Emperor's Reckoning

The old man made an eerie laugh, "You didn't even scream young one, what tenacity you must ha—WHAT?! "

His eyes opened wide as he saw Lyon casually wipe the goo out of his face. "Gah! Disgusting!"

"You... you're fine?" the old man asked.

"You should put me down now," said Lyon as he crossed his arms before pressing his lips together and pointing in a random direction. "Ptui!" He spat out the poison that managed to get inside his mouth.

His spite landed right in front of the old man who couldn't make head and tails on what was going on.

"You, you even have the poison inside your mouth!" exclaimed the old man. "How can you... survive?"

"Maybe if you put me down, I would tell you," said Lyon as he furrowed his brows."

"Heh, as if I would do that," said the old man as he laughed. "Maybe you are strong enough to take the first blow, but what about the second blow?"

"Don't you fucking dare," said Lyon as he furrowed his brows. "I hardly have any mood to deal with you, druid!"

The old man's eyes snapped open. "What, how did you know that I'm a druid?!"

"I'm just guessing," said Lyon as he smirked. "Besides, why are you targeting me anyway, you have tentacle-like vines here, oh such missed opportunities!"

"What? What are you talking about?" asked the druid.

Lyon closed his eyes as he sighed, "Forget it—" Lyon opened his horizontal slit gray pupils. "Calamity Goat Art: First Calamity!"

He clapped his hands with a loud pop before the vines circulating his ankle sparked vigorous fire out of nowhere. The humongous flower screeched and retreated at the same time.

"Calamity?!" the druid took a step back as Lyon landed with both feet.

Lyon crossed his arms as he smirked at the frightened druid, disregarding the wailing of the giant flower.

"Are you going to answer some question?" said Lyon as the flower fell to the river.

"H-How did you know that I'm a druid?!" asked the old man.

"I have my ways," answered Lyon. "Druid, what are you doing here, holed up in a cave, like this."

The old man clicked his tongue, "Tch!" before he tapped the oak staff against the ground. The hunched old man was no more hunched. His eyes were green as the leaf of spring but his skin was still wary from the regular fight with time itself. His hair was all white, and his beard had reached his chest.

Lyon raised his brows before he chuckled, "All that fancy transformation and you still keep that ragged cloth."

"Tch! This is not some performance that I do for some parade," said the druid.

"You're still old," Lyon chuckled, "Damn, I thought I would be meeting a female druid, but, I guess this is the extent of my luck."

"You! Blasphemy!" said the druid with a glare.

"I don't think that's the correct word," said Lyon before the druid tapped the oak staff against the ground and vines started to crawl, right before his eyes.

"What the, not even magic?" Lyon jumped away and evade it quite easily. "Huh? Not going to chase me?"

The druid snorted before the vines broke apart by themselves. "I'm a druid, I don't need magic to communicate with nature, because I am nature!"

"No you're not," said Lyon. "You're a druid, not nature."

"I am nature, you brat," said the druid. "What do you know about nature? Nothing!"

Lyon let out a sigh, "Listen, old man. I don't have time for this kind of thing, if you happen to have this flower with a hundred petals it would help me tremendously."

"Why would I help you?" asked the druid.

"Because I will kill you otherwise," said Lyon as his eyes sharpened. "You know I'm not joking."

"Gahaha!" The druid laughed to Lyon's surprise. "You think I care if you kill me now?"

"I've been living a life of a coward—"

(Ah shit storytime) thought Lyon as he sighed.

"How many years has it been since I holed up in this cave for my own survivability. Long have I yearned to return back to my home, but no! My home is no more."

"Listen, old man," said Lyon as he interrupted. "I don't mean to interrupt, but I don't care."

"You!" the dried was in a rage.

"Why did you even pick me anyway," said Lyon as he rolled his eyes. "You know my friends will bust this place open right?"

"Your friends?" the druid muttered, "Hahaha! They sure are taking their time to get here."

"As if you know," said Lyon as he shrugged. "Oh wait, really?! They didn't even rush here?"

"Sad to say, but your friends didn't think that way of you," said the druid as he laughed. "They are your friends, but you are not theirs."

"You think I would fall for your pathetic tongue? You're too young to defeat me in manipulation," said Lyon as he smirked.

"You!"

"Alright, stop the chit-chat, give me the flower or die," said Lyon.

"You think your threat could scare me?" said the druid as he smirked back. "I have mastered this place far more than you can even imagine, you are in my home."

"Wait, didn't you say that you missed your home?" asked Lyon, "Aha! You son of a bitch, you said you're nature itself but look at you lying. I knew it, nature can't be an old druid like you, it should be a beautiful female druid at the very least!"

"You have an unbelievably rough tongue for a mere human!" shouted the druid before tapping his oak staff once more.

Lyon smirked as he saw the incoming vines approaching him like a tidal wave. "Let's see if you can go toe-to-toe—" his eyes shimmered a golden glow. "With me!"

"Huh?" The druid had his pupils shrunk. "Is that Devil Ape?"

"Hahahaha!" Lyon laughed as he rampaged his way through the bulky wines with his pair of fists and four golden tails. The rapid-fire attack that Lyon let out was relentless.

"What the..." the druid was stupefied. "There is no mistaking it, that's a Devil Ape's power! Such speed, such strength, second to none... but."

The druid tapped his oak before thicker vines sprung up under Lyon's feet.

"Woah What?!" he was caught up between the vines and his limbs was all trapped. He was once again, got caught. "Damn, I should have known."

"I want to laugh at you, but I can't," said the druid as he approached him.

"Let me go old man!" Lyon said before he snorted, "Hehe, cliche right."

"How are you even making light of your own situation still baffles me," said the druid, "Do you even know why I caught you?"

"I did ask that you senile druid!" shouted Lyon.

"You did?" the druid muttered as he raised his brows, "Must have been slipped out of my mind."

"Slipped out of your ears!" shouted Lyon before he returned back to his original form before he sighed, "Damn it, this is even worse than I thought, getting caught is one thing, but getting caught with an old druid with dementia is another."

"I caught you because I want your aid," said the druid.

"What?" Lyon raised his brows. "What do you mean my aid? What do you want me to do? What kind of demented aid do you want me to do?"

"One at a time brat!" said the druid as he tapped the oak staff repeatedly. The vines that strangled Lyon were layered then.

"My aid? Didn't you try to kill me?!" shouted Lyon.

"It was just a test," said the druid as he made a light cough.

"Test my ass! You really are going to break my meridian with that poison of yours!" shouted Lyon. (Why is the mana so thin in here!) thought Lyon before he gently touched his rings.

"Nevermind that little thing, I need your help to fetch me something," said the old druid.

"Fetch you what?" Lyon dropped his intention to summon the pure mana out of his rings.

*Roar!

A loud roar was heard as the cave shook immensely. Both Lyon and the druid looked up.

"Wait a minute, that roar wasn't you?" asked Lyon.

"What? What do you take me for, a beast? I'm a druid!" said the old druid. "Hmm, that's odd, this is the second time it roared."

"So you're not the king of this cave?" asked Lyon.

"King of the cave? What are you talking about?" said the druid before a nearby wall was blasted with a huge figure jumping out from it.

*Splurt!

Lyon's eyes opened wide as he saw the old druid being stabbed with a giant tusk from behind before the body was shredded apart.

"What the..." Lyon gulped as he saw the demented old druid's remains being eaten by a beast that he hardly recognize. "What the hell is that...?"

"Oh, that's a grootslang," said Sun as he grinned. "Now that is a beast!"

(Are you kidding me, am I supposed to fight that thing? What kind of sick plot twist is this?!) thought Lyon as the vines holding him started to break apart.