Emperor's Reckoning

The young man was crouching down on four legs. His palms were feeling the pricking of the unusual grass that he had landed on. 

(Black?) thought Lyon with slightly raised eyebrows. He had never seen the black grasses in his entire journey so far but the moment he decided to stand up, his eyes opened wide.

"What the..." muttered the young man as he walked forward astonished by the landscape in his view.

The sky was ominously full with thunderous merlot red clouds. No illuminating mother of the sky was present nor her brethren of children. Even the air was denser than usual, but there was one thing that absolutely tore the hope of cultivators. 

"This place is empty," muttered Kesya. "No mana, no anti-mana, nothing. Only rubbles."

By the time she uttered those words, the rest of the explorers came from the portal behind them. The three geniuses immediately furrowed their eyebrows the moment they stepped inside the place.

"This is really unsightly," commented Porealus as he looked around but found no aesthetic around except for what seemed to be a chipped-off huge mountain right in the far end of his view. (So my grandfather had been here before, what kind of fortuitous encounter could he meet in a place like this?)

Irae, Zet's sword was feeling restless as his master felt the same. The uncertainty of the place was not a good sign, especially with how 'dead' the place felt even from his skin.

Ivy refrained to make a comment but the slight furrowed of her eyebrows went not unnoticed. 

"Father, are you alright?" asked Ayumu.

Garuda took a deep sigh as he tried to calm down however it was in vain. His body still recognized the trauma of the aftermath of the last expedition. He shook his head.

"This place is really disturbing," muttered Gunther. "Peli, no shivering right? Hahaha!"

Elder Peli decided not to play with his rival but instead made a light cough before whispering toward his young master, "I have the map for the expedition. It is the map where Porealus's grandfather record where he had gone in his expedition. It might benefit us all if we spread out, young master."

Porealus pondered. (It might be true that I might encounter a fortuitous event if I followed my grandfather's footsteps but is it the wisest choice though). He was undecided. There were so many important factors that came into play. The place was still shrouded in mystery that even his grandfather refused to enter it for the second time. 

Garuda and Yunesia were the only two people that dared to enter the place again after suffering such a huge loss.

Yunesia took a deep breath as she reminisced the fall of her allies back then. The wails could still be heard even when she just standing there.

"Yunesia."

The call of her name made her raise her eyebrows. She turned her glance slightly before looking at Cecile.

"What is it?" asked Yunesia before smiling.

"Where did you go last time?" asked Cecile.

Her question immediately took everyone's interest except the three generals. The three geniuses immediately locked their attention toward Yunesia's upcoming words. Especially Elder Peli since he had read the map that was given to him to pass on to Porealus in this endeavor.

"I was going to the south with sir Garuda, and the rest," she said the latter words with a dejected face.

"I see, no wonder you came back with utter failure," commented Cecile nonchalantly. Though her words seemed to mock the latter, the tone and expression that she showed belied it.

Porealus raised one of his eyebrows before Elder Peli immediately whispered, "The map showed that we have to go north, young master. That was the place where your grandfather encounter a fortuitous fate."

Porealus didn't comment nor let it change his expression. 

Cecile crossed her hands without looking at the lot of them as she said, "If you guys wanted to find something useful from the craps here, then go anywhere but the south. The north is the safest but the south will kill you the more you delve further."

"Are you suggesting that we should split off and let you guys go to the south?" asked Ivy with her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"Yes, I'm indeed suggesting that, Ivy," said Cecile with a smile as she slightly turned a glance at her.

"It seems like you hold some information more than the rest of us, don't you think you should share it with us?" asked Ivy. She was probably the only one that was dared enough to demand anything from the auburn beauty.

"I do have more knowledge than all of you great houses combined, even your ancestors only knew a speck of what I know," said Cecile.

Her words surprised everyone. She would have never thought that she would brazenly condescend against the three great families.

The elders from the three different families immediately furrowed their eyebrows. A great disrespect was upon them but they didn't know that she was merely speaking the truth. 

(That's my woman!) thought Lyon as he nodded watching the fearless beauty didn't take a faze even against the three great families.

"I-I think that Empress Cecile is right, we should not go to the south."

When the words came out. The attention was immediately courted by Garuda. The man was famous for his gallant and noble act, but also from the vegetative coma state he was in after coming out of this place. One couldn't deny his bravery of coming for the second time after experiencing something as hopeless as that.

"Why is that?" asked Elder Peli though his intention was quite the opposite.

"The thing that I encounter back then was quite grueling and inhuman. They would still your soul with fear before ripping you apart. Their gruesome killing intent was not as shallow as ours," said Garuda.

"Garuda, you must have earned something with miss Yunesia right? Though most people say that you came back empty-handed, that was probably not the case," asked Gunther.

"We came back with nothing in our left nor right hand," answered Yunesia in his stead. "If you don't believe us, you can just go to the south, I mean, Empress Cecile didn't exactly forbid you guys for doing so."

Hearing the clarification from Yunesia they realized that the auburn beauty never intended to forbid them to head south. However, the stern warning coming out of her words made the three geniuses ponder their decision.

She had warned Ivy about the tournament in heaven before but she didn't listen and undoubtedly lost with the rest of the two. She had warned Yunesia about the expedition before but she also refused to listen and went toward the place, coming back with a horrible result.

"Heh," Cecile smirked before she turned around and started walking toward the south. Her gaze could govern the entire place to a knee as the black grasses nor the red clouds could faze her.

"Heh," Lyon smirked before he shook her head with a smile on his face. He followed his women without a doubt in his mind. So confident, he leisurely put up his arms behind his head to support it. 

Jin and Priscila looked at each other bewildered before Assid's nod made them walk behind the two. 

(My heart is restless and my wife sure is too, but) Jin smiled wryly as he looked at the two in front of them. As if the atmosphere and the scene were not bad enough for his heart, the two in front looked like they were strolling in the backyard and the same goes with the three behind them.

Each step made Priscila's heart's thump wilder. She was inching closer to the truth with every wind bellowing their group. The true identity of her daughter was about to be revealed before her. True or not, the nervousness that she felt was surreal. Even Jin's proposal was lesser than this.

Cecile's group left the four of them to their thoughts. However, Yunesia didn't think much before following the empress and the others. Her little sister followed suit and Garuda albeit feeling the trauma creeping up his body, did the same.

"Lyon, what do you think we are going to see there?" asked Cecile.

"Corpses?" answered Lyon. "You said it's a graveyard."

"This entire place is the graveyard, dearest," answered Cecile with a smile.

Lyon raised his eyebrows before shrugging his shoulders, "Why am I not surprised."

(Besides I'm feeling some familiarity in this place) thought the young man before he glanced around. 

Multiple craters were scattered on the land. Mountains were chipped off and dead trees with only their trunks were left. He had an abundant feeling that these things had some sort of connection with him.

(Eternal Golem, is it the same thing as in that painting?) thought Lyon as he reminisced about the painting that he saw when he woke up from his slumber inside Cecile's room before the entire island collapsed.