Emperor's Reckoning

978 Not Lucky Enough

'Where am I going?'

The thought lingered as the strike of jade light zipped the air crossing the continents and the ocean alike, phasing through the gate of the worlds that was heralded mysterious of its origin.

Niamh was uneasy as Kyoko's smirk was plastered all over his mind. Her last message was governing his mind so freely and massively.

( Don't tell me! I'm going to Lyon as of right now?! ) his soul shook. The latter had bested three of his powerful fellow bandits within a week, he too would undoubtedly be nothing but flesh and bones if he were to encounter him. (Tch! That fox bitch!).

The light dissipated before his eyes as his feet kissed the soft carpet. His brows raised with his eyes opened wide. ( I have arrived...!) he thought with a gulp before realizing that he was in a room full of luxury decorations and ambiance atmosphere. Incense of certain calming flowers danced under his nose and his shoulders slowly loosened.

He saw a desk right in front of him with an empty chair. He saw tall and slim windows just behind the said desk. One could see the bright blue sky with clouds slowly traveling. The place was not as horrific as he thought. He was at a loss but turning his head a bit was where he found his pupils shrinking. A kind of familiar man was smirking, facing an indomitable golem, with his arms crossed.

He was drawn into the painting and approached it with the gaps between his lips.

"What magnificent painting... is this, based on real events?" he muttered.

"Yes."

Niamh turned his head over before he saw a woman far far more beautiful than any lady he had seen in his life, moreover, her hair was red as auburn, and her body was lithe like a fighter. A combination of beauty and brawn in one body, the woman that he was informed, to be Lyon's wife.

( She is.... here... ) thought Niamh as he looked at the woman who still have a hint of sweat on her forehead making her way toward her chair.

She sat down and looked at Niamh with a smile. "Who are you?"

Niamh quickly gauged Cecile's cultivation level before revealing a smirk. He crossed his arms and approached the desk as he said, "My name is Niamh."

"And...?" Cecile raised one of her brows.

Niamh opened his arms and took space as he raised his chin. "I think you should reconsider your marriage."

"Oh?" Cecile smirked and laid her back against the chair. "I'm listening."

Niamh finally showed his teeth and after revealing his huge grin he said, "Your current husband has offended a man far beyond his capabilities."

"Are you that man..?"

"Yes! No... I mean, I know the said man," said Niamh.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't make sense of what's going on," said Cecile.

Niamh crossed his arms and said mightily, "You're husband is going to die, and you will too, if you don't do as I say." His tone changed more shrewd.

"He is?" Cecile raised her brows. "Who are you, where are you from?"

"The Burgeon Swan, the one that will unify Second Heaven!" said Niamh as he unraveled his presence. He stretched his hand forward, "That kind of job is boring without a beautiful woman like you by my side, so do as I say and you will lead a good life! Far better than the Mortal World."

Cecile slowly clapped her hands until Niamh's proud face turned into furrowed eyebrows.

"Are you mocking me...?!"

Cecile shook her head, "I'm appraising you, don't misunderstand, Second Heaven is tempting for a lot of people in the Mortal World."

"Then...?"

"There is no then," said Cecile. "But, by what you're telling me, why won't I just go with 'the man' that you know of instead of you?"

"Because he will give you to me," said Niamh with a proud grin, "He is a fair man."

"So confident," Cecile chuckled. "How do you get here?"

"A certain bitch of a fox sent me here, she said that I would find his wife here, never thought that he would have another one to be honest, one with such ethereal beauty like yours," said Niamh.

Cecile raised her brows but kept her smile, "I see, what did you do to the fox?"

"She is still alive if you want to know that," said Niamh, "I don't like killing unnecessary people."

"Admirable," said Cecile with a nod.

"I think I have wasted enough time here," said Niamh. "Why don't you take my hand, and I will show you the wonders of Second Heaven." He extended his hand right on top of her desk.

Cecile smiled looking at the hand before standing up from her chair. She turned around with her arms behind her back. She approached the tall window and looked at the surrounding. "This Mortal World is a beautiful place you know."

"Huh...?" Niamh retracted his arm with his brows furrowed. "This is a lowly place, even the mana here is barely as thick as a sheet of paper."

Cecile looked at the serene sky with a pair of swallows flying across the sky. "We used to be adventuring together, just the two of us. Finding out about the world, and eventually ourselves. It might not start with a bloodless beginning, but it was worth it."

"Don't worry, there is so much more to be seen," remarked Niamh with a smirk and arms crossed.

"Maybe so," said Cecile. "But, I think I've seen quite a lot, from the Mortal World, First Heaven, First Hell, traversing Paradise and Purgatory, then unraveling the secret of our own world."

"What...?"

"Maybe we got lucky, no, we surely got lucky," Cecile smirked. "There were a couple of times where he would get us in trouble, and there were a couple of times that I sunk in jealousy as well." She chuckled, "That also brought new trouble for both of us."

She turned around and looked at Niamh who was confused by her words. "I was lucky enough to have met him in my peril. I was lucky enough to have fallen in love with him as if fate decided to side with me the moment I took that step inside that giant bath."

She stepped forward before returning to her chair. She sat down and said coldly, "You, on the other hand, are lucky enough not to meet my husband right at this very moment."

Niamh's hands shrunk as his mind was clouded with rage and with one single intent, he summoned his grimoire after a snap of his fingers. The grimoire hovered above his hands.

"But you're not lucky enough to avoid his former students," her eyes turned sharp, "The Pillars."

The breath Niamh took was cold and he opened his mouth ready to chant the spells he had written beforehand. However, his own goosebumps locked his movement as sudden presences overwhelmed his instinct. One stood on the left and another on the right, only then another was towering behind him.

"Now you understand where you stood, Niamh?" asked Cecile with her smile lost. "The decision you make to use me to beat him is a grave mistake, you're Burgeon Swan is lucky that this is not his era yet again."

( Chant! Chant! Chant! Chant...! ) Niamh's thought screamed. ( Why are there more monsters in this world?! This is not supposed to be! This cannot be! ). His pupils shifted as he saw an arm bigger than his face extending above his shoulders toward the grimoire and grabbed it. ( What... are you doing...?) then another arm from his other shoulders grabbed the other end of the grimoire.

"N-No... D-Do..."

"Disgracing my master and older sister," Graham's voice seeped throughout Niamh's soul like a call of a calm demon. "Suffer."

Graham ripped the grimoire apart right before Niamh's very eyes. His knees dropped to the ground as mana was fleeting away from the ripped grimoire. His hair was pulled up by Kesya and he saw Cecile looking at him down.

"Now," Cecile said, "I shall praise you three because of your composure in handling your killing intents, Lyon would be proud."

"I'm edging now, Empress," said Kesya as she glared at her prey.

"She is not the only one," said Assid as he put away his glasses.

"..." Graham didn't say a thing.

Cecile smirked before talking to Niamh. "I want to know what my husband has been up to lately, it's hard to have a messenger in Second Heaven."

"Huh?!" Niamh raised his brows with his disheveled look. "W-Will you spare me?"

"I will send you back," said Cecile.

"I-I'll tell! I'll tell you everything," said Niamh with his face frantically begging for survival.

Cecile nodded, "Assid, can you give him water, I don't want him to think that we torture captives."

"Understood," Assid bowed respectfully before vanishing.

"No poison," Cecile raised her finger.

"...Understood," said Assid.