Emperor's Reckoning

Lyon furrowed his brows before using the slight momentum of weakening his blade to get out of the deadlock and made a few steps distance between him against the buffed orc.

"Hahaha! Your mana, my anti-mana, your blade, my ax!" the orc laughed. "Lyon Torga, can't you see the blood of warrior inside me is boiling?!"

Lyon frowned. Even with three blessings activated, the orc could stand toe to toe with him, which was also against the latter's greatest adversary, speed.

"How long can you be at that state?" asked Lyon.

"Long enough against your straight-up cheating capabilities!" the orc smirked. "Rakumtatak is a legendary warrior whom I was lucky enough to share some bloodline with him."

"He is a legendary warrior indeed, but that depends on who you compare it to," Kesya added with laughter as she took her time slaughtering the orcs.

"You have a lot of information under your small figure, you... what are you anyway?" asked the chief.

"Heh, you think your thick skull can wrap around my existence? Even those elves at the peak still rummaging around their empty brains!"

"What did you say?!" Nora exclaimed to the chief's furrowed brows. The former looked around at the peaks surrounding the place, however, his keen eyes couldn't discern the elve's location at all. (What the hell, there is no... wait a minute, did they blanket themselves with illusion?) gulped Nora before he looked at Kesya, "and this lady is capable of seeing through one of elf's greatest affinity?"

"I see, that wretched pointed ears, soft-skinned humans, they are really just wolves in sheep's clothing," muttered the chieftain.

"Oh? You believe her words?" asked Assid.

"In this situation, it doesn't matter for you whether I believe her words to be true or not," the chief shook his head, "Right now, my battle is with him, and I take it that you two and the other one wouldn't involve in this? After all, I cut his lover's arm."

Kesya and Assid didn't answer.

"Of course, they won't, you might think this is for Nostria. However, if it were the case I would just ditch you orcs the moment I retrieve her," said Lyon. "This is a personal matter, you just hurt the one that had saved my life more than twice."

"Heh, you don't need to say that, I can see it in your eyes, you want my suffering and my death," said the chieftain. "But the blood of Rakumtatak shall see your failure!" his blood boiled.

"Blood doesn't have eyes," said Lyon. "And you only have one left."

"And that won't stop me!" shouted the chieftain before he leaped forward and hacked down his ax.

"You think that would reach me?!" shouted Lyon before he turned the side and narrowly dodged the blade and immediately countered with a slash of his own.

"Heh," the chief caught the blade with his bare hand. His grin showed that he spared the smallest amount of effort despite a hint of blood trailing down belied his expression. "I caught you."

"Quite the opposite," said Lyon as he let go of his grip and utilize a flurry of fists in one second against one spot of the orc's abdomen.

"Guha!" the orc immediately jumped back and glared at the human. He looked at the dark blade in his left hand before throwing it away. His brows furrowed before he noticed a faint smoke permeating out from his abdomen. He grunted before rubbing the heat away. "You're not just throwing punches, are you? I almost felt that one."

"Damn, this vile pig is too strong, big brother's punches left no scratch," Jugen furrowed his brows before he darted his eyes down. Her severed forearms were bandaged and the blood had turned dry from the moment he picked it up. "We're lucky that they don't want you to die on the way, older sister."

"Don't worry about it, the emperor will find away, or not, it doesn't matter, the orc's fate is already sealed," said Yoji. "Experience-wise, the orc got plenty, however, it pales against what the emperor had faced in his life."

"Why do you call him emperor?" asked Jugen.

"Oh? You don't know?" Yoji raised his brows (Fuck me...). "Well, if you don't know then it's not my right to explain it to you."

"What?" Jugen raised his brows but Yoji kept his eyes on the battlefield.

"It seems like we are at a stalemate here," the orc laughed. "It's been fun."

"It seems like you're time is almost up," said Lyon with a smirk. "Activating such ferocious bloodline seems to have taken a toll on your body, I can see it clearly."

"Oh you mean this little steam coming out of my body?" the chieftain laughed. "I cannot use a single art against you, with that being the case, I can bear this ferocious bloodline longer than I normally would. Rejoice, Lyon, you are not only the first human to witness my true power, but also the first creature to have survived for this long!"

"Heh," Lyon smirked before he pointed at him with his index and middle finger.

"What are you trying to do? Magic? Hahaha!" the chieftain laughed under the cry of his subordinates.

Lyon flicked his wrist upward.

*Thump!

The orc immediately stopped and laughed before his eyes leered to the left. A black mist stroke by his only eye before blood splurted against the sky.

Jugen was stupefied. His jaws were slacked open and he saw what transpired before him. His big brother didn't move a single inch and the distance between him and the orc chief was still the same. However, the sword that was no longer crimson was now hovering in the air with its blade pointing downward. Dark mist drenched and blanketed the sharp blade-like shadows.

"What the?! That sword moved on its own!" shouted Agist from a far.

"That's! Your Majesty is that?!"

"It is as you thought," Galaeron shook his head. "That monster doesn't only have raw power, but his skill is also questionably extreme."

"At such young age too," Connak shook his head.

"What young age? What's going on?" asked Agist.

"Just like with the arrows in our quiver, the swordsman has a technique called the sword intent. It is a deep level of understanding of the way of the sword, so much so, that the blade is willing to be controlled by the master through intent alone," said Connak.

"Sword intent? Just like our arrow intent?"

"Yes," Connak nodded. "The sword intent is dangerously sharp and unpredictable, perhaps, that monster has secretly set this up so that he could pull off the trick."

"More likely," Galaeron nodded. "Now the orc has lost both sights, his battle instinct alone wouldn't help against someone at that monster's level. Not only is he powerful, but somehow it seems like he has this enormous experience of battle under his belt that we know nothing of."

"GAAAH!!" the orc roared against the sky. He saw nothing but darkness. He could only hear the clanking noise and the cries of his fellow tribesmen.

"Sword intent," muttered Yoji before he saw the blade hovered back to its master.

"You piece of shit!" shouted the orc before he took out his left eye and crushed it under his palm. "You think you're already winning just because I lost my sight?! Don't be ridiculous! I've trained more times than you, I've seen more corpses than you! Do you think I never saw a blind warrior make it to the path of victory?! Heh, fool! Come at me th'—"

A heavy fist struck against his giant jaw as one of his teeth fell out. He staggered before he blindly swung his ax. However, it met nothing but the air before another heavy fist struck his head. The orc could only step back before his jaw was again being struck. His head moved up and down as Lyon relentlessly pounded it from every direction.

"How dare you, how dare you, HOW DARE YOU!" Lyon glared as the flurry of fists kept on thundering against the orc's face.

The chieftain had his teeth jumping out of its socket to the right, to the left, as his heart slowed down. The veins started to dim out as his feet keep on taking a step back because of the relentless fist at his face. Even the fellow orcs shuddered in disbelief. A man, a human man was pounding their chief with his bare fists as if he never need to breathe to live.

Lyon grabbed both of the chief's ears before pulling his head down and crashing its jaw against his knee. The crackling bones were heard as his tusks fell out from his jaw. The huge figure didn't even sway before his toes gradually pointed up. The large chief fell with a huge thud. His face was unrecognizable.

"I told you, you shall suffer," said Lyon before opened right hand and summoning Scarlet. He reverses and gripped it before plunging it down against the orc's chest. The blade penetrated even the thick bones. Then, he rotated it, locking it down with a gruesome sound of twisted meat.

"Aaaaah!!" The chief screamed as his soul was sucked out of his body. His limbs rebelled but Lyon immediately stomped and locked his right elbow whilst holding down the grip of the sword. The orc kept crying out, silencing the battlefield to a halt.