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"My lord, Bluta is back," Carla, the Beastman woman said as she bowed deeply.

Asef leaned back in his grotesque throne, the sound of bones creaking under his weight.

The throne, a grim monument of countless slain Trionians, seemed to shift as if alive, the faint glow of residual souls trapped within the bones flickering eerily.

"Bring him in," Asef said, his voice a low growl that reverberated through the chamber.

The heavy doors groaned open, and Bluta shuffled inside. The Keldar's hulking frame was hunched, his movements hesitant.

Some of his feathers were missing and his demeanor now was anything but proud.

"My lord, Great Being. Thank-k you for giving-g me another chance," Bluta said, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and reverence. He dropped to one knee, his head bowed so low it almost touched the floor.

Asef's glowing crimson eyes narrowed, their intense light casting sharp shadows across the chamber. The air grew heavier, and Carla instinctively stepped back, unwilling to be caught in her lord's wrath.

"I didn't give you another chance, Bluta. You merely survived your failures by luck. But hear this—there won't be another time," Asef said, his tone cold and unforgiving.

"Y-yes-s, my lord. Bluta will not disappoint-t."

"Tell me what happened," Asef commanded, his gaze unyielding.

Bluta kept his eyes fixed firmly on the floor.

To meet Asef's gaze was to risk losing his mind, the burning intensity of the Keldar lord's eyes capable of consuming the very essence of those who dared defy him.

"As-s you ordered, Draco was handled back at Yaka," Bluta began, his voice shaking as he recounted the events.

---

Some time ago, on the Keldars' home planet of Yaka, a discovery was made—one that would change the course of their history.

A scavenger, a Keldar driven by curiosity and desperation, stumbled upon a relic buried beneath layers of ash and time.

It was a Zeno capsule, an artifact from the past, untouched by the ages. Soon after, others began to surface, and a total of 13 capsules were unearthed.

But Keldars didn't know what they were. So, they started searching.

The Keldars, known for their brutal and warlike nature, had little regard for history. Yaka was a planet shaped by conflict, its culture steeped in strength and survival.

They didn't care about history. So, there weren't any records of the past. But that wasn't true for everyone.

Dragon Keldars had historians as well as libraries.

One man, Asef, convinced them to share their history through persuasion, manipulation, and perhaps force. What he uncovered was astounding.

Ages ago—so long that the precise timeline had been lost to history—Zeno had come to Yaka.

Like Earth and Trion, Yaka had been a world selected for help. The Zeno users of that era had been sent to guide a planet, just as the saviors were now sent to Trion.

But Yaka was old, its cycles of life and destruction long since cemented.

So, the records were fragmented, leaving many questions unanswered like if the Zeno users succeeded in saving the planet.

Among these fragmented accounts, Asef found instructions on how to activate a Zeno capsule.

When he used one, he was transported to a strange planet—a place neither he nor anyone else had known or cared about.

Determined to harness this technology, Asef continued his research.

With the aid of an unnamed but resourceful ally, he discovered a way to alter the capsules' coordinates, redirecting them to Trion.

The Keldars now had a plan. 12 Demons and Asef himself would wield the Zenos to spearhead an invasion of Trion.

Their immortality granted by the capsules made them invincible.

And to bolster their efforts, they would deploy armies of unintelligent monsters through newly opened dimensional portals scattered across Trion.

The invasion began as Asef had envisioned. The monsters—while killable—were endless.

They served as a relentless force to overwhelm the Trionians. Meanwhile, the 13 Zeno users were untouchable.

Yet, challenges arose.

Upon their arrival, they discovered an unforeseen limitation of the Zenos: they could not return to Yaka once they entered Trion with a Zeno.

Asef speculated that this was due to the altered coordinates, but to him, it was a minor inconvenience. His ambitions lay with Trion, not Yaka.

What concerned him more was maintaining communication with Yaka.

That problem was solved when he encountered Bluta, a peculiar bird Keldar with the rare ability to traverse dimensions.

Asef turned Bluta into his messenger, bridging the gap between the two worlds.

But then came Draco's death, an event that rattled Asef's confidence.

Draco, one of the 12 Demons, had fallen. While Asef initially dismissed it as a minor setback, what he learned next changed everything.

Draco's body had reawakened in the Zeno capsule on Yaka; however, his capsule had become permanently unusable.

This revelation was chilling. If a Zeno user was killed by an enemy Zeno user, their capsule would be rendered inert, stripping the Keldars of their immortality in a way.

Asef's fear of the saviors grew. They were not just obstacles but existential threats to his plans.

In light of this discovery, Asef overhauled his strategy. He issued new orders.

First of all, he ordered Draco to be beheaded on Yaka. He didn't want useless underlings who cost him a Zeno capsule.

The Keldars were to avoid direct confrontation with saviors whenever possible. Now that they could be killed, it was dangerous to fight even though the victory was guranteed.

The focus shifted to subterfuge, manipulation, and exploitation of Trion's resources to weaken the saviors indirectly.

Despite his fear, Asef's resolve did not waver. He still sought to dominate Trion, but now he understood the stakes.

Every move had to be calculated; every action had to account for the unpredictable saviors who threatened to upend his plans.

---

"Was there any issues?" Asef asked.

"My lord, some half Dragon-ns were against it-t. But we didn't-t let them defy your orders-s," Bluta answered.

"Tell me of the savior," Asef said abruptly, his voice a low rumble.

Bluta's head snapped up slightly but remained low enough to avoid Asef's direct gaze. "The savior is strong-g, my lord. Stronger than we expected-d. He killed-d Draco with help from one other-r. But Bluta believes-s he is a threat-t."

"Is that so?" Asef's voice took on an amused tone. Continue your saga on My Virtual Library Empire

Bluta hesitated, his claws scraping against the stone floor. "Bluta suggests-s we watch him-m. Study his moves-s, his allies-s. Then, when the time is right-t..."

Asef raised a hand, silencing him. "Do not presume to offer me strategies, Bluta. You are not here to think; you are here to obey."

"Bluta understands-s, my lord," Bluta said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Carla watched the exchange with a stoic expression, though her sharp ears twitched at every nuance in Asef's voice.

She had seen Bluta grovel before, but this time, it felt different. Asef's tolerance for failure was waning, and Bluta's life hung by a thread thinner than ever.

"Your usefulness is dwindling, Bluta. Do not fail me again. Do not mistake my patience for forgiveness. You live because your pathetic existence still holds some use to me."

"Y-yes-s, my lord. Bluta will not disappoint-t."

"Gather all the Demons. We will change our plans."

Looking at Bluta, who was leaving to convey orders, Asef muttered, "The saviors think they've won a victory. But the game has only begun. Let them bask in their small triumphs while I set the stage for their fall."

Keldars' movement would change. But, would it be different from the past timeline?