Emperor's Reckoning

Cliff gritted his teeth before he muttered he called out, "Borton!"

"Hmph!" Borton made his move before arriving behind Lyon in under one leap. He raised his hand to a chopping form before aiming against his unguarded nape.

Right at that moment before the piercing wind could reach Lyon's skin. Cliff saw a condescending smirk on the face that was choking his breath before his figure was pulled toward him and Borton's chop sunken in Cliff's face. 

Borton opened his eyes wide but before he could even retract his hand, Lyon brutally hit the back of Cliff's head with his right elbow as a hint of crack sent shivers to the entire room. Cliff's eyes slightly dilated before his pupils almost disappeared at the moment of impact. He was petrified as his mouth coughed up blood. He would have never thought that a Divine Realm cultivator could be so finessed in fighting. (This... this is what talent means?!) thought Cliff as he refused to go down under his gritted teeth as he slammed his foot to the ground before pushing himself to turn around while shouting.

"Don't get cocky! You Divine Realm piece of shit!"

"Oh.... heh... I get it now."

"What?"

Lyon was already a few steps away from his reach. He didn't even look at him but his own palm. The menacing jade glow of his eyes was still present as the onlookers couldn't help but taking a harsh gulp. The over a thousand men couldn't believe the Divine Realm kid could control the situation where anywhere he turned was a blade pointing at him. They refused to believe that the pressure the young man exuded could press down the combination of their own. Their presence felt minuscule against the hostage that they held.

"Fine then..."

His platinum ring lit up as a whisk of mana in its purest form enveloped his figure in a blink of an eye. Ephiphany for him was just a word that bowed to a command of his will. 

"Impossible, an epiphany?!"

"You must be joking?! He is going to breakthrough right now?"

"Is he nuts! He will be vulnerable!"

Cliff grinned before he left Borton's side and rushed in toward the young man that made him into a sorry-look state. 

"You're just a brat after all! You need more experience boy!" Cliff leaped forward as his neck tried to reach out neck before his pupils constricted a smirk appeared on his face. (What?!)

"Feast the blood of your enemies, Scarlet!"

The red blood sword that was now had a darker shade immediately appeared in his hand and Lyon quickly draw it against Cliff's neck as he took the liberty of a one step forward with his foot. The blade went through too quickly for Cliff's brain to process before he felt his hair being pulled.

*BOOM!

The table on the other end was destroyed before a thousand men darted their glance against the rubbles. There they saw a body was resting on top of the foods that were still warm, however, their pupils constricted as churning blood kept flowing and fouled the magnificent feast. Their gaze suddenly turned heavy as all of them returned their focus toward the young man before their pupils immediately constricted to a thin line and their eyes stretched open in horror.

In his right hand was a menacing sword that had a dark hue in its red body. Meanwhile in the left of his hand was a head that he grabbed by the hair. Its eyes were still opened in disbelief even when the connection to the body was rendered. 

"Kh..."

"Imp...."

The men couldn't finish his words, especially Russel who was frightened to the brim. His jittering hands won't stop shaking as no matter how much he took a step back the fear only coagulated and expand instead. He just saw how he killed two high-leveled Godhood cultivators. One was burnt to death, this time he was beheaded. He nervously looked at his father before his pupils shrunken.

Borton's eyes were staring in disbelief as if he forgot how to breathe and was brought into a nightmare. He couldn't believe a god would be simply beheaded by a divine. The body of a godhood realm cultivator was a lot denser than that of a divine cultivator, not ordinary metal could casually slice off their heads like that.

"Hmph!" Lyon snorted as he threw the head to a lob in the air. The one thousand men were under its shadow as their gaze followed it. Karina's pupils dilated as she saw it flew unhindered before it dropped and hit the floor before making little bounces then stopping.

Thus the cultivation of that man, which probably took decades to accomplish, came to a swift end. Death with his eyes opened till the very consciousness left of him was no more. 

Hostage? Bargaining chip? The terms seemed void as they saw the bodiless corpse staining the red carpet. The sword in the young man's hand could severe the gods from their lives. Surrounded by a vassal of an army while being the weakest in the room didn't deter his silent rage as the smirk that the young man usually showed was no longer there.

Karina had a harsh gulp against this student of hers. She vividly remembered at the time where Lyon brought down the Heaven's Dawn Dynasty. There were no smiles on his face either at the time. His talent and his potential were fully utilized as he showed no mercy toward his opponent. However, this time, there were over one thousand men Godhood cultivators standing in his way. 

(This... this is Cecile's husband?!) thought Borton before he clenched his fists. There was a huge miscalculation in his tactic. (I thought that having him as the hostage is the most viable option to control the Avalanche Fist but I was wrong! Kaiju couldn't even compare to the soil of his feet! He is not a monster! He is a singularity!).

"Don't panic!" shouted Borton as he tried to regain their morales.

"Either way he is only one man! We have far superior cultivation levels than him and we outnumbered him! There is no need to panic! The man cannot go anywhere from here on out."

A grave mistake was made but that didn't mean it couldn't be fixed. Even if the young man was limbless as long as he was still alive, he would still then be valuable to their gains.

"He is right!"

"He has nowhere to go!"

"Trapped like a fly, you know what they say, a cornered rabbit will start biting back. Poor Cliff teased him too much."

Karina furrowed her eyebrows as she saw Lyon standing without making a single move or remark. (Fatigue?!). Killing two high-leveled Godhood cultivators was surely taxing for a Divine Realm's body. Not to mention evoking a high-level spell to such a degree. Even though he didn't show it by his stand, Karina knew he was good at keeping an act.

"Hmm? Heh! Hahaha! Where did that menacing jade glow go?" sneered one of the men as they noticed the change in Lyon's eyes.

Lyon didn't say a word as he kept his stance. He was pushing himself with the immortal magic already, as the same experience was about to happen when he fought Lumina. His muscles started to take their toll as his breathing getting slower. He felt his fingers were about to jitter as his consciousness beat itself up to stay awake.

"It seems your time is up, such power must have a backlash and here it is," muttered Borton before he crossed his arms and saw one of Lyon's knees hitting the floor, however, the former still had his head held high.

"Hehe! Bullying the weak is my specialty!" said one of the people with whom Cliff went to the banquet.

"Hey, you can't take all of the fun!" said another as both of them slowly approached Lyon whose eyes were on the brink of a blur.

(Karina, was it...)

Karina opened her eyes wide at the calling as a whisper of words entered her ear without any noticeable presence. (You are....)

(The only one that can save him now, is you... Cecile and Sun will rush here, I know of it, in the meantime... please... save my grandson!).

*Thump!

Karina didn't manage to give a reply before her heart thumped. 

"You are pretty cocky for a Divine Realm cultivator," smirked one of the men before he reached out his hand against his hair.

"Look out!"

"Huh?"

As soon as his head was turned, it was greeted with a fist that rendered his face broken before he was propelled and plunged into the wall. However, his 'friend' couldn't react timely before his chest was struck with a palm as a hint of a dragon roar blasted his eardrums to splurting blood. After his body plunged to the other side of the room, a figure that took a deep breath was heard as Lyon's pupils dilated against the glow on the figure's back.

The words that always appeared on his back were now on the woman that taught him the Shattering  Palm as her golden hair fluttered against his face.