Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

The Elders looked at one another and the annoyance was clear in their visage while the Elder who had read out the charges and was clearly the spokesman for the Congregated Elders said,

"How dare you? Do you even know who you are talking to?" he asked.

Hal rolled his eyes,

"You said that as though I should be intimidated... Well, I am not!" he said.

"Hal, be careful with your words. Don't go too far" Tanya said in a bit of a placating tone. Enough to try to appeal to Hal's common sense but not too much that she seemed to be on his side.

She was in a bit of an uncomfortable situation...

Whatever Hal did and however he was treated from this point on was going to have an effect on her standing among the Elders.

She looked sideways at her mother who just eyed Hal with a neutral expression.

Hal made a 'calm down' gesture towards Tanya before he said in a loud voice,

"I have not lied. This is a waste of time and you all know it. You are just too stupid and arrogant to admit it and dismiss this sham of a hearing..." 

"Hold your tongue!" The elder yelled and Hal yelled right back,

"Or what? Tell me, what are you going to do to me if I don't 'hold my tongue'. Are you going to try to kill me?"

The Elders frowned but Hal's eyes were mostly on the ones sitting on the same level as the Empress as he knew they were the most important Elders.

Probably the ones with the highest ranks.

"Are you so deluded to think that your measly strength will save you from our wrath should we actually seek your life" One of the elders sitting on the same level as ye Empress said.

Hal had nothing against them calling his strength measly as, by cultivation alone, he was definitely not worth their times as quite a number of those high-ranking elders were surely at the Cosmic Saint realm.

That said, he still burst into laughter at those words.

"Hahahahaha" 

"You must have a death wish" Elder chad said with a frown.

As Hal laughed, he was not actually underestimating the elders and had his escape plan activated.

Should things get dicey, he would be inside the Harem space before any of their attacks could hit him.

None of them knew of his pocket dimension and he still had the element of a surprise on his side.

Plus, through a genius implementation of his distribution of the Harem keys, they would not be able to force him out of the Harem space even if they tried.

Anyway, with his escape plan in hand, Hal replied to the elders,

"If you will actually move forward with attempting to kill me, then it will prove what I have been saying all along about your stupidities to be true.

But while I question your intelligence for holding this hearing, I actually believe you still have the good sense to not be blind to the implications of harsh actions such as killing me"

Silence...

The Elders just stated at Hal and then the Empress asked,

"In what sense?"

Hal bowed and said,

"I appreciate the inquiry your Majesty so I will answer.

I am the greatest talent that the Royal Academy has ever seen since its inception. I have not received any teaching from the Academy and I have so far shown that I do not need it.

To kill such talent would be a pointless waste"

"There are many youngsters in the Royal Academy and while they are indeed not as talented as you are, they show promise. Enough promise that we can afford to 'waste' you" said an Elder on the same level as the Empress.

He said his words with a malevolent smile on his face but Hal's expression never changed,

"Oh? And which of these so-called talents that show promise can match up to me? As long as a person is still a student in this Academy, even if they are about to graduate... They are nothing compared to me and I leave them all in the dust." he said and there was no response as the Elders just eyes him while he continued regardless of their silence,

"Not to even mention if my life is for you to waste, and it is not, by the way. The kind of talent I have shown is nothing any of your youngsters can ever hope to scale up to. Among the young generation, by which I am referring to all those in the Royal Academy, I am the best.

This brings me back to this whole idea of a hearing.

My misdemeanor is for leaving the Royal Academy and disrespecting this institution, but honestly, if I return and excel while bearing the title of 'Student of the Royal Academy' should that even matter?

You say that I disrespected the Academy but I say that I have let it thrive.

I have not fought for resources and this has made sure it is enough for your disciples to use and enjoy and I assure you that, had I been on Academy grounds, this would not have been possible.

Hell, my fiancee who actually has more restraint the I do, make things difficult for your so-called elites.

Add me to the mix and your disciples would have quit being students of the Academy long ago." Hal said with a chuckle.

"It is not your place to say what our disciples would/would not have gone through" said another Elder.

Hal sighed,

"Whether it is my place or not, what I have said is true. Making things difficult for your disciples would be even easier considering Elders are not allowed to interfere in student matters. I would have done after all of them one by one and made their lives hell" he said.

'I would most likely have cucked all the males too' he thought but declined to say out loud.

"So what? We are supposed to be grateful?" an Elder asked. She was female and while Hal did not let her completely grab and hold his attention, he did eye her sizeable breasts for a few seconds.

"Yes. You should be. Because of me, your 'precious' fodder disciples could enjoy more resources without the wicked and stingy wolf that is me taking from them" 

In all honesty, if Hal had been in the Royal Academy, he would indeed have caused a lot of trouble. He would have co-founded the Sapphirine guild with Melinda and would have implemented the same 'female-only' rules.

While he would have no real use of the resources the Royal Academy had to offer, he would still have made things very difficult for everyone who was not a part of his faction.

"Your Arrogance knows no bounds," the Elder said.

Hal shook his head,

"I agree that I am a very prideful person but on this occasion, I am just being honest. I am here on trial for superficial claims and I see no reason to hold anything back," he said.

"You do remember that we will be the ones to vote and decide your fate, right? Getting on our bad sides will do you no good." said the female Elder.

Hal sneered inwardly.

Who did she take him for?

"So what if you will be voting? You want me to kiss your ass. If I apologize and show you sincerity, the sadistic nature of you all will still drive you to punish me.

You will look at me as weak and there is nothing cultivators enjoy more than bullying the weak.

Trying to play to your good side is not going to help me and frankly, I won't do it.

If you are going to vote against me, then I will at least get satisfaction by saying my piece.

After all, I still have a right to present my case and that is what I am doing right now.

Also, no matter how much you threaten me and try to claim otherwise, I know and you know that You all can't kill me...

Not just because killing me will be a foolish decision since you will be wasting a phenomenal talent but also because I have backup.

I have an entire Duchy behind me.

Yes, I know that the rules of the Royal Academy trump any family no matter how great they are but that only refers to rules of incarceration just like your proposed Pseudo-student punishment and does not cover execution." Hal said.

To execute a son of a Duchess just because he skipped school for a year is unheard of and not even the Emperor will sign off on that. Even if he took into account that Elders of the Academy were involved.

After all, while the Emperor was sovereign in the Haron Continent, there was still a need to keep the peace among Duchys, and killing the child of a Duchess for these considerably minor issues was definitely not the way to keep the peace.