Emperor's Reckoning

A loud and daunting boom was heard. Cultivators cried out high and low. The tension of the war was excessively one-sided.

The three leaders watched how it all played out. The Sverine Kingdom had declared that they will assist Lyon however, of their cultivators stepped in. 

The havoc, the mess, it was all presented to the mighty queen's eyes in full view. She saw the flying dragons in the sky, once called mighty and ruling, scream as their life depended on it. She saw the increasingly large armies that Pala had accumulated over the years, trampled and destroyed by a figure that was hardly called a giant.

It was plain as day that Lyon's group was vastly outnumbered. She was ready to back him up, furthermore after she saw the third blessing. However, it didn't take her an hour to understand that the young man never needed what she had offered in the first place, but he neither did deny it. 

The young man kept the offer alive by not responding directly. It was something that no commoners even in First Heaven had the wits to.

Sverine was famed for their magic spells. Given time, they could obliterate a mountain with one spell. However, the young man was something different entirely. They needed him as the sole grand spear. The one that even a thousand layers of walls can replace. The biggest weakness of any magic-type cultivator was first and foremost, the time they took to cast the spell. The more devastating one spell was the more concentration of mana they must accumulate. They could opt-in for a lesser strength spell but those inflicted damages would be nothing but wasted effort in most cases.

"He was toying with us all along," muttered the queen as she watched the slaughter. Every general that he had far surpassed even the combination of all of them. Were Sverine to join the Golden Dragon Kingdom, surely she would foresee such fate befell on their side too.

The atrocious youth was daring, unfazed. He was the very opposite of a noble, nor ruler at that matter. However, young as he was, he was decisive and somehow pick either the best or the worst timing possible in any situation.

"In Afurnae, every kingdom was at their weakest state, and it is by law that the rulers must be present, else it would be considered a rebellion against the balance," uttered Wanda before she shook her head. "I wonder if he knew that."

Cherie shook her head, "I have a feeling that he might not, after all, even we didn't know that Elite Five would be summoned here in Afurnae."

"That's true, sadly they never knew that they were summoned to their death. Who would have thought the elusive and mysterious Elite Five would die at the most public place in First Heaven. Their reputation will be outshined by the way they died," Wanda shook her head. "How can the Mortal World keep such monster from us."

Cherie smiled, "It might be dangerous, but maybe I can get to know him better if the situation allows."

Wanda smiled weakly, "Be careful, you have Cecile and that other woman standing your way. You might be charming and have the Sverine blood in your veins, but that auburn-woman is not someone you can trifle with. Notice how Lyon showed affection toward the two of them."

Cherie let out a sigh, "I know, mother, I know."

Princess Hilde of the Bolg Kingdom was stupefied with her father and mother. There was nothing that could describe the escalation of the problem to what they saw. She indeed had prepared to see some blood spilled and churned but she had never thought that it would be severely one-sided.

Lyon's group suffered no losses but the Golden Dragons died left and right as the crazy woman in the air looked like she didn't need to breathe to live. Their power was inspiring and horrifying at the same time. 

She couldn't believe that the young man she was having lunch with no more than two days ago, would have such power under his name. She couldn't see it. The aloof and nonchalant attitude brought him more as an obnoxious random noble than a ruler with such followers at his whim. She was the first one to know that Lyon was special but what was happening in front of her undermined the word.

She then shook her head as she smiled wryly. Her eyes turned vacant even though massacre was happening right before her eyes. (I was wrong, recruiting him was never an option to begin with. He had every power he needed from the start).

She smiled before she tried to look for the young man in question. She quickly narrowed her eyes. She was sure that he would stand like a sore thumb in the masses, after all, he wore a unique garment that was out of this world.

"Where is he?" asked Hilde as he scanned the battlefield that was once an arena for the prestigious tournament.

"He is gone," muttered Wanda.

Meanwhile, Lyon's beautiful wife was yawning with her arms stretched. Amidst the chaos that was happening she seemed to be bored by it. She was facing the two siblings with Lumina by her side.

"Cecile!" shouted Felicia as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Hmm?" she raised one of her auburn eyebrows.

"Tch!" Felicia didn't say another word but gritted her teeth. She still remembered the beating that she and her brother took back in the Mortal World. The world that was supposed to be their plaything. The humiliation that she felt was unprecedented, she was dying at the hands of a cultivator from the mortal world. Even though she knew who Cecile was at the time.

"Why are you mad?" asked Cecile before she snorted. "What rights do you have to be mad? You have made my mother's family in disarray. Feeding that old bone into his unquenchable greed. It was all because of you."

Lumina spoke no word. She was as neutral and passive as ever. She had seen Lyon go past a magic brand that he himself secretly evoke under the chaos. Her heart wanted to follow him but he had caught her act and told her to stay a finger on his smiling lips.

"Hah?! Don't you pin the blame on us!" shouted Altre. "Without us, you wouldn't even be able to live that luxuriously in that forsaken world!"

"True," Cecile nodded to Altre's disbelieve.

"G-Good then," said Altre. He had prepared a few phrases to counter her denial but he had never expected her to just agree.

"Without you, my father would have a very little chance of meeting my mother," she further added. "However," her eyes narrowed as his glance turned sharp. "You wanted to kill me and my husband, do you think that you can run from this predicament?"

"Kh!" Altre gritted his teeth. He knew the situation had been turned upside down like a capsized ship. He had nowhere to go but flee. A loss today but a win tomorrow seemed like a good deal. He had to swallow his pride and insult Lyon inside his heart for the time being.

"Felicia, we need to flee," muttered Altre. 

"I know, I will create an escape for you, brother," said Felicia before she stepped forward. "Our battle has been postponed for far too long."

Cecile smirked. "I don't think that I will call it a battle, this is just you atoning the sin that you have done."

"Then die!" shouted Felicia as she glared at her. She summoned her weapon in her hand before she leaped forward with a warcry.

"I did live an entire life once," she closed her eyes with a smile before her bearing instantly changed. She opened it again as she revealed the dim gray pupils. 

Felicia was stunned by her sudden transformation. It was the same transformation that the young man did when he challenged the four kings' aura.

"Die!"

"It's useless," Cecile's glance turned indifferent before she punched her palm forward.

Felicia was blown backward due to the shock of the blast before she left a crater on the wall.

"You will die today," said Cecile with a chilling tone as the horns slowly growing out of her temples formed a crown just like her husband.

"Feli—?!" his eyes opened wide as the edges of his eyes caught a glimpse of silvery light. His pupils slowly moved to the right to take a peek before they were shrunken.

A palm was nearing his face and his hairs and clothe already fluttered from the force.

*Boom!

His meridians instantly trembled before he was blasted toward the wall right beside his sister.

"Guha!" He coughed out blood. (Sh-She is fast! Na?!). He didn't even fall from the ground before Lumina already caught up to him. Her great silver wings were in full view but he saw her eyes were indifferent.

Another heavy palm was sent right to the center of his chest. The walls cracked to a frightening degree before a section of the arena crumbled and ruined.

---

"You have no way to run Hezar, I'm done playing," said Lyon as he smirked. Two names immediately sprung up on his back before glowing vehemently.

Fear immediately shrouded Hezar's soul even though his cultivation was higher, however, the city as well, felt the same thing.