head, not daring to let his eyes gaze upon the top of the stairs.

He feared that his gaze would disturb the existence at the highest point.

Ense was not only terrified of this sudden change but also feared the temple atop the golden pyramid, the mysterious and lofty existence residing among the divine, unfathomable and inscrutable.

"I must go!"

"I have to leave now!"

"I must get away from here."

Trembling all over, he wanted to crawl downward, but at that moment, a beam of light illuminated the staircase.

The light slowly extended downward from above, like mercury spilling onto the ground.

The color was a dazzling white.

It was not the light of the sun but a pure and sacred light, as if a power emanating from the depths of the soul.

All expression vanished from Ense's face, and he turned his head.

The light suffused his eyes, turning the whites and pupils a pure white as well.

Raising his head, he saw a silhouette within the light.

An existence transcending time and years, eternal and unaffected by any constraints or influences.

In that instant, Ense understood the true nature of the being before him.

Ense's shoulders slumped, his hands hanging limply at his sides like noodles.

His entire body seemed to lose all strength as he knelt on the ground, only his head raised high to gaze upon the starlike shadow above.

"God Yinsai!"

It was the first time he had seen God, and it would be the last.

God was not an immovable stone, completely different from what he had seen when his father took him into the temple in his youth.

He did not emerge from the temple, not because the temple confined Him.

Rather, this universe rejected Him, and it made no difference wherever He was.

"So this..."

"This is the true face of God."

Ense raised his hands toward God as if embracing the light.

"Oh, God!"

"Will You mete out my punishment?"

The divine voice seemed to emanate from above the clouds, high atop the palace.

"Son who committed patricide!"

"Your life and death shall be decided by your father, and your sins shall be defined by him."

Yin Shen merely glanced at Ense before withdrawing his gaze and returning to the temple.

As the light receded from the top of the staircase, Ense collapsed completely to the ground.

Ense had just crawled down from the pyramid's steps like a pile of mud when a group of strong and tall Trilobite Man guards surrounded him.

"Take him," several Trilobite Man guards seized Ense and dragged him onto the main road.

Ense did not resist and, while being dragged away, glanced at the enormous statue of the King of Wisdom erected at the base of the pyramid, a tribute from Yesael to his father, the King of Wisdom.

The citizens of the Yinsai Kingdom stood on both sides of the main road in the God-Given City, watching in disbelief as Crown Prince Ense was escorted away.

"Is that Prince Ense?"

"How could it be Prince Ense?"

"Impossible, he is the son of the King of Wisdom."

"What is this all about?"

Amidst the uncomprehending and shocked gazes of the crowd, Ense was dragged before Redlichia and forced to kneel on a pile of rubble.

The once grand and magnificent palace had been reduced to a heap of stones, with the bodies of Trilobite Men buried beneath.

Atop the ruins, Redlichia stared intently at Ense, his eyes filled with incomprehension, anger, and sorrow.

"How dare you do such a thing?"

"Killing your own father? And offending the divine?"

"As a priest of God, you actually used the power bestowed upon you by God to murder your king."

Without waiting for Ense to answer, Redlichia held up an insect egg, hard as stone, and questioned him.

"Tell me."

"How did your brother Boon's Fusion Monster end up in your hands? Where has Boon gone?"

Ense did not conceal anything, and his eyes showed no trace of remorse, as if he were utterly indifferent.

"What do you think?"

"Great King of Wisdom? With your wisdom, it shouldn't be hard to guess what I did, right?"

Ense's words completely ignited Redlichia's fury.

"BUT I WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY IT!" he roared, his voice filled with rage and anguish.

Ense turned his head to the side, his words defiant, yet he still did not dare to meet his father's eyes.

"I killed Boon and then dug out the bone from his brow."

"I ate it, and naturally, I could control his Fusion Monster."

"As for his corpse, it's in the sea."

Upon hearing this, Redlichia's entire body trembled.

"You wicked son."

"You are courting death."

At this moment, the Queen rushed out from behind and grabbed her husband.

"Don't kill him!"

Redlichia looked at his Queen, his eyes filled with rage.

"He killed his brother. He killed Boon."

"He even wanted to kill me, his father."

"Boon was also your son."

"Why can't I kill him? Shouldn't he pay the price for what he has done?"

The Queen pleaded with Redlichia, "Just because we lost one son, let's not lose a second one."

The Queen lay on the ground, holding Redlichia tightly.

"Please, my love," she implored, her voice breaking with emotion, "I beg you, do not kill our son with your own hands."

"That would be the most tragic thing in the world. Please don't let that happen."

"Banish him far away, and never let him return."

The Queen looked at her eldest son, "Quickly beg your father for forgiveness!"

However, Ense laughed loudly and, kneeling on the ground, said with a look of disdain.

"I have done nothing wrong."

"I am your eldest son. I am the next King of Wisdom."

"How could I possibly accept not being king? How could I tolerate someone else sitting on the throne?"

"Even if you don't kill me today, I will kill Yesael in the future."

He looked at his father and said clearly.

"If I cannot become king..."

"...then I choose death."

It was evident that Ense was no longer prepared to live.

After listening, if Redlichia had been angry before, now his eyes held only coldness.

He stepped down from the collapsed palace, one step at a time, saying to Ense as he walked.

"Ense."

"If someone must kill you, it can only be me, your father."

"And not your brother."

The sharp end of the scepter pierced Ense's chest, and blood flowed continuously down the patterns on the scepter.

Redlichia personally killed Ense. In the pool of blood, Ense heard his mother's heart-wrenching cries, but his gaze remained fixed on Redlichia.

It was unclear whether he was looking at his father or the crown atop his head.

Ense's vision faded to black as his life slipped away, and he knew no more.