Emperor's Reckoning

Farash's eyes wide opened. Her nose could only draw in a cold breath as she saw him advancing solo into the dangerous side of the continent. She couldn't stop him or keep up with him. The man was enthralled entirely.

"Hey! Lyon!" Zelena shouted before she looked at the second-in-command of the group. "Aren't you going to follow him?"

Cecile smirked. "We are following him, just not at the same rivaling speed."

Zelena frowned, "He is going to the center of a dangerous area."

"Dangerous?" Cecile raised her brows, "But you can come and go as you please right?"

"That doesn't mean that he could do the same!" Zelena frowned.

"He is my husband," Cecile raised her chin, "That's why I trust him."

"...What?" Zelena was stunned before she shook her head.

Cecile sighed before Farash chipped in with a click of her tongue and a shake of her head.

"Zelena, you are talking a bit, unreal right now," Farash smiled.

"Don't get your muddy feet in this affair," Zelena frowned.

"She is right," Cecile nodded before sneering at her, "You think that the man your sister married, the woman that mastered the celestial art of the void to a level never seen by its predecessor, would be weak?"

"..." Zelena stood still as she saw Cecile's smirk. She turned over her attention in the direction where Lyon had gone before her eyes widened. A giant thing that she couldn't decipher in a short amount of time was coming at the party with blinding speed.

Graham stepped in front of her before stopping the entire thing with one hand. The loud shock fluttered their hair before they realized that it was a corpse of a beast. The head was missing from the body with blood oozing out from that metallic skin.

"He is really..." Kesya grinned.

"Absolute," Assid nodded before Graham threw the headless corpse away.

Zelena glanced over her shoulder before she gulped. Another shockwave occurred courting all of the party's attention.

"He... I don't think he can restrain himself," Luna smiled wryly.

"This is dangerous, he is getting reckless," Lumina frowned. "If what Cecile said is the truth, then he is inviting trouble."

Cecile shrugged and smiled as she heard what the dragon woman said. She had her chin up before leading the party with silence and a smirk, the kind that she learned from her beloved.

....

Roaring beasts were against him as all variants gave him the dagger stare. The beasts unite to a common threat, to a silhouette that was coming at them with a regal aura. However, for the mortal, his eyes lay elsewhere. He was unafraid as he traverse to the noman's land, for there was a woman he was dying to meet. A woman that was fated and destined to be in his embrace.

Lyon grinned with his jade-eyes shimmering. His feet stomped as heavy as they were light against the soft ground of nature. Not a single of those vertical pupils from afar could deter him, not even his in-synch breathing.

Lyon opened his arms wide before making a claw with both hands. "Are you ready for this?!"

Both of his arms coiled a mist of jade-like mana and turned denser as he inched closer toward the swarm of beasts that was on his way.

The little beasts that joined the fray instantly had their blood turned warmth like never before. All of their body joints tensed seeing the unscrupulous danger that was approaching as if they were seeing another beast just a different realm. The moment they saw the teeth of Lyon's grin, they immediately haste away from the spot, leaving the large-sized beast to handle the mortal.

"I have something special for you!" Lyon leaped as the beasts on the opposite also did the same. "Heh!" a silhouette of the mighty True Dragon emerged from his back and enthralled the roaring beasts that were about to shred him to pieces.

"True Dragon Art! Wave of the Shattering World!"

The beasts could only roar as their fleshes were ripped apart in a flash from the unstoppable wave. Lyon landed his feet first and continued his journey before the heavy beasts crashed against the ground, tremoring the nearby vicinity.

"Hm?" a figure wearing an oversized cloak with golden outlines was hovering in the sky and had his brows twitched before looking over in Lyon's direction. He frowned as he saw the beasts had their noses being sniffed by the grass of the meadow. The figure descended before landing on the ground with a soft landing.

Lyon raised one of his brows as he noticed the figure standing in his way, however, he didn't lose his grin.

"Who are you?" the figure spoke directly to Lyon's ears and soul.

Lyon felt a wild thump in his chest as his eyes widened for a second. He stopped before standing with his hands balled. His brows frowned. "Who are you?"

"Hm?" the figure raised his brow. "You're still standing."

"Are you a beast as well?" Lyon asked with a smirk.

"Heh, that's a first," the figure muttered. "You should not have gone here, mortal dweller."

"Mortal dweller? It's like I keep hearing new terms every day," Lyon shrugged. "What do you want?"

"I was trying to search for something personal, however, my hunch tells me that you have something to do with it," said the figure.

"What are you talking about?" Lyon raised his brows.

"The beasts that you befell were not supposed to be easy for the current strength of the mortal dwellers," said the figure. "Yet you vanquished them with such ease. Furthermore, that jade glow of yours, is it an imitation of the True Dragon?"

Lyon's eyes sharpened before he retracted his form and crossed his arms, "You seem to have knowledge beyond this world."

"Heh, coming from your kin is not praise," the figure laughed before his voice turned cold, "Are you the one that also vanquished the three Daemons?"

"Three Daemons?" Lyon muttered before he recalled what Ceile said. He frowned ( So this is the guy that was pulling the string from behind the scene, the one that wants to keep the image of Paradise impeccable ).

"Are you the one, or do you know the one that did it?" asked the figure.

Lyon snorted, "I'm sorry, but I have something of an urgent matter."

"Oh? Excuse my wording mortal dweller, I didn't ask you a question like the first one, I demand your  answer!"

The mantra successfully struck Lyon's bare soul. "Tch!" He clenched his chest, "It seems like you're itching to die."

"What? Heh, hehe, hahaha! You're quite a funny one, mortal dweller," said the figure. "You're not going anywhere until you answer my demand."

"I did kill the three Daemons," answered Lyon with a sigh.

"Then— what?" the figure was taken back. He didn't expect Lyon to answer so willfully, not to mention with his hand behind his head scratching the scalp.

"Alright, I answered your demand, now step aside and leave me alone," Lyon said as he made a shoo gesture with his right hand and with the slightest energy he could muster to swing his wrist.

The figure frowned before he slowly released his aura. The powerful presence even made the grasses flutter in reverse from the natural wind. His cloak fluttered vehemently before his right hand pointed at Lyon.

"Mortal dweller, you have surpassed my expectation, I thought that no mortal would have been able to achieve something like killing a Daemon, perhaps in the age of the past, however, you have no idea how your cultivation steps will now enter stagnation, forever."

"That's a really long sentence to say that you want to kill me," said Lyon as he shrugged.

( How odd, how can he stand so calmly, his breathing, his goosebumps, everything seems so... under his control, does he not feel fear? Perhaps I shall show him some demonstration ) the figure smirked.

"Behold mortal dweller, this is the power of true cultivation, you will never achieve this!" The figure clenched his fists before releasing a burst of aura that produced a strong gale.

Lyon's hair fluttered but he didn't bother to cover his eyes from the flying dust.

The figure now hovered with three pairs of wings sprung from his back. He grinned, "This is the epitome, this is what a Seraphim Realm looks like."

"I was in a good mood, you know..." Cold voices roamed inside the figure's ear canal.

"Huh?!" the figure raised his brows as he saw Lyon's eyes turn golden. ( Two blessings in one body? ).

"But every lot of you seems to like to hang out on my nerves," Lyon's body was garbed by the golden armor along with the headdress. "Heaven'se Fury."

"W-What the hell is that form?!" the figure uttered. ( A tail? No, four of them?! What the... ).

Lyon pulled out a strand of hair before blowing it away. Four clones of his emerged with smirks on their faces. He crossed his arms before he and the four clones hovered at the same altitude as the figure.

"You look gobsmacked, seraphim," said Lyon before he taunted him with one hand, "Come."