Laz then ignored the guards and began his walk inside, followed by the villagers and his legion. He walked by the shaking guards inside who had been lucky enough to not be standing behind the door when Laz kicked in. They were frozen in place, their weapons hanging limply in their hands as they fought the urge to flat out run.

Spreading out his senses, he realized there were hundreds of solders heading their way and directed the slightly stunned scout captain to lead the way. After struggling free from his shock, he did just that, leading Laz towards the rooms where the meeting was suppose to take place while directing his two subordinates to take the legion and the villagers to rooms where they could clean up and relax.

Blake, Two, Seven and Sixteen insisted on going with Laz, but Laz just brought two with him along with Nagi who didn’t want to be left alone, making sure the others knew their responsibility was to keep their people out of trouble.

Making his way with Two and Nagi, Laz followed the captain until they arrived in a large hall. The Empress was seated in the throne on top of the dais while all of her daughters, a number of important looking older men and dozens of guards waited.

Laz didn’t hesitate to enter the room before giving a somewhat grand, if not slightly exaggerated, bow, followed by Two. Nagi didn’t bow and instead just looked around at the gathered people along with the room itself.

"HOW INSOLENT TO NOT BOW BEFORE HER MAJESTY!"

"I would suggest you shut up unless you want your head to go flying from your shoulders," Laz said, getting up and facing the older official.

"MY... WHAT...?"

"Ugh. Don’t act like you didn’t hear me you old thing. Now shut up and let the adults talk," Laz said, turning his attention back to the Empress who was stifling a laugh.

"I have news to report from the capitol," Laz said, his voice going solemn.

"Please continue," Hera said.

"The capitol has completely fallen and as far as I could tell, there are no survivors," Laz said, starting the bad news.

There was a lot of whispering to this news as many of the officials had just arrived here after figuring out the Emperor wasn’t planning anything to do with defense. At first they believed the reassurances of the princes and princesses who had stayed at the capital, but as the tides of beasts moved closer, they began to panic.

"We already knew this would happen. How is that big news?" The same old man who stood out against Nagi acted again, having not forgotten his embarrassment from before.

"Sigh. You know your majesty? It seems that many of these who fled from the capitol seemed to have done so not because they trusted your words or guidance, but because they are cowards who refused to fight. While the capitol fell, there were still signs of fierce resistance in many areas, showing that some brave warriors did fight to the death for their Empire. At least those men should be honored. Sadly though it seems like only cowards live a long time. It truly is a pity that those brave men couldn’t be here now..." Laz said, insulting every gathered official at the same time.

Just as they were about to shout and rebuke Laz, the Empress pounded her first down on the throne, sending a loud boom throughout the room, causing many of the officials to fall on their butts while almost all of her daughters and Laz’s group remained unfazed. Not that they weren’t targeted, they just weren’t afraid.

"Silence. Or you can all get out..." Hera said, glaring at them. She then turned her attention back to Laz.

"I’m sure you have more to report than things we would have already guessed, even if not knowing it would happen so soon," Hera asked.

"Of course. I came across the Emperor while I was flying overhead as well," Laz started to speak as a huge murmur arose amongst the officials again.

"Ha. Of course the Emperor couldn’t be defeated so easily."

"Perhaps we made a mistake in coming here."

"Seems as though our people and forces should return back to the capitol. If the Emperor is still alive, I’m sure the beast wave has ended?"

"Perhaps you are correct. How would the Emperor be alright if any of those beasts remained."

"I see that even at this point, you are thinking about abandoning your duties?" The Empress asked, having heard all of the things they said among themselves.

"While we did swear loyalty to you, my Empress, our primary duty is to follow the Emperor. It would seem that you wish for us to break with the rightful ruler and follow you instead? That would be treason your majesty!"

"It seems that I foolish to think that such men should be allowed to prove their worth to me by letting you in here. I very much regret not letting you all die at the gates. Well then, you may all go. You are dismissed. If you’re still here in the next hour, I shall have you killed as traitors and infiltrators. Please continue your story," Hera said, turning her attention back to Laz and no longer caring about the officials who were choosing the leave.

They had laughed at her threat, knowing that next to the Emperor, she was nothing. Just as they reached the door to leave, they heard Laz resume his story.

"The Emperor has been taken over by the shadow dragon and is now trapped in his own body while his soul is being devoured. While he isn’t a threat at the moment, once the soul meal is finished, the shadow dragon will have the strength to break the shackles of this world and break through the upper limit of godhood. At that point, I doubt anyone will be able to stop him," Laz reported.

Hearing this, the officials getting ready to leave froze in place, unable to move.

"Are you certain?" Hera asked and Laz shook his head.

"Yes. I spoke to him, it... whatever it is now. It wants this world as a breeding ground. Food in the form of people while it raises beasts to use in it’s personal army. And since this dimension can raise gods and it’s cut off... it’s the perfect place for it’s plans."

"So if we can’t stop it here, it will turn this dimension into it’s own hellish playground?"

"That’s what it said."

"Can’t we just leave this place? Mother. You always said there was a way out and we would go there one day. Why not just take our people and leave? Come back when we are stronger and take this place back?" Artemis asked.

"Because this shadow dragon is nothing more than a minion of another. If you escape, it will be free to do so as well and drag it’s master here. Compared to fighting with that thing, I’d rather fight his pet." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"You believe you can win?" Hera asked, but also prayed.

"There is a chance. If the Emperor keeps fighting, his soul won’t be easily consumed and the breakthrough won’t happen. What’s more, that beast needs more blood to help it along so it will have no choice but to come here where the most people gather. It’s just that getting it alone and fighting it alone will be a problem. It has an entire wave of other strong beasts with it, so even finding it might be difficult," Laz said with a sigh. He had the sword that could kill it. But he had to find it first.

"What about using some bait daddy?" Nagi said, getting the attention of all of the women gathered.

Surprisingly, it was the Empress who spoke up first.

"Daddy?" She asked, looking to Laz for clarification.

"It’s a long story, one that we can talk about later," Laz promised before turning to Nagi.

"What do you mean by bait?"

"It was the way they looked at me... well kind of looked at me in that place with destroyed buildings. For a little snake, it could only dream about getting a taste of my blood as that would boost it’s ability immensely. So all we need to do is make sure that I’m out there and he will come for me eventually." Nagi offered.

"You know that’s a really dangerous thing to be a part of?"

"I’ve been locked in a tower for the last several thousands of years... This time.... I want to try to be the hero for once. I’m sure that’s not something my mother would have wanted, but I’ve done nothing for so long... I just want to see what it’s like to be a part of this world I’ve always watched. I didn’t have a mother growing up, or a family. I grew up learning from humans teaching other humans. When I looked at them and then looked at myself, I knew I was different. I was strange. They didn’t have black scales, or tails. They didn’t slither through the halls, they walked proudly and with purpose. I could only hide, sneak around and hope I didn’t get noticed because the one time I did, I scared the little girl so deeply and she screamed so loud... it scared me. Luckily her parents thought it was a bad dream and no one came looking for me. But I hide in the dark and refused to leave the pool for so long after that. I’m tired of being afraid and hiding in the dark. I want to live. And I want to help you. So please... let me do this?"