Emperor's Reckoning

The afternoon had come and the sun was on its way to set. After crossing the gate with no problems, Lyon and the three found themselves in front of a remote village. 

The place was surrounded by walls of pointy woods that faced upward. There were two sconces erected at the gate. The fire on both was crackling as the charcoal spewed out bits of its light to the air.

"Not much of a defense, huh," muttered Kesya.

"You can destroy a fortress Kesya, so your words kind of underappreciated here," said Graham.

"True," she shrugged.

The man leading the four swallowed his saliva nervously. He couldn't even imagine what kind of fortress did she destroy considering her ridiculous strength..

"Why are we going to this village?" asked Lyon.

"W-We need to cross the sea by the boat, else those higher-ups are going to attack us mid-flight."

"Hmm... that's bullshit," commented Lyon as he walked forward and enter the village anyways. "They should have their suspicion by now. Over a thousand of you had died by my hands, I can hear their gritting teeth from here."

The way he casually said that sent shivers to his spine. Legion was a discreet organization but packed with powerful members from various regions without limit. However, the man was in full-on rage mode and destroyed them with one single mercy. 

Just the moment Lyon stepped through the opened gate. The villagers immediately turned their heads. Their eyes immediately turned to that of a fright as some of them took a step back. Lyon furrowed his eyebrows after seeing their reaction, however, before he could tear off his veil, one of them suddenly shouted from afar.

"P-Please, spare us! We are only fishermen."

Lyon narrowed his eyes before a hunched-back skinny old man walked forward. His eyes were covered with his gray and thick eyebrows. His forehead had three horizontal lines from the weary of the time and he wore nothing but plain clothing. His footwear was nothing sort of extravagant either but Lyon could see a hint of drench on the edges.

The man from Legion suddenly stepped forward, "We need a boat to go to the island."

The old man hummed as he scratched his cheeks, "I'm afraid there is no boat going to that island."

The man from Legion furrowed his eyebrows. That was not the answer he usually received. His eyes turned sharp before he looked around then averted back to that.

"It seems like that answer surprised you," muttered Kesya with a smile. "Old man, tell us why is there no boat going there."

She furrowed her eyebrows as her eyes turned sharp. She specifically analyzed the old man's movement. Every single twitch of his muscle she could grasp it. 

"The island is no more," the old man shook his head.

The man from Legion immediately took a step forward, "What do you mean?"

Kesya suddenly let out a sigh. "This is really low level."

"Hm?" Lyon turned his glance to his beautiful general. 

She took off her veil and revealed her hair dark blonde hair by pulling down the hoodie. Her sharp eyes had turned disinterested. She crossed her arms before yawning against the dusk.

Graham did the same before he twitched his eyebrows against the old man. The intense gale went past by Lyon's cheek as the latter watched the hunchback old man get blown to the air. The wooden cane was instantly destroyed into bits shredded of wood as the body disintegrated into pieces.

The man from Legion took a step back as his jaw slacked open. He had never foreseen this happening at all. (He... he was just a frail old man... damn!) thought the man. Even he wouldn't resort to such dark cruel doings.

"Ah!"

"AAh!"

"Chief!"

The villagers screamed but none dared to step forward. The old man had no chance of surviving against Graham's power thus his body was easily disintegrated to pieces with just a twitch of his eyebrows.

Lyon furrowed his eyebrows but somehow not in anger. The man that would kneel in front of him wouldn't do something like this senselessly. He took a closer look at the old man's corpse before humming. "Hmm, how weird.."

"I knew you would notice it! My lord, even though your memories had not returned yet, you still got it on you! Hahaha!" said Kesya as she jumped and embraced him from the back. Then, nibble his ear.

(W-What? There is something weird about it?) thought the man from the Legion.

"Look at his blood, it's frozen," said Lyon as he pointed his finger at the corpse.

"Hm?" (Revered One is right, the blood is frozen. It didn't even stain the ground. What's going on?!) thought the man as he suddenly had a bad feeling swelling up. He looked around and noticed their surprised and horrific faces before swallowing his saliva. (At least the others looked normal).

"How ridiculous, is this how they want to greet us? By turning the whole villagers into reanimated corpses? Is not even a good one. Pathetic," said Graham before he shook his head in disappointment.

"Wha? What do you mean reanimated corpses?!" exclaimed the man as he felt his goosebumps rise.

"Oh so that's why," said Lyon as he nodded.

(How can you accept this so calmly!) thought the man from the Legion. 

"The fact that the blood is still red and didn't smell of a corpse. The chances are really high that they were killed not too long ago," said Kesya as she furrowed her eyebrows. 

Lyon smirked, "So they had taken this drastic measure, killing the innocent and then reanimated them."

"I-I can't believe this," said the man from the Legion as he squatted down.

"Looks like there is no way but to take a flight to that island now," said Lyon. "Heh, they probably knew that we are coming from the day after that massacre that over a thousand of them didn't return, not even one," said Lyon before he looked at the squatting man. "C'mon now, lead the way."

"Y-Yes! Immediately!" the man's disbelief immediately stopped before leaping to the sky. The fact that he was surrounded by dead people was less ominous than a word coming out of the Revered One's mouth.

"Master, what about the village?" asked Graham.

Lyon took a deep breath before his eyes turned sharp. He saw women, the elderly, men, and children were gasping at him. However, they only shrieked and didn't even beg. They were already dead inside.

"Destroy them the whole village," said Lyon coldly.

Kesya whispered as she felt the tension in his heart, "It's okay, my lord. You might not be able to revive them since their souls were ripped away. At the very least, we can avenge them."

"I know," said Lyon before he took a flight to the sky.

Kesya turned around before Graham nodded.

Lyon followed the man in front with Kesya following behind him. His hair fluttered but the smirk on his face was no longer there. Soon a loud daunting boom was heard as the very land and sea trembled. The reverberated sound sent shivers to the man leading the way but Lyon heed not a single care. 

Their journey continued as Graham easily catch up with them. The endless sea they crossed until finally, a small island entered their view. 

The man from the Legion was the first one to hover over the island. His eyes were constricted as he saw what's in front of him. The hideout was destroyed and the crumbled walls were spread everywhere. 

"It's destroyed," muttered the man as he couldn't blink his eyes. "The hideout is destroyed."

Lyon landed on the island before the other two generals followed suit. "Looks like we are too late."

Kesya stride forward with Graham. They were rummaging the destroyed buildings. Lifting up the giant walls and everything. However, they soon came back from their search and shook their heads against Lyon.

"I didn't find anything worth looking, master," said Graham.

"I found nothing either," said Kesya as she shook her head. "Though their reanimation was sloppy, at least they could leave without a trace."

"The Legion is an individual group as far as I know. They have no attachment or anything and their goal is still unclear. However, he said that the higher-ups were searching for a source of anti-mana," said Lyon.

"Source of anti-mana? Hmm..., my lord do you remember where the source of anti-mana came from?" asked Kesya with a smile.

Lyon smirked before he shook his head.

"Well... it's pretty much easy to figure out," grinned Kesya. "If mana came from Heaven, then what will be the anti of heaven?"

Lyon raised his eyebrows before his smirk turned into a grin. "Hell... I should have known."

The man from Legion opened his eyes wide as soon as he heard his answer. Everyone in the Mortal World seek to enter Heaven but it seems like that was not the case.