The Sinful Life of The Emperor

After bidding farewell, Zed wrapped himself with red flames and flew out of the hall, leaving behind nothing but a trail of fire. 

The Alphas, too, left, using the best of their divine abilities. 

"Legacy Orbs…they must exist in the routes leading to the mausoleum, but Enchantia said the one for me is in the mausoleum."

Zed arrived before a row of paths. A lingering mist covered all of them, and except for one, silhouettes of glowing orbs sparkled through the mist.

"So in only one path Legacy Orbs don't exist."

That path was naturally his preferred route, though he knew it would also be far more dangerous than the rest.

He rushed into it, and as the surrounding became clear, he was stunned by what he saw. 

Everything was frozen like it was in a land of ice. Snow brushed past him, and even letting out a breath caused icicles. This was despite the burning heat emitting from him.

And it was apparent to him this ice land wasn't a part of the trap. Someone or something had trodden the path before him and turned it into a frozen land.

"I guess I overestimated the danger."

Zed glanced at the guardian beasts and statues that were molded into ice statues. Their expressions were full of terror.

"Whatever froze them must be some terrifying monster."

Knowing the traps were already infective, he increased his speed and shot forward. He met no obstacle for a few miles. 

Ka-bang!

Sensing him almost reaching the end, the maze transferred strength into the obstacles that were sealed in the ice wall. 

A humanoid puppet broke out of the wall, lunging directly into the flying Zed. Zed was caught off-guard, and as he raised his hand to repel the puppet, the puppet smashed its elbow into the layer of fire. 

Bang!

The fire faded, and Zed was sent crashing into the opposite icy wall. The ice seemed harder than stell, and crashing into it resulted in a raging pain. Blood leaked out of his head, but it froze and a numbing sensation spread through the small wounds.

"This ice must be from hell."

Flame exploded from his body, and he got ready to fly out of the wall. But by then, the puppet has appeared before him. It lashed out with punches that extinguished the exploding flame and smashed him further into the wall. 

"Ok, I was wrong… I underestimated the dangers here."

Zed apologized politely. 

The puppet didn't care for the apology. It followed him into the broken wall, morphing its fists into sharp knives. 

Like a grip reaper, it then slashed out to tear Zed into pieces. 

Zed quickly moved his hands up and grabbed the knives.

The puppet was shocked, for even though the hands weren't wrapped with flames, he still caught the knives, that too, without turning into mincemeat.

It looked into the eyes of the target and was stunned further. A golden glow was concentrating on them like they were bright suns. 

Naturally, Zed was shifting to his other persona! 

Half of his face distorted to that of Kiba. The glow in his eyes began to explode out, carrying a power so frightening that the puppet shivered. 

"Oh my fucking god!"

A voice exclaimed, breaking the dangerous silence that lingered between Zed and the puppet.

"Huh?" 

Zed turned around. 

The glow that was to smash into the puppet exploded in the place from where the voice emerged.

Fragments of ice blew up before the figure of a woman.

And who could it be if not for Katherine? 

The blast wasn't capable of harming her, and even if it was, she would have been oblivious. Because only one thing was in her mind.

The face she knew too well… 

No, it was the face of two men. 

Seeing the distortion of the kid she most admired into the ultimate villain shattered her foundation of reality. 

Her heart rose to her throat, and she exclaimed words that went against her upbringing.

"Customer, you act like you have seen a ghost."

Kiba said while crushing the retreating puppet with a blast of gravity.

Swoosh~!

The maze once again took action. With the puppet failing, the maze transferred more strength into the beings trapped in ice. 

Two banshees opened their eyes and mouths, letting out ear-piercing sonic ripples. The ice burst apart, and the banshees jumped out, viciously aiming at Kiba and Katherine. 

Ripples visible to the naked eye exploded out, carrying a might to detonate from inside out. Katherine remained oblivious to them, but not Kiba.

"You are disturbing her."

Kiba flicked his fingers out, and the natural laws changed.

Whoosh~!

The sonic ripples bounced back, quickly bombarding the banshees who were taken aback. 

Boom!

The banshees exploded, destroyed by their own power. 

The maze was about to act once again, but rays of golden energy boomed out of Kiba before it could.

"You are ruining the moment."

Kiba said as the rays slashed into every obstacle trapped in the ice. 

BOOOOOM!

The ice exploded, and so did the obstacles. 

"I apologize for the noise," Kiba turned towards Katherine and smiled. "But rest assured, they won't disturb you any longer."

His body blurred into a stream of shadows, and he appeared before her. 

"Kiba----" She was about to say when his face distorted, this time between his two forms.

Half of the face was the one her daughter loved… the other half her daughter hated.

"This can't be true!"

Katherine stepped back, her body shaking. 

How can the wicked and the innocent be one?! It was impossible!

But she knew the impossible has happened! 

She has secretly followed Zed and witnessed him transforming into Kiba. There was no doubt everything was true.

"But it doesn't make sense!"

Her trembling legs couldn't move back any longer. So she could only stare at the man before her.

Everything he ever said and done flashed before her…two different personalities doing opposite things.

One respectfully addressing her as Lady Katherine…the other calling her as a customer of MILF International. 

Katherine closed her eyes and clawed her fingers into her head. She didn't want to think or see any longer. Otherwise, she was sure she would turn crazy.