Fudge Esq

V2 Chapter 80: Epilogue

“Are you sure that’s wise, Your Majesty?” Eliza asked. Though her voice even from the bottom of the dias, it was heavy with concern.

The throne room was dimly lit by only a few candles, flames flickering off the damp stone walls of the central Duke's Spire.

Zer’Nack, King of Lysoria, grunted and took a slow sip of his favorite red wine, letting its warmth settle in his stomach before meeting her gaze. She stood rigid before him, her sharp blue eyes betraying an emotion sh...

V2 Chapter 79: Home

The next three weeks passed in a blur. Every spare moment was filled with paperwork or helping the public rebuild their homes and businesses.

The moment King Zer’Nack’s decree was announced—broadcast by tens, if not hundreds, of city speakers—Benedict, Marchioness Eliza, and Dralos insisted I make as many public appearances as possible. The people needed to see me laboring for them, actively healing the city. Being told someone had performed heroics and seeing it were two very d...

V2 Chapter 78: Aftermath of Success

The city was in ruins.

The battle against the Hydra, which had begun at the western gate, had spread like wildfire. A third of Elyndor lay in devastation, reduced to rubble by the creature’s wrath—its acidic flames having seared through stone and steel alike.

Everywhere I looked, death greeted me. Corpses in armor, their lifeblood still tinged with the remnants of mana. Civilians, men and women, their bodies crushed beneath debris or burned beyond recognition. Even the bodies ...

V2 Chapter 77: A Hero Rises Part 9

Author's Note: Chapter ended up being like 4.4k words, so I just split it into two. But I didn't want to leave you guys in the middle of the original chapter for obvious reasons, so I just posted both.

None of the resurrected ever returned as themselves.

My gut twisted violently and I wanted to vomit. My heart thundered against my ribs, defying its containment and threatening to break free.

I wanted to follow Nida. To chase after Nasq. He had to be okay. He ...

V2 Chapter 76: A Hero Rises Part 8

The Hydra plummeted from the sky, crashing into the ruins of Elyndor with earth-shaking force. What remained of the broken, burning city was obliterated upon impact, leaving behind only a massive crater. With a furious roar, the Hydra surged back into the air, its many heads writhing in rage.

I hovered above, gazing down at the monstrous reptilian-insect that defied the moon. Lunar energy thrived in abundance under the moonlight, an unending wellspring of power that I drank from without...

Quick update from author

So, as you guys know from my previous author's note, I was down with the flu all this week. Fever broke yesterday so I wasn't able to start writing again until today.

Fortunately, it was already planned out and I managed to write the draft chapter today. I just finished it and will be editing now, so it should be only another 2-3 hours before I can post. It's a bit later than usual, but doing what I can to follow the schedule :)

Drop a comment if you have a question! Gonna try to...

V2 Chapter 75: A Hero Rises Part 7

Author's Note: Sorry, sorry. Bit late today. I've been down with the flu all week so it's been a bit of a struggle to edit this section properly on time.

When I left the mindscape and time finally unfroze, I was no longer the person I'd been when I'd entered.

I was not the Lilith who had scrambled desperately for a foothold in this new world, bound and without agency within the body of Lilliana Silverwater.

But nor was I the woman from before. I w...

V2 Chapter 74: A Hero Rises Part 6

I awoke to the sound of someone crunching wetly into an apple.

Every fiber of my body was aflame with pain. Even the mere act of thinking sent spasms arcing through me, shaking and shuddering in torment. My vision blurred, tears or sweat—I couldn’t tell—flooding my eyes. I lacked the strength to wipe them away. My clothes, soaked through with sweat, clung to me, chilling me to the bone.

My mouth was parched, but thirst was a distant concern. It was warmth I needed. My teeth ...

V2 Chapter 73: A Hero Rises Part 5

Author's Note: Let me know what you guys think! I've worked long and hard on this chapter, trying to simplify and explain everything as best I could. Huge reveal, so I hope you guys enjoy it!

My father had always warned us about the fragility of trust and the dangers of overreliance.

“Trust the serpent, and you risk its venom. But in surviving its bite, you awaken a strength that no crown can bestow.” The first time he’d...

V2 Chapter 72: A Hero Rises Part 4

The soldier’s body cratered the ground with a deafening impact, shattering the heavy silence over the city. Punctuated only by the Hydra’s guttural laughter.

“Weeeeeeak,” the Hydra snarled, all nine heads shuddering with what I could only guess was anticipation. “Did yyyouuu truly belllllieve the Maaaain Sssssystem grannnttts trrrruuuue pppowwwwwer?”

“You know nothing of what you speak, demon,” King Zer’nack shouted, his voice sharp and clear even from this dista...

V2 Chapter 71: A Hero Rises Part 3

Thousands of different emotions and thoughts all flooded into my mind at once through the House Coin, overwhelming my ability to understand any of them. My knuckles whitened, clutching around Vespera’s scales as I resisted the increasing need to scream.

I was about to sever my connection to the House Coin and the knights linked to it when a single, feminine voice cut through the mass of emotions. Her voice was crisp and I knew immediately who she was. After all, I’d just heard her s...

V2 Chapter 70: A Hero Rises Part 2

A burst of purple-black fire erupted from one of the Hydra’s outer heads, engulfing a warrior clad in shining gold armor. I couldn’t see his fate through the thick flames, but I felt his core sputtering like a candle in the wind. His agonized shrieks confirmed what I already suspected—he would soon die.

His body plummeted through the bottom of the spewed inferno, limp and lifeless, buffeted by air currents. The golden armor had melted in the heat, fusing to his skin as the cold ai...

V2 Chapter 69: A Hero Rises Part 1

Striking down Morgana was not the plan. It had never been the plan. Not now, anyway. I still had use for her.

Yet, for some reason, I was consumed by the need to kill her before the Hydra’s threat grew worse. I wanted, no, needed her dead—now.

Fortunately for Morgana, my charge was cut short and her life was saved by the sudden entrance of judges rushing the stage to evacuate us. Two of them stepped directly into my path, raising their hands to signal me to stop.

V2 Chapter 68: Let the Games Begin

I opened my eyes to a gentle tapping on my cheek and the deafening roar of thousands of voices crashing into my senses like a storm.

“Lady Lilliana?” The voice came from above, gentle yet urgent. I squinted, blinking away the fog of unconsciousness. Slowly, a face came into focus—black streaked silver hair framing worried eyes.

“Nida?” My voice was hoarse, my teeth clenched against the pain. I tried to move, but agony surged through my body, sharp and relentless. I bit b...

V2 Chapter 67: You can't change the world with pretty words alone

Purple and black flames of Soul Weaver energy engulfed me as Alaric cloaked himself in darkness that spread rapidly, swallowing the arena until visibility was all but gone. I could scarcely see more than a hand's distance away. Shrill cries erupted from the audience, though I couldn’t tell if it was from the shroud encasing the stage or the darkness creeping toward them.

A small smile tugged at my lips. Darkness? He thought that was a weakness of mine? He clearly hadn’t seen my figh...

V2 Chapter 66: Divine Judgment

It would be an understatement to say my core was less than one hundred percent. The brief rest between bouts had offered some relief, but it fell far short of what a silver core truly required. Even as I stood facing the powerful energy user, my core struggled to produce energy with desperate urgency.

Alaric raised his blade, holding it vertically across his face. “I fight this tournament on behalf of my lord, Lord Darrow Alistar, in honor of the recently deceased Duke Alistar. It is ...

V2 Chapter 65: Rigged Games

“How’s your energy right now?” Nasq asked from his position against the wall to my left.

“Enough,” I said, though that wasn’t exactly true. The fight against the Hidden Sage had taken much more energy than I’d initially thought necessary. At the very least, the fight had mainly expended raw energy, and I’d managed to keep the lunar and necromantic attributes hidden, even if I’d used the Soul Weaver attribute a little at the end.

“How strong is the noble brat’...

V2 Chapter 64: Prophetic Eyes

The Hidden Sage would be far more of a challenge than Arthur had been. Unlike Arthur, who had one less heart ring than I did, the Hidden Sage’s core was an entire ring above mine.

We faced off on opposite sides of the newly combined stage, which had been restored to a point of unnatural pristine. Not a single crack remained from the previous battles. A soft gust of wind blew across the arena, sending strands of my hair fluttering alongside the Hidden Sage’s thick cloak. He stood mot...

V2 Chapter 63: A Sound Beating

Jarold’s voice disappeared again, coming back half a minute later. His voice had a new, uneasy edge to it that crept into his previous enthusiasm. Despite his best efforts to sound upbeat, the strain only grew as the matches dragged on.

"Ohhhh and Nida the Paragon has taken a brutal blow to her ribs! Ouch—there's probably a few broken ones!”

The barrier separating my stadium from Nida’s vanished the moment Arthur and I stepped down, granting me an unimpeded view of my Para...

V2 Chapter 62: Queen v. Excalibur

My first opponent was a man of average height, with a scar running ear to ear across the bridge of his nose, as though someone had nearly succeeded in splitting his head in two. His hands clenched short war axes, blades etched with runic symbols I didn’t recognize, glowing faintly under the sun.

He idly spun the axes, shifting his weight to one side with casual indifference as his gaze swept over me.

“You should’ve sent a proxy,” he said, scratching under his neck with a d...

V2 Chapter 61: A False Prince of Tenebris

The Duke was too slow in lifting his gauntlets to block my sword's strike. The razor-sharp steel sliced into the tender flesh of his neck before he had a chance to respond, forcing him to recoil with surprise and attempt to create space between us.

The thing about those accustomed to being the most powerful in the room is that they often mistake their limited strength as invulnerability. The Duke, in his arrogance, hadn’t thought to cast a protective shield in advance.

A mistake...

V2 Chapter 60: Sorcerer of No Reknown

The Witch of the North was a striking and petite woman, her form commanding attention despite her modest height of just over five feet. Ice-blue eyes gleamed with an unsettling intensity, framed by jet-black hair and sharp features that tapered to a pointed chin. Her attire was as practical as it was elegant: a form-fitting battle suit cloaked in a golden-hued mantle that caught the light like polished metal.

For the first time since entering the Colosseum, Nasq’s expression betrayed ...

V2 Chapter 59: Raw Mana

I mentally accessed the Desire System’s black box, and, visible only to my eyes, it appeared with the usual red text.

[Name: Nida Keys]

[Class: Primal Tigerkin]

[Race: Therianthrope?]

[Level: 60]

[Open subwindow for additional statistics on Paragon 002]

The numbers tracked perfectly with my previous analysis. It seemed that every ten levels indicated strength equal to the...

V2 Chapter 58: Advanced Tier

The first set of matches unfolded exactly as I’d anticipated.

Nida’s opponent was a wiry elf with pointed ears like Nasq’s, though that’s where the similarities ended. His power was laughably insufficient against Nida’s relentless, in-your-face combat style. The moment the announcer’s “Start!” echoed across the arena, she surged forward.

The poor mage barely managed to part his lips for a spell before Nida’s fist smashed into the side of his head.

Though he...

V2 Chapter 57: The Tournament Begins

The tournament arena of Elyndor put the Sealrite arena to absolute shame. It was larger, more luxurious, and brimming with enchantments activated by House Alistar mages for various purposes. One enchantment in particular caused massive walls to grow from the tournament floor, dividing the space into four independent quadrants and splitting the enormous stadium into four smaller stages.

The circular arena featured tiered seating that wrapped around in perfectly aligned rows. The seats, t...

V2 Chapter 56: Third Interlude of Morgana Silverwater

A spear of ice pierced through Morgana’s fiery defenses as though they were paper, impaling her stomach and leaving a gaping, bloodied hole as it evaporated.

She dropped to her knees, blood pouring from her mouth as she clutched at the fatal wound. Her body screamed with pain, coldness creeping through her veins with every passing second, but she refused to collapse. She refused to lose consciousness.

“Your defenses are still pathetically weak,” her mother’s voice echoed, ...

V2 Chapter 55: Second Interlude of Marquess Benedict Sharma

A Few Days Ago

The office Benedict had been assigned was… adequate. Luxurious by most standards, yet utterly lacking compared to his own study back at the estate. Still, for a prisoner, it would do. The walls were sparsely decorated, save for a few shelves filled with Lysorian nonsense—tedious, self-aggrandizing drivel that was rarely worth reading. A handful of volumes had proven intriguing enough to skim, but the rest? Useless. The room itself bore no sign of hosp...

EOC Chapter 1: Declaration of War

"The bastards of Dael will drown in their own blood!" Bassal roared, throwing his fists high into the air from his place on the royal balcony. "We will slice their throats, break their bones, take their wealth, and train their children into true warriors of the heaven!"

The crowd stood under the oppressive sun, its rays intensifying the stifling air. The heat scorched their skin, sweat carving rivulets down their faces. But the people ignored all the discomfort as their first prince del...

V2 Chapter 54: Memories

“Tell me how to form a magic core, then,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest, a distrustful scowl plastered across my features.

Orpheus clicked his tongue. “I suppose a show of good faith isn’t a bad idea.” He thought for a minute before suddenly snapping his fingers. “An agreement must go both ways. I will not provide all your answers right now. No, I’ll answer only part of your question. I'll tell you the rest once I sense an Angellic roaming the worlds again.”

V2 Chapter 53: Backstreet's back, alright!

Author's Note: Sorry about not posting last week, I was proposing this weekend (and was in trial all week), so I was very busy with all the preparations. We'll be back to ten advanced chapters before the end of the week XD

As I inspected the newly formed ring around my core, I noticed unresolved divots littering the spherical shape of my heart core. Once smooth and unblemished, it now bore the scars of overexertion. The tendrils of necromantic energy I had unleashed had...