’'His Majesty the Emperor calls forth the emissaries for the audience!‘’ One of the servants of the palace of Karnival shouted for everyone outside the venue to hear. He clamped the scroll written on the decree of the emperor in his hands and gave a waistline bow to the passing entourage of Cole and Quan. They trod on the thirty-three steps of stairs and came in front of the gateway donning the gold-jade writing of Moon and Sun- Twin Stars Of The Empire. Quan gave a cursory look before stepping inside the wide fancy walls and stopped right in front of another flight of stairs leading to the throne up above, thirteen steps away from the seated Emperor Shuangxing in yellow imperial robes. Seated at his side, one step lower, was his daughter and the crown princess, Huang Twin-star with her battle armor. Her complexion, like one of a fierce phoenix, did not meld quite right with her father‘s bumptious gaze. Cole stood one step behind of him, and the rest of the men at the sides of the entrance, and kneeled. Quan, instead, gave only a bow. He had the right to stand upright, or even climb next to the Emperor as well. That was the influence the Cindersnow caused, and indeed for one of cindersnow to not use such thing when he was here to threaten it seemed strange.

He did not derive it from the unmoving face of the Emperor-though he knew he also reacted the same- but from the still young crown princess‘ wandering gaze. He stood up from his bow as the others kneeled three times and clasped his fists in greeting. ‘’Greetings, your majesty.‘’ He raised his head but did not look into the eyes of the Emperor. Instead, he cast another glance to the surroundings to assess the situation, and the lack of the ministers from the court meant the man knew whatever fate would fall on him. Or else, Quan didn‘t think this was too likely, he wanted whatever talked in here to stay here. Hence, his order for the court messenger and other servants and guards to leave, although faced with a silent disapproval from his men, proceeded with a swift motion. In no time, only four people in the hall- except the concubines and their servants inside the inner ring of the palace- now stood alone. Emperor chose not to talk, and his daughter opened her mouth.

‘’Welcome, advisor Cole. Welcome, representative of Cindersnow.‘’ Quan didn‘t feel the need to react, and she continued. ‘’Before everything else, you must feel hunger and thirst from all the journey.‘’

‘’I would really love to taste the special cuisine of his majesty.‘’ Quan replied. ‘’But the matter at hand is much more urgent, and we managed to satisfy our needs on the way. Thanks for your generosity, your majesty.‘’ He gave a bow of gratitude. These were empty talk. A formality, if he had to say so. Lack of court did not mean there were no ears on the earth, or in the palace. Emperor seemed like he did not wish to hide that much from his men as well. He, perhaps, made his mind on his decision a long time ago.

‘’Advisor Cole, that would make us a bad host in the eyes of our people.‘’ She addressed to Cole this time. ‘’And his Majesty has so few people because of the chaos in the frontlines to entertain his boredom. A good pair of men like you are hard to come by in the frenzy.‘’

Cole stood silent for a moment and listened. ‘’Your praise is unworthy of one as lowly as me, your majesty.‘’ he refused the compliment. ‘’Your heart is as wide as the sea, and as all your subjects know your mind is sharper than a precious knife. I hope you would listen to our pleas. That would be the most generous thing.‘’ He then gave a deep bow.

Quan looked at the Cole for a moment, then upwards towards the Emperor. Their eyes matched for a moment, then darkness overtook the surroundings. Everything blurred before his eyes. The sounds, the image, the scent, the bitter taste in his mouth. Only two pair of eyes remained. And they were strong. Not aloof, or conceited as he looked at them a moment ago. They glinted like the sharp edge of a blade, and that glint fulfilled whatever definition of Greed and Ecstasy was there.

And his eyes reflected them. Quan‘s eyes were sour. Blank, empty of what the Emperor had. Their Qi clashed like colorful fireworks around and in front of their eyes. And the sight did not disappear until the Emperor closed his eyes. He looked...weary. Cole and Huang, blatantly unaware of the exchange continued their small talk until the Emperor opened his mouth.

‘’I once thought-‘’ He said, his gaze once more falling down on Quan. ‘’-that It was strange I was the sole son of my father. I was alone. I thought it was strange. Why would I be the only one, when he had so many concubines? So many wives? So many...years.‘’ He wiped the smile off his face. ‘’I searched for someone other than me as I grew up older. I looked in tomes, in the records, I even sought some acquaintances of my father that he never thought I knew of.‘’

He then sighed. ‘’Sadly, no such person appeared. Even if...every new generation bore two new descendants, The Sun and The Moon, my generation didn‘t.‘’

‘’But from what I see, representative, you have the same eyes as The Sun.‘’

‘’Your majesty,‘’ Quan refuted, ‘’Has both the sun and the moon inside his eyes. That might be the reason for your misfortune- your fortune.‘’

‘’Indeed, it might be.‘’ He agreed. Shuangxing then laid back on his dragon throne, raised his chin with his left hand and pointed with right at him. ‘’What do you ask from the twin-moon, bearer of the sun?‘’

‘’It is not I who asks-‘’ Quan straightened his back. ‘’It is the one you saw in my eyes. Am I...wrong?‘’

‘’No, you are right.‘’ he smiled again. ‘’Yet, does this change anything? Either you, either him. My son can do or live as he wants and I won‘t have any dealings with how he rules his life and his subjects. That was what he wished for.‘’ Shuangxing narrowed his eyes after falling silent for a moment. ‘’Or did he change his mind, representative? Does he want to assume the throne, be the crown prince again?‘’

Quan knew the answer. It was most definitely a big refusal. To Sid Starlight, to the past crown prince of the Two-star dynasty who forsook their surname for the right to rule over his own life, that was an impossible choice. The burden he faced, the things he had to get accustomed to keep his position as a crown prince, then as an Emperor, were not for someone of his character. He wasn‘t valiant enough to meet his Majesty‘s demands, nor was he submissive enough to comply with the sect‘s orders. Choosing between his dynasty and the sect was no easy thing. Either way led to death, and the only thing that changed was who would welcome it. And he, on whose orders he came, had no right to comment on that matter in a place like this.

But what would he need to say then? Just refuse the notion and keep on with the meaningless talk? Surely the Emperor wouldn‘t care about a son with no resolve to take over his throne. Filial piety had no use in the court. Emperors of this era only cared about one single thing. The determination to put up with the sect. And Sid lacked that. He abstained from his position because of that sole thing. What Quan had to do in such a case then? He couldn‘t keep looking at the emperor‘s eyes like a silly commoner forever. Perhaps, as it seemed, he could use the sect‘s name again. He could clear away their history and even convince Cinder to not replace the dynasty the next spring. He could do so much with the sect‘s-

‘’My lord-‘’ then Cole spoke, keeping his waist bent in a bow. ‘’Still wishes the same. He feels burdened, suffocated by the responsibility of being a ruler. Even now, at the front, he feels the same. He realized after ruling over the Yadratafos that, in his words, '’His Majesty must have a spine made of divine metal to not collapse.‘’ I too share his sentiments, your majesty, and I am in awe of your strong will to put up with a pressure hundreds of times greater than my lord‘s.‘’

‘’However, my lord also said that after feeling the same thing first hand, he felt assured of his choice to refrain from the dragon throne. Only his sister, the crown princess, is worthy of laying her back as you do, and looking down at masses as a deity like you.‘’

‘’What is your point, advisor?‘’ Shuangxing said with an impatient tone, his eyes glinting.

‘’What I mean is, your majesty, my lord wishes for you to forget about him as a son. He wishes for you to perceive him as a vassal, like a trusty subordinate and a past family. And we are, in his orders, here as an envoy from a loyal vassal of yours, fighting with all his power at the Mountain Of Emperors against forsakens and their beasts for your subjects alone.‘’

‘’That is why I beg of you, your Majesty. Please, grant us a sliver of your power! You can call winds and summon rains with a beckoning of your hand, and we need you.‘’ Cole let his knees go weak and prostrated on the floor, smashing his head nine times to the floor. And his face turned wet, tears fell like beads of morning dew and stained the precious mat of the palace.

Emperor Shuangxing fell silent and closed his eyes. Quan felt a burning heat rise inside his heart. He felt ashamed. He felt sorry for himself after all these years he lived. Why could he not show his sincerity, his true purpose for once? Was he so incapable, was he such an imbecile? After living that long, after meeting with so many people, who left their impressions most on him? He remembered well. They were honest people who shed tears and beamed at the slightest things. They were people like his old wife and that Boris fellow at the sect. They were those who carried the same aura as the elder Snow and had the same tranquility as the Leopold Tree. This man, Cole, managed to show his sincerity but why couldn‘t he?

Because he was from the sect, and the sect had no use for people like that. They needed either rulers, warriors, or slaves. After being a slave for a time so long as two centuries, his emotions died. With them died his expressions. His wisdom? Without the backing of feelings, papers upon papers of writing or words had no value. His experience? What kind of an experience did he live other than that of a slave? Moving back and forth between missions and teaching at the sect? None. But he still knew- he could still appreciate sincerity, pure emotions like a normal mortal. Like a human.

But could the Emperor? Could he do the same as him? To be a ruler, to command over masses and call forth every power with a wave of a hand, what did he sacrifice the most? Quan knew it well, and Shuangxing proved it.

‘’Your request...I can‘t grant. You wish for everything, but give me nothing. Faithful subordinate? Loyal subject? Trusty vassal? Someone who escapes from a responsibility as easy as flattering some arrogant mongrels from a mountain can‘t carry my banner nor impose my will! He was to be the moon, he was to be the one that held the dark under control, and Huang was to be the sun to lighten his darkness. And he didn‘t.‘’

‘’I have no pity for people like him, or subjects who favor him.‘’

‘’Your majesty!‘’ Cole raised his grief-stricken face to meet with the emperor. Yet no more words came out of his mouth. He froze under the gaze of a deity, the freezing coldness inside his burning eyes. He just stood there, laying on the ground with his dried tears and open jaw. How ruthless was this? To reject one‘s sentiments, to not see their wishes. The heaviest blow of all was ignorance, uncaringness of the ruler. The betrayal- and Emperor read them all. And he smiled at that. He laughed at that. Then his boasting smile vanished as Quan dropped to the ground on his knees like Cole with exclamations from both princess and Cole.

‘’Your majesty, I can give something to you. I can give you safety, I can give you assurance, I can lend myself for a year- no. For a decade if you wish! But I beg of you, not under the name of the Cindersnow, but under the name of the Hero Of Kryostria, Quan Bing Yingxiong, to aid me and my disciples.‘’

‘’Am I not worth that much?‘’

Shuangxing looked, Huang looked, Cole looked, the concubines behind the curtains and walls looked, then the emperor erupted in laughter.

‘’Then there is hope for the sect, for us after all!‘’ He laughed and laughed, then stood up from his throne with a whirlwind and appeared beside Quan. He held the man from the shoulder and raised him from the ground.

‘’I will aid the moon.‘’

Quan felt his eyes redden, but he didn‘t know why. It was good, he didn‘t want to know anyway. Instead, he took a step back and gave another bow again. ‘’I won‘t refrain from my words, and heavens strike If I don‘t keep my promise.‘’ He swore for the second time in his life.

‘’Good- then let us go over there.‘’

‘’Us? Your majesty-‘’

‘’If there are forsakens-‘’ He flashed a terrifying smile- ‘’No man will be better than me. Right, Huang?‘’

‘’Ye-yes fath- your majesty!‘’ She said while rushing to his back, then stopped a few steps away from him. ‘’No- no, no, no! Your Majesty you can‘t-‘’

‘’I decided, and you approved. Then let me show you the teleportation formation. This way, we can get over there in an hour.‘’

An hour...

Quan nodded together with the Cole who climbed back to his feet, and the men behind him who cast complicated gazes at his back. But Quan cared none. He, for now, had only one thought.

I will be back. Cinder, Snow, I won’t disappoint. He closed his eyes, then opened them again.

This will be the last promise I give.

*********

After the few men left on the battlefield pulled back to the walls, wails started to rise among the retreating horde. Over their head passed tens of thousands of ten meter long eagles and harpies, upon each of them rode wood spirits with pulsing green hearts under their woody bodies. Even from kilometers away, immortals of the Yadratafos could sense their animosity and desire to kill. Looking around themselves, everyone knew their already measly numbers compared to the beast horde now seemed like a drop in the ocean. Of the fifteen thousand that departed, almost four thousand laid lifeless beyond the walls. The earth, painted with their life source-blood-, reeked of death.

After a few minutes of anxious waiting for instructions, orders came. Another cannon, just produced a few minutes ago, also mounted the walls and medical staff retreated back inside the castle with the wounded. A few that could protect themselves remained with the soldiers, who were also supposed to carry back any grievous wounded. Barrier thickened as the flying mass of darkness overtook the skies and the Qi inside the city started to deplete at a faster rate.

Ubel felt the change to be quite minimal but if he guessed it right, it would take about two hours for the whole thing to vanish. And the reason was the man right behind him and the few hundred corpsmen. City Lord. The three-layered formation around them radiated fluctuations like the one he saw at the night of the munchur attack. Just one of them could force the barrier to the point of almost shattering and decimate Gaobun. And now, as he identified them the same night again, there were two more of those things. He doubted Gaobun’s skills as an immortal, even Yuan Shu seemed to be a better fighter than him. If so, what about the elder he beat before? Was he powerless, too? Then wouldn‘t that mean the whole sect was weak? With the memories of a few other fighters passing before his eyes, Ubel was sure the hegemon called Cindersnow seemed like an empty shell. Then there was the other righteous sects that he never heard of and evil sects he hadn’t seen until now. Where were they?

With so many questions in his head, it was hard to focus on the current situation. At least, as they were crowding the castle, a safe environment like this made it much easier to calm himself down. Except, this place wasn‘t only safe. It brimmed with wounded and people on the brink of death. Running over from here to there and back and forth tired him enough to stop his train of thought as well.

He was a bit shameless on that part. Ubel didn‘t want to get near to people who stood at the door of death. The kind of wounds where organs littered the floor or their own flesh and bones stuck out of their backs and joints. They were the people that couldn‘t escape from their fate. And there was a lot of them. A lot, tons of. So his choices narrowed down too. He couldn‘t escape from getting face to face with a dying man again, but the later it was the better he would feel.

At least that way, he could just say it was inevitable. Right?

*********

Yuan Shu patted the young boy he connected with to as a show of gratitude. He wasn‘t sure if he could see it as one though, but it didn‘t matter right now.

He didn‘t imagine a frenzy would be this hard. When he came from the Karnival as a fired God Legion officer-it is a pretty fancy name for a division he had to admit- to regain his position in the army he thought it would be at most challenging. He heard the stories where frenzies caused thousands upon thousands of death tolls, completely devoured cities and villages, sacrifice altars piled upon hundreds of corpses. He even read about official recordings of the most fierce of them all, Judgment Of Kryostria. Emerging point of a disease that took millions of lives, including his grandparents and grand relatives, and the crossing point where sects were finally classified as Evil and Righteous. It was an open secret that there had to be some reason other than hatred and greed- perhaps not hatred- that those sects that fled to the southern continent assaulted the immortals of the Cindersnow. Of course, records were records. The authors were all the Archaea Immortals of the Cindersnow, again like many other things banned or created out of nowhere, so their testimony didn‘t count. Were it not for the senior generations of the immortals that lived up to two hundred years or more, he would doubt whether anything like that existed at all.

Sect considered truth to be what it said before. It couldn‘t twist everything of course. Vassal Empires weren‘t filled with brainless fools or the arrogant masters from the stories of the famed authors. They had their own records, annual inspection of documents and historical notes, family tree check and a few other methods to keep their dynasty‘s rule pure. Keeping the rule pure- he didn‘t know what that was but at least what they did was pure enough to see. From that, deriving the truth and wrong from the sect‘s words became much easier. Or harder. Since every few years some new old documents about how the sect helped the world to get back on its tracks appeared, one could only wonder how much hidden documents that- despite the writing being in formal language and with no bias- praised the sect somehow.

Of course, he hated that fact like many other citizens of their respective empires. Yet, their hatred didn‘t turn them blind to the other fact. The Sect was also the one who protected them from the Frenzy or the Forsakens. To describe the sect, the best word he could find was a barrier.

One that protected them from outside.

One that never left their heads.

One who always watched.

Yuan Shu shook his head. He felt admiration too. How they managed to purge such creatures with their low numbers or how they were knowledgeable on all matters. He turned over to look at the eastern walls. A huge ball of fire with blazing flames of all colors floated over the periphery of the barrier. He saw how the thing split into hundreds of small balls of fire and rained over the battlefield and created those firestorms. They were the essence of those storms, and Yuan Shu knew that the momentum behind those came from the fellow at the western wall. He, too, covered himself with tempests and whirlwinds with no colors. At least, he knew that man was a mentor in the branch of Claudius' college. No more than that.

One from Cindersnow, other from the far dynasty and the most fierce empire of all. Shaowei Empire. They acted as a shire and first line of defense against most of the evil sects. Thus, most of their men were also favored by the sect and strong. Very, very strong.

Their strength perhaps could help him stay alive here. Without his Qi cultivation and only tempered fleshly body, taking down normal goliaths were not that hard. The mutated variants, he lacked the knowledge of their skills. The tree demons, way too slow to threaten him. Only, this incoming battalion of wood spirits might get him into real danger.

He stole a quick peek at the young boy behind, his eyes wide open and breathing fast. That was the supposed effect of the manuals their general talked about. Emotion manipulation. Quick comprehension. Instinct enhancement.

Then the isolation of feelings. Yeah, the boy calmed down a moment after only to get agitated again. Yuan Shu couldn’t help but grin a bit. Maybe he chose the correct path for the first time in his life now. And if what the general said was true...he couldn’t imagine what kind of a place the world would become.

A time where they could fight as long as they wanted, a battle that would never end until another hegemon emerged, a war for the emperor of the emperors. And the best part- There would be no sect to intervene.

Heheheheheheheheheh- His grin grew wider.

Such a future, how fun would that be?