“Huh!”

“Huh!”

Raphael and Lu Jade stared at each other with terror resonating in those shared glances as they grasped the sheer danger of their predicament.

Trapped! Before an Emperor Calamity, they were as good as dead.

“Big Brother… I.. Huff! Huff!”

Lu Jade was hyperventilating. He was getting paler and he trembled uncontrollably. It was one thing to betray his family, to loot his Father’s treasury and feast upon his sister, but this… this confrontation…

They were doomed!

Those memories about Lu Ignis’s methods for dealing with traitors were coming to the forefront, making his situation even worse.

Raphael slithered closer to offer comfort and hissed softly, “Little Lu… Calm yourself… Calm yourself! We… we’ll… figure something out. Surely there has to be a way."

He then did what Butler Long had taught him:

Observe! Analyze! Survive!

Raphael raised his head slowly and began moving his gaze across the chamber, registering every detail of this hopeless situation, hoping for some escape, or a lucky break, which never came.

Above, Lu Ignis's colossal form towered, lava dripped from his bronze scales and sizzled upon the floor below.

At the side, Lu Ruby’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as she watched those trapped snakes. There was an intensity in her gaze that rivaled even her father’s, ‘What are those fools up to?’ she wondered. ‘And why haven’t they been executed yet?'

Behind Lu Ruby, those ancient Elders - Lu Mongue and Lu Noid watched with wary anticipation. Their experience told them that their Emperor’s patience was a volatile thing, a fire ready to erupt.

Near the archway, those two guards headed by Killaman, stood frozen, unable to comprehend this breach in their Emperor’s defenses. They shifted nervously.

While observing these figures, Raphael began thinking, ‘Hmm… it’s time for Plan B.’ It wasn’t a plan really, more like a frantic gamble, a hope against hope that his actions might buy them some time, until a true opportunity arose, or perhaps this would be his final act,

‘I need a distraction. A BIG one. And Lu Jade…’ He couldn’t rely on the serpent now, not while his mind was breaking. This play, it was all up to him.

‘Hmm, the situation is truly terrible. We are discovered, but our cover has yet to be blown, which is why we are still alive. I’m sure they are dying to know the reason for us breaking into the treasury. Perhaps… I can exploit the situation to my benefit to extend our life expectancy. Juts until I figure out a way out of this situation.’

Thinking this, Raphael uncoiled from Lu Jade and abandoned his attempt to soothe him. He slithered toward the edge of the barrier with a terrified expression.

He bowed very low, “YOUR MAJESTY! Please have mercy! Please have mercy! This lowly servant was just carrying out orders!”

“Orders?” Lu Ignis was intrigued, “Orders from who?” He lower his head closer and waited for Raphael’s explanation.

Raphael shuddered exaggeratedly while gesturing towards Lu Ruby with his tail, “I was forced, Your Majesty! I was ordered by the Red Chariot Princess! Ordered to infiltrate the treasury! To sssteal… to sssteal your most prized possession!”

“What?!"

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Lu Ruby was appalled listening to this lying black snake. “FATHER, I would NEVER! Those liesssss…" Her furious retort was cut short by a terrifying explosion!

The Emperor bellowed: “LIAR!”

His roar shook the entire palace, causing tapestries to fall, jade pillars to crack, and those servants nearby, those unfortunate souls whose eardrums ruptured, to instantly bleed from their noses and ears.

BOOM! CRACK!

Even Lu Ruby stumbled backward as that transparent barrier that imprisoned Raphael and Lu Jade vanished instantly! It was truly spectacular, this fury. However, what she and those around witnessed next had their hearts fluttering with a sentiment she'd never encountered before.

‘He… trusts me?’

Lu Ignis’ outburst wasn't directed at his daughter. The wrath wasn't aimed at those elders. It was focused on that damned serpent, that brazen liar who dared accuse his bloodline of such treachery. Those scales pulsed and smoke rose as his gaze, burning crimson, settled back on those snakes, and something within Lu Ruby whispered softly:

‘He doesn’t even consider me capable of such a thing… My father, his… judgement… how powerful.’ Then a sly smile graced her countenance.

‘Hmm... This isssss good… very good.’ Raphael smiled internally as he quickly assessed this sudden change of events. They were no longer trapped inside a barrier, thanked to Lu Ignis’s roar. ‘He didn’t believe those lies. Eh? Nonetheless, it bought us those few moments I needed!’

There was an opening, they had to escape now!

WHOOSH!

Raphael slid closer to Lu Jade.

“Little Lu, here." He subtly dropped the 'Rou Lin Nest' with Qi Hawk's Void Eye into Lu Jade's waiting jaws.

“TAKE thisss and RUN on my command!”

“B-but! BIG BROTHER! NO! I can’t… I won’t…" The prospect of abandoning Raphael here, in this hopeless situation, it terrified Lu Jade more than facing his Father’s fury, even as his scales and heart screamed in defiance to this order, those memories of brotherhood they’d formed were too strong.

"DON’T WASTE TIME! Remember…”

“Sssspeak! Who ssent you two to…! Huh? WHAT?!" Lu Ignis’s burning gaze which was ready to annihilate those trespassers, noticed something being transferred.

“Issssn’t thatsss…? My ‘Void Eye’?!” Lu Ignis's jaw dropped with a terrifying realization. It was a truth he couldn't deny. The audacity of it!

“That cunning bastard QI HAWK!” His utterance caused even those white-scaled elders to tremble in fear for they knew what happened next was never a good thing to witness.

And as if to prove this prediction...

“DIE! Both of you!”

Before anyone could even hiss a complaint, a massive bronze head descended, aimed to pulverize. It came crashing towards those black serpents below with earth-shattering force!

“Tsk! Leave it to me!”

“BIG BROTHER! NOOOO!"

The world exploded in a blinding mix of white, yellow and black. Flames erupted that were then extinguished in an instant as an ominous black fog swept over everything.

"GO!”

Lu Jade couldn't move, nor think clearly. He was frozen in terror until something hard struck his tail and sent him flying over those courtly serpents’ head towards that golden archway with blinding speed.

He saw it for a mere second. A silhouette rushing in the opposite direction as a bloodcurdling bellow of vengeance ripped through that chamber.

"What! The other one… GO AFTER HIM!" Lu Ignis commanded. “Bring him back, ALIVE!”

“On it, Father!”

Fueled by duty, loyalty and her father’s pleas, Lu Ruby dashed towards that exit with her three Sun Imperial Guard in tow. They were like an orange blaze streaking across those jade floors with their bronze armor clattering.

After they disappeared into those hallways, the elders who remained behind glanced ahead. That energy clash, it was beyond anything they’d imagined witnessing, and Lu Ignis’s attack, it would have reduced any creature smaller than Hellphet to paste, or worse.

"Lu Ignis’s power indeed hasn’t waned these past thousand years.”

"That treacherous snake isss most likely ash now," Lu Mongue concluded softly while observing those dancing fire and that fading blackness.

“Indeed.” Lu Noid nodded, but before a confirmation of their observation could be voiced.

THUD!

A golden hoof slammed heavily into those jade floors, sending a powerful shockwave that blew the elders back and caused those pillars to groan.

The black haze began to clear as an even more dreadful truth revealed itself. Those shadows dissipated.

It was no snake they saw.

“No way…"

“How?”

They were witnessing a true legend of Yama Yaguai.

The creature who had infiltrated those most guarded sanctuaries was now standing, or rather, was in a battle-ready posture. His massive body was radiating wild might.

It was the Golden Bull Thork, and its golden hide bore not a scratch. Those horns, massive and powerful, were tilted forward, ready for battle.

"Stinking bull! How audacious of you to show your true face before me!"

Lu Ignis was enraged. Those burning eyes could pierce steel, and his jaws were agape, ready to unleash a devastation that no beast nor creature in Yama Yaguai, not even that damned Qi Hawk could withstand. This confrontation, he was already relishing the taste of victory.

"Prepare for a thousand years of suffering, for I shall make your sssoul a ssslave to my will! Thisssss I VOW!"

He then unleashed a bellow that made the entire Heavenly Imperial Palace tremble. Those who heard the sound from afar questioned.

“Has the Void Emperor arrived?”

The answer to that burning inquiry was coming!