Return of the Fallen Volume 8 Chapter 21
A pair entered the King’s chamber. One was a large man with a strong build, and the other, a woman who was nearly as built as the man beside her.
As soon as these two entered, the mood of the chamber soured, and glares of death fell upon the two.
The woman loved seeing these glares. To her, when enemies glared and made no move, it meant they were weaker than her. After all, an enemy that does nothing is an enemy without fangs or claws. The man was just as confident as his comrade and stopped when he came near. With a wide smile, he showed zero respect as he called out to the king.
“King Azar, it’s been some time. I heard you recently lost a few weaklings to Motozu’s slayer. How unfortunate, heh.”
All of the other Ancient beasts in the chamber, seeing such disrespect, they all began to release murderous auras. This pressure spread out from all directions and came crashing down upon the two but just before it reached either of them, the pair drew their weapons and intended to attack.
King Azar waved a hand, and all at once, everyone’s aura was shattered and fell apart. At the same time, neither the man nor the woman could move an inch. They were completely suppressed by King Azar. With a flick of his finger, the weapons they had drawn, as if these weapons had a mind of their own, they shot out of the hands of the pair and flew in front of King Azar before they stabbed down into the floor at his feet.
King Azar slowly stood up.
“Is this how insects of the south act in front of this mighty one?”
No one could speak.
King Azar grabbed the weapons at his feet and pulled them from the floor. The very next instant he was directly in front of the pair and had their own blades at their own necks. No one…Not the pair before the king, nor any of the other Ancient beasts, had been able to follow his speed. Even Dreunz, who was the king of speed, even he could not keep up with his King’s movements.
King Azar stood with the weapons, and he slowly pulled them away.
“This material is quite weak.”
King Azar held up the weapons, and with a press of his thumb on each hand, both weapons broke and shattered like glass.
The pair saw this and became frightened. Ancient beasts were not usually the type to use weapons. The reason being was because most materials were weaker than the bodies of the Ancient beasts. Ancient beasts who could traverse extreme temperatures, withstand millions of pounds of pressure, and hold pure magical energy within without breaking. Their bodies were made to destroy and made to endure. Why use a weapon when their bodies were tougher than basically every weapon known? There was really no point. The only time an Ancient beast would have a weapon would be because said weapon was tougher than their bodies. A rarity but not an impossibility.
So when this pair saw King Azar destroy their weapons, which were tougher than their own bodies, with only a thumb, it showed them he was capable of killing them with the same little effort.
“You beasts from the south, as always, you are loud, but when it comes to real power, you cower before it. For you to come here all the way from the south, there must be some other reason than seeking your own death by angering me. So speak and be done with it before I grow annoyed and eat you two.”
The pair couldn’t even be angry at this insult. King Azar had merely shown a fraction of his power, but these two recognized the gap. To boast or talk out of their asses right now would only end in their own pointless deaths.
They suppressed their natural attitudes, and the two automatically knelt on the ground.
The man swallowed hard before speaking.
“King Azar, earlier we were rude, I
King Azar waved it away and interrupted him
“Stop wasting time. I know how the south is. The only reason why you two are still alive now is because the southern King and I have mutual respect for one another. Now shut up with excuses and tell me, why have you come to the east when our forces were supposed to join in the north at the same time to deal with whoever destroyed Motozu?”
The man and woman both realized King Azar’s words. He mentioned how they were supposed to join together, but the two had led their group to the north at their own pace. They had just recently found out that Dreunz had encountered trouble and that he may have lost some warriors during the battle.
Because the pair had led their forces slowly to the north, it could be said that the deaths of Dreunz’s people were because of their slow action.
Neither one could think of a good excuse.
“King Azar, we can only apologize. We wanted to meet up at the proper time, but we…we simply lost track of time.”
Dreunz felt rage boiling within. At the same time, the woman beside him, his daughter began to punch the barrier surrounding her. She punched, kicked, and cursed with everything she had.
No one could hear what she was saying, but it was most certainly nothing good.
All the other Ancient beasts sitting at the table, they understood her anger perfectly well.
If the beasts from the south hadn’t jerked around and wasted time, then Dreunz would have had ample support. How would Kazuki have tricked Dreunz and his grandson and ambushed them if there were more people watching his back. Instead, the events played out as they did, and now seven Ancient beasts were dead, including Dreunz’s grandson.
Dreunz began to gather power into both of his hands, and his left eye glowed with purple light while his right shined with a golden white.
He pointed at the two and shouted.
“YOU BASTARDS! BECAUSE YOU WERE FUCKING AROUND, MY GRANDSON IS DEAD!”
The pair shared the same confused look before Dreunz fired two beams of light at them. This light was concentrated like a laser and burned hotter than the sun. It moved at an incredible speed, and neither could properly defend themselves in time. Just before it fired into their heads and melted their brains, King Azar extended his hand and caught both beams of light in his hand. Squeezing his hand tight, a sizzling sound rang out before both beams were crushed in his palm.
Slowly opening his hand, a tiny bit of smoke fizzled up, but besides that, his hand was perfectly fine, with not a mark left behind.
Dreunz’s anger was overpowered by his fear of hitting his king with his magic. He promptly fell to his knees.
“My King, for…fogive my impudence. I did not intend…No, I have no excuses.”
“Enough. Dreunz, sit down, and Camila, if I lift this barrier, will you contain yourself or will you embarrass the east further?”
The woman in the barrier called Camila trembled before she nodded.
King Azar lifted the barrier, and Camila sobbed quietly while burying her face in her father’s chest. Dreunz could only comfort his daughter at this time, but deep within, his hatred for both Kazuki and the southern dogs grew and grew. He ground his teeth while thinking about them.
(I’ll destroy them all.)
King Azar then briefly explained why Dreunz and Camila were so upset. This caused the pair to shrink backward slightly. They could see how the blame could fall on them. Had they simply shown when they promised, they could have avoided all of this. All of them coming together could have slain Kazuki along with his allies, and this could have all been put to rest. Because they took their time and failed to show when they should have. Kazuki and his allies were alive, and now no one knew where they were hiding.
This was an embarrassment for the east but even more so for the south.
After King Azar told them of all of this, it was then their turn to explain why they had come, but it turns out they had only come because they wanted to know what had happened before they went back and reported to the south. This only made them appear even more foolish.
King Azar took all of this in before he told the pair straight up.
“The two of you should be killed. Because of your actions, seven of mine have died for no reason. Not only that, but both of you failed to heed your own King’s orders. He and I agreed on the time, yet you led your group late. I, however, will not kill either of you. Your own master shall deal with you. Simply relay a message to him. Tell your king that he owes me a great debt. NOW LEAVE!”
The pair didn’t need to be told twice. Like a bolt of lightning, they fled as fast as possible. They were relieved that King Azar let them go but also terrified, knowing that they had to deliver such a message to their King. The two would be lucky if they lived at the end of all of this.
After the two were gone, there was a long silence in the chamber until King Azar spoke.
“The south is incompetent. Once their King falls, they too shall fall. It’s time to accelerate things. Dreunz, I have work for you.”
Dreunz bowed and gave a respectful shout.
“YES, MY KING!”
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