Chapter 335 334. An Alchemy's Miracle.



"The great one" descended right in front of them, and Godred, who was beside the emperor, Ortharious, instantly knelt with his head facing downward.

"I greet the great one!" Godred exclaimed in a delighted tone.

After a brief moment of eerie silence,

".... You may rise." The great one commanded with a hint of confusion hidden deep within his tone.

"Thank you. Thank you!" Godred stood back on his feet with a delighted sigh as he looked at the great one in front of him.

And yet another series of silence descended upon them as Godred glanced at Ortharious from the corner of his eyes and noticed the hunt of disgust in his fiery gaze that screamed defiance.

But abruptly, his gaze widened and turned lustrous, which made Godred shudder at the ominous feeling that crept up his heart.

"Eshwar! How could you just run off like that?" A sweet woman's concern-filled voice sounded behind the great one, whose name seemed to be Eshwar. It was at that exact moment that Godred realised why he had just felt ominous.

A gorgeous woman with black hair and obsidian black eyes jogged towards Eshwar, who glanced at her over his shoulder and smiled lightly before his gaze shifted to Godred with a hint of killing intent enveloped in his gaze. Before his gaze landed on Ortharious, it was the moment when Godred felt time stop as he didn't even dare to breathe in front of a being whom he saw in his visions, destroying the world without a change in his expressionless expression, both in the past visions and the future ones.

*

As soon as Ortharious' gaze landed on the goddess in front of him, his mind diverted to the things he would do with the woman in front of him in his room; for a split second, his mind even replaced his "toy's," the dragon princess's, or the "tainted" saintess's, face with the woman in front of him.

His lust had dove so deep that none of his senses, except for the thing in his pants, were active.

And abruptly, Ortharious' eyes dilated as he noticed Eshwar's hand swung horizontally at his neck, but before whatever was in his hands even reached the emperor's neck, he felt his neck being cut off as his body was vertically slit in half at the same time.

THUD-!

Without breathing, Ortharious gazed to his left and saw a zombie's head rolling on the ground while its headless body stood beside him, frozen.

"You should be careful where your gaze wanders, your majesty." Eshwar's cold, nearly emotionless voice sounded in front of him, snapping the literal daylights out of him as all the blood in his face drained, turning him as pale as paper. This was the first time he had actually felt the threat to his existence, and absent-mindedly, he glanced back at his most trusted aide, Atman, who was glaring at Eshwar with an unsheathed sword in his trembling hands.

GASP-!

With a loud gasp, Ortharious began to breathe again, though his breathing was extremely laboured. He was able to "see" the swing that was aimed at his neck, but he could neither see nor feel the swing that threatened to cut him in half. Earlier, he had dared to threaten Godred, exactly because he had his aide, who was the strongest existence Ortharious had ever seen, behind him, but now, looking at how he was trembling, Ortharious' mind gears began to spin at top speed as he tried to find ways to deal with being, Eshwar, whose moniker was the great one.

'He isn't an existence that I can afford to oppose "here."' Ortharious thought, and before his mind completed its planning, his mouth moved and

"Thank you for saving me, Sir?" Ortharious expressed his gratitude and questioned the name he was already aware of.

"Eshwar. And you?" Eshwar introduced himself arrogantly and asked back bluntly, without an ounce of respect in his tone, in which he hadn't even bothered to hide his annoyance as he spoke to the one and only emperor,

"Ortharious!" Ortharious introduced himself in a heartbeat, not bearing the disrespect in Eshwar's voice. He found it harder to hold back at the lack of respect in Eshwar's tone because previously, the same person had called Ortharious "your majesty," meaning Eshwar knew who Ortharious was, yet that was his attitude towards a person who was respected by all from the moment he was born.

"Is that right?" Eshwar asked nonchalantly and looked back at the footsteps that sounded behind him, and Ortharious followed his gaze and noticed the arrival of a few familiar faces walking towards him.

"Father!" Charlie exclaimed loudly and jogged excitedly towards Ortharious, but instead of hugging his father like one would expect, he stopped a few steps in front of Ortharious and bowed politely.

"I have returned, your majesty." Charlie reported with his right hand placed on his chest.

"Your majesty!" In a soldiered tone, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, and Hannah knelt with their heads down and exclaimed in unison, in an overly respectful demeanour.

"You all may rise." Ortharious spoke in an authoritative but satisfied tone.

'!!!' With an ingenious idea in his mind,

"We shall speak in the palace." Ortharious said and walked towards the palace without waiting for their response, which was to be expected from the emperor.

'Come, I'll make sure you learn how to kowtow in front of the authoritative.' Ortharious thought, gritting his teeth.

*

In a 20-foot-wide room, Atman walked into the room with many pairs of bands floating beside him.

"Please take two pairs each. They are mana suppressors, for both your and the emperor's safety. Since the world is thrown into chaos, we don't know who or what form one would try to attack the emperor due to their greed to take over the throne; hence, these are for safety purposes. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS, offensively." Atman said. He said those words slightly louder at the end, purposefully indicating other intentions, but unfortunately for them, none caught on to it.

"..... Understandable." Eshwar said, gazing at Atman fixedly before wearing them as he nodded to himself in understanding.

"....." After everybody wore the suppressors, they gazed at Atman with a fierce gaze that demanded explanations.

"Why are we unable to use any of our abilities?" The black-haired woman asked with a deep frown after confirming that the wristbands and anklets weren't coming off.

"I apologise; it was an order from the emperor. You will be unable to use, absolutely, any of your abilities; of course, that includes the skills granted to you by the system." Atman said as he gazed at panic breaking out in front of him, yet Eshwar stood calm, noticing his calm, the black-haired woman calmed down, and for whatever reason, the others that noticed Eshwar's and the black-haired woman's reactions also calmed down.

"Lead the way." Eshwar's commanding, power-filled voice resounded throughout the room, to which Atman subconsciously turned and led them towards the door, which took them to the "room," an alchemy's miracle, a room that was devoid of mana or any natural energies.

After arriving at the room, Atman knocked and announced their arrival before taking them into the room, which was devoid of any natural energies that naturally existed from ancient times on the planet Antinoüs.

Atman walked and stood behind the throne, on which Ortharious sat with a disgusting, twisted grin on his face. On a step below the throne, Godred, Zu'e, Marcia, Okisada, and Alexandru stood while Zu'e and Marcia fidgeted with violent blush adorning their adorable yet fierce warrior-like faces as they gazed at Atman from the corner of their love-struck gazes.

"Kneel!" Ortharious commanded resentfully, and unexpectedly to those gazing at the figures, the first to kneel was Eshwar, who was the most rebellious type from what they had witnessed earlier, outside the imperial palace, which caught them off guard and made them flustered for reasons unknown.

"It's over, it's over, it's over....." Godred's loud enough mumble sounded. They glanced at Godred from the corner of their eyes and noticed that he was pale as paper, and he was seen sweating profusely with a despair-filled face. No, the expression on his face looked like that of someone who was on their death bed.

Although Atman reacted to everything happening in the room, he hadn't had a single change in his expression that seemed to indicate that he was analysing everything that was happening or was about to happen in the room.

"Well, aren't you obedient now? What happened to your arrogance that you showed outside the palace?" Ortharious asked in a mocking and satisfied tone, and it was then that a flash of realisation flashed on the faces of those present, except for Eshwar's and the black-haired woman's faces.

"....."

No answer. No response came, and Ortharious' index finger began to tap on the throne's right armrest. The more silence extended, the more restless Ortharious became, and before long his index finger was tapping on the right armrest non-stop.

"Hey, you." Ortharious abruptly called out at the black-haired woman, who glanced at Ortharious with a cold and indifferent gaze in response.

"Strip." Ortharious commanded bluntly with a lustrous grin, widening his face. At that moment, the room's temperature dropped by several degrees, and though not an ounce of reaction was seen on the woman's face, Eshwar's slightly visible face was now devoid of anything.

SCRI-!

SCRIBBLE-!!

With a strange scribbling sound that resounded throughout the room, an ever-increasing eerie feeling befell the room. Even now, there weren't any noticeable changes in those in front of Ortharious, yet the eerie scribbling sound continued to resound.

"Why did you have to?" Unexpectedly, the black-haired woman spoke with a pity-filled look on her face as she gazed at Ortharious. Though it was an unexpected question that caught everybody off guard, instead of answering her question, their gazes shifted to Eshwar, who was kneeling on the ground, since they expected a reaction from him, naturally.

Nothing, except for the darkness dyeing his faceless face, nothing else was visible on what was supposed to be Eshwar's face.