Emperor's Reckoning

Golden Wise Tree, the same tree he had just fought and ultimately ended its breathing cycle. The ancient being that proud of itself for being wise despite the words that it used were otherwise producing the opposite effect. With those small fists of his and a pair of his tail, he used the very life of the famous tree to enhance his sentient sword, Scarlett which in the process brought about the attention of all the participants in the plane.

Lyon froze as he stood with his feet turning cold. The woman he was hugging in the intention of making her heart calm down was in fact looking for the ancient being that he killed just a while ago before meeting her. He lost for words with his smile turned wryly.

"Ayumu, you can forget about meeting the Golden Wise Tree in this plane," said the lady with the purple lips pointing upward. She knew she had the upper hand in the conversation over Lyon whose fate was at the flick of her tongue.

Ayumu creased her eyebrows, "What? What are you talking about? Where else could the Golden Wise Tree go? It's a tree!"

"Oh it could go, in fact, all living things will eventually go, why don't you ask the powerful fella beside you. Hehe~"

Ayumu further arched her eyebrows as she turned around before glancing down at Lyon whose eyes squinted and hand scratching his head like a true monkey. 

"Lyon, what is she talking about?"

"Haha, well, I... sort of... you know..."

He retracted his hand and pushed his index fingers against one another before muttering, "Kill it."

He slowly glanced up to see her face who was obviously taken back by the last two words that he muttered. 

"W... you... what?"

Her voice was more like a mutter as her lips trembled. She couldn't believe what she had just said since it was an impossible feat in the first place to kill something so ancient, especially with Lyon's current cultivation level. However, he had proven time and time again that the cultivation level system seemed to be the wrong way to judge his strength.

Lyon took a deep breath before he looked at her straight right in the eye, "I kill the Golden Wise Tree, the ancient immortal who claimed to know everything about the mortal world. Heck, even his immortality was nothing but lies with the fact that his life ended by my sword."

"Lyon... YOU!"

"Oh my, oh my, looks like she is quite angry, please do excuse me, I'm nothing but a spectator here."

Lyon creased his eyebrows as he looked at the pink-haired girl turning blonde with the screech of a divine bird stinging his eardrums. He could vividly see the yellow mana spiraling around her fist as she pushed it forward with no reservation of strength. His pupils slowly moved against the knuckle that was coming straight to his face before it reverted back to its center position and looked at the tears escaping out both of her eyes.

(Oh, this is going to sting!) thought Lyon before he smirked and let the fist slowly buried against his cheek. His meridians instantly shook as he felt the force trembled his skull. His feet slowly left the soil before his entire body was plunged into a nearby huge boulder. 

*BOOM!

The entire boulder naturally cracked as Lyon was embedded in it. He coughed twice as he felt numb on the right side of his entire body. He genuinely took the super hit clean with his face without even bother to cover it with his hand. The tremendous power of Garuda was something he experienced directly through practice instead of theory.

"Bah!" Lyon got himself out of the boulder before landing on both of his feet against the ground. His black-tails were floating freely as their density was on the hinge of balance against the air and sometimes lower, however, those who knew its true power could only be counted by one hand. 

Despite the assault that Ayumu let out was full of rage and instinct. He could feel the sadness and disappointment from the fist that hit his face. His right cheek had a slight red bum from the hit but other than that he suffered no bruises.

One of his tails immediately serviced him as a belt to hold the black pants together as he walked forward, toward the fuming Garuda's Daughter.

"Alright Ayumu, calm down."

"How am I supposed to calm down?! You just killed... you just killed my only hope of waking my father from his deep coma! I, I, I haven't seen him smiling for years! Aaah!"

Ayumu screamed before she leaped toward Lyon once again. He let out a sigh at the incoming attack before he let the woman let out all of her emotion on him.

Lyon's face turned left and right, up and down. His gut and his chest were also the targets of her strikes as he kept moving backward and received all of her hits cleanly with not a single defensive stance. Through the pain that he felt in his body, he felt the sorrow from every kick and punch. There was not an intention to kill at all as he kept receiving the blows.

The lady with purple lips that was observing behind the eyes had her mouth covered with her fingers. She saw how Lyon bravely took the blows of emotion from Ayumu. She knew how powerful Garuda was and even though she might not be as strong as her father, she was still his own daughter.

(Did, did I go too far?) thought the purple lady as she felt a little guilty watching Lyon being beaten up by Ayumu.

"However, why is Lyon not fighting back? If he could destroy all the branches from the Golden Wise Tree, surely he could keep up with Ayumu's barrage of fists and kicks? He doesn't even use his tails, his extra limbs."

"Hmm..." the lady slightly bent her back forward whilst putting her elbow on top of her crossed leg and support her chin with her palm while watching the image from the magical brand with interest. 

"I've never met a man like this in my entire life. I do meet a few chivalries amongst the man I met but not quietly like him. He is willing to take the hit on his own even though he is capable of dodging or countering every single one of them."

Blood was wasted on the ground like a splat as Lyon's footsteps kept going backward. He was battered but his eyes were not looking at which limb she was coming for next, he was looking at the eyes of the woman whose tears were escaping and jumping out of her eyes every time she swung her limb.

His heels finally touched the giant boulder that he cracked upon landing before one final fist went straight to his face.

*BOOM!

The giant boulder exploded upon impact as a panting breath ensued after.

"It's... not... fair... why didn't you fight back!" Ayumu let out a glare against the eyes of the young man that destroyed her only hope.

Lyon's face was battered and swollen all over the place but the final fist didn't hit his face, it was plunged to the boulder itself.

"Why?..." Lyon smirked, though the charm of his face had been reduced by about eighty percent with his swollen face. He stretched his arms forward before flicking the tears on both of her eyes at the same time, "Because you're crying."

(Eh?) Ayumu opened her eyes wide in disbelief as her tears were thrown away with a flick of his fingers. Through the swollen cheeks of his face, she saw his smile despite the bruises from her attacks. 

Her eyes slowly covered by her tears as they made them gleam. Her arms felt weak before her knees hit the ground with a thud. Her golden hair turned pink once more before Lyon heard her sob.

"Why... why... why god why?!" She wailed while her tears washed the ground she was facing. Her objective for the throne was clear, it was none other than the Golden Wise Tree. Though her personality was quite upfront, people would think that she was going for the Throne while in fact, her ultimate goal was to find a cure for her father which had not woken up for years after the expedition with Madoku's older sister.

With his current height, he didn't need to kneel down to rub her head.

"There, there, all hope is not lost, it's just a coma."

Ayumu looked up with her mouth gaping in surrender as she looked at the battered face. Her eyes were devoid of hope and despair was creeping in to enter her mind.

The lady behind the floating eyes creased her eyebrows as she watched how he acted.

"He.... he is not lying just to get her heart now, is he?"