Emperor's Reckoning

The whole place erupted with cold silence as they looked at the woman with a sword in her hand and blood dripping from it, in utter shock. There was a scream of terror before there was the wail of pain. Before they knew it, the burly man named Poger had lost his arm.

Reinhard immediately catching breath the moment he fell down. His pale face slowly returned to the hue of the living as blood surged again. He touched his neck and barely felt it. His brows furrowed before looking at Poger and the woman with the scythe standing next to each other.

The woman couldn't even spare her focus to look at the severity of her partner's wound. She knew nobody could sneak up past her that easily, moreover made her skin crawl prior to seeing the actor. Her attention was locked on the woman who was scowling at her and Poger. There was not a shred of fear even when the name Burgeon Swan was mentioned several times.

"What the fuck?!" said Poger with a face riddled with rage. His broad shoulder was heaving up and down.

"State your name," said the woman as she pointed her scythe at the woman.

Selena didn't address her order but instead looked at Lyon.

The woman with the scythe in hand noticed the need for approval that Selena did. She frowned. Such a powerful woman that could possibly match her prowess actually needed approval from a man whose cultivation level was far below her. She knew something didn't add up.

Lyon on the other hand shook his head with a smirk. He was still calm despite the escalation of the situation. He crossed his arms whilst looking at the two from the Burgeon Swan. "Now, do you believe me?"

"Tch! Don't worry, I will wipe that smug face of yours in no time!" said Poger with bits of his spits escaping his mouth.

"Before you do that, why don't you give me a double high five?" said Lyon. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean that, heh."

"You!!" Poger glared.

Rayus couldn't believe how ridiculously calm his teacher was. The whole town was practically being choked just a moment ago, yet the man was still able to become a menace that was possibly bigger than the two from the Burgeon Swan. He may not wield a sword yet, but his word could possibly explode their ancestor's grave.

Reinhard was at a loss. The situation was reversed so fast that he had no idea how to play a part. That was before he found Noah still lying there with his wounded back. ( Noah?! ) he thought. He was finding a way that

"Woah, calm down, I can hear your blood boiling from here," said Lyon with a condescending tone.

"Die!" Poger was consumed by rage as he eagerly stomp one leg forward. However, a scythe was immediately about to embrace his neck as he was about to leap. He paused with eyes wide. All of that rage vanished and the cold sweat on his forehead multiplied.

"Oh?" Lyon raised one of his brows, before smirking again. "What's this, an infighting?"

"R-Rezali? Can you put out of my face?" asked Poger.

"Ah so that's your name," said Lyon as he slap a knuckle to his palm. "Rezali, en, en, nice name."

"Shut up," said Rezali before looking at Selena who was standing there unresponsive during the whole ordeal. She darted her glance back at Lyon before asking, "Are you really the one that killed Gamael?"

"Yes," said Lyon. "I am the one that killed Gamael, and the entire camp for that matter."

The two crowds went silent as he declared the sin that he did. However, this development brought a smile to his face instead, a smirk if you will. "Now you take this seriously."

The woman suddenly smiled a wicked smile. She put away her scythe from Poger and put one hand on her waist. She pointed at Lyon before saying loudly, "Hear me Guh City, if you can give me this man and his affiliations here, I will spare Guh City, no, not only that, but I will personally give you all a boost to your income, a boost to your financial life, a boost your power as well, and of course, the safety net of the Burgeon Swan. If you choose not to do it, then, the Burgeon Swan will hunt you down."

The three students had their eyes widened hearing the words coming out of the woman's mouth.

The cultivators inside the Guh City had a wave of gulps. They were looking at Lyon with hands shivering from the cold of wafted death.

"C'mon, it's just the five of them, I'm sure you all can handle the students, and of course, we will also take part in it," said Rezali with a smirk. "Why not start with the one on the ground first?"

One of the cultivators was looking at Noah with pupils trembling. The desire to kill surged, no, it was the desire to survive. Suddenly his shoulder was grabbed tightly by a hand.

"Oi, what are you doing?" asked Lenu.

The man turned and struggled out of his grab. He pointed at Lenu with obvious trepidation. "W-What are you doing?! What am I doing?! I want to live, you idiot!! What are you doing?! Do you want Burgeon Swan to hunt you down, to your very last relative?!"

Reinhard was taken aback by the rebuttal and left his mouth agape. He shook his head with gritted teeth. He couldn't believe that the man would say that, however, his friend needed his help. He rushed toward Noah, eagerly to cover him.

Lenu furrowed his brows, but before he could respond the others voiced out their opinion.

"He's right, he's right," random voices from the crowd splurted out.

Lenu glared at his surroundings with knuckled fists. The Burgeon Swan had bought the city with terror and promised riches, as well as the most important of all, life.

"Heh, looks like they have another one here," said the lady.

"You're so evil," said Poger with a smirk. His stump no longer leaked blood but his vitality was severely damaged. He won't put optimum damage as he usually could with only one arm.

"Noah, you alright?" asked Reinhard.

"Kh! Are you blind?" asked Noah who was still on the ground.

"S-Sorry."

"Nevermind! Where is Rayus?"

"I'm beside you," said Rayus.

"Oh... Ok."

"The whole town is going to kill us," said Reinhard as he gritted his teeth, "How could they, don't they know what we're doing?"

"They want to survive," said Rayus, "I would do the same if you two were the hostage, you would, right Reinhard?"

"Huh?" Reinhard looked at Rayus.

"Would you kill the innocent to save your own friend?" asked Rayus.

"I..." Reinhard closed his eyes before furrowing his brows. "Goddamn it, I would!"

Rayus nodded despite noticing Reinhard's trembling fist.

"Now, then, what should we do, teacher?" asked Rayus.

"Huh?" Lyon turned, "Oh, you three are here, hahaha, didn't notice you there."

The three students had black lines raining down their foreheads.

"Well, this is a bad situation isn't it, just one night ago we have a gruel— I mean, festive dinner, and now we are going to be slaughtered like a pig on a farm," said Lyon.

"That's not... very encouraging, teacher," said Noah.

"C'mon it's just a surface wound, stop playing dead Noah," said Lyon. "Oh right, I forgot! I haven't fixed you yet, haven't I, Rayus?"

"Wait, that's not a figure of speech?" said Reinhard.

Lyon slapped the back of his head.

"Oh, what's this, an infighting?" Rezali mockingly laughed at him.

"Wrong," said Lyon as he turned, "This is called tough love, what? Never had your butt spanked during lovey-dovey?"

"Now is not the time, teacher," said Noah.

"Tch! You perverted piece of shit!" cursed Rezali.

Lyon raised his chin as he crossed his arms. "Say kids, how much do you want to kill your former teacher?"

"Huh?" The three of them raised their brows.

"It's exam time!" said Lyon, "Your objective is to kill that big dude with one arm left, fail to do this, well, you're probably dead."

"What?!" Reinhard exclaimed.

"If you can't accomplish this, do you honestly believe that you'll be able to kill your traitor?" said Lyon before he stepped forward.

"Alright, all of you settle down," said Lyon before the town actually chilled down. "Here's the deal, Rezali, you will get to know my wife, better. Careful not to lose your head, though."

"Huh?" Rezali furrowed her brows before they snapped wide open the moment Lyon clap his hand. Selena was already one step away from her. "Tch!" she leaped back and avoided the horizontal slash, however, Selena was on the hunt.

"Rezali?!" Poger shouted as he saw them taking the battle above the cloud.

A foot shot out toward his cheek from behind. The blast was deafening but his leg only managed to raise slightly before slamming back down. "Tch!"

"Hm?!" Reinhard's eyes opened wide before his ankle was grabbed and he was swung across the building.

Rayus furrowed his brows, "Teacher, are you going to watch?"

"Well not exactly, I have my own enemy to deal with."

"What?" said Noah who was holding his pain while getting up.

Lyon smirked and walked in a direction with his hands behind his head. He yawned before rubbing his eyes. He stopped and smirked, "Now then..."

He stood in front of the whole crowd. He nodded up. "Wanna go at it?"