Emperor's Reckoning

Noah sighed inwardly, ( I can't believe we rent an entire dining restaurant only for madam to cook in the kitchen ). His thought was not a bright one but his brows and the others were raised. The foul smell of burnt cook that wafted its way to the almost insulated restaurant suddenly diminished as if there was an opposing force that instantaneously canceled the negative aura.

"H-Hmm..." Lyon was impressed. He never thought that something so bizarre would happen. The smell of charred meat was gone. The hustle and bustle from the kitchen also dimmed down to a worrying silence. No clanging of pots, no cleaning of pans, there was nothing.

Lyon had to gulp as his attention lay in the direction where the kitchen. The students were looking at him, begging with their eyes to check on the madam.

Lyon stood up without saying a word to his students. His thought was preoccupied with the food that his wife was cooking. Was she able to salvage it? Or did it become otherworldly? He slowly approached the kitchen knowing that her wife's life was not threatened. He knew she had better motion and mastery of a blade than anyone he knew currently and burning herself was not a question since she was not a clumsy person. However, the silence of the kitchen frightened even the man that trembled throughout the entire Nirvana School.

Lyon slowly opened his lips, he called her wife, "Darling..? Are you—"

Selena suddenly popped out with a tray of food in her hands. Her face was gleaming bright and her smile could wash away any disturbing thought.

"It's done!" said Selena with a grin on her face.

"Y-Yes..." said Lyon as he looked down to see a huge wrapped beef wellington. The golden hue was fascinating and shiny but there was hardly any other condiment on that huge plate. "This is... a beef wellington."

"What's a wellington?" asked Selena.

"It's a type of food, that my err, my previous world made. A kind of meat inside a bread," said Lyon.

"Oh! Then you must love this! Come come! Let's eat!" said Selena as she excitedly went over to the table where the three students await.

All three had their mouth gaped open before Selena let go of the plate right on top of the table. The table made a defined creak as the chairs they sat on rumbled a bit. They could see that the food could easily feed the entire city, twice with the right portions.

"M-Madam... this is amazing!" said Reinhard, but his praise was no more than a wind to Selena's ears.

"This is huge! No, enormous!!" said Noah as his eyes opened wide in disbelief. ( Did she put an entire cow in this? ).

Rayus glanced over at Lyon whom he found smiling wryly. The latter shrugged and approached the table before sitting right beside his beloved wife.

"Here, darling," said Selena as she passed a long knife that looked more like a cleaver to butcher raw meat.

Lyon could see his face on the blade before picking it up from Selena's hand. He stood, "Well, I'm sure we would not need to eat for a week after this, hahaha!" he brandished the cleaver down and the crust immediately bowed to the sharp edge as the meat cut into two. A Burst of flavor immediately exploded as Lyon's pupils shrunken and teared up again.

The day passed as their silent gruel of torture went.

Refl was out of the old unattended bar. His eyes were on the said restaurant where Lenu told him where they had gone to. His brows furrowed the moment he was in front of the door. He knew the restaurant was amongst the most privileged and expensive restaurants there was in the city. However, there was not a single carriage or caravan present. The place was oddly out of guests.

The end of dusk was approaching. He had not the time to think about the kinds of stuff that could happen in a restaurant. He firmly approached the door before pushing it open. The door didn't creak but his eyes would if they could.

He found a body on the floor, it was one of the students, Rayus. His cheeks were on the floor with bubbles of foam and his eyes closed.

Refl immediately heightened his senses. He caught Rayus's body heaving up and down. The boy was alive but Refl remained vigilant toward his surrounding. He couldn't die here.

He spread his divine sense and immediately found two other individuals. Noah was faced down but still breathing albeit severely weakened. Reinhard was on the corner table with his arms dangling. He found one of the arms occasionally twitched but the boy was still alive.

"What the..." Refl furrowed his brows. He didn't find the presence of the one he was looking for in the group.

He looked over and found the table with a giant plate but there was no food left, not even a scrap. His eyes sharpened the moment his goosebumps rose. He jumped out of instinct and landed on one of the tables as he turned.

"Lyon..?" Refl frowned but didn't relax his shoulders. He didn't know what was going on but he could see how Lyon was not as usual. His face was pale, and he hardly stood straight. ( What tremendous emptiness, I can't even sense him when he is in that drunken state ).

Lyon's cheeks were flushed as he looked at Refl. His knees hardly worked as he tumbled. "Hey... Refl... that you? Stop moving around and let me see you clearly."

Refl frowned before he got off the table. He sighed, "What happened here, Lyon?"

"R...Run..."

"Huh?" Refl's ears' twitched before he saw Reinhard from the corner table.

"He is going berserk!" then he passed out.

"Pfft, what the fuck was that," Lyon shrugged as he swing from left to right, "Hey, have you seen my wife?"

"You're supposed to know that answer, not me," said Refl. "Did you beat up these kids?" he furrowed his brows. "It seems like you didn't intend to kill them, but I must stop you before you deal any more damage."

"Heh? I didn't do this," Lyon suddenly farted out of nowhere.

"What?" Refl raised both brows. He couldn't believe what he was hearing that he blinked once. A fist suddenly entered his vision. His instinct immediately flared. He felt his neck suddenly weighted a thousand times over but he managed to narrowly dodge the punch. ( He's incredibly fast! ) thought Refl before his abdomens were struck. His body arched before he was launched off. He crashed against a couple of tables and rumbled the restaurant.

Refl quickly got up before he spat on the floor. He noticed that Lyon was standing on one foot while the other one was pointing at him. "He struck me, with his foot after that blinding fist?! What technique is he using?! I've never seen that style before."

"Oops," said Lyon before he put down his leg. "Hey... you don't look so good."

"That's my line!" shouted Refl. ( Looks like I can't hold back fighting him ). "Teacher Lyon, you're drunk! Snapped out of it!"

"What?" Lyon yawned, "You think being drunk is like hypnotize or something?"

"Wait, so you realize that you're drunk?"

"...Meh?" Lyon shrugged before taunting Refl to come at him with his hand.

Refl sighed, "You're not giving these students the best example, forgive me in advance for punching your face!"

"Heh, do your best, I guess?" Lyon furrowed his brows as he seemed unsure of himself.

( I will refrain from using my art against him ) said Refl ( If I can, I doubt it though ). He made half a step before vanishing.

"Huh?" Lyon didn't even open his eyes fully as he saw Refl's fist was already a breath away from his nose. However the punch went through his face as Refl's figure slowly vanished. It was an afterimage.

"This charade is over," said Refl who was already standing behind Lyon. His hand made a chopping figure but Lyon simply frogged away from him.

"What?" ( He anticipated my bluff?! It can't be?! ) while he was preoccupied with his thoughts, he heard.

"Catch!!"

A chair was coming his way before he quickly split it out of instinct. The chair was destroyed but a table was coming next. He destroyed it again but another chair was already lining up. He could hardly see Lyon as he was destroying every piece of furniture thrown at him. He inched closer with each gap but the speed of the objects coming only increased.

"Hahaha, you're amazing, how about this one!" Lyon threw the object with blinding speed.

"Enough!" Refl shouted as he put all of his force into a punch and destroyed the incoming object. The object shattered. He took a breath to regain his composure as he looked at Lyon. "Are you satisfied?"

"Haha, it's fun isn't it?" said Lyon as he fell on his butt.

Refl sighed, "Looks like you've ca—"

His figure was suddenly encapsulated by green jade mana.

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Refl "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait don't tell me?!"

"IT WAS A RETURNING JADE STONE?!" his voice trailed off as he was shot toward the night sky and destroyed the roof.

"Ah, he left," said Lyon as he looked up.

"Darling, I'm back," said Selena before she was surprised by the condition of the restaurant.