Spirit Kings. Existences standing above the spirit lords, capable of feats any spirit lord could only dream of. Damien had never expected to encounter one so soon, even in a spirit lord's vessel, they weren't even supposed to be on the planet.

[It's obvious that he's appeased the world spirit by restricting his powers,] Grays said into Damien's mind.

"He doesn't look restricted to me."

[He might have skirted his deal by using a vessel at the very peak of spirit lord... But it's still a spirit lord's body.]

Damien said nothing to that, "Why is he even here? I thought their ilks viewed matters of lower cultivators to be beneath them."

[Wasn't the end goal of your master plan to draw him out?] Gray replied, amused.

"Sure, I mean...yea, but I never predicted him to have ascended."

When he'd found out about the true ruler of the empire, Damien's goal had been to draw Solaris out from whatever hole he'd crawled into.

The plan had been easily thought of....kill enough of the empire's pillars that the man would either be forced to step in or risk his empire crumbling. The attack on the small desert city had been like the heavens lending him a hand when two empire pillars practically delivered themselves to him, saving him from the stress of having to hunt them down.

Dealing a huge blow to the empire by practically nullifying two of their numbers, he'd known that they wouldn't take that sitting down, after all, they couldn't let the other sovereigns view them as weak. He knew that it was only a matter of time before they would come down on him in force, and he'd happily welcomed them.

Looking at the latest arrival, Damien wondered where he'd gone wrong in his plans. He'd traded information for the possible whereabouts of the emperor, to no avail. He'd even tried divining it himself, coming up with nothing. Now, the rat had crawled out of his hole, but in the form of a wolf.

"What's got your tongue?" Solaris asked, a mocking smile on his lips. "Wasn't my arrival 'greatly waited upon?'"

Damien said nothing.

"I admit, your plan was impressive, trying to draw me out. Your only miscalculation was that you thought I couldn't see it from a thousand miles away."

Damien's expression had been under tight control ever since the man arrived, but he couldn't stop the flicker of surprise that flashed through.

Solaris smiled.

"Are you surprised?" He barked a harsh laugh. "Did you think your scheme so convoluted as to escape my gaze? Any spirit lord worth their powers could have seen it coming from a mile away.

"it's a wonder my fool of a son couldn't." He finished, looking at his son in irritation.

Young Solaris who'd been quiet all these while, conflicted emotions running through his face, suddenly spoke up, "Fath—"

"Be quiet," Solaris commanded, turning a scathing eyes towards his son. "I gave you a task to complete... A simple task, with all the tools needed at your disposal, and yet, not only did you fail to accomplish anything notable, you let yourself be continuously hindered by a child who hasn't even gone past his third decade. You are a disgrace."

Young Solaris jerked backward like he'd been slapped in the face.

"Father, all is not as simple as you think,"

Solaris raised an eyebrow, "Is that so? Tell me how hard you found it to deal with these bunch of excuses who deem themselves spirit lords" he pointed at the Camlen group without even looking at them. "Enough with your excuses, you know I despise them. Never make them."

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Shock, indignation, and anger swept through the group of spirit lords at what the Emperor had just called them. It wasn't surprising, no spirit lord liked to be referred to with such unsavory term.

"That was uncalled for, Emperor," Menoe spoke up, coming closer and giving a nod of greeting to the man.

Solaris eyed her like a dirty rag tossed at his feet, "Your feelings do not matter to me, priestess."

Menoe overlooked the blatant insult.

"That's too sad, someone of such standard descending to such levels."

Solaris expression immediately turned cold, "Count yourself lucky to be amongst the clergy, otherwise I would have torn out your tongue for such disrespect." He turned towards Damien and his emissaries. "Unfortunately for you lot, your lives aren't as protected."

Damien, who had been quiet for some time, finally spoke up.

"You sound awfully confident."

"Why shouldn't I be? None of you are yet to even reach the peak tier. I find it disgraceful that nothing on this rock of a planet could even be considered threatening," he sneered.

"You misunderstand..." Damien idly swung his spear, answering the inquiring gaze from the emperor. "...You are not at the top of this world."

A mocking smile spread through Solar's lips, "Oh.. pray tell..who is?"

"Me," Damien replied, his voice dead calm.

The next moments would forever shock the hearts of the spirit lords present.

One moment Damien and Solaris had been exchanging words, the next... They slammed into each other in a boom of displaced air, exchanging blows in a fury of concussive shockwaves that pushed back the nearby spirit lords.

In the blink of an eye—the same they'd begun—they separated, Stalking each other predator to predator.

Damien breathed hard, ignoring the looks of utter shock directed at him. He would have laughed if he could. It wasn't surprising that although they'd never seen him at full power, everyone here had once thought they'd gotten his full measure. It was good to see reality speaking for him.

"Now, I am surprised. To find such an egg amongst stones, congratulations, you've just gotten a reprieve from certain death. Bend the knee and I'll spare you.

This time it was Damien's turn to laugh.

"Are you so conceited that you'd actually believe me willingly becoming one of your lackeys?" He chuckled. "Such arrogance."

Solaris was quiet for a while, just watching Damien. Eventually, he spoke, his voice a whisper that could be heard by all, "Very well. Remember this when you eventually beg for your life."

Golden fire erupted, consuming the empire group and blinding everyone else. When it finally cleared, they were gone.

They didn't even take their fallen comrades.

***

The skies were sunny, clear of the dark and angry clouds that had been cloaking it a few hours ago, like a battle hadn't just been fought in this area. The only signs of the monumental battle that had taken place were the cracked and pitted earth. Large craters decorated the vast empty lands for miles, setting homes for soon-to-be large ponds and lakes.

Large piles of rocks were scattered everywhere—the only evidence of the mountains that had stood there for years. New river paths had been torn through, as the old ones had either been covered in rocks or the entire path melted.

Damien floated alone in the skies, waiting for Keilan. The others had already returned to their various domains to recuperate and comfort their terrified subjects.

From the levels of energy disruption their fights had caused, a lot of them would have pissed their pants by now thinking the end of the world had come, especially the people of Camlen who had full view of the battle. It wasn't every day that spirit lords decided to battle in your backyard. Most of the people hadn't even seen a spirit lord in the entirety of their lifetime, and multiple of them had just done battle a few miles from them. He would have been terrified had he been in their shoes.

Soon enough, he felt space fluctuate, and a small tornado—Human height—suddenly emerged, dispersing to reveal Keilan wearing a victorious grin. He looked like he'd just conquered the world and was about to do a victory dance.

But it wasn't Keilan that caught Damien's eyes.

A beautiful woman was held in his hands. Black ruffled hair drifted out of her face by the wind as she finally took a look at her surroundings. Her eyes were a golden purplish colour, with flush narrow cheeks and a pointed nose.

She was wearing a moon-embellished gown, which looked splendid on her.

Looking at her, he could tell she looked reluctant to be here—as any victim of kidnapping would—but she'd also resigned herself to reality. Good.

When her eyes finally landed on Damien, they weren't surprised at all, just resigned and, not surprisingly, confused.

[That is one beautiful maiden.] Gray whistled.

"Shut up."

Turning to Keilan, he asked, "Any problem?"

"Aside from one pissed-off cultivator, I would say it all went very well, though I almost got caught by their returning force. Just managed to snag our visitor here before I ran for it." He replied, the stupid grin still on his face.

Damien nodded, satisfied. At least something good had come out of all this mess. Removing the empire's eyes was a good start for what was to come.

"Come, let me fill you in on our newest arrival.