Chapter 404 - The Late Beast Emperor
"You, what do you want to do?" Ernest looked up and questioned it with a bit of anxiety. The approaching winged tiger definitely didn't bring any goodness.
Now he was in the shackles of mixed elemental magic, and it had sealed him from fighting back or even moving. The fire had understood, and for some reason, he knew that he was in a vulnerable state.
"You're still questioning that? Isn't that obvious, I want to make you suffer." Vanessa answered kindly.
The members of the Pyrogressive Lion Clan witnessed that and became furious. Either way, they needed to stop what might happen to their Patriarch Emperor from having the same fate as their crown prince.
"Hey, the battle is over! Hurry up and stop that insane winged tiger before it's too late!"
"Yeah, let's ask the Beast God for help right away! We can't let that vile winged tiger castrate our lord!"
"You winged tigers, you must help us deal with your kin!"
"Yeah, it's all because of your clan's species. We should have destroyed your clan eleven years ago without a trace and hunted down the escapees! Damn it!"
"You have lived in power and now your kin is biting the Pyrogressive Lion Clan like a pack of ungrateful tigers."
The fire lions expressed their grievances and wrath to the winged tigers, who were also their vassals.
"We offer all apologies, but they are not part of our clan. The winged tigers who rebelled were Theo, Leila, and Vanessa. They are a faction of Beast Emperor Zach." One of the winged tigers apologized like a servant to his master.
"Forget it, we need to help our lord! Hurry up!"
"Argh, this dome barrier stands in our way. We need to ask The Almighty Beast God for urgent permission."
"You white tiger. The battle is over, don't you dare touch our lord or you will suffer the consequences!"
The fire lions had already panicked. They couldn't waste time blaming their vassals. Their patriarch was in a predicament, but they couldn't help because the dome barrier was still there to prevent anyone from entering the arena.
Therefore, the group of fire lions immediately went to appeal to the Beast God.
"Hold on!" An exclamation like a roar rang out within a kilometer radius.
Vanessa stopped before she did what she had in mind. Ernest was silent for a moment, the fire lions also pondered for a moment, and the other beasts immediately turned to the source of the sound.
About three meters from the divine beings, a yellow-red tiger cub was standing on a reddish rock. The tiger cub was the one who shouted, and for some reason, the beasts found that tiger cub's voice quite familiar to their ears and memories.
Seeing Vanessa doing nothing but looking at him, Zach nodded and turned to the Golden Goddess. "O the glorious Goddess, please revoke this dome barrier. Let me settle the grudge between my clan and theirs."
"Your wish is granted." Elysia simply removed the dome barrier with a snap of her fingers.
"Thank you very much." Zach didn't forget to express his gratitude before he put on the aura of a Beast Emperor to look at the beasts around him, especially the winged tigers and fire lions.
He stepped in the air to enter the arena field and left ripples of smoldering fire with his every step.
"Please don't interfere, Regulus. Let them finish their enmity. The mortals settle their problems with the mortals, the divine beings shouldn't interfere. That's the one you said before." Rhea spoke in a whisper-like voice, but it was still audible to Regulus and the two Goddesses beside her.
"Guh, whatever. I've tried my best, and the result is that fate will decide. Regina won't be mad at me, will she?" Regulus suppressed his intentions. He muttered to himself in a voice so low that perhaps no one could hear him.
Unfortunately, Elena overheard the muttering. She thought of this Beast God as 'the husband was afraid of wife', but didn't this Beast God have a harem with many wives and concubines? Wouldn't it be too much of a hassle to manage many wives, especially with such a personality?
Whatever it was, Elena just chirped about it to Elysia. They observed Zach simply to find out what this reddish-gold tiger wanted to do.
By the time Zach arrived five meters from his daughter, he had leapt into the air and landed on a foothold of his fire magic. For a bit of superiority speech, a high position was necessary.
"Eleven years since my death and during that time my clan has declined until it has become a lowly clan, subordinate to the clan that destroyed the Winged Tiger Clan." Zach looked at the group of fire lions, then at the winged tigers who used to be members of his clan.
"The current Winged Tiger Clan is genuinely disappointing and disgraceful. Thousands of years of history of the Winged Tiger Clan were simply destroyed. You lowly beings no longer have the dignity of Winged Tiger Clan!
I, Zach, announce from now onwards, my clan traitors who have become slaves to the fire lions are no longer the members of Winged Tiger Clan!" Zach raised his voice, like a rage, for all to hear.
"However, it is your decision to submit to that cunning and evil clan, and I will neither question nor punish you. I'm only here to judge the mastermind behind my death, my comrade's death, and the source of my Winged Tiger Clan's destruction." After saying that, Zach descended from the height and went beside his daughter.
He was satisfied enough to see the shocked and dumbfounded faces of all the beasts, especially his former clan members and the fire lions. Besides all that, he was thrilled to see Ernest's aghast expression.
"Hey, wait, who is that tiger cub? Why does he talk like he has high authority and sound arrogant?"
"Why is the tiger cub a little transparent? I can even see his Energy Core clearly. Wait, he has a red Energy Core? Emperor-level tiger cub!?"
"Didn't you hear that yourself, you idiot? That tiger cub is none other than Beast Emperor Zach himself! He rose from the grave, err, the realm of the dead just for revenge."
Despite the muttering of the beasts, any and all tigers from the Winged Tiger Clan, now former, could only lower their heads in shame.
Their last patriarch, the late Beast Emperor, rose from the grave to convey his disappointment to his clan. And again, the Winged Tiger Clan was disbanded? They didn't deserve to be under that name anymore?
All of these things happened because of the death of their Patriarch Emperor. It was true that they seemed to have betrayed the dignity and honor of their own clan. But, what did the dead know about the pressures and hardships they received? They chose to submit to the fire lions, the cause of that tragedy, for their own good!
Despite having countless complaints and dissatisfactions, none of the winged tigers expressed that. They remained behind the Pyrogressive Lion Clan for so many unspeakable reasons.
"How are you, Ernest yo? I have risen from the dead just for this. Why did you plant yourself in the ground? Do you want to disguise yourself as a living plant? But, well... Why are you sticking out your butt like that? Oh, is that a new cultivation technique?" Zach quipped and insulted the mastermind behind all the tragedies eleven years ago.
"You! You're Zach, the loser!? You've already lost and died by my claws, how did you come back to life!?" Ernest growled and was utterly clueless about the sudden change in events.
"You don't need to know about divine secrets. Your power and ambition will never reach that level of knowledge. But, maybe, your Beast God ancestor at least knows something." Zach sneered, then calmly pointed at the Beast God as if he didn't have the slightest bit of respect.
"But, never mind, this is about you and me. Look at this pathetic you. Your strongest adjutants, your son, and you've lost to my daughter's team. You called me a loser, but it was you who ambushed me and killed me with thirteen experts when I was exhausted.
The sin you have committed against my clan and the innocent beasts is already so great. The law of castration to end your offspring is nothing more than an end to a terrible and pathetic species like you. Let's hope there are no creatures like you in the future.
You can go on with your life as a eunuch, oops, I mean genderless fire lion, with your sole son, keke... Am I not so good with this revenge? You don't have to thank me. Give it to yourself for your past actions." Zach circled Ernest, then stood by the latter's butt.
"Wha, wait a minute, we can talk about this. There must be a solution for this. A penance... Yeah! A penance can definitely be done. Whatever it is, please say whatever it is, but please don't put an end to my ability to reproduce. To kill my future descendants is a heinous crime!" Ernest broke out in cold sweat and began to think 180 degrees different from his usual self. His future and identity as a male lion were at stake here.
"Oh, a penance or an atonement? Of course, after all, you are a Beast Emperor. I don't know later, but I'm sure you will be at the forefront when the great battle against the monstrous cursed monster takes place in about three months.
Good luck to save the world and this continent. I'm already dead and can't help anything, hehe..." Zach leaked out a bit of information from what his daughter told him. After all, the Beast God must have been prepared for it, but it just hadn't been announced.