Emperor's Reckoning

Lyon pointed out at a nearby unoccupied raft before he ran toward it. Though it was not the same as the one the old man had, it was quite sturdy enough. At least that's how he judged it, based on his amateurish observation. He put a thumbs up toward the old man to his disbelief.

The next thing he knew, he was on the said raft with Lyon rafting away. The servants begged to do it for him but the fire in his eyes was flaming with fire. He couldn't be stopped before he reached the middle of the ocean, "So old man, which way to go?"

"Go to the west, across that huge two whirlpools," casually said the old man.

The twin whirlpool was ten times the size of their raft. They would swallow everything, even the demonic beasts that somehow came across it. Nature had no mercy, all must abide by the law she governed.

"Alright, we need to wait until the start of dawn for the whirlpools to subside," said the old man as he laid on the wooden raft.

Lyon furrowed his eyebrows, "You mean that this obstacle of mine is not built by nature?"

"Huh? Well, I never thought of it and I never bothered with it," said the old man with a yawn at the end of his sentence.

Lyon smirked before he stood up and slowly floated into the air before he approached the twin whirlpools that could suck out the stars themselves.

"Can you sense it, grandfathers?"

"Of course," said both Sun and Shen with a smirk on both of their faces.

The old man who was trying to sleep took a peak with one of his eyes before he muttered, "What is that crazy young man going to do now?"

The fluttery wind turned silent as Lyon closed his eyes. The sound of his single breath was soothing as mana gathered like a torrent in a three-way. His black hair fluttered and against the mighty nature, he was unfazed.

"I want to pass through here with my raft," bellowed Lyon as he crossed his arms.

His voice echoed, but it was only answered by the raging whirlpool. Lyon smirked before he descended down and touch the surface of the sea, right in the between of the two whirlpools.

"Are you sure you are not going to come out? Are you sure you are not going to stop?" said Lyon before he opened his arms.

The raging sea paid no mind before Lyon whispered, "Fine then."

"Feed the blood of your enemies, Scarlet!"

The bright red sword instantly put immense threatening pressure on the surrounding. The blue ocean was faced with an object opposite of it, and it was compressed under one thing, one weapon, one sword.

The old man immediately stood awake as he saw the weapon, "S-s-sentient weapon! What grade is that?! To think that my heart raced just by the presence of its manifestation alone!"

"Father-in-law, hold the two of them from falling down to the sea," said Lyon before he let go of himself and fell toward the sea.

"Eh? Father-in-law?"

Inside the sea, the vision was pitched black as he looked down. However, he soon saw two pairs of red eyes staring at him from the deep abyss itself. From the distance between him who was barely ten meters deep from the surface, the demonic beast was massive.

Lyon raised his eyebrows as something as fast as a shadow made its assault toward him.

*slash

He smirked. The power in his arms was ridiculously strong, even though he was inside the sea his movement was not that much unhindered. However, another assault soon followed, again and again, and again. Every time the demonic beast strike, it cost it a limb.

The massive demonic beast under the sea bellowed in rage before Lyon retracted Scarlet.

"Hah, you think that you have the upper hand here? Just because you can move freely doesn't mean you can do as you please! Since your existence here is still necessary in this world to keep balance, I will only teach you a lesson," was the intention behind those inaudible bubbles that he said underwater since obviously, he couldn't speak underwater.

The old man was sitting on the raft, "Who is he anyway?"

The two servants answered, "Our master! The best master!"

"Heh, that was not the answer I was looking for," said the old man as he watched the stars.

"What a crazy young man, legend has it that anyone that would dare to challenge the 'Sea Nightwatcher' would lose a limb in the combat before they were thrown out, nobody had ever seen the entirety of the beast. However, the beast was quite friendly and won't eat a human, in fact, there was no record of it ever eating one, I think."

The old man smiled, "Heh, maybe, it took someone like him to be a match for my daughter. It would take a crazy man to take on a crazy brute woman."

His eyebrows slowly furrowed as he saw something from the sea. An illuminating black light on the surface that was as wide as the entirety of the twin whirlpools. He gulped, "A black magic brand?! A level nine spell?! This big?!"

*splash

Suddenly a hand was reaching out the wooden raft, before Lyon's head followed.

"Hang on guys," said Lyon before he stood up and crossed his arms in the west direction.

"What are you—"

"Divine Spell!"

"What?!" the old man was jolted awake as he instinctively grabbed both of the servant's collars from behind.

Under those fluttery wind, Lyon's eyes opened wide with a grin, "Aruim Arch!"

The huge magic brand flashed before the sea under their raft was sucked into it. The old man noticed that the sea level gradually turned less and less at a rapid rate. He gulped his saliva against the notorious young man's back who was facing the sea with his arms crossed. This was not the 'crazy' he thought, this was beyond his comprehension, the type of story his great-grandchildren won't believe.

The sea in front of him arched upward before it revealed the mountainous demonic beast. Its figure almost blocked the illumination of the moon as the small raft was unnoticeable under its shadows. The four red eyes furrowed down.

"You detestable human, I'm the guardian of the sea and under no circumstances that you shall pass here!"

Lyon raised his chin before a smaller black magic brand appeared in front of him.

"Let me guess, a certain dragon beauty is waiting for someone west of here?"

The demonic beast furrowed its eyes even further as killing intent permeated from it.

"Surprised? Heh, that's because," Lyon instantly transformed into his True Dragon form under the watchful eyes of the old man. He opened his right arm and placed his palm right behind the black magic brand. "I am too."

The demonic beast was surprised by the revelation but no words were spoken as it watched Lyon's next act.

Lyon smirked before the magic brand spun intensely as a sphere of water appeared in the middle of it. The demonic beast could feel the intense vibration under that little sphere. It was a natural instinct it long since forgotten about.

"You can't take this, your heart or whatever it is, it will be blown away," said Lyon as he drew the power from the entirety of the other magic brand until it disappeared.

"I will stand on, I will fulfill my duty even if I have to die for it!" bellowed the demonic beast.

Lyon smiled, "Admirable! Ha!"

The sphere lunged forward at incredible speed, the spaces along its trails were broken, and opened up the space storm at the wake. The demonic beast knew even if it stacked its limb, it won't be enough to stop it. Dodge was the ultimate defense mechanic but its size was too big for that.

Lyon smirked, "Beautiful wings you got there."

The demonic beast opened its four eyes wide opened as it saw a humanlike figure stood between it and the sphere. That beautiful hand grabbed the sphere effortlessly before dropping it back to the ocean.. Sending a quake to the world.