Emperor's Reckoning

While Abaddon was stupefied, the group had entered the city's street. All glances hovered over them as they walked with their faces in full view.

Her auburn hair was glossy and she was laughing alongside a man beside him. Her beauty immediately paled the others while her smile was pure and radiant. She looked at the other parts of the city as well but her glances were dominated by the man whom they all wondered.

"Uwah..." one passing adventurer had their eyes opened wide.

"Such... beauty..." said another.

The passing adventurers were astounded and stunned, yet, she didn't even try. Just her face alone was enough to smite them, however, once they hovered their eyes toward the jaded one and the purple ones, they were sent to an envious circle, with the half-blonde woman being the cherry on top.

"Ah...." one woman adventurers sinfully took a glance at the man with the glasses. With the sharp eyes under them, combined with the slicked black hair, he was the epitome of charm.

One female adventurer gulped as she saw the same person. "Why is it so hot, so suddenly..." she said while fanning her face with her hand.

Assid glanced over them before he clicked his tongue and returned to look at his emperor.

"Oh, my goodness! He saw me!"

"No, he saw me!"

The two females fight over the person that didn't give a single damn about them.

Meanwhile, Graham did invite the same attention outside his will, but it wasn't the same that Assid did. With his silence and the way his ashen hair didn't flutter, he was making a presence without even sparing a glance. He was stoic and indomitable, yet unbeknownst to the town, he was well aware of his surroundings.

However, the truly remarkable one was the one hogging all of their attention. The man was not beautiful as the ladies nor was he as charming as Assid. However, it was his bearing that changed the way people looked at him. He was not stoic, quite the opposite. He didn't have a serious glance, in fact, people found him smiling most of the time, chatting and giggling with the women around him.

"What a young master, he is living the dream!" said one adventurer as he bit his own cloth.

"Shh!! Don't bother him, he was the person that tied against Boto, even the ruckus of the White Crow guild was his doing," said one adventurer.

The adventurers looked at one another before they agreed to stay out of his way. The man that was leading the group could flip the ground as he pleased. They had not yet known his background, and that shrouded mystery choked their pride in place. They were silenced without him doing anything more, just a mere mystery of their own thoughts.

"Ah, I miss this feeling," said Lyon as he lavishly took a breath of the lively city, unhindered by the gaze of his surrounding.

"Are you sure that you miss this part of your life?" asked Cecile.

"Of course, I mean, beautiful adventurers are nice but this, this gentle feeling of having no responsibility, is like... is like..."

"Being drunk," answered Lumina.

"Correct! Hahahaha!" Lyon laughed.

Luna looked at how he was laughing freely against the blue sky. ( He is really not that different from Lyon of the present, well... I mean they are the same person, technically ). Luna was perplexed by Lyon's current condition despite being told that they shared everything, from bones to his memories.

"Lyon, were you a great adventurer as well?" Luna asked.

"I was the best," said Lyon as his head enlarged. "Well, still am, I wonder if my titles are still recorded."

"Oh, right, that's a good question," said Cecile. "Perhaps your title stayed."

"Huh, what? Why are you hesitating?" asked Lyon.

"Wait, what titles?" asked Luna.

"My grand feats when I was the greatest adventurer ever, I basically started the encyclopedia of those beasts!" said Lyon before he proudly laughed.

"You what?!" Lumina couldn't believe her ears before she furrowed her brows as she looked at him laughing proudly. "You are not telling the truth, are you?"

"Hahaha, huh? What? You don't believe me? You can ask Cecile," said Lyon before he darted his glance toward his wife, "Right?"

Cecile smiled as she made a little snort, "Well, he is just boasting about something he didn't do."

"Oh..."

"Hey! I did it okay! I kickstarted the whole thing," claimed Lyon vehemently.

"No, you didn't," said Cecile as she crossed her arms and shook his head. "You didn't kickstarted it, you didn't even write a single letter!"

"What?" Lyon furrowed his brows, "I swear I was a part of it."

"Yes, you are," said Cecile. "You are undoubtedly a part of it, but no, you didn't kickstarted it, adventurers before you did it, but couldn't finish it."

"Wait, it's finished?" asked Lumina.

"Well, not really, I don't think it would ever finished," said Cecile, "However, we can recognize every being and their weakness at the peak of our time, even plants."

"Yeah," said Lyon. "She is really smart and diligent."

"Oh, so that's what happened," said Lumina as her eyes turned flat. She had thought that Lyon would be the one recognizing the plants and the beasts that roamed over the Mortal World and beyond, but it seem to her that the word 'we' didn't include him by a lot.

"I'm smart, but you're the mischievous one, and always gets us into trouble out of the blue," said Cecile as she looked at him and raised one of her brows.

Lyon smiled wryly before he closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulder up as he prance forward. "But it was fun, right, it's not like it's getting boring everyday."

"Yeah!" Kesya nodded firmly.

"You got swallowed by a Leviathan, shut it," said Cecile before she let out a heavy sigh, "It's not fun when you tarnished our name, and somehow, you restore it, no that's not the word, you gain something beyond by vanquishing an unvanquishable beast, people adored us, from young to legends, then you tarnished our name again for something stupid."

Lyon's goosebumps around his shoulder was being pulled up by the guilt as he tried to hide his head like turtle.

"Yes, I experienced that bit," said Assid.

"The cycle, they never end," muttered Graham.

"Sounds like a hell of a fun ride," said Lumina sarcastically whilst Luna pouted her mouth for not being there at the time.

"See, it's not all that bad," said Lyon before he laughed at the sky once more. He looked down before raising one of his brows as he found the public notice board. There it was, a poster of the Cockatrice that he had undertaken it.

"Heh, I guess we don't need this anymore, I will do Justdy a favor," said Lyon before he ripped it out from the nail. The paper flew away being dragged by the wind. The old quest that had been the regular dweller of the notice board had finally been freed. The threat of a random Cockatrice was no more.

"?!" Lyon's eyes shrunken as the breath in his lung was sucked out. His throat didn't move, his skin was still as he noticed what was under the poster.

"Hmm?" Luna peeked over at his face, "What's wrong?"

"Look there is a note," said Lumina.

"Let's see..." said Cecile.

'Left and right, corners and high seas, I looked over and found none.

Under the giant lunar's grace, I wait for done.'

Cecile furrowed her brows, "Hmm, a poem in a public notice, that's something odd."

"Well of course it's odd," said Lumina. "But read the next verse."

'Moonshine, moonshine, and the monkey's wine.

I can hear your stress so don't whine.

There there, I have time no need for mother crime.'

Luna furrowed her brows, "What does that mean?"

"At the peak, o little feet of mine," said Lyon as he finished the last verse.

"Grandson..."  tremendous aura immediately suffocated everyone but Lyon.

"I was skeptical at first," said Sun before he slapped his thigh and laughed, "Monkey's wine, eh?"

"Indeed," said Lyon.

"I never thought that... hmm, I should have known," said Shen.

"It seems like fate really does do wonder," said Bapho. "The poem said 'mother crime' not mother's crime."

"Yes," said Lyon before he opened his eyes, and warm tears that came out of it shocked the group.

( Lyon... ) thought Luna before she saw him smiling.

"Lyon..." Cecile muttered.

Lumina furrowed her brows. The man was able to flip a city over, yet he was once again, spared a silent cry.

"Who is it?" asked Cecile. "Is it someone that you know? Sorry, that's a foolish question."

Lyon smiled, "My mother."

Everyone froze before Lyon leaped with the bearing of a dragon and rumbled the wind. Everyone looked up but couldn't discern what was happening.

Lyon's tears-streaking eyes immediately set on the highest peak in the Dark Continent with a wide grin on his face.