Emperor's Reckoning

Rayus and the two others followed the bandit like they were fugitives. They were led to a place where they saw lesser and lesser tents until one, in particular, was at an odd distance from the rest. A single tent that seemed to have braced numerous storms was present to their eyes. The holes in the tent had burnt marks on them and the way it barely stood against the wind was concerning.

The bandit entered the tent before the three students followed. All of the latters' eyebrows rosed before their pupils shrunk. A man was sitting inside a well-worn cage with his hands cuffed behind. His hair covered the front of his face, and his clothes were all tattered.

"What did you do to him?" asked Noah.

The bandit smirked, "What do you do to your enemy?"

"Tch! You bastard!" Reinhard said with glaring eyes.

The bandit merely shrugged and smirked while shaking his head, "Why don't you get to know each other? After all, you're going to stay there for a while."

Reinhard and the other two were kicked inside the cage where the man was.

"Enjoy your stay, hahaha!" the bandit left with a burst of laughter.

Reinhard shouted, "Hey, get back here!" alas, his shout was met with diminishing laughter.

"Stop it, Reinhard," said Noah. "That's not important, right now." he turned and looked at the person sitting next to him. Witnessing but said not a word.

"Are you Lenu?" asked Rayus.

"Hm?" the man raised his head before his face was revealed. His face was dirty and glistening with skin oil. He looked like a homeless with a beard but his sharp glance was of knowledge. He looked at the three of them with brows furrowed. "How did you know my name?"

"We are here to meet you," said Reinhard.

"Meet... me? Funny, I don't recall planning to meet someone," said Lenu.

"Technically, we are not the ones supposed to meet you," said Noah. "Things started happening and here we are."

"Hmm, that's a bit confusing, but you wore fancy clothes," said Lenu. "It really doesn't make any sense, it's rare for the elite to be thrown here."

"We are not from here," said Rayus. "Sir Refl sent us."

"What?!" Lenu exclaimed, "He sent me a bunch of kids?!"

"We're not just kids!" said Reinhard.

"That's not important," said Noah, "The situation is as you heard, Sir Lenu."

"Damn it!" Lenu cursed before he sighed. "Looks like you ran out of luck then."

"I won't count my luck that short early," said Rayus with a smirk.

"Heh," Lenu smirked, amused by his tone of words, "Don't be a smartass now, we have zero chance of getting out of here."

"We have a chance, but we need to wait," said Noah.

Lenu no longer smirked as he furrowed his brows. He looked at all three of them before he said, "Are you serious?"

Reinhard nodded, "I believe so."

"Heh," Lenu shrugged before he muttered, "Belief."

Rayus didn't press Lena's trust further and asked, "What happened to you?"

Lenu sighed, "Well, since you know Refl, then that means you know the whole ordeal— someone managed to sniff my identity and here I am."

"That simple?" asked Rayus.

"You have no idea," Lenu shrugged. "Don't you think that it's odd how the Burgeon Swan set up near the Guh City?"

"We don't exactly know their objectives yet," said Rayus.

"They want power," said Lenu as his eyes sharpened.

"Aren't we all?" Noah answered.

"No, not cultivation power or battle power, but another kind of power," said Lenu.

"Another... kind?" Reinhard raised his brows.

"They want the power to control the Second Heaven," said Lenu.

"... can't they achieve that by raising their cultivation level?" asked Reinhard. "Once you've become the strongest in Second Heaven, your words are the will of the Second Heaven."

"Kid, whatever inside your head is right now, you better start nurturing it," said Lenu as he shook his head, "Absolute strength doesn't exist, nobody can run the Second Heaven with a single iron law. That is because of the existence of the higher level of heaven— the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, and finally the endgame, Paradise."

"He is right, Reinhard," said Rayus. "The one that has absolute strength is probably whoever is strongest in Paradise, besides, the Burgeon Swan is a bandit group, a well-orchestrated bandit group, you think they can outgrow Paradise?"

"Well, if you put it that way...." Reinhard reluctantly agreed.

Lenu looked at them with brows raised. "Not bad for someone young as you guys— alright, can you tell me what Refl is planning?"

"Huh?" The three of them looked confused.

"What?" Lenu looked each into their expressions. "Why are you all confused, you don't expect me to believe that you came here without a plan, do you? I mean, you can't be that stupid, nobody is!"

"Oh, right," Rayus nodded. "Well technically, Sir Refl is the one that is looking for you, but he is not the one that told us to come here."

"What?! Are you guys insane?!" said Lenu with eyes of disbelief. "Wait... so that means that you're here under someone else's order?"

The three of them nodded.

"Who..?" Lenu calmed down.

"His name is Lyon," said Noah.

"...hmmm... doesn't ring a bell," Lenu shook his head.

"To be fair, we only knew him less than a week," said Rayus.

".... How the fuck are you three still alive..." muttered Lenu.

"Don't worry though, so far, he is really trustworthy," Reinhard nodded.

"You have no idea what Burgeon Swan can pull off," Lenu shook his head. "He might be being bribed as we speak." He quickly noticed their sour faces before he sighed, "It's not like I want to say it like that either, but I just want you to prepare for the worst— Anyway, speaking of the power that I mentioned, I was talking about influence."

"Influence?" Rayus raised his brows, "You mean that they seek total control of Second Heaven through influence?"

"They don't have to directly call the shots, but they have the power to change the course of where this entire realm is heading," said Lenu. "They might have over half the power inside Guh City, otherwise, I wouldn't be here."

"Over half?" Noah furrowed his brows.

"It's just a wild estimation," said Lenu as he sighed. "We can only begin to calculate the number if we can get out of this place alive."

"Then we need to wait," said Rayus.

"Heh, you seem to vehemently believe that he is here, what if he is the one that actually set you three up?" asked Lenu. "Pardon my wordings, but I can't sugarcoat it."

"Then we three have been fooled once again," said Noah.

"Again...?" Lenu sat furrowed but he knew he won't get any explanation from those three sour faces.

...

Meanwhile inside the biggest tent of the bandit camp.

Riki was standing with his hands behind his back. His chin was not raised as he used to be as he was facing a burly figure that radiated wild power. The latter didn't wear a single fabric to cover his torse but his pants were rather loose on the thigh and calves but tightened on the ankles. The latter's hair was tied to a bun with some dropped over his massive shoulders.

The latter smirked as he grabbed a cup of wine made out of gold. He looked at the reflection of the wine on the cup where he saw Riki's face, "Riki the swift, you always surprised me."

"Thank you for your praise, Boss Gamael," said Riki.

Gamael didn't drink the cup and put it back on the table. "I've heard that you captured some brats."

"Indeed, however, I have not yet gained any useful information from them— Perhaps harsher methods are required."

"Perhaps they are fans of Burgeon Swan? You know, some kids these days dream of joining us," Gamael laughed before his eyes sharpened, "However, a serious matter came up, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about?"

Riki took a solemn breath, "The incident that left the forest awoke, I presume."

"Not just the forest," Gamael smirked before he clapped his hands, "Come in."

Riki frowned looking at two cultivators coming.

"These two are the ones that were guarding the gate of the Guh City that led toward the said forest," said Gamael before he stood up. "You might be able to use them as you uncover the truth about what happened— I'll be going to the treasury, shoo."

Riki was followed by the two bandits behind him as they were heading toward the lone and sad tent where the prisoners were held.

"All of our men died in that forest," said Riki without turning his head. "Think about what you said for it is crucial for uncovering the truth. What we know so far is that it's not a natural cause, they were killed."

The two men gulped before the three of them entered the tent. As their eyes met the new prisoners both sides had their brows furrowed.

"You?! You're the guards!" exclaimed Reinhard.

"What the... it's you brats!" said one of the men before he laughed, "Thanks for the allowance! Hahaha!"

"You two know each other?" Riki frowned.

"Y-Yes boss! All three of them are students from Nirvana School!" said one of the men with a proud smile.

"Nirvana School?" Riki raised his brows.

( You guys are from that school?! ) thought Lenu as his eyes opened wide.

"You bastard!" Reinhard cursed. "Give us back our tokens!"

"Hahaha, so naive, by the way, where is that teacher of yours? I want to thank him for the donation," said one of the men.

"Wait... you mean there is another one?" asked Riki as he furrowed his brows.

"Yes, boss! It's a new teacher from the Nirvana School."

( Wait a minute, don't tell me the person that ordered these three... was the teacher?! ) thought Lenu.

"A teacher...." Riki contemplated as his brows ever furrowed before his eyes snapped open. He felt his goosebumps rise altogether. "Don't tell me...?!" then he saw Rayus's smirk.

...

Gamael entered a tent that was heavily guarded on the outside. He yawned as he stepped in before he blinked a few times. A figure was in his view, the former was looking at the tokens that were piled up.

Gamael furrowed his brows before rubbing his eyes to make sure he was not seeing things, yet the lone figure still stood there savoring the view as if it was his own.

"Who are you...?" asked Gamael.

"Huh?" the figure turned around with his arms crossed. He looked at Gamael before smirking, "Heh."

"Huh?" before Gamael could discern Lyon's intention, his pupils shrunk as Lyon's foot had already sunk into his chest. Gamael's feet left the ground before his entire body was propelled like a bullet. The unsuspecting bandits that were guarding the treasury tent could only see a blurry shadow destroying tent after tent in a single moment.

The loud ruckus caught the entire camp panicking.

"Boss Gamael!" the bandits shouted in concern.

However, Riki stood astounded still, petrified by how he was played. Rayus stood up inside the cage with a smile on his face as he saw Riki lose his usual composure. The mighty Burgeon Swan was under attack, straight at the beak.

"I knew it! I knew he will come!" Reinhard laughed.

"Damn, that guy almost gave me a heart attack," said Noah after he sighed.

"Oi, oi, oi, are you serious?! He went after Gamael first?!" Lenu gulped. "That's beyond reckless!"

The bandits surrounded Gamael before the latter pushed the ones that tried to help him stand up. He spat blood on the ground before his glaring eyes landed on the man that casually stood at the entrance of the most valuable tent in the camp.

Lyon's eyes had already turned brown the proof of the mighty blessing from one of his mothers, the Moon Hare.