Emperor's Reckoning

Connak and Agist slowly put down their bows with their adam's apples jumping up and down simultaneously. Their keen eyes saw a blind lightning flash crashing down at the tower before rendering them a cloudy mess. With one blow, the ancient tower's fate remained unknown.

"Y-Your Majesty, what was that?" asked Agist as he looked at the edges of his forearm. His goosebumps rose to an alarming state. He could no longer hear the drumming of his heart against the loud crumbling rubbles from the scene of the explosion.

Galaeron took a long deep breath, but his eyes belied the calmness that the rest of his body trying to achieve. "Looks like the main star of the show has arrived."

"The main star?" Agist raised his brows as he darted at his king.

"The main star, you mean that juvenile monster?!" Connak raised his brows.

"Is that true?!" Agist darted back at the tower.

"There is no mistaking it, I saw him with my eyes," Galaeron furrowed his brows. "What obliterates that tower is the juvenile monster!"

...

A thousand orcs outside the tower were blown back to varying distances. Their backs were against the ground and their heart thumped a fright. Under their mean tusks lay the disbelief inside them as they saw the cloud of dust bursting against the sea of blues in the sky from a tower that was older than their entire tribe.

One by one struggled to get up before they saw their chief having one knee on the ground. He was panting for a couple of breaths before he stood up.

"Chief!"

"Chief what happened?!"

The chief frowned before he swung Ragnar a couple of times as he stretched his giant arm.

"Shit!" a curse was heard by the side.

The chief leered over to the side to find Nora staggering. His shoulder hunched down with his cloak completely ransacked with holes. Blood dripped out from his right shoulder but there was no arm to let it flow and dripped to the ground instead.

"What the fuck Nora, were you followed?!" asked another one from Legion. He was panting for breath and caught the orcs' eyes to be bewildered. He had lost his left arm instead of his right.

(Those two...) the chief frowned. He recognized the pattern straight away. The woman they were holding down was missing. It was the attacker's goal. 'Tch!"

"How is everyone doing?"

"Leader ar—?!" Nora and the others couldn't believe his eyes. The proud mask was crashed open and revealed the leader's true face.

A clear face was revealed as a man devastatingly handsome appeared under the cloud of dust. He had sharp black eyes and disheveled long black hair around his shoulder. He had a lean figure and lean build much like the rest, however, what surprised him the most was...

"Impossible!" Galaeron exclaimed from the distance. He saw the pointy ears and the dark bronze complexion. How they shared the same type of eyes but different bearings.

"A dark elf?! In the Mortal World?!" Agist gulped.

Connak gulped at the sight. Every word he wanted to utter was uttered by his partner and his king. He looked at the dark elf from the distance, with one heel stepping back once.

"Is that why he wanted to open the seal?!" Galaeron twitched his nose. "The bastard! No wonder he mentioned dark elf at the time! He was one all along! And he dares to sip in my Elven Wine! They are as croaked as they were told of old!"

"T-Then, should we assist the juvenile monster? Your Majesty?" asked Agist.

Galaeron took a breath with his eyes closed, "Not yet, that decision is too premature to be decided now. Things have just started to unfold themselves."

"En, my bow is ready to propel the arrow, Your Majesty, they are awaiting the target," said Connak with his trembling hands.

Galaeron leered at how Connak's posture belied the confidence of his words. This was one of his two best men. If they were trembling at the sight of one dark elf, what would his entire kingdom would felt? He sighed. He himself had never seen a dark elf in his entire life before.

"I thought that they were extinct in Mortal World, but it seemed like one was living in hiding," Galaeron muttered. "This is more complicated, physically, dark elves are superior to us. They might have less perceptiveness but their reflexes could rival ours, and their strength was said to even second to the orcs."

"So that means he is an anti-mana cultivator too?" asked Agist as he gulped. "Our arrows would serve nothing then."

"That, I don't know for sure, but that is most likely the case. After all, he wanted to unseal what Paradise wants us to keep our eyes closed at."

"You're a dark elf!" shouted the chief.

"Nice to meet you too, orc chief," The dark elf nodded. "I guess this is the first time that I showed my face to all of you."

"You're a dark elf..." Nora muttered. "You're one of Hell's natural inhibitors..."

"I hope that doesn't waver your beliefs in me?" The dark elf smiled with sparkling charisma.

"No! Of course not! That would only prove that our cause is right! And our cause is unstoppable!" said Nora before he leered over to his friend who also lost a limb, "Right?"

"T-That's right," his fellow gulped. (What a specimen, just one look alone and I know this one got the strength to back it up... Amazing... I've never been at awed and inspired at the same time).

"Dark elf," The chief laughed. "I see, no wonder you want to open the seal. I thought you guys are just some crazy cult filled with nut jobs. The dark elf, you kept your identity hidden well."

"Thank you for your praise, orc chief, or are you not going to share your name?"

"Don't be ridiculous, we share not our name to the pointed ears!" shouted one of the orcs behind the chief.

"Heh, you got your answer," said the orc chief. "This pact between us only lasted as long as we are in the Mortal World, in Hell, we'll go back to our natural ways."

The dark elf smiled under Nora's glare. "I expected that you would say as such, thus I refrain to share mine with yours either."

"However, I must say, to think that your race would be the one pulling the strings, I am surprised," The chief smirked as pointed his ax against the dark elf. However, facing the share blade that could cut ancient trees like butter, the dark elf had his eyes locked against the orc instead. "Heh, not bad, maybe you could be of use."

"Oi, where is Harrs?" asked Nora's fellow.

"Huh?" raised his brows before all of them caught something from the cloud of dust.

A little silhouette started to appear. It was crawling with his hands pulling his body forward. Soon his nose pierced through the hug of the clouding dust and revealed blood drenching his forehead. He repeatedly used his forearm to crawl forward.

"Harrs!" shouted both of them and also the dark elf.

Harrs looked up to the call of his name. His eyes had turned extremely ghastly as his goosebumps rose. His lips trembled as he saw Nora and the rest. No cloak, no mask, he was bare. A tooth was missing and his cheeks had gruesome bruises.

"Monster... Monster!!! A monster is there!!" Harrs wailed and shouted to the silence of the others and the furrow of King Galaeron.

The dark elf immediately removed his cloak and revealed a slim-fit armor that prioritized movement. He immediately knelt right in front of him before giving him his palm with a smile on his face.

Nora smiled seeing the kind gesture from his leader, however, the latter had his smile vanished in an instant the moment Harr's jaw suddenly pressed against the ground.

The dark elf had his dark pupils shrunk to a dot. He noticed bare toes gently stepping on Harr's head. His eyes looked up before everyone and especially him, had their mouth gaping at the sight of the figure.

A higher killing intent was exuding from the gaze of the man with one foot stepping on the dark elf's underling's head. His arms crossed as he looked directly against the leader of the Legion.

"Juvenile... no... we're too late..." Galaeron shook his head. "What kind of devil worship had he done? That man is a peak True God cultivator!"

"Wha?!" Both Connak and Agist couldn't believe their ears before all of them saw the monster rising the foot that was stepping on Harr's head.

"HELP ME!!!"

Lyon stomped down his foot right before the dark elf's eyes as a thundering broken skull made the cloud of dust disperse in an instant.

Jugen was holding Karina with Yoji and the Tetragram Chariot by the side. Graham was crossing his arms. Kesya was grinning with her hands opened and Assid adjusted his glasses. Then at the front most, the Heralded King of Deo, towering the dark elf with his arms crossed.