Emperor's Reckoning

The youngest of the four princes was dangling at the mercy of Yoji's hand. The fight abruptly came to a stop immediately. With such a figure being a hostage, anything rash would produce an undesirable result. 

"Who are you?! Let go of me at once!" shouted the Fourth Prince. 

Yoji smirked at the young man before he said, "Ooooh how my heart aches, don't you remember me? Your 'old man'."

"Huh...?" The Fourth Prince squinted his eyes as he furrowed his eyebrows. No matter how many times he looked at the face of the man that grabbed him by the neck, he couldn't remember a single thing, though there was some sort of familiarity that he could sense.

"I've never seen you my entire life! Let go of me, or else, my older brothers will mince your body!"

"Huh? Hahahahaha!" Yoji let out a hearty laugh before he looked at the Fourth Prince, "what makes you think that your older brothers could do anything with me and His Majesty here?"

Yoji darted his glance from the prince to the woman who was watching from the biggest ship, "GHUAISHA!"

The fourth prince's eardrums were instantly destroyed as blood splurted out from both orifices. 

He finally said the name of the one that responsible for his previous condition. The killing intent was clearer than the burning sun above as the word reverberated everyone's eardrums in the vicinity. This was the roar not of an emperor, but of a man. Thirst with vengeance.

The empress squinted her eyes as a gale hit her face and fluttered her hair against it. Just from the shout alone, it produced such might. Considering the distance between her and Yoji, no godhood cultivator could do such a feat.

*splash

Three figures burst out of the sea with their eyes glaring at the man behind the chariot. They wanted nothing but his death for the humiliation that was dawn upon them.

Yoji smirked, "Took you brats long enough, but sorry to say, your precious younger brother is already kissing the devil's feet in hell."

He let go of the fourth prince as the latter fell lifelessly before entering the sea with a splash.

The atmosphere turned silent as everyone saw the ripple that the corpse just made. The body sunk further into the seabed under the gazes of many before the sea turned calm once again. The battle that Malik and Reich were in, instantly stopped. The first significant figure had fallen. The morals of the enemy had been reduced.

"HOW DARE YOU! Everyone charge!!" the Second Prince shouted before he plunged forward with his claws.

With the rally from the Second Prince, the naval fleet finally went all out, "Release the arrows! In the meantime, archmages! Do your thing!"

*zing

Magic brands after magic brands immediately formed after the arrows were shot into the air. Lyon smirked seeing the incoming arrows that was as much as the eye could see, and the colorful magic brands on each of the ship below. He opened his arms before Yoji stopped him with a gesture.

"Please Your Majesty, don't sully your hand, this trivial thing is nothing for a charioteer like me," said Yoji with a bow.

Lyon rolled his eyes with a smile hearing what Yoji had just said. (Looks like I'm going to sit this one out huh).

Yoji smiled as he watched the arrows coming at him and the Tetragram Chariot. The composure that was coming out of this man was overwhelming to be contemplated by common men. Everyone would instantly think of escaping the attack as soon as they saw them coming, but he instead chose to stay.

"Fool!" laughed the Second Prince as he saw the arrows rained down upon him.

"Normal arrows? Please, what can that do to me."

Animals were instinctively better than humans in terms of sensing danger. However, the pair of horses that guided the chariot stood still and remain unfazed by the overwhelming arrows that were hissing left and right of them.

"Impossible!" shouted the Second and Third Prince as they saw how not one arrow managed to even leave a scratch even to the horses.

"Is that all you got?" asked Yoji.

"Don't get so cocky now," said the First Prince before the magic spells from their archmages were activated.

Colorful elements were shooting like a firework toward the sky as mana was sparking everywhere. One could hear the crisp noises of the magic spell before all of them fused into one.

*neigh

The pair of horses raised their hind legs before they charged forward against the condensing magic.

(Heh, what a weird fellow, why the hell would you charge against something like that head-on) thought the Second Prince as he grinned. "Become ashes!"

Yoji smirked before the chariot proudly hit the condensed magic and instantly vaporized it. Reverting it back into mana like a dim flame.

(What!) thought the three princes in disbelief. They couldn't comprehend what just happened. A chariot that was capable of withstanding the might of the combined forces of their archmages like it was nothing but a slap of water balloon on the face.

*splash

Hundreds of splashes were suddenly heard as the three princes darted their glance from the chariot toward the source. Their flying knight was tumbling down one by one from a helpless formation to defend themselves from a pair of horses that was running at the speed of a falling star. They were trampled down and burst open without any holding back. Nobody could escape the wrath of the Tetragram Chariot.

"Eyes over here!"

The three princes opened their eyes wide before they turned around.

"Wha—"

*grab

The Third Prince didn't even manage to utter the word fully before he was choked by the neck. His figure was immediately dragged along before the Tetragram Chariot turned around and faced the other two princes.

"Let him go!" shouted the Second Prince.

"Ghghgh!" the Third Prince couldn't utter a word, he finally felt what the Fourth Prince had experienced.

The First Prince gestured to his little brother to not do anything rash. He had wanted to contact his mother on why she stood silent all this time however, the man who was enjoying the show might interrupt him.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" asked the First Prince.

Yoji furrowed his eyebrows before he shook his head, "I almost forgot, you guys were underwater all this time with a chop of my hand to your foreheads."

"You!" the Second Prince glared at him but he won't dare to disobey his older brother.

*splash

The last flying knight had fallen to the sea as the pair of stallion slowly joined the formation and lead the frontmost of the chariot.

"Who do you think I am?" asked Yoji to the three princes.

"I have not the slightest idea, if we ever offend you, please, accept our apologies, we accept our loses," said the First Prince.

His words led the shock inside the Second Prince before he said, "But—"

The First Prince only gave him a quick glare before the latter immediately shut his opinions.

"Offend me... HAHAHAHAHA!"

Yoji laughed his heart out, "Offend me you say? You did something more than offend me! All of you did! You all betrayed me! Apologies?! Do you think a mere apology would undo the suffering that I've faced?!"

"What are you talking about?" said the First Prince as he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why don't you ask your Ghuisha who I am?" asked Yoji.

"You know my mother?" asked the First Prince.

"Know?" Yoji smiled, "let me ask you, who is your father?"

"Emperor Yoji, the emperor of the Cefralin Empire," answered the First Prince proudly.

Yoji grinned his teeth out before he said, "I don't remember having a son."

The three princes opened their eyes wide. The Third Prince's eyes were bulging as he looked at Yoji in disbelief. 

"Hmm!" Yoji tightened the grip before the Third Prince's neck instantly broken. The latter stopped struggling before his hands laid to rest with the gravity.

Under the disbelieving eyes, Yoji let go of his hand as another prince fell to the cold embrace of the sea, never coming back.

Yoji crossed his arm as he darted his gaze from the two glaring princes against the woman she once called his empress. 

"Ghuisha, you stood silent all this time while I killed your sons. They must be a pair of trashes that you don't care huh?"

The empress clenched her fists as she glared at the man who rode the magnificent chariot.

"Heh, you think that I don't know what you are doing right now?" sneered Yoji.

The empress furrowed her eyebrows.

"Your army is useless, they cowered, beaten, killed. Your army doesn't have hope to win this war despite the quantity in their numbers. You are waiting for a backup, you are waiting for him didn't you?"

The empress felt a cold shiver running down her spine as she trembled a little.

"Looks like we are entering the final stage of your vengeance," smirked Lyon.