Emperor's Reckoning

Whilst Lyon was sleeping like a dead man, things had started to take a turn elsewhere.

A young man was walking with his face and abs bandaged. His face was grimacing as every time his muscles contract, the sting of the bruises would prick his brain.

"Where is the captain? Why is he not back here yet?" said the young man to a servant who was carrying his medication.

"Young master Altre, you need to take a sufficient rest to recover first!" said one of the servants.

"En—! Argh!" the pain finally caught him to cry out. He heaved up and down as he leaned toward the wall to gain his balance.

The concerned servant immediately attended to his needs, "Young master, please, you need to rest and recover. The physician said that you would recover in no time after drinking the medication that he concocted. It would be enough time to—."

*Pak!

Altre slapped the servant with scorn in his eyes. "Shut up!"

The servant immediately trembled and kowtowed repeatedly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"I said shut up!" Altre stood up before kicking the servant right on his abdominals.

The tears of the servant went unswept as he kept apologizing. The young master raised his leg but the strain of pain from his wounds kept him off. "Tch!"

Looking at the kowtowing servant, he scorned before turning around and walking away. His eyebrows were furrowed as every time the soreness acted up, it reminded him of the duo from Mortal World.

"Lyon Torga," muttered Altre with gritted teeth.

The power of Devil Ape was a surprise he never expected. The condemned beast was famed for its brutality. He and his sister both got to kiss its technique without even preparing a defensive measure. Were it not for the disparity of their cultivation level, that art would have crippled them.

As he walked out of the hall, a very vivid garden greeted him. A couple of butterflies were mating around on the colorful flowers and the flamboyant scent danced in his nostril. The chirping noise of tiny birds could be heard as the serene fountain kept pouring out.

A beautiful woman was sitting at the center of the garden. She was accompanied by a female servant that stood beside her. She reached out for the cup of tea and one could see the bandaged wrist.

The woman raised one of her eyebrows before glancing in his direction. "Brother?"

"Felicia," said Altre before he approached her and took the seat opposite of her. He looked at the female servant with a glare before he raised his hand.

The servant bowed before she excused herself silently, leaving the two siblings alone.

"How is your wound?" asked Altre.

Felicia strugglingly shook her head. "I have a few broken ribs, my shoulders were dislocated, and my chest slightly caved in. I couldn't move for a few days but the physician helped nurse back to health, though I still feel some limitations in my movement at the moment."

Altre grunted as he looked down.

Both of them were laying helplessly then, in the Mortal World of all places. That youth was looking down at them with his arms crossed. The smirk that could deter Heaven.

"Did you see the captain yet?" asked Altre.

Felicia shook her head, "I didn't see him at all, not even his subordinates."

"Tch!" he clicked his tongue. "What took him so long?"

"Maybe he had some other errands?"

"Hmph! And he said that we need to train for the upcoming tournament," sneered Altre.

"Hmm, look at you two, being so impatient despite your wounds."

Both of the siblings raised their eyebrows as they heard the voice. The condescending words didn't make them haughty as they glanced at the person who spoke them.

"Father," said both of them.

He was a handsome middle-aged man with a slender figure. The aura surrounding him was not overbearing but the demeaning arrogance that exuded from his eyes proved his nobility.

"The tournament is going to be held at the end of the month, you all should be prepared for that instead," said the middle-aged man.

"One of you should enter the top five, the best scenario would be both of course," continued the middle-aged man.

"But father, this time it would be harder, the other geniuses are joining as well," said Altre.

The middle-aged man furrowed his eyebrows as he glared at his own son, "Is that supposed to be a reason? I did it before you when I was your age."

Altre could only swallow his word before having his head down.

Felicia didn't dare to utter a word either.

The middle-aged man snorted, "Don't worry about the Mortal World for now. You just kick an iron plate that's all. The captain will take care of it."

Felicia raised her eyebrows, "Father, I didn't see him anywhere, did you know where he could possibly go?"

"He must have finished the business with that you caused. He probably wander off somewhere, this is not the first time that this had happened."

"Why don't you change the captain?" asked Felicia.

Her father snorted, "I would have already if I found someone as capable as him."

"Enough, go back and rest, you need to prepare for the tournament. Remember, your performance will directly impact our family and my prestige, don't bring dishonor to our family."

The middle-aged man turned around before exiting the garden without care.

"Shit!" Altre wanted to smash his hand against the table but he threw the notion at the last second.

"Brother, we must forget what happened in the Mortal World. Our goal is much greater than them, there is no need for us to keep lingering on those two. The captain and the others must have killed them and no experts from that world would help them, after all, who would risk offending our family."

Altre's heavy breathing slowly calmed down. He tried to regain his poise nature but the pain from the wound Lyon and Cecile inflicted on him kept him from doing it.

"If you want to let out some steam, I'm sure some of the Mortal World's cultivators will join the tournament," said Felicia with a graceful smile on her face.

Altre smiled before he slightly shook his head. "So be it then, I will let out my steam at the tournament."

---

Inside Luna's room, the man of the hour was sleeping peacefully but the glasses of the windows kept on trembling. Sparks of the devastating blow were heard between two things outside.

Garuda and the others had already come back from the expedition and now acted as the spectators. Their hairs were fluttering from each blow that occurred.

Priscila's eyes were sharp as she saw the auburn hair dance along in the training field. The red-scarlet sword in her daughter's hand was hacked, slashed, and pierced skillfully.

The sight of the empress training was a sight rare to see. There was not any person that she had deemed worthy to be her training partner, only her father, Avalanche Jin was probably the exception. However, with her current strength of peak Godhood, her father couldn't contest with her.

"Kesya, raise the tempo, I want to know my limit," said Cecile.

(Eh?! Rise the tempo? Aren't they already fighting at ridiculous speed?!) thought Jugen.

"En!" Kesya nodded before the atmosphere suddenly changed as she moved with the destructive power of the dark elf and the precision of an elf.

Reverberating boom was heard without a pause as the city itself felt a slight tremor from their excessive force.

In half a second, ten blows occurred at the same time. The glasses inside the mansion immediately shattered as the cheap windows couldn't take it anymore. The servants serving the mansion shrieked before running away from the scene.

"Alright, let's stop," said Cecile as she calmed herself down and breathe through her nose instead. The training sure had brought some sweat out of her body.

"Empress, are you sure? Don't you need to rest some more? Lord Lyon will definitely get angry if he saw you training like this," said Kesya.

It was not a long time ago that she broke her back and couldn't even stand up. She took a direct hit from Eternal Golem without the blessing from Lyon's grandfathers at all. Thanks to her special physique and Lyon's virtuoso in healing magic, she recovered from it without any scar nor detrimental effect to her bones and joints.

"Nah, he won't," said Cecile before she laughed. "Thanks to him that I'm back on my two feet again in what, less than two weeks?"

"Lord Lyon is really amazing, isn't he?" said Kesya as she wandered around. The very image of a guild leader was lost in a deep abyss.

"Of course, he is my husband after all, isn't that right? Mother?" teased Cecile as she took a playful glance against her mother.

Priscila gasped before her cheeks turned a red hue, "R-right, he is my son-in-law after all."

Cecile grinned.