Emperor's Reckoning

Hezar turned over before he said, "Certainly I'm not, Your Majesty."

He bowed then explained further with his head lowered. "I have not the slightest intention in overstepping your rule. Never in the wildest dream that I have the courage to do that."

The king of the Pala Kingdom did not say a word but gave out a heavy breath.

Hezar made a hard swallow as he saw his sweat dripping against the floor. (That bitch!)

The king raised his hand, "Withdraw."

The soldiers trying to apprehend the group immediately withdraw upon command of the king.

Cecile smirked before she slightly leaned back.

"Look at them, they didn't know that they had just escaped death," she muttered.

"You shouldn't have done that, Empress," muttered Kesya. Her hands crackled as Cecile could see the itch on her expression.

The king of the Pala Kingdom furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the woman with auburn hair. (She is quite sly, using my image in her favor. Ashamed that she is married to a fool). The king's lips pointed upward as he showed a wicked smile.

"Permission to kill the king," asked Graham.

"Denied."

"Understood."

"Let Lyon reintroduce himself to Heaven," Cecile smirked before the twilight finally came.

The spectators were silent the entire time as they couldn't believe the escalating situation didn't end with a single blood spill. The tension was frightening to the point that they could hear the clashing metals even before they draw their weapons.

"Hey look! A jade light!" One person from the spectators broke the silence from the tension.

"Yeah, you're right! Hey, how come you are always the first one that gets to point it out?" said the ones nearby.

They all nodded. This man managed to break the atmosphere from time to time again by pointing out jade light in the sky. He was the first one to notice the first two and then the most recent two, now he did it again.

"Err, I have my head at the sky the whole time."

The spectators were speechless as they heard their answers.

"Look! It's a shower of jade light!"

The twilight blaze of the sky was immediately filled with shooting stars coming toward Afurnae. The participants were returning.

They were blasting against the arena one after another. Arriving with dejected faces as they feared they might not do as they were hoping to be.

"R-Right.." The host immediately snapped back before approaching them. "Please proceed to give your pouches to be assessed in the designated place. There has been a change of rules that was made because of the anomaly in the forest. From henceforth your performance will be based on the weight of your pouches rather than the number of the horns."

"Hah.." the participants began smiling as they heard the sudden good news.

Lumina furrowed her eyebrows before her hand was overlapped by Cecile's. "There is no need to worry about him at this round. Heh, nor at any round for that matter."

"Gavuire, A hundred pounds!"

"Kreain, one hundred and twenty pounds!"

Cecile smirked as she shook her head. "Why do they even smile at that number."

The crowd looked at the pile of horns with awe. Their eyes were glimmering with astonishment. The sizes of the horns were varied but one could definitely discern which horns belonged to which class.

"Look it's the siblings' turns!"

Altre stood forward before extracting his horns from the pouch. The pile of horns was that from the three-horned size hellboar. The number grow up and up and had passed the two hundred pounds.

"Altre, three hundred pounds!"

"Woah!"

The spectators were immediately awed. The siblings had certainly proven themselves to be superior to their peers.

"Felicia, two hundred and ninety pounds!"

"Whoa!"

Once again they were awed. The siblings didn't show any mercy as they butchered the competition. They had been famed for the strength and allure of charm that they possessed but the majority of the people didn't understand the lunatic side that they showed around Mortal Cultivators.

Felicia flicked her hair as she smiled.

With those numbers, they won't have a worry about not passing to the next round. 

"Look! Another Jade Light!" 

"My God, you pointed it out again!"

Another jade light came crashing down before revealing a charming blonde man. 

"Folcre!"

"It's Folcre!"

The spectators were on the edge of their seats as they recognized the person that had just arrived. He had been the talk of the competition as the next to take the number one spot. The one that had been training under Raul's pointers.

"Hm?" Raul looked at Folcre before he smirked. "He will slay the competition for sure."

Folcre looked at the number before he raised his eyebrows, "I see, so they changed the rules. Not that it will make any difference."

He grabbed the little pouch before lobbing it toward the designated plate. 

The number increased at a rapid rate as three hundred was passed.

"F-Folcre! Four hundred, Four hundred and eighty pounds!"

The astonishing number conquered the competition by a mile. The other contestants were at awed as they conceded. 

"That's... absurd.."

"Just how strong is he..."

"How many three-horned beasts did he kill..."

Folcre looked around, disregarding the awed looks. (He is not here yet, ?! Miss Cecile!)

He found the unfazed woman who was yawning and seemed bored with the competition. (This is most unexpected... however, I feel like something wild has happened during my absence) thought Folcre as he noticed the expression of the princes.

"Hmm... where are the outsiders though..."

"You're right... I see none of them..."

"Don't tell me they all got eaten..."

"Hahaha!"

The spectators laugh and the three leaders definitely didn't appreciate it.

"I see no Lyon here," said Folcre before he snorted. "The fool, he dwelled deeper into the forest last time I see him."

"Too bad Miss Cecile, look's like your husband is nowhere to be found, along with his friends," shouted Hezar before he let out a hearty laugh.