Emperor's Reckoning

"Kh?!" the Seraphim snapped open his eyes with his chest heaving up and down as if his lungs caught on fire. His pupils hovered to the right and saw the meadow stretching toward a lake. He frowned. He looked to the left and saw the vast meadow with no beasts roaming around. He got his torso up before feeling a sharp concussion inside his head. The sharp pain made him grunt with a clench of his teeth before it subsided a few seconds later.

"What happened?" the Seraphim got up before his brows jolted and quickly turned around. His panic found an immediate release of a sigh the moment he saw a gate almost ten times his size both in height and width, stretched toward the sky with shimmering runes adorning the door.

He checked his body and rustled his clothing, however, he found nothing out of place. Everything was neat as it should be and he found no wounds, not even a little scratch. He put his hands on his waist before looking at the horizon with a solemn face. He found nothing suspicious but his heart felt a gap.

"How weird, it feels like I'm forgetting something," the Seraphim frowned before his eyes darted toward the ground he just slept on. "I never took a nap so deeply before, something must have happened, but what?"

He gritted his teeth as his mind rolled over the memories of which he couldn't conceive. He stomped his foot before making a loud crack over the ground. His breath was panting before he took a deep breath despite his raging heartbeat.

"Perhaps it was nothing," the Seraphim said before looking at the gate once more. "One of the seniors will check up on me and give me a supply of Mana Essence, then, I can ask them what is up in Paradise whilst I'm away."

"I won't fail you, Lyon."

...

Meanwhile at the Myriad Devils.

Lyon yawned as his head slightly bop from the bumpy ride of the chariot.

"Are you sure you're having enough sleep, Lyon?" asked Luna who sat opposite her.

"I don't know," Lyon sarcastically remarked before saying, "Why don't you ask the two of them?"

"They are not here Lyon," asked Luna.

"I know, I just," Lyon sighed. "I never thought that they would continue to fight till dawn."

"They are separated not just by the seats, but they are in a separate carriage too," said Lumina who sat beside him with her chin slightly rose.

( She always assumed reign ) thought Luna before darting over toward Lyon. "I could hear their fight from the other room."

"The whole building could hear them bickered with each other," said Lyon as he rolled his eyes. "I can't believe it, how the hell are they two even not killing each other in the past life."

"Don't ask us," answered Lumina as she leered at him. "We don't even get to sleep in the same room together."

Lyon caught his words in his own throat before his head humbled. ( I-I can't fight that argument ).

Luna smiled at how flustered he was before saying, "Are we going straight back home?"

"Well yes," Lyon answered with a nod.

Lumina looked out the window, "This place is quite astonishing and at the same time odd."

"Depends on how you look at this place," answered Lyon.

"I mean, their cultivation was far better than the other continents," said Lumina. "Yet, they choose to remain here and be adventurous."

"I noticed that too!" Luna nodded. "They have the potential to become lords, but for some reason, they wanted to uncover the secret of the Dark Continent than living in peace."

"That's pretty naive," Rui emerged from the air before landing on top of Lyon's shoulder.

"Ah, you're, Miss Rui," called Luna before bowing her head.

"Miss... Rui..." Lumina bowed her head as well.

"Such naivety is something that I miss," Rui muttered before sighing.

"What do you mean by naivety, Miss Rui?" asked Luna.

"Every lord, king, or emperor, carried with them a huge privilege and also huge consequences looming over their heads," said Rui.

"Mother, Luna, and Lumina here are princesses," said Lyon.

"Oh?" Rui raised her brows.

"Not anymore," Lumina answered.

"Yes, I'm the princess of the Phantera Kingdom," Luna nodded. "I.. uh.. still am."

"Alright, then that will make this more simple," said Rui as she nodded before she explained. "In this world where everyone could cultivate — under normal circumstances — one person could take on a thousand men or beasts all by themselves without any secondary aid."

"That's true," Luna nodded.

"Then speaking logically a king is too easy to be replaced by someone more powerful than them, in a snap of a finger. Now then, why would you want to be a king in a situation where it doesn't favor the kings?"

"I see..." Luna pondered as she frowned, with her hand grabbing her chin. ( I never saw it from that perspective before, being a king in a cultivation world where massive change could happen in a snape of a finger does indeed put pressure on someone ) thought Luna before she asked, "Then why are the other continent refusing to be adventurers?"

"There can be many things," answered Lumina. "Such as greed for riches, greed for unbound power, or greed for women."

Lyon shrugged as Lumina leered at him.

"That's correct," Rui nodded. "In addition that you need Mana Essence to break through the True God Realm, it's useless to become a king in the Mortal World. Mana Essence is not that easy to gain from First Heaven, partly you should already know, Heaven didn't particularly like the Mortal World that much."

"When we took a blasting experience visit in Alchemy Union and First Heaven, we didn't even see Mana Essence at all," Lumina shook her head, "Perhaps the Second Heaven consists of them?"

( Blasting experience eh? ) Lyon smiled wryly.

"Most likely," Rui nodded. "Mana Essence is hard to come by, but the more you ascent the layers of Heaven, you will realize how mana grows thicker in each ascend."

"And the cultivators living there are too powerful for mere True God to handle?" asked Luna.

"Sharp," Rui answered. "That's right, they rather pin their fate with the beasts here in the Dark Continent rather than get sabotaged as they tried to reach the Second Heaven."

"Then that means that Mana Essence could spark a murder," said Luna.

"Yes, if they found a bottle of Mana Essence with no owner, it could spark a murder between mortals. Even worse, it could befall the whole system that they built."

"Every being has their own bucket of greed," Lyon muttered.

"Greed ruined more cultivators than any sword forged in history," said Rui.

"Just like brother ruined heroes," Lyon sighed.

"Lyon!" Luna exclaimed with her eyes glaring at him. She gestured to him with her eyes that his mother was right beside him.

"Hahaha," Rui was unperturbed and laughed instead of reprimanding her child.

...

Meanwhile, at the other carriages.

Two women were sitting across from each other. They shared the same complexion and face shape, however, one had blue eyes whereas the other was pure black. Their bearing was also different from each other as the latter was trying to gain the former's attention.

"Selena," called Zelena.

"Hm?" Selena looked at her twin. "What?"

"Teach me how to master the Void Art."

The words made the wheels of the carriage seem to never turn and the wind that the horses pierced never crashed.

"No," Selena answered.

"Why not?!" Zelena frowned. "You can't leave me out!"

"I can and I will," said Selena domineeringly despite her twin proving her point with a clenched fist on her thigh.

"Because you will have to pay a great price," said Selena. "These blue eyes came with a cost that you will regret."

"What cost?"

"Emotions," answered Selena.

Zelena squinted her eyes in confusion, "What?"

"Do you want to live emotionlessly? You will be nothing but a breathing tool that could walk and swing a sword, is that what you want?" asked Selena.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Selena frowned.

"I mean look at you, you are brimming with emotion now!"

"Do I?" Selena raised her brows. She took a heavy grunt before saying, "Did you forget how cold I was when I saw our parents die in flames before our very eyes? You were wailing and I was not."

Zelena gulped and taken back.

"It took immense mentality to master the way of the void, else you would be swallowed by the void and become one," said Selena. "Not all of my emotion managed to return, some might never return."

"What..."

"I can't feel compassion, I care nothing about what other people feel," said Selena. "I need him because he is my husband, but I also need him because he could remind me what to feel. I know love, I know the yearning, I know rage, all these emotions sparked because of his existence. He is the key for me, to become who I once was or perhaps, to become who I was supposed to be."

Zelena was struck silent whilst the driver whose pointy ears were half black twitched.

"I hear nothing, I saw nothing, ♪♪♪" Kesya occupied herself with a monotone from her whistling whilst having cold sweat on her forehead.