Emperor's Reckoning

Soon the party saw the beasts accumulating more and more as they traversed deeper. However, they pose no threat to them as they become nothing but corpses. The weaker ones saw the powerful ones fall, thus they fled in fear for their life.

Farash had her eyes wide opened and refrained from seeing a word. She had never seen anyone capable of taking down Behemoths without breaking a sweat, all the while, solo. The group far exceeded what the entire Myriad Devils encompassed. However, her eyes were on the person leading the way nonchalantly. What kind of roar would make that smirk gone? She wondered.

Yet, for the man himself, his vision went into the distance. Not at the front, but at the core of hazy memories that resurfaced. A far plane but also familiar, a raspy-sweet voice of a woman that tingled his soul.

....

Roars of the people made Lyon twitch his eyes. He woke up with a flutter before he saw a man sitting across him had his arms crossed with his head looking down.

The man sitting across had a well-built figure. His muscles were bulging like a stone and it was especially enhanced by the vest he was wearing. However, his eyes were closed as if he was trying to control his breathing.

Lyon raised his brows before looking to the sides only to find yet three-four other people in the same room that was lightened with nothing but three balls of torches. The smell of metal permeated the room and the pungent smell of sweat was unpleasant to his standard.

"Next up! Participate number seventy-sixth!" a promoter called out.

The man sitting across Lyon opened his eyes, "Oi, underdog! It's your time."

"Heh, looks like it," Lyon stood up with a smirk.

The man sitting across him grinned, "You're fighting the Sirius Blade, are you sure you have your warrants ready?"

Both men laughed, "I won't die today, it's still too soon."

"Careful out there, young gun!"

Lyon waved his hand as he ascended the stairs where the lights illuminated. The roars of the people could deafen a baby. Everyone was excited as they waved their flags. They chant their champions, they chanted his name and of course, the name of his opponent.

"I think master is going to win," said a boy who was sitting amongst the crowd.

"We need the money," the woman with auburn hair sitting next to him sighed. "He better be."

"Sirius Blade! It's the Sirius Blade!" said one adventurer before all eyes darted over to the opposite part of the ring.

"Woah... that woman has some serious aura," the boy gulped.

"Yeah, I feel shivers just looking at her eyes," the woman with auburn hair furrowed her brows before darted her glance toward Lyon, "Lyon be—"

"Ak?!" Lyon pointed his finger at the woman who was to be his opponent with his eyes wide open.

"W-What's wrong?!" the auburn woman exclaimed to the baffled crowd.

"Huh?" The woman standing across raised her brows.

"You're Selena right?! Yahahah! Holy shit, I never thought I would see you here!" Lyon laughed.

"Eh?" the auburn woman had her lips twitched.

"Master knew her?" the boy tilted his head.

"They knew each other?" The crowd started to question the same thing.

The Sirius Blade frowned before the promoter caught the cue.

"E-Err, folks this is the battle between the two strongest! The underdog Lyon Torga! and the Sirius Blade, Selena!"

The promoter waved his hand down before his hair immediately fluttered as a shadow past him.

The auburn woman had her eyes opened wide, ( She is fast! ), "But..." she smirked.

A streaking blade caught Lyon's eyes before the crowd was petrified with all of their breath taken out.

"Woah, I can see my handsome self in your blade, nice maintenance, haha!"

Sirius Blade raised her brows before noticing that her opponent had turned his body around just enough for the blade to be paralleled against his eyes.

"You've gotten a lot quicker, Selena," Lyon smiled, "Haven't seen you since that blade school."

Selena's pupils shrunk, "You're..."

"Our first meeting has you kicking my butt away from that tree," Lyon smiled.

"Hmph!" Selena frowned before she swung her blade, which Lyon dodged effortlessly.

The distance widened once more as the man had yet to draw his sword.

"Lyon the 'Fake Fool'," Selena uttered before pointing her sword at him.

"Fake Fool?" Lyon raised his brows.

"You can fool anyone even the teachers, but I know you," Selena pointed her blade. "I might have inherited the supreme art, but it was supposed to be you."

"I was expelled," Lyon shrugged.

"For me!" Selena cried tears before she cleaved the ring open.

"Hm!?" Lyon immediately dodged sideways. "Woah, how did you..." he frowned seeing the woman had a streak of warm emotion coursing from her cheek to her jaw.

"Big sister Cecile, you look so surprised," said the boy as he looked at the woman sitting beside her raising her brows.

"There are things that I don't know yet about your master, Graham," Cecile crossed her arms. "That guy, how many secrets does he keep."

Selena shook her head, "That's not just it, isn't it, everything, EVERYTHING, you have meddled with everything, hadn't you?"

Lyon stood silent as well as the crowd. His head hung down before he revealed a weak smile and nodded.

"Tch! Stupid! Idiot!" Selena stomped her foot before she furrowed her brows and came at her with a barrage of intents.

"..." Lyon drew his sword before one of the intents came rushing at him.

The first clash caused a ding, and a voice trickled through his soul.

"You taught me! "

Another clash caused another message.

"When danger arose, you were there!"

Another clash ensued.

"You were my rival!"

Another ding ensued.

"Yet! Everything! After everything that you've done, you just left!"

Finally, their sword crossed as they shared their breaths to each other's faces. Selena was panting with her face turned red whilst Lyon remained stoic as he looked at her.

"I told you, I was expelled."

"No! Don't give me that crap! Everyone thinks that you're an idiot when you're not! You did it because you knew, only one shall inherit the Void Art! You stole the book and deliberately get caught before the ascension so that you would get expelled because you KNEW! It was either you or me!"

Lyon remained silent before he pushed her away with the sword and made a distance between them.

"Have you mastered it?" Lyon asked before thunder turned the blue clouds into the dark. Rains started to pour down with surmounting gale that could lift up mountains followed.

"W-What's going on?! I can't see a thing?!" The crowd went into a panic.

Selena shook her head to Lyon's surprise.

"I see... but I can see that you're advancing," Lyon showed a weak smile.

"Hmph!" Selena frowned before a hundred translucent intents of a sword could be seen defying the fall of the rain.

"Look's like you're serious this time," Lyon smirked before he stood sideways with one hand folded behind his back. "Come!"

Selena waved her sword down before the sword intents launched as if it came out of the turret.

Lyon deflected the first sword intent before his eyes wide opened as he heard with his soul her message.

' I haven't replied to your answer from back then, I'm sorry I was such a child. I hated you for being better than me, foolish right? I don't know why did you even fall for me. Is it because I'm cute? We were such kids at the time, that's why I rolled my eyes then. All the boys were stupid and you were dense.'

Lyon frowned before he deflected another set of ten.

' Stupid, can I still call you that? I used to call you that, even though I know I was the stupid one, perhaps still am. Will you give me a chance to properly answer you, will you not run away this time? '

Lyon raised his brows before his lips were sealed with another. His pupils trembled as they shrunk. The Sirius Blade was a woman, a woman that was admired by many, yet hardly did many see that she shared a kiss with a man they barely knew.

Lyon blinked before Selena disappeared from the ring. "Huh?!

Lyon frowned before he deflected the last sword intent.

'Goodbye... Stupid... '

Lyon stood under the rain before sighing.

...

"Heh," Lyon smirked.

"Hm? Lyon? What's wrong?" Luna asked.

Lyon stopped before baffling the party as he took off his cloak.

"Lyon, what are you thinking?" Cecile frowned.

"Hehe," Lyon smirked before waving his hands to the party, "I'm going first."

"Wai—"

Lyon ran off as his back formed a tattoo. His eyes turned jade as his hair fluttered against the wind. His domineering aura builds up before he entered a giant jaw of a flying wyrm the moment he leaped. He burst through the wyrm with a dragon momentum before he grinned with blood dyed on his face.