Emperor's Reckoning

The bandits were looking at their hideout from the small town with disbelief in their eyes. Their mouths were gawked open as their legs lost their power to stand.

Porealus smiled wryly behind the window of the room as he saw those Ascending Gods cultivators slamming their knees down.

"A-A True God!" said one of the bandits as they looked at Graham.

The ability to hover in the air had already proven his cultivation level but the entirety of his power was still unknown. How he nonchalantly appeared in the sky was undetectable as the butler standing behind Lyon and the immense pressure of coming out of his figure was insurmountable. The half-giant bowed and knelt to one person and one person only, and that young man was smiling a smirk the whole time.

"I will give you two options," said Lyon as he crossed his arms. "To die today, or tell Hezar to wash his neck."

The leader of the bandit was lost. Neither option was a good one for him. Offending Hezar would eventually lead to his death.

He couldn't believe it. The situation suddenly escalated the wrong way. The job was supposed to be easy, never did he think that it would end his career short. His treasures were looted even though he was the bandit in the area. The fame of his name was feared by the small towns and traveling merchants but all was for naught in front of the youth standing before him.

(W-Who the hell are you...) said the leader of the bandit inwardly/

"I chose to die today!" shouted the leader.

"B-B-Boss!!" shouted his men.

"Either choice will kill me anyway, might as well be present rather than waiting for certain doom," said the leader as he tried to force a smile behind his palpitation. There was one thing that was concerning him.

"Do you think you are the only one that will die today?" said Lyon.

The leader immediately opened his eyes wide as his pupils shrunk to a dot. 

"You wouldn't..."

His men shrieked as they took a step back. Even though nothing was holding them back physically from running away they wouldn't dare to do it. As if a blink from those two pairs of eyes could reap their lives away.

"You want me dead and so are these guys, what reason do I have to pardon them?" said Lyon as he furrowed his eyebrows.

The leader couldn't utter a word. The young man in front of him was unnatural, unlike those typical aspiring young cultivators. There was something beneath the youth's eyes that was unfathomable for him to digest. It was as if he had experienced a lifetime before.

"If you decide to kill someone, you must be prepared to be killed. It's a saying of old but it is true," said Lyon before he pointed forward. "You're not a mercenary, you're just a bandit acting like a mercenary."

The leader had his head down for a couple of seconds as his life flash by.

"Do you think I can refuse?!" the man looked straight against Lyon's eyes as his lips started trembling. "Do you think I can refuse..." he looked down.

Lyon furrowed his eyebrows as he saw the man had tears running across his cheeks.

"B-Boss... the boss is... crying," muttered one of the bandits.

The leader of the bandits looked at his palms. They have no dirt in them or any diseases but his muscles tensed as he buried his fingers to it. 

"I was powerless, I have no choice but to accept, he could have ended our lives with a flip of his hand."

"I will have to stop you right there," said Lyon.

The leader of the bandits was looking at him with the rest of his underlings.

"I don't want to hear your sob stories, I don't care. You might lie in front of my face or you might have said the truth, I'm not in the mood to find out."

The bearing that was under Lyon's tone was firm as he stared him down. 

"I will ask you once again, which options are you going to choose?" asked Lyon.

The leader of the bandit could see that patience was thinning out of the youth. 

"You..." the leader's face suddenly shifted before he leaped and flew away.

"B-Boss...!!"

"He left!"

"That son of a bitch!"

His men were angry but they soon turned frightened as he saw the youth standing was looking at the fleeing man in the sky.

"Assid."

"Certainly, young master," answered Assid before his sharp eyes were revealed behind his glasses. He didn't hold his back his killing intent as it spread pointed against the fleeing man.

*Thump!

The leader of the bandits didn't make it far before he felt the slight jump from his heart. The ominous feeling of dread started to creep up from his toes to his face before his ability to fly started to reduce significantly.

"Fuck!"

The leader chose to descend into the luscious forest below. As soon as he landed he immediately start to make a run between the threes. Under the weakest moonlight of crescent in the sky, it was his best bet to survive. However, the creeping feeling was still adamant.

"Hah, hah, hah!" 

He was panting as he ran and blinked none. The cold sweat on his forehead had drenched his entire body as he felt his life was hanging at each second that passed by. His head turned around to see where the hunter was but there was nothing but luscious bushes that he went through.

*Splurt!

A ripped flesh was heard.

The running steps immediately stopped as no more twig was broken. Blood dripped on the soil of the forest as the bandit leader's eyes had his eyes wide opened and his pupils shrunk to a dot.

His eyes were looking at Assid's glare before he looked down and saw the latter's left hand had pierced through his chest.

"Do you think you can get away?"

Blood started to drip out from his mouth as he let out a grin, "Hezar will hunt your master down."

"I think you are mistaken."

"Huh?"

Assid pulled out his hand from the bandit leader's chest before his blood burst out. The blood sprayed the earth as his knees dropped.

"Even seraphim would die if they offend my master, let alone a nobody like him."

The bandit leader had his eyes opened wide as he heard what he said before the rest of his body followed his knees to the ground.

---

Lyon looked at the rest of them with lost interest in his eyes. 

"Graham, clean the streets."

"Yes, master," said Graham before he stood up from his kneeling.

The bandits shrieked in fear.

"N-No don't do it! There are over a hundred of us!"

"Y-Yeah! Even if you are strong, you can't handle all of us!"

The bandits somehow found a way to harness their morals in this situation but their acts belied their eyes. 

"Don't destroy the building," said Lyon before he turned around and leaped away from the surroundings.

The rest of the bandits could only watch him jump over them before he landed behind them. The youth nonchalantly resumed his walk with his hands behind his head. The bearing that he exuded immediately shifted from resolute to aloof in a span of a jump. There was no way anyone would think that he was a strong cultivator based on how he walked and act.

Graham nodded.

"N-No, you ca—!!"

*Boom!

His body suddenly shattered before blood sprayed the nearby bandits. The horrific death was too sudden that they didn't realize that Graham didn't even move an inch from his spot. The flight instinct was triggered before all of them spread out and ran with tails between their legs.

The hundreds of bandits scattered in different directions but all of them were running toward the gate out. 

Graham spared no time before he hunted them down.

Porealus and the rest were looking through the window before the first scream was heard. The continuous wail was interrupted by the door to their room opening. 

They immediately turned around with their eyebrows furrowed. They thought it was one of the bandits that were currently on the run but they were wrong, it was even worse than those bandits combined.

"Big brother!"

"Hezar wants my head," said Lyon at the door. "But the one rolling will be his."

Verdu wanted to say something but he swallowed the thought. Killing Hezar might not be impossible but the consequences after killing him would be the trouble he had to deal with. Thus he wanted to seek a better way, however, from the looks of the youth's eyes, there was no way that he could settle the conflict in a less violent manner.

Suddenly Lyon opened his mouth and yawned, "Hah~ I'm sleepy, see you guys tomorrow, I don't know the way to the main tournament is so I'm going to need you guys' help, good night!"

Lyon left them dumbfounded as if he was not responsible for the massacre outside.