Tyrant of the Ruined Sun-Chapter 85: Rebellion

’What now?!’ I thought half in annoyance half in curious trepidation, as I gestured for him to approach.

Rushing to my side, completely ignoring all the others sitting at the table in his haste, the young man fell to one knee, handing the letter with a clearly anxious expression. Taking it from him, I quickly skimmed through it’s contents, and like a raging flood constrained by a thread’s strength, the madness that I had for so long restrained erupted with a vengeance, causing the very air around me to seem to become tainted in a shade of crimson, while my divine power erupted in a shockwave of rippling power that pushed the table away from me, causing all the flatware and food upon it to spill or fall to the ground in a crashing wail of shattering glass, as a scream that was more akin to a howling beast exploded from my throat "Abrahaaaaammm!"

A flash of blinding light materialized to my right, and in it’s place appeared Abraham, as he replied with his gleaming golden aura radiating mightily from his eyes and body "Your orders, sire."

"Ready the guards, we are leaving." I commanded.

He said nothing as he vanished in the same way he came. Turning my head to the left, I called to Horus, who was already there, having arrived around the same time Abraham did like a silver wraith "Make ready the horses, you and I leave immediately to the capitol." I finished as I stood up from my seat.

Yet before either of us could do anything else, the quivering voice of the poor squire who had delivered the message rang out, saying "Th-The Grand Vi-Vizier has sent with us a few additional Ch-Chimeras to swiftly escort you back, y-your majesty."

Foll𝑜w current novℯls on ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm.

"Perfect." I reply with a pleased smile, one that looked utterly demonic to the young man, when it was coupled with my swirling bloodlust and mad drowned eyes. But I cared nothing for that as I made my way out, only to be stopped by my mother’s concerned voice asking "Alex?"

Understanding without her needing to explain, I answer in a soul splitting tone that held both the frigid hate of the arctic winds and the sundering wrath of an erupting volcano "Zadkiel."

All the adults who heard this felt their blood drain from their faces, as a single word boomed hauntingly in their minds ’Rebellion.’

"Kira! Quickly ready the twins for travel! Nizam, Cyrus, you too! Now!" My mother immediately said, as she took Alisar in her arms and rushed to get ready. With Adam’s students hot on her heal as they too ran but not to make themselves ready, but to help my own mother. Adam’s selfless and noble teachings had rubbed considerably on the two over the years.

But I had little mind to focus on that right now as I made my way to the garden where the Chimeras were currently drinking water from the large oasis.

Quickly climbing upon the closest Chimera to me, as Bellerophon leaped upon my back with an excited yelp, I soared instantly into the night sky with Horus and the other squires following me a second later. Wahagen was about a single day’s ride from Eklepsous, but upon the winged backs of the Chimeras it took us but an hour to land in the Imperial Palace’s court yard.

Leaping off our mounts the moment their claws touched the ground, Horus and I swiftly made our way to the throne room, where the indignant shouts of the gathered men echoed outside it’s locked doors, which served only as more feed for the monster within me to fuel my murderous insanity to even greater and more depraved heights.

Throwing open the gates before the guards could even announce my presence, I entered with an unending surge of bloodlust intertwined with divine power that instantly dimmed the light that had once illuminated the assembled men, who now lay silent staring bug eyed at me, before their expressions twisted into hybrid abominations only the mad could express, showcasing fear mashed with excitement, and pride sown roughly with sheer unadulterated devotion, as they all fell to their knees and bellowed out in a single, roaring voice "Hail his imperial majesty."

I paid them no head, as I stared fixatedly at the three men and woman standing like statues in the center of the hall, and like a predator finally finding it’s prey, their sight only drove the rampaging dragon in my mind into further infernal revelry, as he called for their death and suffering.

Two of the men were ordinary, mortal men, possessing no power what so ever. They had tanned skin, dark brown eyes and black hair. And it was clear to anyone who saw how similar to each other they looked that they were brothers. They also wore dark blue robes, with an emblem of a rising azure sun above three black fish. A sigil I had never seen before.

The third man was a second rank martial artist, and was dressed as an ordinary mercenary. Dark brown dirty pants, a green thick tunic below old leather armor, while chipped and heavily used iron pauldrons sat on both his shoulders, as well as muddy light brown boots. Finally the woman, was stunningly beautiful, wearing a pink dress made from the finest material and draped in jewelry that were obviously made by the expert hands of a master jeweler. She also carried the aura of a fourth rank mage, marking her as the strongest individual among them.

But I cared nothing for all that, as I made my way to the two mortal men, staring at their increasingly uneasy expressions before taking the large white scroll held in their hands, and began reading out loud after skipping all the unnecessary parts "I Zadkiel, by the grace of the Gods and with the support of the masses, both high born and not, and to save them from the tyrannical rule of the Bloody Emperor, Alexander the third, here by proclaim the foundation of the Epethus Kingdom that shall encompass all the former eastern provinces of the Eclipse Empire."

As soon as I finished, the gathered men that were once quiet, broke out yet again in a fit of indignant shouts, condemning Zadkiel and the messengers as traitors and clamoring for their execution. Some even drew their weapons to deliver their punishment right here and now.

The mercenary man and the woman remained relatively unaffected by all this, but what was left of color in the two mortal men’s faces completely vanished, as their complexion now resembled bleached paper. But all this incessant yelling was nothing more than an annoyance to my ears, so I raised my hand, instantly silencing them yet again, and only then did I finally notice a change in the woman’s and mercenary’s expression, as it twisted for but a moment into one of fear and awe.

I didn’t bother reading anymore of the lengthy and meaningless scroll, as I looked at the bottom right of the paper where I saw two seals. The first was the same as the one on the dark blue robes of the two men, which clarified to me that it was the sigil of this rebellious Epethus Kingdom, and the second was of a red dragon with three wings, clutching a sword in one claw and a spear in the other.

Seeing this I burst out laughing in sadistic pleasure, as I said "So this is where Zadkiel gathered the courage to face me. The mercenary king is behind him."

Hearing this, the men did not shout but began to murmur among themselves in pure bewildered shock "The mercenary king?!"

"Maximilian?!"

"The War Dragon?!"

"But how?! What could Zadkiel have possibly offered to move that battle obsessed dragon?"

"It takes literal tons of gold and jewels for him to even give you an audience much less this!"

They only stopped when they heard the revolting squelch of tearing flesh. And when they looked back at us, they saw my right hand wrist deep into the chest of one of the envoys, before an equally sickening sound of forcefully ripping muscle and tissue echoed as I yanked my hand back, showcasing an odd looking lump of meat I had wrenched out of him. A lump of meat they quickly ascertained was the man’s still trembling heart.

The hall descended into a quiet so absolute, you’d think the very laws of sound the gods created had suddenly been extinguished from this world, as only such a suffocating stillness could withstand the weight of their unspoken thoughts at this moment.

The silence was only broken when the unmistakable splat of wet meat slamming into the stone floor echoed out, as I unceremoniously threw the twitching heart before the feet of the second envoy, saying "Send this back to Zadkiel."

No more words were necessary, as all understood what my grizzly meaning.

Though I doubted the remaining brother actually registered this, as he lifelessly stared at the object at his feet with the kind of dread and grief that words would be shamed to even try to describe.

Shifting my gazing to the mercenary, I ask as I lifted the bottom of the scroll for him to witness the seals upon it "What does your master mean by this?"

Dryly swallowing, the mercenary, a man who has dedicated his entire life to blood and gold, had to take a moment to recenter himself, as even he who has bathed in numerous inhumane tragedies in his life, had never before seen such a display casual brutality, before replying "H-His majesty Maximillian wishes to convey his wish to have a match with you, Emperor Alexander."

Having already surmised this from my past interactions with Maximillian, I ask again "The rules and conditions?"

Momentarily surprised that not only was I so quick to understand, but also to accept such an insane offer, he replied "His majesty hasn’t decided on any yet. He hopes that you would agree to meet with him in two weeks time to agree on the terms yourselves."

"Fine." I answered coldly, before my tone shifts to that of a blood crazed beast "But tell him if he dares so much as touch a single hair on Sodarus or Khaireddin’s heads I will personally make sure to turn his life into a living hell!"

Such threats if given by any other fifteen year old against a man famed as the War Dragon and the Mercenary King would be received with a ridiculing laugh, but staring at me right now, with my hand still dripping from the scarlet life blood of my latest victim, he could say as he yet again swallowed dryly "Understood, lord. I will deliver your message."

Turning my head to the last of the four I ask "And you are?"

The woman almost instinctually placed her hand over her heart, as if protecting it from me, before lowering her head ever so slightly as she replied "Greetings my lord. My name is Rosalind, a humble representative of the Sapphire Swallow Trading Company."