Sitting atop the golden throne, the ancient king waited with unease apparent in his posture.

His subordinates prepared with vigor, ready to face the forces whenever they appeared.

Knowing his student, the Heavenly Emperor knew the next battleground would be this central realm. Only his home Realm could withstand the sheer might of so many powerhouses.

Under his watch, Kami barked orders at every palace guard.

Old Gu, who had betrayed the Lord of Shadows at the very last minute, was seated quietly in the palace hall.

No one questioned him about his loyalties or his intentions. They all thought the Emperor would personally do it, but the ancient being barely acknowledged his existence.

Time trickled away until Old Gu couldn’t hold it in anymore.

His clenched fists hit the armrest as he stood up with force. Shooting an accusatory look toward the Emperor, he asked, "Did you know?"

Ignoring the stunned faces of those walking past in the hall, he continued,

"Did you know he would escape the Abyssos Prison?!"

It just so happened that Kami was also there to hear this conversation. Squinting, his eyes darted across the room, switching between the two.

He hadn’t heard of this Abyssos Prison before.

"Perhaps," the Heavenly Emperor replied, his response unnaturally delayed.

Back in his seat, Old Gu chuckled bitterly. His face darkened as his body slumped back on the chair again.

This time, his voice came out weak, "So, I never stood a chance at stopping him..."

He spoke to himself, having realized that if he had just let Ozul be, at least there would be no bad blood between them. Now, however, it was already too late.

While trying to prevent the prophecy, he had inadvertently fueled its eventuality.

A few seconds later, fire burned in his eyes again as he once again eyed the being resting at the head of the hall.

"You could have stopped it all! You’re the reason it all happened this way!"

Old Gu was angry at himself, but his anger burned hotter at the inaction of the Heavenly Emperor.

That man watched apathetically while the Realms burned.

What kind of God would let billions of innocents perish and not even blink?

"You would rather let all the Realms perish in the void than bend your morals a little and kill that child?!"

His voice was practically thumping across the royal palace. Even the trained guards couldn’t help but turn heads.

"Enough!" Kami walked into the hall, his eyes piercing Old Gu. "Reign in your tone when you address your Emperor!"

But Old Gu didn’t have any intentions to back down.

Before Kami could lash out again, the Emperor raised his hand. Finally, he spoke, "If you truly believe your words, tell me, what weight would your accusations have in my eyes?"

The words Old Gu wanted to say got stuck in his throat.

If he was right, then surely the cruel Emperor, who didn’t even blink as countless innocents died, would pay his accusations no heed either. So, if he truly believed his own words, then there was no point in shouting at him.

On the other hand, there was a bitterness in his chest that he simply couldn’t suppress.

The blame was the lump in his throat. He wanted to spit it out, but there was no other choice but to swallow it.

Finally, Kami couldn’t hold himself back any longer. He asked, "What is this about, Father?"

The Emperor replied calmly, "It concerns you not."

"It concerns him not?! That boy started a war he couldn’t win. The same war that led to the destruction of that whole Realm! And it concerns him not!?" Old Gu bellowed, the veins on his forehead bulging in anger.

Perhaps only Old Gu had enough guts to shout like that in the presence of the Emperor.

"He likes to keep his secrets, but I will tell you!"

Kami was about to admonish the old man again for the disrespect, but his curiosity was greater, so he listened quietly.

"The shadow that you seek to destroy, the darkness that you dream of purging? Tell you what—you have been ploughing the sea!"

Kami, though younger than the Virtues, was not young. Despite his appearance, he was older than many established and old Broken Worlds.

He quickly connected the dots.

"That Demonic Emperor is not the Eternal Darkness?"

Disbelief was apparent in his eyes as they darted back and forth between the fuming Old Gu and his calm father, who rested upon the throne as if this revelation was just idle talk about the weather.

He wanted the glory for putting down the Demonic Emperor, but most of all, he wanted the approval of his father after he killed that man and quashed the prophecy.

Yet, now it seemed like he was only playing at glory.

The burden of countless losses could not be held together with mere dreams of prestige.

As the new revelation struggled to settle in his heart, his mind wandered to the ’boy’ that Old Gu was talking about.

Slowly, he started to piece things together.

The image of that man wearing a loose white shirt and black pants in the middle of 6 Anomalies burned brighter in his mind.

"That man-" The words hadn’t left his mouth when all of them felt the disturbance.

*ZHMM*

The Heavenly Emperor finally straightened his back.

"It is time..."

. . .

The Land Above All, the central Realm, was more than ten times the size of the other Realms.

There were multiple continents, and the Royal Palace of the Heavenly Emperor oversaw smaller nations from the central continent.

Despite this Realm hosting the Emperor, the smaller nations were never always peaceful.

They waged wars under the guidelines and rules laid out by the Heavenly Empire. The Empire only intervened if those rules were broken.

The Lord of Shadows held no concern for these nations playing at power.

His spatial gates opened directly in the capital of the central empire.

And soon, hoards and hoards of cultivators poured in.

Although there were ranks defined among the soldiers, they mattered little when the fighting started.

This time, Yasashii Hito didn’t hold back. Whatever resources he had, however many soldiers he could squander, he did.

Following the giant gates, little spatial rifts opened in the sky, and in poured all the Empyreans.

At last, behind the Empyreans, the two Virtues and the Shadows made an appearance.

The Lord of Shadows, or what the residents of the Land Above All called the Demonic Emperor, appeared above them all. Watching.

The Imperial army and the Royal guards were all ready.

They didn’t wait for instructions, engaging directly with the enemies to stop them from reaching the palace.

Kami, Old Gu, the remaining Virtues, and the Guardians all shot up in the sky, directly engaging with the opposing forces.

The battle between these powerhouses, however, quickly derailed and spilled out of the royal capital.

*BOOM!* x3

As with all wars, chaos erupted.

Explosions were heard all around as Empyreans clashed against each other.

The blows from the likes of the Virtues, Guardians, and the Shadows once again drowned everything.

Each attack, each slash of a sword, uprooted the earth.

Old Gu and Kami held back as others went straight to battle.

Behind them, something shifted.

At last, the ancient man, the one revered to be the God among men, revealed his presence.

The Heavenly Emperor floated with hands clasped behind his back.

He took in the sight of the spreading destruction akin to a forest set on fire and sighed.

"This is the result of my choice..." He muttered, watching as the bright skies, once filled with swarms of singing birds, now filled with screams of terror and tremors left by varying powers.

The clear blue sky was quickly darkening.

Clouds that seldom rained on these lands, which were still lush and green until now, were quick to cover the starlight, proof that the Realm Ego was aware of these events.

The Emperor’s long hair glowed as he gathered and tied it neatly.

"At least, you haven’t forgotten your manners," he spoke in a low voice.

Kami would have thought he was talking to himself if not for his sharp glare at the sky.

And right at that spot, the vision cleared to reveal the man with pitch black hair, also tied in the exact same way.

"I was just being mindful not to destroy what would be rightfully mine soon," Yasashii Hito replied from afar. His voice carried to them with a wave of Spiritual Essence.

"Would you stop all this if I told you the truth?" The Emperor asked, his voice carrying no hint of emotion. Slowly, he was flying toward the man.

Kami and Old Gu couldn’t understand what he meant. After all, they had always assumed the Lord of Shadows was just greedy for the throne.

"If I stopped, would you be able to forgive me?" Yasashii’s tone echoed that of the Emperor’s, carrying no emotion, showing no weaknesses.

The Heavenly Emperor came to a pause.

His lips curled into a depreciating smile before he shook his head.

"I cannot even forgive myself..."

As those words reached their ears, Kami and Old Gu stood wide-eyed as the Emperor seemed to disappear from their sight.

Far in the sky, an explosion rang out, followed by the pressure that spread in all directions.

The Royal Palace was not harmed by a protective barrier to shield it.

Both Kami and Old Gu tried to follow the Emperor, but the sight of him and Yasashii remained elusive. They could only follow them due to the high density of Spiritual waves crashing against them.

The Heavenly Emperor and the Lord of the Shadows.

They clashed, and the world felt it.