SSS Class Awakening: Start With A God-Level Choice System

The dwarf looked up at Veylan, his wrinkled brow furrowed deep with disbelief. "Even with dwarven steel and rune shields, they cut us down like wheat. Our cannons might as well be tossing stones. I've watched siege runes strike their walls without leaving a scratch, as if the magic was nothing more than a child's drawing. Yet…"

The dwarf hesitated, glancing toward the horizon where the enemy encampment glimmered under the pale moonlight.

Rows upon rows of lights, straight and unwavering, stretched farther than the eye could see. Metal beasts the size of barns moved silently across the plains, their tracks grinding soil into dust.

"I overheard them," the dwarf said finally. "Speaking of you, Duke. They fear the Lion still. They know your name, even in their alien tongue."

Veylan's hand tightened on the railing. He did not look away from the distant lights, the faint hum of engines whispering like a distant storm.

"Fear alone won't save Helrath," he replied, his voice low, steady. "But if the invaders think a lion bows, they'll learn tonight that even wounded lions still have claws."

The dwarf grunted, a ghost of pride flickering in his weary eyes. "Aye… claws forged in Helrath steel."

He spat over the edge of the tower, then retrieved the mangled weapon, tucking it under his arm. "I'll see if the forges can make sense of this. Perhaps, if the gods still favor us, we'll bite back before long."

He left, boots clanging down the tower steps, leaving Veylan alone with the cold wind and his resolve.

…

Dawn broke over Helrath with the dull gray of ash-filled skies. The city stirred not with birdsong or bustling merchants, but with the iron rhythm of marching boots.

From the battlements, ranks of Sigil Knights formed into disciplined lines, their shields interlocking in shimmering walls of silversteel.

Mages stood beside them, staves glowing faintly as protective runes floated in circles around their bodies. Beast tamers tightened harnesses on restless wyverns, their screeches splitting the morning gloom as tongues of fire licked the sky.

Helrath was not the force it once was, yet its remnants burned with stubborn defiance.

Veylan emerged before them in full warplate, silver trimmed with crimson, the Lion Sigil blazing like a brand upon his chestplate. His massive greatsword rested across his shoulder, its runes alive with mana, faint arcs of lightning crawling along the blade's edge.

Even in the dim light, he seemed carved from stone and fury, every step shaking resolve into the soldiers' bones.

He raised his voice, the sound booming across the courtyard, carried by mana into every ear:

"Helrath bleeds!" he roared. "But not in vain! We stand not just for this keep, not for a single dukedom, but for the last hope of uniting Thalorien!"

He swung his sword down, its runes flaring as it struck the earth, sending a ripple of golden mana through the ground.

"These invaders think us broken relics of a fallen empire. They believe thunder and iron can silence our roars. But we are carved from war and bound by blood! Today, we show them the roar of a Lion still echoes louder than their thunder!"

The army erupted in unison, a thousand voices bellowing their defiance.

Shields slammed against the ground. Wyverns shrieked overhead, beating wings stirring clouds of dust and mana alike.

For a heartbeat, Helrath felt whole again.

…

The gates of Helrath boomed open with a sound like judgment itself.

Sigil Knights surged forward in tight formations, crimson banners snapping in the wind.

Mana-infused arrows arced across the sky in glimmering streaks, raining light upon the plains. Wyverns dove from the heavens, unleashing torrents of flame that scorched the ground below.

And at their head, Veylan charged, his mana surging like a storm given flesh. His five Sigils burned with such intensity that the earth quaked beneath his boots. With each stride, the stone cracked. With each breath, the air roared around him.

For a fleeting moment, it felt like the wars of old, when lords clashed with demons and the empire's heart still beat strong.

But the world answered with fire.

Explosions tore through the frontlines, ripping earth and men apart alike.

Metal projectiles screamed through the air, faster than even storm-forged wyverns could fly. Shields shattered, enchanted armor splintered under unseen impacts.

Wyverns dropped from the sky with agonized shrieks, wings punctured by streams of iron. Knights crumpled mid-charge, lifeless before they even saw the enemy's faces.

"Hold the line!" Veylan bellowed, his voice cutting through chaos like a blade.

He swung his greatsword in a wide arc, a golden tempest erupting outward.

The wave of mana deflected a hail of projectiles, splitting the battlefield with a shockwave that sent metal shards tumbling harmlessly into the dirt.

The five Sigils upon his body flared brighter than ever—Lion, Fang, Fortress, Blood, and Storm—each feeding into the other until his aura shone like a miniature sun.

Mana howled in response, tearing trenches through the earth as his strikes cleaved through the first of the enemy's metal constructs, its armored body splitting like parchment under his blade.

The Lion of Thrones rallied knights to his side. With every sweep of his sword, enemy lines buckled, and for a brief, breathless moment, it seemed Helrath might carve a path to victory.

Then came the sound.

A single voice. It sounded calm, commanding, and as heavy as a mountain.

"Kneel."

The word was not carried on wind or mana. It burrowed straight into the marrow of every soul on the field.

Knights froze mid-swing. Wyverns hung motionless in the air, wings locked, their screeches strangled into silence.

One by one, men dropped to their knees, trembling as if unseen chains yanked their very wills to the dirt.

Veylan snarled, his Sigils blazing with desperate brilliance as he fought against the crushing command. His knees buckled, muscles straining, mana bleeding from his pores in golden sparks.

With a roar that split the sky, he forced himself upright, defiance carved into every sinew of his body.

Through the haze of smoke and drifting ash, a presence heavier than steel and darker than the battlefield's despair swept over the plains.

A figure emerged from the veil of warfire.

She walked with unhurried grace, draped in black and gold imperial regalia that shimmered faintly like woven edicts of law itself. A flowing mantle of chained sigils trailed behind her, glinting with restrained power.

Upon her head, a radiant crown of spectral light floated—not fragile like a tiara, but forged from pure dominion, each point burning with golden authority.

Long hair, white as untouched snow, streamed down her back, unstained even by soot and blood. Her golden eyes, sharp and unblinking, swept over Helrath's defenders like a judge weighing the worth of an entire world.

With every step she took, the earth seemed to bow. Mana and even reality itself rippled subtly, bending toward her presence.

The oppressive aura was suffocating, not fiery rage nor raw killing intent, but the weight of an unchallenged sovereign.

Behind her marched an otherworldly legion. Soldiers in mirror-polished armor advanced in perfect, unerring formation, their weapons roaring with fire that knew no mana, only cold precision. War banners bearing the chained crown snapped sharply in the wind, each one a silent proclamation of subjugation.

It was not merely an army. It was law incarnate, moving as one body under a single will.

And at its center, enthroned in invisible authority, strode the Tyrannical Ruler.

Elyndra had come to claim Helrath, not as a conqueror seeking land, but as a queen asserting her divine right to rule all beneath the shattered heavens.

For the first time in decades, as Veylan's gaze locked with those golden eyes that seemed to command even the air to kneel, fear pierced his heart like a blade of judgment.

The battlefield was silent.

Not from peace, but from the suffocating weight that pressed upon every living thing when Elyndra walked forward.

Each of her steps was measured, deliberate, yet it carried more dread than any charge of knights or roaring of wyverns.

The soil seemed to ripple beneath her boots as if bowing to its rightful monarch. Even the flames consuming the battlefield curled lower in reverence, dimming under her presence.

Veylan Altharion's heart thundered like war drums. The Lion Sigil blazed brilliantly, storming mana flaring in defiance, lashing against unseen chains that coiled tighter with every heartbeat.

He was a man who had faced demon dukes and shattered crimson rifts with nothing but his will and his blade, but this was different. His body trembled under her gaze despite the roaring power of his five Sigils.

"Rise, Lion of Thrones," Elyndra said softly.

It was not a command meant to crush him. It was acknowledgment, an empress recognizing a cornered king who refused to bow.

And yet, all around Veylan, his men faltered.

Sigil Knights, who had followed him through years of war and famine, dropped their blades as if their own hands no longer obeyed. Weaker knights collapsed entirely, armor clattering as they fell face-first into the mud.

Wyverns, proud and fearless, descended from the skies to land heavily on the blood-soaked soil, their reptilian eyes glazed over by unseen chains of subjugation.

Behind Elyndra, her legion halted in perfect unison.

A thousand soldiers, a thousand blades, yet only one will guide them.

Even the war machines towering over the battlefield shifted their posture slightly, almost as if lowering themselves in salute to the silent authority of their sovereign.

"You will not take Helrath," Veylan snarled.