In the throne room.
" Things are getting heated in here..." The scorching sun clan master mumbled. " I would also like to know what you so-called generals were doing. Because all of you left, enemy soldiers swarmed through the city's gates. Many of our people lost their lives because of your actions. " The scorching sun clan master spoke, causing both the king's and the generals' attention to shift. " humph! You martial clans live in this imperial city, roaming it like royalty, so why shouldn't you sacrifice some of your people when the need arises?" The cold general spoke coldly. Since he couldn't rebuke the king, he took out his pent up anger on the martial clans. "....i was wondering something....why did you martial clans bring your children out to fight? and only 40-50 of them at most..." Zenoh asked, as some of his curly black hair fell over his shoulder. "..." The scorching sun clan master kept silent. ' Thought he could put more pressure on the generals, but it ended up backfiring, now the boy doesn't know what to say. sigh. I don't want to get involved, but since all three clans were dragged into this, i guess i have no choice.' The flowing water old master thought. " We simply wanted to expose the young ones to the real world." He said. " Expose them to the real world..huh..." Zenoh mumbled. ' i will never understand how these clans think.' He thought. " Oh? This is intriguing." The king said, as his attention was now fixed on the martial clans. " Instead of defending my city, you brought your children out for a stroll? HaHaHa! The people in this room are very entertaining!" The king laughed crazily. No one knew what was going through his head.
" You...fucking brat of a king...if your kingdom is under attack...and all of your people are useless as you say....then why don't you take your royal ass from that throne and protect it yourself?!" Luna spoke, as more killing intent escaped her body. " That is the question, isn't it? Well, let me tell you. if i had to defend this city personally, i would kill all of you." The smile dissapeared from his face, as the king spoke coldly. "..." Everyone went silent, as the atmosphere in the room became heavy, the cultivation pressures and killing intents from the martial clan masters as well as the generals erupting. Although the generals served the king, when someone threatened your life, king or not, would you wash your neck and wait for them? " Because, what is the point of you being alive, if i have to personally protect this city? That is your job, without it, none of you mean anything." In the face of the hostile martial clans, and the angry generals, the king spoke, as a dominating pressure envelloped the imperial palace. " You four elders walk around demanding respect, when you can't even raise disciples to protect this city. And even after their failures, you still demand respect, shameless. And you martial clans, instead of sending capable people to deal with the enemy soldiers, you sent children who couldn't even amount to anything..." The king spoke as he got up. "...I should kill all of you right now." boom! An even stronger pressure escaped the king's body, as the walls of the throne room quaked, small cracks appearing on them.
" Hohoho, your majesty sure knows how to joke." The flowing water clan's old master spoke with a laugh. " Joke?" the king looked toward him. " What could it be, other than a joke? although your majesty is indeed stronger that all of us individually, even your esteemed self wouldn't be able to fight all of us at once." The flowing water old master said. " what makes you think that?" The king asked, as his killing intent thickened. "....hohoho, this old man may be going senile, your majesty needs not take my words to heart." Old master flowing water spoke after a few seconds of silence. The deeper meaning behind these words were clear, ' fine then, why don't you come and try it?'. ' Although i hate to admit it, the old man does have a point.' The king thought. " humph!" The king diffused his pressure and sat back down. " It is my suspicion that these attacks were just a diversion." He then said. ".....What does your majesty mean?" Seeing that all of the generals kept silent, and that the room was once again becoming heavy, the flowing water old master asked. " humph! The imperial city is very large, needlessly so. Why the ancestors created it this way, i do not know. But because of it's size, it is also bare of many natural resources. Even most of our water is hard to obtain, as it has to be brought from the ocean, before seperating and filtering the salt and other impurities, making it safe for comsumption. As well as water, fruits and vegetables are also scarce, with most of them coming from the different countries. Although, within the city, there are small strips of land used for agriculture, the amount of produce gained from them is neglegible." The king began explaining.
" As all of you know, the cloud continent is shaped like a deformed skull. While the imperial city takes up the space of the eyes and nose, the ten countries are positioned as the skull's teeth. Most of our rescourses come from these 10 countries, making them essential to this city survival." He said. " Oh? Is your highness suspecting that this attack on the imperial city was just to divert our attention?" The flowing water old master asked. " Preciecly." The king said coldly. " But if that is the case, your highness, what would be the point of today's attack? Since this hypothesis is most likely the case, and it is obvious to both us and the enemy, couldn't we just send troups to the countries to stop any invsion?" The cold general suddenly asked. "...unlike you, the people of the divine dragon continent aren't stupid. If they sent a fleet of soldiers to the cloud continent, then let a small group break away to attack the imperial city, what do you think would happen?"
" Let me break it down for you. while we were destracted with the small force that had attacked, they could have already begun burrowing their way into the countries."
" And before you say that ' if we left now, we could still stop them', let me remind you that, the countries are at least a few days away from the imperial city, giving them more time to do whatever they might have planned."
" Not to mention, how do we find out which country they are in? how long will it take?"
" What is the number of soldiers they have?
" As i have already stated, the cloud continent is skull shaped, which would lead you to believe that they would start from the below countries, before making their way up, but had they come from an angle, they could have gotten into the above countries."
" There are many more possibilities, but i see no point in telling you of them. Even if i did, what would you do with that knowledge? only fold under it's pressure." The king explained harshly, as he thought. ' All of those sects in the countries for example. Just like these martial clans, they have no feelings of loyalty to this continent.'
"..." The cold general opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it silently. Looking up at the king, he could only remain silent. " This gathering has brought me only anger and irritation. You all are to deal with the situation in the countries swiftly and more efficiently than today, otherwise, you will die. Either by the hands of our enimies, or mine." The king looked towards the generals, who kept silent. " Leave, all of you." He said. The generals bowed deeply before turning and walking out of the throne room, while the martial clan masters meerly grasped their fists. " sigh..." The king sighed. ' Those four old fools still persist. Oh father, why do you haunt me so? leave me, let your soul rest. And take your four most trusted subordinates with you.' He thought. " But if you can't bother to do it, i will." The king spoke with a bone chilling tone.
" Hmm, we were in there for quite a while. For the sun to be going down already, sigh..." The flowing water old master opened one of his eyes, straining his hunched back as he looked at the orange clouds. " So, how many of our children did we lose?" He suddenely asked. " 3, with multiple injured serverly." The lightning fist clan master spoke. ' Not much of a talker, like his father.' The flowing water old master thought. " We lost about 9. what about you, old man water?" The scorching sun clan master asked. ' And this one has no respect, much like his old grandfather.' Old master flowing water thought. " we didn't lose any." Not waiting for the old master to answer, the clan master spoke. " Bullshit! are you playing with me water boy?" The scorching sun clan master towered over the flowing water clan master. " He speaks the truth." The flowing water old master spoke. " humph! well, since it's old man water, i guess it's true. tch!..." The scorching sun clan master mumbled something under his breath. " Haha, i expected as much! old man flowing water is a calm and cunning old snake, i guess your descendents inhereted that from you! But i bet they'll enheret your balding too! bwahaha!" The scorching sun old master burst out laughing. " Grandfather, i want to talk to you." The scorching sun clan master said softly. " Hehe, ah, when we get back then." The scorching sun old master said, as his laughing fit came to a stop. Old master flowing water watched this silently, his long gray hair blowing in the breeze, as sun reflected from the large bald spot in the middle of his head.
Standing in front of the palace gates, the generals spoke. " Luna, don't think of doing anything to the king." Abel said pleadingly. " That brat Eisen...why did he turn out like that? sigh...just point me to Eli...Eli's body..." Luna said softly. " I know how you feel, but you shouldn't call the king by his name, you could be-" Abel was inturupted. " king?! him? Up to this day, after investigating discretely for years, we can't figure out who killed his father, the previous king! At that time, everything pointed to him being the culprit! And you call him king?! Are you even looking for the truth anymore?!" luna shouted. " Luna!" Abel shouted angrily. " What, abel?! You know how i feel?! bullshit! The bastard that sits on the throne has tried to get rid of us for far longer than i can remember, and i am tired of taking his, and your crap! I will bury Eli's body, and dissapear from this treacherous continent!" After she said this, her figure blured before dissapearing. " Dammit! Why does a grown woman act so childish?!" Abel shouted. " Master, is that true? did the king-" the cold general was inturupted. " That does not concern you! Go prepare your men to head to the countries, now." Abel said sternly, not giving Eivan a chance to speak. Seeing that his master said nothing, the cold general could only leave. " And you too, lazy brat. Forget about all of this, and go prepare your men." abel turned to his disciple. " Sure, sure." General Issac said with a laid back smile, as Ian followed behind him silently.
...
Somewhere in the imperial city, Levi walked through alley after alley. " keep searching! we cannot go back until we find him!" he heard a shout. "..." he kept silent, his patients wearing thin.