Emperor's Reckoning

The group left with Lyon walking in the front with Mavis on the side. Their figures immediately made the heads of the onlookers turn unintentionally. The two young men had been the talk of the town as every alchemist knew their names more than they knew the headmaster's name.

"You know, their gazes are kinda uncomfortable," muttered Mavis with a wry smile as he kept nodding at the passerby. "How can you cope with this so easily, brother Lyon?"

"Just don't try yourself too hard in the name of keeping your image," said Lyon with the usual lazy tone. Unlike the proper Mavis—Lyon was walking with his hands behind his head as if no trouble in the world could stiffen his shoulder. His eyes didn't even seem to look at the front of the road that he walked on. The nonchalant attitude might come out as rude, but who would dare to mess with the mane that caused no percussion after destroying the First Hall of the Alchemy Union.

Mavis smiled wryly, "Don't you want to be seen as a proper young master?"

"Why would I want to be seen as a proper young master?" Lyon casually responded. "No matter how hard you are trying to be, someone out there will hate you just because."

"Just because of what?"

"Just because, Mavis, just because," said Lyon. "The more you strive into greatness, the more people will hate you, but we are often blinded by the galore of hate that they gave, so much so that we forgot how tremendous the people that love us truly are."

Mavis stopped in his track with his mouth gaped. His eyes slightly dilated as he looked at the back of the young man he knew earlier this afternoon. Such profound words, he had never thought it would come out from the very man that had women to his left and right.

However, he was not the only one. The princess of the Sverine Kingdom, Cherie, was also dumbfounded by his words. She quickly regained her senses before she caught up to Lyon. "Young master Lyon, are you, alright?"

"What?" Lyon frowned. "What do you mean? I'm healthy as a horse!"

"Are you sure?" Cherie asked once more, "Why not we stop by somewhere to have a snack first?"

"What? We just ate princess," said Lyon as he frowned. "What are you implying here?"

"I-I mean, are you sure you're alright?" asked Cherie as she held his wrists before she reached out to his forehead. "That's odd."

Cecile was chuckling at the sight before she patted Cherie's shoulder. "What do you take my husband for? He is a wise man too, you know."

The three generals laughed with Lumina chuckling at the side.

"Oh, so that's what you mean," Lyon laughed but explained none as he walked past her.

Cecile smiled as she muttered, "Grandfather Bapho, you are going to give Lyon the wrong image here."

"Hahaha," Bapho laughed as he revealed himself slouching on her shoulder. "It is the one thing that I'm good at. I couldn't help but share."

Cecile smiled, "You might make him more desirable to women."

"Then it would be for the best for him, after all, it makes him happy and smiling," muttered Bapho as his gray eyes turned slightly vacant.

Cecile furrowed her brows, "I'm sorry, did I make you remember a nightmare?"

"No, no, it's fine. Memories are memories whilst nightmares but bad dreams," said Bapho. "The painful memories make us grow, whilst the good memories keep us going."

Cecile smiled, "You are really wise, grandfather."

Bapho merely smiled.

Sun let out a sigh, "Hah~ It would take a miracle to find the others. We can't even sense them."

Shen nodded, "True, it has been pure luck so far."

Meanwhile, in the room where the headmaster of the Alchemy Union resided.

The headmaster was sitting cross-legged in his room with an unattended cauldron standing in front of him. He was stroking his beard as he pondered at the ceiling above. "How incredibly, mysterious."

Lyon was someone that he had never thought be able to permeate such brutal killing intent, however, there was no doubt that it was him. The headmaster didn't have to be at the first seat where it was happening to know where it came from since the youth was standing at the top of the rubbles with a corpse in his hand.

"He is so young, yet talented beyond measure, I've never seen such an individual in my entire life," said the headmaster. "What do you think, Elise?"

Elise took a sip before putting the glass down. "There is no doubt that he is talented, even more so with his cultivation skyrocketing to the unimaginable height from the first time I met him."

"Hmm, do you know where he came from? It seems really outrageous to have someone from the Mortal World that powerful without becoming an old monster," said the headmaster. "Is he, perhaps, from Hell?"

"I have no idea," Elise shook her head, "As far as I can tell, he is from the Mortal World. There is no one called Lyon in Sixth Heaven. Perhaps... could he be from that place?"

The headmaster opened his eyes, "Paradise... the final heaven."

Elise nodded, "If he is from that place, then his growth might make sense."

The headmaster pondered, "Hmm... That's a plausible assumption."

"However," Elise shook her head, "I want to tell you about his soul flame and his unorthodox way of concocting, headmaster."

"I've heard words that he did bizarre things," said the headmaster. "You didn't teach him the basics of alchemy beforehand?"

Elise shook her head, "I chose him because of his soul flame, that burst fire that crept up all the way to his shoulders." She took out a book before showing it to the headmaster. "It's just like what's described in this book. Except that in this one, it is described that the alchemist was a woman."

"Hmm," the headmaster frowned before he picked up the book.