Hero of Darkness

The heavenly king aka Romulus Lykaios expressed his concern regarding Kahn's future openly and decided to explain why he thought so.

"In the Nadur Empire, all powerful tribes and saints are subjects under imperial rule.

Things such as Noble Classes, Factions and Elites of the society and having their allegiance to certain groups, tribes or leaders is useless and considered taboo.

No matter where you come from, which clan or tribe you belong to and what position you have in imperial rule or the military…

You're expected to serve the empire and protect it from both external and internal conflicts and enemies alike." he spoke in a serious tone.

"Protecting the peace within the empire is the responsibility of all the forces in our empire.

Thus, all the 12 major tribes are expected to do certain missions to serve the interests of the empire. You can't deny them for any reason either.

And since someone of my standing is always busy with affairs of both the tribe and the empire… we have to send our best fighters to complete these missions." he iterated solemnly.

"Doesn't anyone ever complain?" asked Atreus.

"Why would they?" spoke the Fenrirborne with a small smirk.

"This arrangement also serves as a great life experience for the next generation of saints who are supposed to lead the tribes in the future.

Gaining battle experience, surviving ordeals to emerge as a strong, wise and experienced leader is all we want for the sake of our tribes.

Thus, I have sent all of them to their respective missions as per the rules." he said and leaned back on his throne.

Kahn understood the reason and nodded.

"So everyone is the same under imperial rule. There is no favoritism, elitism and partiality between the populace and different races?" he questioned and folded his arms.

"No. Not on the surface at least." replied Romulus casually.

"So what do you want me to do then master?"

"When I brought you here for the first time, my disciples were returning from one of such missions. Now we have 4 new missions at the same time." stated the tribe leader.

"Some situations arose recently in all 4 of those missions.

So you will have to follow Dorian to his mission. He already left so leave quickly." he replied.

"Ah, why didn't you tell me this beforehand?" Kahn aka Atreus rolled his eyes.

"I told you this information in secret because it is supposed to be common knowledge. If I explained it to you in front of them, they would have suspected your background that we have built up so perfectly." revealed the wolfkin.

"Take this token. It's an artifact that will guide you.

There are coordinates and you have to fly there on your own since you're faster than a warship." spoke Romulus and commanded Kahn.

Soon, Kahn used the device akin to a holographic radar by injecting his world energy and flew at supersonic speed in the direction of his new mission, breaking sound barriers multiple times.

7 hours later, he arrived 15 thousand kilometers away in a different area of the Nadur empire which wasn't part of Elysium.

This region was part of the section of the Beast Empire called Aztlan.

Atreus stopped at the east-southern end and finally met Dorian at a military base.

During his flight, he saw over 60 kilometers of perimeter covered in devastation and flames. Screams and cries of helpless people filled the surroundings as military soldiers tried to rescue many victims.

The number of common people belonging to various races that were brutally massacred came into his sight.

"What happened here?!" he asked Dorian who was donning a golden armor.

"A mythical rank monster.

The report says it was hibernating in a close forest to the city for decades before this city was even established.

The locals treated it as a forest guardian since its presence deterred monsters to come in these regions.

But for some reason, it suddenly woke up last night." explained the white wolfkin who was of the same height as Atreus.

"Do they do that?" asked the blue wolfkin with a curious voice.

"Some do. Some even sleep for over a century to undergo a transformation or while ranking up to a legendary or mythical rank.

This one is one of those." responded the Light Swordsman.

"But then why did it attack this city?" queried Atreus.

"According to military witnesses, it was minding its own business and wasn't hostile at all." responded Dorian with a gloomy expression.

"Wasn't there an emergency response?" asked Atreus again.

"There was. A 4th stage saint who is also the son of the commander tasked to guard 100 kilometers of this area of the empire.

The leader himself is a 3rd stage saint but he was visiting the capital. So the son was the temporary commander-in-chief.

"But the matter isn't that easy." sighed Dorian helplessly.

"Why? Did he fail to stall it?"

"No… according to the reports, he idiotically provoked the monster and tried to kill it without any proper plan.

Some people do that for fame throughout the empire.

And when he couldn't kill it and got seriously injured… He fled." revealed the disciple.

"But then why did the monster destroy this city?" asked Atreus again with a puzzled countenance.

This monster was supposed to be slumbering in the forest for decades, there seemed to be no reason for it to attack the city and kill all these people without any proper cause.

"Because when he was scared witless for his life… that moron fled in this direction instead of taking a detour." Dorian revealed the truth.

"Son of a bitch! Are you telling me that more than a million innocent citizens died because of a mistake and incompetence of one guy?" asked Atreus in bewilderment.

"Yes. Although no one dares to admit it because of his rank as a saint and position as the son of the commander…

Once the monster came across the city… It went rampant and caused this massacre because it was following him in an enraged state.

And now… There are barely 20 thousand people left alive." spoke Dorian with a ghastly expression.

"Who the fuck is that bastard?!

Fucking idiot! Where the fuck is he?!" asked Atreus furiously.

Because of the cowardice and stupidity of one person… a million of innocent people, who were supposed to be protected by that same person, died a miserable death.

Death of an innocent bystander was often termed as 'collateral damage' by the people in power. But no one understood how many lives it destroyed and how many undeserving people lost everything they held dear due to battles between powerhouses such as a saint and a mythical rank monster.

Kahn always hated these types of people who had no sense of accountability whether it was while reading a novel or in the real world.

At one point, he too foolishly ended up causing a riot in Flavot city… Although his actions were right and on the side of justice at that time; it still lead to death of over a thousand commoners who were protesting against Noble Clans.

This was one of the regrets he still had to this day.

The next second, instead of encouraging him, Dorian spoke with a reluctant voice.

"Stop! We can't touch him or do anything to him."

"Why? Because he's the son of a commander?

So what?! He should be held responsible for this!" exclaimed Atreus as saint pressure started surging.

"No. There's another reason. Because…" spoke the white fenrirborne with an indignant expression as he revealed the truth.

"He's a member of the Hero's Party."