Global Gods : Skill-Resonance Awakened Chapter 372: Ch 372 : The Gilded Cage of the Emperor

A deathly, horrifying silence abruptly engulfed the Inner World, moments after it had pulsed with the wild fervor of the Jade Empress’s live broadcast.

Just an instant earlier, the Empress’s enchanting green eyes had vowed a fresh dawn of liberty; then, the transmission shattered into harsh static before blinking out completely.

Shock rippled through like a tangible force. In twenty billion realms, trillions of beings gaped at their blank system interfaces, gripped by mass disorientation.

Cut off from their idol, followers of the Empress cult faced a void swiftly overrun by frenzied, wild rumors.

What was once the Empress’s key battleground, the System Forums, devolved into a vortex of insanity.

Attention swung with the ruthless whimsy of an online horde. Only yesterday Anohara stood as the despot to overthrow; now the Jade Empress became the victim to rip apart.

Clickbait headlines exploded to dominate the trending lists, each wilder and less credible than the previous:

"The Emerald’s Disappearance: Kidnapped by her ministers, the Jade Empress?"

"Charm-Law’s Revenge: Did the Empress’s own seductive power devour her essence?"

"72-Hour Countdown: Top healers foresee the Empress’s demise in three days."

"Coup by Ministers: A clone now impersonates the perished Empress to prop up the Jade Empire?"

Such captions were just the froth atop a vast sea brimming with falsehoods.

Though sharper minds tried piecing together causes like spatial disruptions or mana depletion for the stream’s collapse, their logical threads drowned beneath floods of provocative bait and outlandish claims.

Having conditioned the crowds to hunger for drama, the Jade Empress now saw them feast on her image with the same voracity they’d unleashed on Anohara.

Away from the online tempest, serene calm prevailed at the Cosmic Empire’s core.

Seated cross-legged on spirit-grass matting in his secluded Veridia study, King Anohara ignored the forums and imperial unrest alike.

Deep in Veridian chronicles, his fingers followed the trails of past legendary rulers.

"Crowds bend to whims like leaves in wind," Anohara whispered, his deep, resonant baritone blending with the faint whisper of turning pages.

"They burned merits slandering me moments ago, now channeling that fury against their would-be liberator. Such caprice rules the leaderless masses."

A faint, padded rhythm pierced the quiet—a frantic, muffled pounding akin to a heart throb veiled in fabric.

"Awake already? Good morning, Jade Empress," Anohara remarked, eyes fixed on his tome.

His attention shifted to the room’s distant corner, where amid lofty shelves and tactical charts sat an opulent queen bed, utterly incongruous.

There reclined the woman who had almost shattered his dominion.

"Mmm-mmph! Mmm!"

The Jade Empress writhed, her form wriggling under luxurious linen. Those venomous, hypnotic green eyes blazed with rage fused to primal dread.

Her hand flew to her face, probing for lips, only finding flawless, seamless flesh. No mouth remained.

Not sealed or muted by spell—it was as though her very anatomy had been rewritten, mouth excised from existence.

"My regrets, Empress," Anohara stated, book shutting with a gentle thump as he rose, robes cascading like molten gold.

Golden radiance flared in his eyes as he neared the bed. "I required quiet to complete my chapter. There, restored."

Instantly, her lips reformed, soft pink arches materializing seamlessly.

"Hah... Haaah!" Gasping raggedly, the Jade Empress gulped air desperately, bosom surging. Breathing through a mouth again struck as bizarrely alien, underscoring her total subjugation.

"Anohara..." she croaked at last. Once a velvet song enchanting heavens, her tone now fractured with haste and terror. "What does this mean? What wrong have I committed to earn such... savagery?"

Gazing upon her, Anohara’s face mirrored a serene, impenetrable pond.

"To begin," he intoned with chilling, unwavering command, "I rule the Cosmic Empire as King, and you lie at my palace’s center. Cease such impudent queries. You’re my captive—act accordingly."

He halted, a subtle, courteous smile curving his lips—far more chilling than any glare.

"Yet, as one sovereign to another, I’ll address your concerns as fully as possible."

For a fleeting, disloyal heartbeat, the Jade Empress felt entranced.

Near at hand, Anohara defied her smear campaign’s villainous portrait. He exuded a daunting poise, an immovability proclaiming him cosmos’ pivot.

Yet sensing no trace of her mana, her power reduced to lifeless dust, yanked her to harsh truth.

"Regarding your initial query," Anohara pressed on, "the purpose here. Your soul grasps it already, but plainly: Veridia holds a proverb. Thrust your hand into a lion’s maw, bid farewell to fingers."

"Forum meddling struck this Empire’s Reverse Scale. You assailed truth itself. As King, safeguarding that truth and chastising the offender falls to me. That settles your follow-up."

Stunned, the Empress’s thoughts whirled. She strained to rise, to confront him with poise, but her limbs melted like liquid. Even her upper body refused to budge.

"No use," Anohara noted mildly. "Static Suspension binds your body and spirit. Hands and head respond, but the rest lies... inert."

Pivoting, he snapped fingers; study doors parted, admitting ten maids in spotless white-gold Imperial garb, stepping in perfect sync.

"Await your commands, my King," they chorused, deeply bowing.

"Her care falls to you henceforth," Anohara directed, raising a hand to hoist the bed aloft on shimmering golden force. "Escort her to the suite by mine. It becomes her universe now."

Nodding, the maids guided the levitating bed away.

"Anohara! Hold! More questions!" the Empress cried, voice rebounding from lofty vaults as her airy conveyance passed him.

"Tonight I’ll visit your quarters," Anohara answered, resuming his historical read. "Save them for then. Duty calls now."

Doors sealed as the bed crossed, severing the Empress from Veridia’s sovereign.

The journey to the royal guest quarters proved a bizarre ordeal for the Jade Empress.

Drifting palace halls unveiled her unveiled visage to awed guards and staff, her allure striking as fresh, godlike.

Yet under that splendor burned a fierce scarlet flush—shame and outrage from Anohara’s final quip.

Maids caught her look, exchanging quiet, sage laughs. The lead maid, statuesque with gentle yet piercing gaze, peered at their ethereal charge.

"Misread not our King, Empress," she advised. "His nightly visits aren’t lewd intent. He’s told us likewise for detailed briefings. He fulfills every word. Questions promised mean questions answered. Temper expectations."

"Expectations?!" The Jade Empress almost sputtered. "Such depravity? I’d perish first!"

Thinly smiling, the head maid replied, "No offense meant—you’re Veridia’s prisoner now. Across twenty billion worlds, legend holds: inner sanctum captives linger till dust, but flight proves impossible."

"No prison’s that ironclad," the Empress spat, gripping silken covers.

"Security’s irrelevant, Empress," the head maid intoned gravely. "The King’s imposed Vegetative Lock defines it. Without spilling all secrets, plots, respawn site—you stay frozen. No mana, no brawn. Suspension bars even suicide. A spirit caged in meat."

"Natural death leads to revival on your 9 lives, yet the king recaptures you... His watch spans everywhere" the maid added, beaming cheerfully.

Those truths struck the Jade Empress like a hammer. Sinking into plush bedding, once opulent now a velvet tomb, she dwindled to infant helplessness—she who’d swayed trillions with a look.

Gazing at soaring palace arches, green eyes gleamed with loathing laced by novel, fearful intrigue.

Enemy’s core housed her, confined beside the man who’d unmade her mouth by glance alone.

New suite doors parting, she grasped: the Information War hadn’t concluded—it had shifted to intimate confines.