Sword God in a World of Magic

Wester raised an eyebrow when he heard that.

“The Mage God?” he asked with uncertainty.

The Lightning Emperor nodded. “In a way, he feels like an alternate version of Lucius. Lucius was a kind person that hid a dark core of desire and hunger. Nearly all the time, he was a pleasant fellow that elicited goodwill from everyone.”

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“Naturally, after he calmed down, he became ashamed and tried to rectify his deeds as much as possible. He genuinely regretted some of his actions.”

“But this warrior is the opposite,” the Lightning Emperor said as he rubbed his small beard.

“He seems like someone that exclusively does selfish things and never does anything else.”

“Yet, who knows? Maybe, from time to time, he also does something good without realizing it. It might be on accident, but in a certain sense, there are no real accidents.”

“If you make a decision, something inside you wants to make that decision. You might believe that you have done something you didn’t want on accident, but in the end, you wouldn’t have chosen what you have if there weren’t a small part of you that wanted to make that choice.”

The Lightning Emperor remained silent for a couple of seconds.

“What are your orders, sir?” Wester asked.

The Lightning Emperor remained silent.

Then, some seconds later, he sighed. “I don’t know.”

“You know, when I’m uncertain about someone, I tend to look into their eyes, but…”

Wester didn’t answer.

“Speaking of, why doesn’t he have eyes?” the Lightning Emperor asked.

“I didn’t ask,” Wester said.

“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway,” the Lightning Emperor said. “Some people have very weird ways when it concerns training. For example, Mirana refused to come out during the day, and she also refused to look outside during the day. She wanted to keep her senses for Darkness Mana as sharp as possible.”

“Even more, Adam consumed parts of his own body to analyze the feeling of his own body to comprehend the Life Concepts.”

“And Kali even willingly entered a coma for over 5,000 years when she became a Mage Lord to feel the effects of brushing past death.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that warrior decided to cut out his eyes for some arbitrary reason.”

“Actually, did you know that-“

“Sir,” Wester interjected. “You’re getting sidetracked.”

The Lightning Emperor blinked a couple of times in surprise. “Oh, yeah, right.”

Then, he frowned again and scratched his chin in thought.

“What to do… what to do…”

After some seconds, the Lightning Emperor leaned back in his chair with an uncertain expression.

“What would the other Emperors do?” Wester suddenly asked.

“The others?” the Lightning Emperor repeated as he hummed a bit.

Then, a complex expression appeared on his face.

“Well, you heard why they are considering making that madman an Emperor,” the Lightning Emperor said.

Wester nodded. “Power, authority, destiny, and truth, right?” Wester asked.

The Lightning Emperor nodded. “I think it would be similar in this case. Of course, that’s only assuming that this warrior was a Mage. As you know, the others aren’t the biggest fans of physis, especially Mirana.”

“If he were a Mage, they would probably invest in him for the same reason they want to make that kid an Emperor.”

“Power is destiny, and everyone should get a chance at fulfilling their destiny.”

“If we don’t allow that kid to become an Emperor, he might even try to kill one, and then what? Are we supposed to gang up on someone because they are trying to kill the very people that try to keep them weak?”

“Humans seek power, and denying someone their search for power is akin to muddling in the destiny of Aterium.”

“Everyone deserves a shot at realizing their destiny.”

Then, the Lightning Emperor sighed.

“But then, why did we destroy all the other paths back then?”

“Based on that logic, shouldn’t we also give the Abominations a chance at life?”

The Lightning Emperor sighed again. “Even more, another reason why they are willing to entertain the possibility of that kid becoming an Emperor is the Abominations.”

“We are not powerful enough to stop them, which is why we need someone more powerful.”

“But then what? The first thing someone like that madman would do would be to kill every other Emperor to join Lucius in Godhood.”

“And this warrior isn’t any better. He would do the same thing.”

“Is this our destiny? Is our destiny to die to these crazy madmen?” the Lightning Emperor asked.

“I refuse to believe that,” he added.

“Lucius has become our God, and if Lucius wants something to happen, it will happen. If this madman is supposed to reach power, there is nothing we can do to stop him.”

“But what if he isn’t supposed to reach power?”

“What if he has been sent as an adversary, someone that is supposed to unite everyone against them and wake us up from our complacency?”

The Lightning Emperor remained silent again.

And then, he groaned in exasperation.

“Man, this is just too much,” he shouted with annoyance. “You know, I’ve followed Lucius ever since we were Apprentices. He was outstanding even back then, and I was just a bit more talented than others. I simply kept following him around everywhere, and whenever I feared that we would die, Lucius saved us.”

“I was never the one that decided what we would do. I was just there to help my friend achieve his goal. I was always just acting as support.”

“I never wanted to rule an Empire or something like that.”

The Lightning Emperor sighed again.

“I just want to go on adventures with Lucius again.”

Silence.

Then, the Lightning Emperor suddenly grabbed one of the books, put his legs on the table, leaned back, and put the book on his face.

“I’m taking a nap! I don’t want to deal with this right now!”

Silence.

Wester just looked at the Lightning Emperor evenly.

“Ask me again in a thousand years,” the Lightning Emperor said, shooing Wester away with his right hand.

Wester blinked once emotionlessly.

“And what should I do with him until then?” Wester asked professionally.

“I dunno,” the Lightning Emperor said with a shrug. “Just treat him like a King Contender until then. Who knows, maybe he will kill himself with his training before then?”

Wester wanted to do nothing but groan or sigh, but he would never breach etiquette like that.

If the other Kings knew how their Emperor came to some decisions…

“I will do as ordered, sir,” Wester said with a polite bow.

Then, he slowly exited the room.