Emperor's Reckoning

"Hmm?" Ivy had her eyes set on the gate of the city. She saw the paved roads outside before a thrum made her turn. "?!" Her pupils shrunk as she saw the cloud swiveled away.

"W-What's happening?" the cultivators in the city said.

"The sky, it's trem—Ah!"

The ground tremendously quaked as the sea burst out pillars of water against the sky. Waterfalls greatly surged down as the clouds from each corner of the world hovered above the city. Everyone gawked as the great shadow crashed against them, hiding their disbelief.

"You should stay here for a while, Ivy."

"?" Ivy turned and saw Kesya squared her off.

"Things are going to be a bit messy here, it would be really dangerous if you step outside," Kesya grinned before she crossed her arms and darted against the palace. "After all, why not see it for yourself, the potential of a mortal that was condemned by both Paradise and Purgatory."

(Condemned by Paradise and Purgatory?) Ivy raised her brows before she turned and put her glance at the palace.  (Wait a minute... that's right. He is still at peak Godhood cultivation level, just like Cecile, then...) she gulped. Just with that power alone, she had witnessed what monstrosity lies beneath his smirk, and now he was going to go beyond.

"A-Amazing," Garuda had his brows furrowed as his cloak fluttered with his daughter covering behind him.

"F-Father! What is happening?!" shouted Ayumu with her eyes peeking out from her arm.

"Young friend, no, young master Lyon is going to attempt, no, he is breaking through the next realm as we speak."

(Lyon?) thought Ayumu as her eyes barely could see the man sitting with his legs crossed alone in the garden.

Luna raised her brows as she watched from a distance. She darted against the sky before she gaped, "Look, I think, the tribulation is starting."

"En," Lumina nodded after she watched what unfold. "However."

"However?"

"Watch," Lumina furrowed her brows before the storm that was about to come, dispersed in an instant.

"Kah?"

"What?"

"What just happened?"

The cultivators inside the city were startled by the development. The impending storm vanished in the blink of an eye and the blue cheerful sky had returned. However, the silence that followed was more dreadful.

"Did he fail?" Ivy gulped. Of all people, he was the person with the most success rate of breaking through based on her experience journeying with him.

"No," Kesya answered.

"Then what?" Ivy furrowed her brows and realizing not that Kesya had her arms crossed and her teeth grinning at the palace.

"He is playing with the cultivation system."

"Playing? What do you mean?" Ivy turned.

"There is a hidden dangerous method that you could utilize to face a heaven's tribulation," said Kesya. "You can either face one each level or accumulate all of it at once."

"What?! How is that possible?!"

"It is possible, however, it's a dangerous game where too soon is better than too late. One would need to break through as fast as he or she can before the tribulation comes, thus canceling the forming of the previous one. Repeat the process until you hit the bottleneck and then, faced the ultimate tribulation in one go. He called it, the cultivation hack. If you are too late, then you will be attacked in the middle of your cultivation and the risk of breaking your meridians will be higher than Adamrest Mountain."

"C-Cultivation hack?—" she raised her brows as she was in the presence of the clouds yet again gathered and a quake of tremors greater than the previous one occurred.

"W-What's going on?" Luna's breath became rapid.

"He is doing what Cecile had done before," added Lumina as she furrowed her brows.

"What?!" Luna was even more deep into confusion.

"Two," Assid fixed his glasses and hide his gaze behind the reflection of the light as thunder followed suit.

Cecile smirked as she watched from the balcony. "Is everything ready?"

"Yes, Empress, everything is ready according to your command."

"En."

The clouds dispersed once more and the cultivators inside the city were once again startled. However, before they could scream out their opinions, the clouds had returned, along with the quake and tremor as a package.

"W-What? A-Again?!"

"What's going on?!"

Ivy frowned before the clouds dispersed again. She gulped before they gathered again, quaked again, and this time, blisters of the gale were crashing against the city. "Third level!"

"He is going all the way! Hahaha!" Kesya laughed.

(How can she smile at a time like this?!) thought Ivy before the clouds dispersed. "Fifth!"

"Oh my, this is happening again," Yunesia chuckled at the balcony, "Tell me, why do you guys always find another way for the same thing?"

"You have a smart brain Yunesia, you can figure it out yourself," said Cecile as she kept her glance toward her husband.

"Oh, stingy," Yunesia puckered up her purple lips as she slightly slouched her shoulder. "I will have you know that I still beneath you, o cold empress."

Cecile snorted a smirk. "Don't get near my husband."

"Oh no!" Yunesia wailed.

"Fourth," Assid frowned.

"Fifth," Lumina gulped.

"Sixth!" Kesya grinned.

"S-Seventh!" Ivy trembled.

"Ayumu, you better go to a safe place," Garuda turned as he gulp.

"And where is that?" Ayumu responded.

Garuda raised his brows. "Y-You're right."

"Eighth!"

"Ninth!"

"Tenth!" Cecile smirked before total silence befallen the city.

Everyone's skin crawled. The total silence only heightened their imagination and a cold breeze sprung up from their spine to their nape as seconds ticked by. Mana was stilled and froze as their mouth left gaping open before their eyes shrunk.

"Here it comes!" Kesya's eyes enlarge before her entire hair turned black. Her hands couldn't help but open and close before her skin turned a darker shade. She tapped her foot against the ground. "HEEHEHE!!"

Ivy felt her soul clenched as if something was clutching her heart from behind. She strugglingly glance over her shoulder before her pupils shrunk. (W-What's happening to her).

Kesya grinned menacingly as her tiny dark pupils looked at the forming supercell storm right above the city.

Inside the supercell storm was a figure slowly descending down. A faceless human made entirely out of mana, appeared, however, this time it seemed to have an armor surrounding it. It was looking down against the city and made most cultivators wonder about the kind of being he was.

"The highest tribulation! I expect nothing less from the man you chose as your husband," Yunesia shook her head. "What monstrosity, how did her mother even give birth to him."

Cecile smirked before she looked up against heaven, against the being that was courting all of their attention. It looked down against the man that was sitting cross-legged with a smirk on his face.

"Hahahahah!" Kesya plunged against the sky with frivolous mana surrounding her entire being.

"I knew it," Assid commented. "She won't be able to contend with a good punching bag lying— ehem, I meant hovering around."

"DIE!" Kesya screamed against the supercell as her claws opened.

"I am me, I am true, true to my desire, true to me, I am true, I am me, I'm... god."

"Huh?!" Cecile's eyes stretched after her ears twitched.

*Crack!

Kesya swung her claws downward and shredded the space along. The supercell vanished with the blow as the blue sky once again returned. However, despite the wondering looks of the city, the party was looking at Lyon with furrowed brows.

Kesya threw her wrist as she frowned.

"Kesya!" Cecile shouted from below. "Did you manage to eliminate it?"

Kesya returned to her original form as she shook her head, "No, empress. It cracked into smithereens before I made contact."

"Huh? What's going on?" Yunesia uttered.

"I knew it. So I wasn't hearing things," Cecile frowned.

"Hey, what's going on?" asked Yunesia.

"My husband is not playing games," Cecile smirked. "He is going all the way."

"What... do you mean?" Yunesia frowned.

Graham gulped before he opened his crossed arms, "Master! You..."

"Of course I am," Lyon opened his eyes with a smirk. "Get ready all of you, I'm all the way up!" Mana surged like a torrent from his ring as he closed his eyes back. The meridians inside his body glowed and were narrowly visible to Graham's eyes.

(Master... amazing) Graham smirked. "I can't let you down," he muttered before he hovered to the sky.

"Assid, join them."

"Understood, young miss," Assid hovered to the sky before joining Graham and Kesya.

"What's going on," Luna muttered as she looked at Lyon. "Did he fail?"

"Hm?! Oh no, Lyon are you serious...," Lumina sighed.

"What, what's going on?!"

"He is going to advance further, no, in fact, he is already at the first level here."

"You mean?!"

"Yes, he had his eyes set toward the peak of True God Realm."

Lumina gasped. "True God? Already?!"

"He is going much further," Cecile added before Lyon's meridians flashed.