Emperor's Reckoning

Everyone still had their heart clench as they witnessed the sole audacity that Lyon had displayed outside.

After the rest of the participants returned to the arena, they bore different gazes as they saw Lyon. Some were loathing, other were fear. The madman didn't have a grand status like the princes did, however, the way he did things was as if First Heaven was the land that he had owned.

There was no telling how far Lyon would go with his antics. The spectators were keen to see the aftermath of the tournament, where those two kingdoms that he had offended took action.

"Welcome back everyone! Now without further ado, let me explain what the second round is all about, but first, let's see... one... ten... forty.... right, there are forty of you here that are still alive from the first round."

"Lyon, how does it feel to have the entirety of heaven becoming your enemy?" Folcre suddenly asked as he approached the man that had swindled some quiet sum from his noble pocket.

"Huh?" Lyon turned around before he took a glance at Folcre. "What?"

"Tch! How does it feel to have the entirety of heaven becoming your enemy?" repeated Folcre with gritted teeth.

.

.

.

Lyon didn't show a reaction as he turned his glance back at the host (He repeated it?!).

Folcre couldn't believe that he was just ignored, furthermore on purpose. It was not like Lyon was deaf, to begin with. Though the latter didn't show his iconic smirk, it still pissed the favorite one.

"You will pay for this!" said Folcre.

"The second round will be about, aura," said the host.

Cherie grinned the moment she heard the theme of the second round. It seemed like fate really was siding for the youth with the nonchalant attitude.

"Aura?" Lyon raised his eyebrows.

"That's right!" said the host as he opened his arms.

The plane of the arena rumbled before ten steps of stairs of glass pane leading up to one giant glass pane as the eleventh, was present. The glass pane was floating in the air and by the size of it, it could only fit about five people on each level of the glass pane.

"This is the second round! The second trial! You all will be facing pressure from all the four kings at once!"

"Woah," muttered Lyon. Of all the participants there, only he had zero knowledge of the tournament, he still had not yet known the prize to even winning the tournament yet.

"Tch!" the other participants thought that Lyon was being sarcastic.

"This is where the difference between the weak and the strong becomes apparent," said one of the onlookers.

"Yeah, but, that guy... you saw him too right? Two mature Golden Dragon couldn't even make him sweat."

"That's nothing! This time is the four kings from the four kingdoms, the pressure would be unimaginable."

"Hahaha," Cecile chuckled from her seat, "This is perhaps the easiest one for him to win."

The rest of the group nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, Hezar was growing more relaxed. After hearing what happened outside, he knew the result of Lyon's performance wouldn't matter. He had offended the two kingdoms. He need not lay a finger in this matter as everyone will be trying to off his head.

"That brat can only show up as long as the tournament goes," said Hezar.

The three leaders of the Mortal World sat silent without aggravating the matter.

"Looks like it's my turn then," said the king of the Pala Kingdom as he leaped from his seat.

"It's time to test these rookies," said the king of the Sverine Kingdom as he leaped from his seat.

"I'm going," said the king of the Bolg Kingdom.

"Hmm..." the king of the Golden Dragon Kingdom stood up from his seat before he leaped forward.

He landed on the eleventh, giant pane along with the three other kings.

Of all the kings present, the one with the most atmospheric aura was the king of the Golden Dragon Kingdom. The full-fledged divine beast could deter even the rustling grass.

"You guys seem to be healthy," said the Pala King as he smirked.

"This old bones might still need some grinding though," the Bolg King laughed.

"That's what's wrong with you two art-based cultivators, when you use magic, you don't have to stress your muscles as much."

"Speak for yourself," the Golden Dragon King answered.

The host bowed as he noticed the four kings were already at the highest step.

"Now then, I will explain the rule," said the host before he made a fake cough.

"Ehem! The rules are pretty simple, the four kings will conjoin their aura and put their pressure across the ten steps of stairs. The higher the steps, or should I say, the closer you are to the kings, the more pressure that you will feel."

"You will only have one chance! If you cannot handle the pressure you will be blown away from the step and thus disqualified. There is one thing that I need to mention, you are allowed to fight the others, and likewise, if you were blown away, you will be disqualified as well.

"For the requirement to advance to the final round, you must be able to go past the sixth step, anything below, then you are out of the tournament. You must be on it as long as we got ten participants!"

(The sixth? That would mean that the fight will mostly begin in the seventh!) thought Lyon as he nodded.

"To fight in such narrow space while simultaneously bearing the pressure from the four kings, this will be tight," said one of the onlookers.

"Never mind that it would be hard enough to even reach the sixth step without being fatigued beforehand."

"I wonder how far will that guy go."

"Heh, probably the seventh, where he has to fight for the place."

Wanda leaned back as she looked at the young man. "Now then, what will you do now?"

"I hereby declare the second round, start!" shouted the host.

It didn't take long before the participants rushed toward the stairs. The first step was nothing to be of mention but unlike what Lyon thought, the fight has already begun.

"Ah!" the wail of the first participant being knocked out was heard.

"Wow, he didn't even manage to even lay his feet to the second step before he is knocked out!" said one of the onlookers.

"It's a racing game!"

"Yeah, the quickest will gain the advantage of occupying the step and secure themselves!"

The onlookers were excited to see the early elimination. There were forty participants left from the first round and the wail of the weeks could be heard resonating with their thud of fall.

"Look, Folcre is advancing quite leisurely to the fifth step!"

"Woah!"

The favorite one of them all was advancing as ease as he pleased. There was no one dare enough to fight him for his spot as he advance to the next step. The immense pressure started to feel a little bit heavier the moment Folcre landed his foot toward the seventh step.

Folcre furrowed his eyebrows before advancing further toward the eighth step.

"Woah! He is on the eighth step already!"

"What?!"

The other participants could only watch him in awe.

Unlike the cheers from the crowd, Folcre was having a hard time standing on the eighth step. Though he was alone, the immense pressure from the four kings made his heart thumped in danger. His eyes were looking at the ninth step but his mind contemplated.

"Look the siblings are also going up!"

Altre and Felicia had no trouble following Folcre's footsteps. They were able to make it through the sixth step quite easily.

"Hah! This is nothing," said Altre as he stood proudly while turning around. He and her sister were the only ones on the sixth step at the moment. He turned around to see those below him already fighting for their spot. "Heh, a bunch of fools, huh?"

His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at one mortal cultivator crossing his arms. The man was not in a hurry as he gave out his iconic smirk for the people to love and hate.

Unlike the others that were racing to occupy the steps, the young man didn't even start yet. He was enjoying the battle that the participants were having for themselves.

(Why is he not moving?) thought Altre before he let out a smirk, "Lyon, are you scared to come up here?"

Lyon didn't bat an eye as he opened his mouth to yawn. The hectic fight in front of him didn't bother him in the slightest, let alone the useless provocative from one of the siblings.

"Kh!" Altre gritted his teeth.

"Be patient, brother," said Felicia pat his shoulder, "Let's go ahead first."

"Hmph!" Altre nodded before they were advancing to the seventh step.

(What is he doing?) thought Hilde as she furrowed her eyebrows.