Emperor's Reckoning

The pot-bellied manager sat on his chair with no one in front of him. He wished not to be disturbed.

He let out a long heavy snort as he averted his eyes from his fidgeting hands toward the black stones on the etched shelf on the wall. Every dark hue gave an ominous feeling like the black mist slowly permeating out of those rocks. It was the mana of the bearer returning to nature and it also meant death.

"This is ridiculous, not even three hours had gone by and they are already dead?" muttered the pot-bellied man. The astonishing feat of destroying the main branches of Treas soon turned to be horrific. It was unprecedented. He could have never imagined that they work so fast. 

"How scary, not even Treas has the capabilities to do the same kind of thing," muttered the pot-bellied man before he let out a big snort.

"Lyon Torga, who exactly are you?" asked the pot-bellied man to the air. His eyes squinted as he watched the last Summoning Ruby stone on the shelf. The gleam gradually dimmed.

"Huh?" his narrow eyes squinted as he stood up in instinct.

Under his watchful gaze, the red stone turned black in a blink of a shade before letting out the ominous black mist. The black mist fell to the ground and the stone couldn't manage to reflect the emotion that the pot-bellied man showed.

Starring in disbelief that another one had just died, he took a deep breath. His nervousness was heightened to a taller height. 

"Those fools, can't they really do something at all?! All those resources are wasted on them! I should have plotted against them from a long time ago if I knew their competence was for naught. Damn it! Now I'm stuck with this!"

Being the only manager of Treas brought him but two options. Fight or flight. Both options had pros and cons but the cons side of both was dire. Fleeing from this place might get him a better peace of mind for a while, but if Treas ended up winning the battle, he is absolutely dead. 

The Treas family wouldn't hold back for a moment to track him down and kill them. There won't be a single leeway then. Betraying the family meant death.

"Looks like I have no choice but to fight. Ah, the resources that I had accumulated over the years, (though through corruption) at the end went for my own protection. However, I guess I'm lucky enough to be the last one to be targeted by one of those three maniacs," chuckled the pot-bellied man before he reached out to the door

He opened it with a push to the side before the door slipped open. The hustle and bustle of the people greeted his face. They were laughing and everything was merry. Their weapons were on full display and their menacing aura exuded. 

Any passerby refused to take the route and went around instead. They were afraid to even make eye contact with one of them.

"Oi, oi, are you serious, some of them are even criminals."

"I never thought I would see the day."

"That fat manager is not playing around."

"Can you blame him? Main branches after main branches were destroyed. It is only a matter of time until his turn. He is not going to wait and die now, is he?"

Hiring a criminal would scratch the Treas family name greatly. However, how much does reputation cost compare to one's life? Though they don't condone his action, they understood his situation. 

Some of them lamented the manager's fate. He was presented with two heavy options. The fact that he chose to fight instead was already commendable. 

"Why didn't the headquarter showed up with backups and such?"

"Do you think that they could do it like flipping one's hand? Even with how rich you are, there are still some limitations by nature. Furthermore, their attack pattern is randomized. They couldn't guess where one of them will show up or even when they show up."

"However I've heard some news,"

"What?"

"Lyon, that mad lad is going straight to Treas headquarters without making a turn or stopping."

"Damn, he didn't mess around. Goddamnit, when can I be that cool."

Whilst the onlookers were lowering their voice down and spoke among themselves. Some of the cultivators the pot-bellied man hired grew unrest.

"What is this manager? Just pay us already! Those guys won't even dare to come here with us standing guard hahaha!"

The manager gave out a bright smile (You wretches scum! I paid a hefty load to get you out of your hiding, the least you could do is shut up!).

"Hahaha, I'm a level eight Ascending God realm cultivator! Who in the world here is foolish enough to go against me?" said one of the cultivators.

"Don't get cocky! I'm a level seven but I still could beat you."

"What did you say? You want to fight?"

"Bring it."

"Oi stop it, I'm not hiring you guys to fight one another," said the manager as his eyes snapped open. No matter what he still had the high ground against these ill-mannered cultivators. His backing was Treas themselves, even they wouldn't dare to tarnish the name.

Their glaring stop before one of them chuckled, "We are just kidding here, no need to get so tight uncle manager."

"Well, this is more lively than the others," said the man before readjusting his glasses with his finger.

All the cultivators immediately opened their eyes wide before they all turned around in unison. 

(It's time) thought the pot-bellied manager before he furrowed his eyebrows. However, his already opened eyes only got wider as he noticed two other silhouettes standing on the sides of the first one.

"T-Three?!" shouted the pot-bellied manager as his hair turned disheaveled.

The ashen-haired giant, the woman with dark ears, and the man that looked like a professional butler.. The mere presence of the three choked the onlookers' word.