EMPEROR'S RECKONING

Chapter 487: Dowry

"Hm?" despite the fast-drying tears on his cheeks and the powerful figures kneeling and bowing toward him, he managed to take a look at a bare woman below.

Her robes were shredded and drenched as her body was. She was laying on top of a pool of blood. Her skin was pale and she had stopped breathing. Her life force was fleeting away and trying to be at peace against her cruel fate.

He descended down.

The three of them raised their eyebrows in unison before looking at their leader crossing his arms.

The mighty valor and gallant of an emperor was unbeknownst exuded out of him. His bearing didn't hold any bar as the onlookers could only stare in awe. The young man, when he was not smirking. He was something else entirely. Especially with those sharp eyes of his.

"That..."

"Emperor Lyon..."

As if he was a different person. The arrogant young man was suddenly replaced with the blessing of the wise and eternal.

Cecile shook her head with a smile before she followed her husband down.

Landing his bare feet to the ground Noark immediately caught up and looked up against his benefactor.

He had heard how Lyon was being captured in hopes to control Jin through Cecile but he could see it right now that the benefactor's eyes didn't have any hint of resentment. Though her child tried to kill him, though her husband tried to kill him, even when her father-in-law joined in the fray, at the moment, Lyon was not exuding any hatred.

"Benefactor," called Noark with tears on his face.

Despite knowing Lyon's identity and how they were actually related through Cecile, he still chose to call him this way. He had not returned the favor that Lyon gave him yet but he must swallow his pride for now.

He kowtowed with a bang. His forehead was glued to the ground as his back arched inward. He gritted his teeth with his eyes turning red from the sinking emotion that he felt.

Cecile landed beside her husband with her arms crossed. Her eyes were indifferent as she looked at the bare naked woman. She quite vividly remembers how she met her inside her own palace. At the time, she definitely still acted like a kid, unlike her two other siblings.

"This woman is in denial, Lyon," muttered Cecile. There was not a single hatred in her eyes either, but pity.

Luke and Priscila rushed to the site. Their chest felt hollow as she saw her youngest sibling laying on the ground with such an earnest smile. Fate was not having it easy for her, despite being born into a rich family, no one would have ever thought that she would live such a life.

Both siblings knelt beside her as the eldest of them all hold her cold hand. Tears were running down her cheeks. There was a time that Priscila wanted to get rid of her, but she never meant to do that. Titania failed to mature before the mistake happened. She was bound by the fake family and her choice was to pretend everything was intentional. Where she was a better older sister, things might not have gone the way it was.

The two of them had just started living on their own, yet they neglected their youngest siblings. Not knowing where to go with all those treasures she got from the family, she eventually lost and the devil rob her slowly.

"It's my fault if only I was a better big brother, I... goddamnit! GODDAMNIT!"

"I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have..." Priscila muttered before Jin arrived right behind her. She immediately wailed before hugging his chest. Jin could only embrace her back and rubbed her back.

Lyon took a glance to the side and looked at his wife. The latter obviously smiled while raising her eyebrows. Her auburn eyes playfully looked at his dark galaxy charming eyes. Just one look was enough for him to understand what she wanted to do. Though women usually were hard to guess since sometimes they themselves didn't know what they wanted to do, at least Cecile didn't belong to that category.

"Fine," answered Lyon before he shook his head with a smile.

Noark immediately looked up against his benefactor with a question on his face.

"Mother-in-law, I haven't given you a dowry yet, right?" said Lyon with a smile on his face.

Priscila slightly looked at Lyon. She couldn't believe he would bring out such a topic in this sensitive time. Her eyes were tired from crying and Jin's robe was beyond drenched from her salty tears. Her red cheeks were fused with fuming anger and the tear blush of her emotion.

"Though the ceremony is not held yet, I hope you like this one," said Lyon before he closed his eyes.

He gently opened his eyes as the gaze that ruled nature was upon them.

"W-What's going on?!"

"The surrounding mana is?!"

"They are going wild? No... wait a minute... they are torrenting away!"

The onlookers panicked before they realized mana was pointing at none other than the young emperor below.

"Haha, haha," Yunesia was in euphoria as she looked at the mana moved so fast it was visible to the naked eyes. She was spinning around with smiles on her face as her body swayed between the wave of nature's source of energy.

"D-Don't tell me!"

"He is not only versed in direct combat but he is also...!!"

"This is... ridiculous!"

The onlookers couldn't believe their eyes anymore. Not many cultivators were well versed in both ways. Some choose to focus on the cultivation realm and technique. Some choose to pursue their alchemy dreams and others pursued magic, the art of manipulating mana and shifting it to a different element.

Lyon's hair was fluttering wildly as mana came from all possible directions. The mighty atmosphere sent chills to the surrounding people but Cecile. The sea changed its course as white clouds in the sky were pulled out from the horizon.

"W-What are you doing, my son?" said Jin.

However, his trembling voice was not of fear but instead of excitement. He knew the latter was going to do something ridiculous again. He knew he had a knack for magic from the first time he met him. He used one on the boat that he used before things led to another and now they were here.

"What an emperor-like bearing that he has! And such a young age too!" the praise came from no one but the valor and gallant Garuda himself. He was grinning from ear to ear as he looked at his benefactor ruling nature as if it was his loyal subject.

Ayumu and Madoku were looking at Lyon. They couldn't believe that a man like that could casually converse with them at the time. During their first meeting or when they were inside that plane.

Kesya and the other two suddenly descended down to three different spots and making a triangle. Casting magic would make their emperor vulnerable to any sort of attack. Even if Cecile was beside him, there was no telling where an enemy would strike and from the look of their eyes, it seemed that it happened often.

Perhaps inside the triangle was the safest place to ever existed. Guarded by three strong generals from the empire of his past life, even heaven couldn't descend down nor hell could crawl up to greet him.

Lyon knelt before taking her wrist.

(At least she is a Godhood level cultivator she is not that easy to die, though if nothing was to be done, she will surely be dead. Her cultivation is dropping fast but at least her soul is fighting back) thought Lyon before he smiled and muttered, "She wants to live."

His words caught them off guard but before they could ask some questions, the former stood up.

"Close your eyes," muttered Lyon before the mana in his finger turned golden as he inscribed the spell in the air.

"Immortal spell?!" shouted the onlookers.

"Nirvana Lotus!" chanted Lyon before a huge lotus suddenly formed under the pale naked woman.

"Nirvana Lotus? Just like mine," teased Cecile as she slightly pinched his elbow.

"W-Well, her meridians are not broken at all, and her body is losing blood fast to the point that her organs stopped working. Combined that with her soul still reside in her body and acting as a core to her meridians, she—"

"Okay, Lyon I'm just messing with you, I'm not here for a lecture," said Cecile with a smile before took his chin and kissed his lips out of nowhere.

The shimmering glow of the giant lotus forming distracted the others from looking at their kiss.

She suddenly let go of her kiss as she felt a tongue trying to pry in. She turned over and looked at the development of his magic without a shed of red blush that he would find in a young woman.

(Heh, she is in a whole other league than the others) thought Lyon as he shook his head with a proud smile.

The Nirvana Lotus was perfectly formed before it slightly hovered to the sky while slowly spinning its petals. Sleeping at the crown of the flower, Titania's entire figure was enveloped by the shimmering dots, wavering against her beautiful figure.