Tarek wanted to offer to keep the children in Sovek, but he wasn't going to contradict Marliea's wishes in her last moments. She was satisfied with Melvyn taking them to Westinburg, which was known to be a peaceful and safe place, and Melvyn supposedly had a big family that could provide a better home than anyone here in Veridia could.
"I'll make sure your family has what they need to provide for them." Tarek told Melvyn, before looking down at Marliea, "And I'll make sure your sacrifice is not in vain..."
Silence befell the room once more as Marliea released her final agonizing breath, her body going still seconds later. Tarek placed a finger on each of the woman's eyelids and drew them shut, before wordlessly rising to his feet and turning back to the senators. The self-proclaimed rulers of Veridia shrank in fear, for the look on Tarek's face had changed, and it was the look of man prepared to kill.
"Tarek, wait! That wasn't what it looked like!" the chairman protested.
Tarek drew out his sword.
"I assure you, the Republic will grant you whatever you want!" Sudja cried, "I will give you whatever you want!"
"What I want...?" Tarek began to slowly advance toward the senators, "All ever truly wanted was to see my parents one last time..."
Sudja tried to back away, but the bulk of the senators were standing behind him, and none of them allowed him to slip behind them.
"Can you do that, Duke Boris Sudja, can you bring back my parents? Can you bring back Marliea? Can you bring back the noble families you betrayed? Can you bring back the thousands you've starved?"
This time, Sudja turned around completely, using his girth to barrel through his peers and try to get as much distance between himself and Tarek as possible.
"Tarek, this is a mistake! Don't-- AAAAGGGHHH!!! the chairman tried to protest, but Tarek merely raised his left arm, the one with the gauntlet, and fired a stream of lighting into the man, causing him to fall to his knees, screaming as he was roasted alive.
The death cries of the rest of the senators echoed through stone hall as the ponderous Sudja fled to the only place he could access, the balcony overlooking the city. But as he reached the ledge that jutted out hundreds of feet above the city square, the harsh realization struck him that there was nowhere left to run.
Reluctantly, he turned to face his fate, as Tarek appeared on the balcony as well, sword dripping with blood. The former duke quaked in terror as the son of the friend he had betrayed stalked up to him and raised the tip of his blade so it hovered in the air between Sudja's eyes.
"Tarek..."
"Refer to me by my rightful title, worm!" Tarek snapped.
"Duke Izabran, please! I'll do anything! ANYTHING!"
"Then kneel!"
Sudja quickly lowered himself to his knees, his eyes remaining locked on Tarek's.
"Now..." Tarek placed the hand that bore his gauntlet in front of Sudja's face, removing his sword in the process, "Kiss the hand of your emperor!"
"Emperor?"
"I have reunited the Shards of Losh, you fool! Within my blood flows Imperial lineage! Must I make it any more clear to you?"
"H-hail..." Sudja's lips quivered, "Hail to the emperor!"
He lowed his head and kissed the top of Tarek's hand, an ancient show of respect that kings and emperors had demanded since time immemorial. The humbled man weakly withdrew and looked back up into Tarek's eyes, thinking that perhaps he had earned mercy by his submission. But he did not see the eyes of a merciful monarch, but the hateful glare of a vengeful tyrant.
"S-sire?" he whimpered, finding he could no longer move his legs, realizing only too late that his body had become bone-chillingly cold, "No... MERCY!"
And with that, Boris Sudja was frozen into a block of solid ice, his horrified expression unflinching as Tarek continued to stare him in the eye. With a flick of his wrist, the Emperor of Veridia blasted the frozen senator with a gust of wind, hurling him off the balcony and sending him to shatter into a thousand shards on the street below.
The space between him and the ledge now vacated, Tarek stepped forward to gaze across the city. His city. The one his father ruled over for decades. The one he himself would rule over for decades to come. This place, his childhood home, the seat of an empire lost to the ages, would finally be restored to its rightful place in the world. A republic had died this day, and in its place, an empire had been born.
"Hail to the emperor..."
