Chapter Twenty-Six
EMPEROR STEPS
"Wait, young Cerberus."
A voice rang out from behind Cerberus. The red-headed man recognized the voice, but had yet to recognize why the owner of this voice was out here.
After all, this was the voice of the man they were supposedly protecting.
"M-My liege . . .?"
Cerberus immediately disabled his aura as to not somehow harm his liege, who had for some reason stepped out here. After that, his cautious side took hold of him, resulting in him jumping in front of the king and watching out for any attack from anywhere.
"Now, now, there's no need to protect me. I may have passed along in years, but I'm still a powerful man!"
The old man spoke up in his wonderfully cheerful voice as if there was nothing wrong with the current situation. Even then, Cerberus still couldn't understand what was going on.
'Why are you out here gramps? Forget that, why is there nobody behind you? Shouldn't the enemy have been coming in from the other entrances to the courtyard?'
Cerberus' eyes were like that of a serial killer in literature, bloodshot and terrifying. In all honesty, he hadn't slept at all yesterday, as he was so worried about an invasion happening today that he stood guard all night long.
Obviously, the invasion didn't begin until later into the day, but Cerberus thought it was worth it even then, as it had calmed his state of mind. Now that the very man he swore to protect to the death was out here, how could Cerberus' eyes not be like that of a predator looking at prey?
Of course, the wrathful eyes' attention was set onto the Bloody Droplets and his surroundings, not even coming close to his liege.
"Dear, oh dear, don't gaze at the poor civilians with those eyes. Forget your social status, just by being a gentleman, you shouldn't even be looking at them like that, young Cerb."
It was either the old man that didn't understand the situation, or Cerberus. Based on the people in front of them and the current ruin that had befallen what lay in front of the courtyard, Cerberus naturally chose his mentality over the emperor's.
"Gramps, listen. Get back in the palace, and sit on your throne. We've got this handled."
"G-gramps? Liege? What is this guy on about?"
The terrorist group hadn't caught it yet. They hadn't caught the fact that the emperor was this old man. In fact, Cerberus had the slight feeling that they might never figure it out, and that even if they did, they wouldn't believe it.
'Can't blame them though, I'd be surprised if my target just offered himself.'
"Come now, would you like tea and bread?"
The emperor approached one of them and extended a hand, just like he would with anyone else. It was almost as if they posed no threat to his life, even though they were possibly the biggest threat he's faced in his whole life.
"Is this geezer senile? What's he doing out here?"
KMPFH
Cerberus swiftly approached the emperor from the back and grabbed him by the shoulder before he threw him right back into the palace. Though, he wouldn't just throw the king back into the palace, as that would just kill him. He threw him into a chute of sorts that he had constructed using the aura in the surrounding area, and that aura chute led right back to the throne.
Essentially, he would be back on his throne and wouldn't feel anything.
"Phew."
Right after confirming the fact that his liege was back on his throne, Cerberus sighed a breath of relief. The wind caught it and transferred it to the ears of many of the remaining people here, though Cerberus didn't mind letting his guard down at this point in the battle.
'After all, they're all gonna die.'
"I've got nothing to explain to any of you."
--- SEQUENCE 2 ---
'So, how'd they get information about the invasion?'
Dionysus, who had decided to step out of this invasion that was doomed in his mind, was wondering about how the information got leaked. In his mind, there was no way that the information wasn't leaked and they somehow were already prepared.
'Was there a traitor?'
Before the invasion began, the Bloody Droplets were unified, ready to fight to the death for the sake of justice, or at least their definition of it. Dionysus couldn't imagine that they messed up somewhere near the end, as he had taken in everything that Daphne knew, and understood everything from her perspective.
'Yeah, she messed up nothing on her end. The only real way this thing could've gone wrong is a traitor.'
SCREECH
Dionysus came to a halt right where he stood, right in the middle of the road.
'What am I doing? I need to stay out of this business.'
Previously, back when the Chained King was still active and backing him up, his replica was free to do as he pleased, as nobody could really oppose him. However, now that the Chained King was nowhere to be seen, and he was being monitored by the heavens at seemingly all times, he couldn't do as he pleased.
'In all seriousness, just being at the palace at the time of the invasion was probably a bad move on my part.'
He didn't have the leniency of some sort of saint that would sacrifice himself for others, and he wanted to continue living. If anything, Dionysus believed he should stop getting involved in all of this.
'Yeah . . . that's right, I'm gonna need to step out of this whole ordeal.'
What he believed in within the remnants of the past and the present didn't matter anymore, not as long as he couldn't act upon it. It was for that reason that he went on to become a normal bartender, but time had passed, and he had forgotten his position.
"Haaaaaaaaah."
An exasperated sigh came out from Dionysus before he continued to walk down the road. His destination was the counter that he was supposed to be behind right now within the Magnum Bar.
'That's right . . . I was too late to act, and now I'm not allowed to have my own will.'
--- SEQUENCE 3 ---
"My, oh my, did Cerberus grow up to be a fine gentleman."
Back on his throne, the emperor had his head lying against the palm of his right hand while calmly observing the environment that surrounded him. A slight tinge of a chuckle emerged from his mouth, but it was nothing but an old man's laugh.
'I wonder, who should I make contact with next?'
The area reeked of blood. No, much more than blood, piss, death, and horror surrounded the entirety of the throne room, and what laid before the emperor's eyes would explain it all.
Well, what remained of what laid before the emperor's eyes.
'Still, what a foolish endeavor. To try and dissolve a chain of royalty that has been in place for many centuries, and with a simple little thing like this, how childish . . .'
The Bloody Droplets did everything correctly except for a singular, ignorable part. Nobody could really blame them for overlooking this part, as the emperor really was just an old man, or at least he was physically.
Yet, it was because they miscalculated that singular part that the throne room was drenched in the remains of what used to be the third unit. And, the man responsible for this horrendous scene was on the throne.
'Still, to think they'd be that fast to crack.'
--- SEQUENCE 4 ---
"They were idiots to trust me, I'm telling you."
During what would later be referred to as the Royal Invasion, a man was in a very dark room, the reason for that being that he tried to have the least amount of light enter as possible. His location was unknown to the whole world, and nobody knew him.
Nobody couldn't know him even if they wanted to, because he'd kill them.
'Dionysus, huh?'
His eyes and ears were all over the world. Danger-wise, this man may actually be the one holding the world by the scruff of its neck right now.
This man, who the world was just a shiny pearl to, decided that Dionysus would be a threat in the upcoming future. As a precaution, he had already told someone to tail Dionysus so that he could keep an eye on them.
Being the person that he was, he wouldn't have it any other way.
'I hope he doesn't get close to me . . .'
He checked on his five partners, each and every single one of them forced to be his eyes and ears. All of them were patrolling somewhere around the continent, all in the name of safety and precaution.
'Yes, yes, we have to check everywhere to be nice and safe after all . . .'
He slowly rubbed his hands while saying so, a futile attempt to warm himself up. His connections had told him about Dionysus before, and how his relation to the Chained King was. He already knew quite a bit about the man, but now that he was actually here in the capital, and here to stay, he couldn't allow it.
'The man is supposedly constantly monitored by the heavens . . .'
His physically deteriorating body wouldn't allow him to take action, meaning that he couldn't quite deal with Dionysus himself. However, by utilizing his five partners, he intended to satisfy the heavens, all while satisfying his own precautions.
'Negata, Ira, Pactione, Incidamus, and Acceptatione, I will you to kill him.'
Unknowingly, Dionysus was making many enemies in the background.
'We understand, Veritas.'
Now, one of them was making his move.