Chapter 441: Prisoners Of War
Northern stood for a second, reflecting on the journey and all the opponents he had ever faced.
Of them all, Koll was the strongest, except for the special cases of the Kirithon and the Destroyer in the Sleeping Mountains.
But Koll's first form was a pure menace; Northern didn't think it would be possible to actually defeat him. Thanks to Night Terror, that impossibility was made possible.
He had met several other opponents that made him feel like he wouldn't win, and one way or another, regardless of the ranks, he was still standing here.
But today, something other than fear sank into his head as he thought about his past battles.
Looking at the Emperor now, Northern realized that despite fighting with Gengar, the Emperor had no weapon.
There was no scratch on the Emperor's body; his skin was almost glowing. He didn't even look like he had exerted himself.
Whereas Northern was breathing heavily, his chest and shoulders moving up and down with the burden of tiredness.
His stamina was exhausted, and he felt like one more movement would be the end of him.
But his gaze did not waver from the Emperor, who now fixed him with a pitiful look and said, "How disheartening... I was really beginning to enjoy this."
He paused, raising his chin slightly as he addressed Northern. "Young lad, what is your name?"
"Northern," the young lad responded.
The Emperor raised his brows slightly.
"What a mystical name, Northern, huh." He then folded his arms.
"I can see you are tired, so I shall not be unreasonable. I give you a chance to explain yourself. However, if whatever comes out of your mouth is not reasonable enough, you won't breathe the next air after your words."
"I'm your cousin."
Before the Emperor could finish, Northern laced the words in quickly, looking at the Emperor and blinking.
The Emperor frowned, looked to his left and right; every other noble had deserted the area. The entire landscape had been altered due to their fight. Seeing it like that made Northern wonder, *What then happens to this nation if he decided to go all out?*
Northern's mouth almost fell as he came to a realization of the truth, *It was no
understatement when they said Paragons could destroy kingdoms.*
Of course, growing up in the countryside did not give him access to a lot of news. He did read books, but they were never enough.
Kids would often gather around to play and talk. Northern, while he was a child, would often hang around them for one sole purpose:
To find out more about the world from their mouths. The world beyond this kingdom. He wanted to know if legends and heroes existed and how they were regarded.
And he did find out to some extent. The ones he easily could hear about were Paragons and how the ground could tremble under their step.
Only one could tear down an entire nation. He also heard they had stellar forms.
Northern was not sure what that was, so he dismissed it as the children's exaggeration.
But right now, everything was playing out in his head, and he was realizing full well... that the kids were right after all.
Paragons exist on a different stratum entirely.
And Northern's body shook with peace as he realized it. He was not giving up; he really wanted to think that he wasn't.
But the Emperor was strong; this was the reality. Even after having the Emperor's ability, the impact of use could not compare.
Their ranks were vastly different, so of course, the results of their abilities would be different.
Northern breathed in and out before laying his eyes on the Emperor again, who now looked at him straight and asked,
"What are you saying?"
Northern shrugged, "It's simple. I am Lady Henai's lost son. Rian."
The Emperor grimaced, his right hand blazing with crimson flames that soared high. He was about to move a step when someone suddenly appeared between the two of them, kneeling.
The flame in the Emperor's hand instantly vanished, oozing smoke.
"Guilly, what are you doing, protecting the bastard who dares to sully my sister's name with his mouth?" The Emperor's tone was thick and intimidating, at the same time very cold.
In every shape and form, he was what a typical strong Emperor would look like.
Northern was almost admiring him.
Guilever lowered his head more as he responded to the Emperor.
"He is right, this is Lady Henai's son."
The Emperor's eyes widened. "What do you mean, Guilly? Do you have a death wish?"
"I'm sorry, your majesty. We just found out about it yesterday." His voice did not shake or tremble; it was firm and definite as he delivered the message.
The Emperor's eyes widened even more as they focused on Northern, followed by his mouth slightly opening in realization.
It was only when he had focused on Northern's face that he truly realized. If he had probably not been caught up in whatever that was, he would have discovered that Northern was his sister's child who had died years ago.
"But... how?"
Gahalad was one of the very few who knew the details surrounding Northern's death as an infant, even more than his own birth mother.
It was the reason why he was struck with so much intense surprise.
Shakily, he moved his hand forward and touched Northern's cheek.
Northern sighed. At the same moment, coincidentally, he couldn't hold it in anymore. He felt
strength leave his body as he slumped down.
Fortunately, the Emperor caught him and leaned him towards his hand.
Guilever stood up and stepped back a little, giving the Emperor space to support Northern
well.
The Emperor looked at the unconscious Northern.
"Guilly, are you sure?"
The Tower Sage nodded his head. "He might be a shady one, but he is the real thing. He is her
son."
A wide smile spread across Gahalad's face. "Her son...? And he's so strong?"
Suddenly, a loud horn reverberated through the air. Immediately, the Emperor and the Tower Sage looked toward the direction of the harbor.
One of the enormous colossal beasts of the sea was slowly moving away from the shore.
The Emperor allowed a tense frown and said, "Go and attend to that. I shall withdraw with
this boy now."
"No, you won't."
Someone from above shouted.
The Emperor naturally looked up. Above him was a dark-haired girl with pitch-black armor,
with metallic wings, flying.
He looked at the Tower Sage again and said, "She's the reason why all of this started. Capture
her. But make sure she doesn't die."
"I'm sorry, I cannot allow that." Another voice entered his ears. At this rate, he was beginning to get very irritated.
He turned around to see who it was. The lady in the sky and the Tower Sage also looked to see.
Raven's eyes widened when she realized the white-haired girl standing opposite the
Emperor.
She frowned and quickly landed in front of her.
"What in the world are you doing, Terence?" Raven hurriedly said as she landed.
The Saintess didn't bat an eye. She looked at Raven and then at Northern, leaning against the
Emperor's hands.
Then she frowned and looked at Raven again.
"You think I wouldn't know?"
Raven narrowed her eyes as she asked, "Know what?"
"That you planned to surrender yourself to the Empire in order to pay for the atrocious things
you've done."
Raven sighed and seriously looked at Terence. "If you knew that, you should have just stayed out of my way. What are you doing here?" Her tone rose a bit, sounding as if she was trying to
suppress her anger.
Terence looked at her sadly and said in a breaking tone, "Light, why do you always feel so
important to yourself?"
The question came off as offensive and quite shocking to Raven, who almost stammered as
she inquired, "W-what do you mean?"
Terence looked away from Raven and looked directly at the Emperor.
"She is not important. You need her for nothing. Whereas, I am the Saintess of Lotheliwan,
the only link to Ul you probably have within your reach."
From the moment she mentioned "Saintess of Lotheliwan...", both the Emperor's and
Guilever's eyes slowly widened.
"I will surrender myself to you. In return, please let this silly lady and that boy go back to their nation." She announced.
"Terence, what are you doing?" Raven inquired angrily, causing Terence to glare at her as she
responded.
"I always knew you were up to something. The way you did everything with reckless abandon,
it took me time, but I figured out you were probably thinking you'd commit all of this and
hand yourself over as a prisoner to the Luinngard Empire. Is that how much you hate your
home?" Raven's frown deepened. "Yes, Terence, that is how much I hate that place and don't want to return there. So, stay out of my way and let me do this."
Before Raven could turn, Terence shouted, "No!!" She clenched her hands, hiding the pained expression on her face beneath the bang of her hair.
"I will not let you do as you wish this time around!!" she shouted once again.
The Emperor, tired of the emotional charades, sighed and opened his mouth, his intimidating
tone ringing hard.
"I don't think any of you two understand your situation."
By this time, the knights and nobles were coming closer, even the princes were already
stepping into the ruined landscape.
The Emperor continued, "Right now, there is no choice for you. Both of you will be taken as prisoner." He turned his eyes to the saintess, "having a vessel of Ul in my nation is truly worth more than gold. But I have no intention to let her or him go."
The Emperor looked towards the Harbor.
"I could destroy that ship with a single attack. But I will let it go instead. Your people have fought so hard to get here, don't they deserve to go home?"