I rode on Nebula's back and we ended up in a fork in the road with three paths to go, one middle path, one right path, and one left path. I pulled the leash of the saddle and Nebula stopped. "Fork in the road. There is a sign ahead though, at least they were courteous enough to let us know where each path leads to. Right, Kingdom of Therris. Left, Kingdom of Rivule, and Middle, Kingdom of Pyroc. Seems we have elemental kingdoms amidst us."
Nebula snorted and I looked at her. Her tail swayed as she looked ahead.
"We should take the middle path? Why? The Kingdom of Pyroc is the easiest to conquer or something?" I asked.
Nebula nodded her head then whinnied.
"Are there no retainers there?" I asked.
Nebula whinnied and nodded her head. I looked at her then smiled. I clicked my teeth and she galloped down the middle path. As we rode down the middle, we noticed the trees were burned and the weather getting hotter. Instead of water, there was lava except for a few springs. We heard a loud neigh then we stopped. I looked around then noticed a flaming horse on the top of a cliff. The horse charged at us and I clicked my teeth then Nebula galloped off.
"Faster!" I said then Nebula bagan to run faster.
The flaming horse caught up with us and I noticed a knight in black armor riding on the horse. I pulled my sword out of the scabbard then stopped Nebula. I jumped off my horse then landed on the ground. The knight got off their horse and took off their helmet revealing a flaming head.
I got in my stance and Nebula galloped off away from me and the knight. The knight held their hand out and summoned their claymore. The claymore shined red and emitted flames from the blade. The knight chuckled lowly and got in his stance.
"You are one of the men who wish to conquer Uthea. I am here to stop that because I will be the one to do so.." The knight said. "I am Novis, and you are in my domain now...Ryoma."
I glared at Novis and got into one of the Seven Royals Stances. It was the stance used by the old Emperor of Yascea. I spread my legs apart and bending my right knee slightly. I held the handle of my sword with both hands and allowed the blade to touch the ground. The Yascean Emperor specialized in a technique called No Defense. In this stance I maximized my damage output for the price of zero defense, but I could bypass the zero defense drawback if I switched my sword form to Omni Protector, but I switched my sword form to Willbreaker.
"I see...So the talk is true, you do know every Royal Stance other than your own. The Yascean Stance aka the No Defense stance. You would sacrifice all your defense just to maximize your attack power?! You're foolish!" Novis laughed and glared.
I smirked and my eyes shined. "I'm ending this in just one attack. That's my plan.."
Novis dashed to me and slashed down, but I dodged his slash then jumped backwards. My sword shined and I chuckled softly.
"This is your end." I said then dodged his next attack by jumping backwards. I dashed to him and jumped, spinning horizontally. "Heavenly Annihilation."
He blocked my attack then four more attacks hit him and he groaned loudly. A massive crater formed in the ground and lava erupted from below. I appeared in front of the crater then dodged a beam of fire. I looked ahead and noticed Novis's horse galloping with him on his back. He jumped off his horse and landed on the ground.
"So...I see you also have an Awakening. This should be fun." I chuckled and dashed to him.
He dashed to me and our blades clashed. He pushed me away and bellowed then raised his sword in the air then slashed in a circle. I blocked his attack then groaned as four more attacks hit me. I was blown backwards then hit my back against a burned tree. I landed on my feet then fell to one knee.
"Heh...I come from the Dagrax Empire. You aren't the only one who knows the Dagrax Multi Hit Technique. You shouldn't get so cocky, things don't always work out the way you want it to." Novis chuckled.
"Heh..." I chuckled and my aura changed with the environment. "You shouldn't get cocky either. You don't know a thing about my magic yet. Arcane Energy can adapt to any environment. Just like you said I'm in your domain, you are also in mine.."
My aura turned into water aura. Novis grunted lightly as he watched me. I stood up then bellowed and my aura surged powerfully. I sheathed my sword and got in another Royal Stance. I placed a hand behind my back and smirked.
"The Stance from this country...Uthea. The old Emperor didn't fight with a blade, but with Martial Arts. Allow me to show you..." I said and vanished then appeared in front of him.
He looked a bit surprised then I jabbed his armor and it cracked. I vanished again then he looked around. I appeared behind him then palmed his armor once again, cracking it. He grunted and I began to strike him in all directions, slowly breaking through his armor.
I appeared in front of him and my eyes shined. "Supreme Wave!" I bellowed and palmed his chest then a blast of water blew him away.
He groaned as his flames diminished. He turned into his normal form and fell to his knees. I looked at him then my aura disappeared. I whistled loudly and Nebula neighed. She galloped to me then I hopped on her back and we finally set out to the Pyroc Kingdom.
We made it to the kingdom and entered the city. The people looked at me and Nebula. Some of them looked surprised to see me and others didn't know who I was. I got off Nebula's back then she looked around at the people and her eyes shined. I walked ahead with her leash in my hand. She followed me then we noticed two women talking in front of a restaurant. One woman had black hair and the inside of her hair was orangish red. She wore a black dress and her Crest shined on the middle of her chest. The other woman had orangish red, phoenix like hair and wore a black and red armored battledress.
Nebula snorted and shook her head.
"One of them is the Queen?" I asked.
Nebula nodded and nudged me forward, making me let go of her leash. I stumbled forward and chuckled then walked to the two women.
"Sister...that man. He's walking towards us." The woman with the black hair said.
The woman with the orangish red hair looked back at me in her chair. She smirked and stood up. "Well well...if it isn't Emperor Ryoma."
"Seems my name is famous around the continent. Are you the queen?" I asked.
"Me? Pfft. With my attitude, I would have turned this Kingdom of Magma and Lava into something even cooler. I would've had the Goddess of Eternal Flames watching over us at all times, but to answer your question...I am not the Queen. I am the younger sister to the actual Queen of Pyroc." The woman held her hand out to her sister. "Queen Claire."
I crossed my arms and looked at the woman. "Are you sure you're not the Queen, you've got that spark and the looks of one."
"Mmm..~ Such a flirt off the first day of meeting me, control yourself Your Majesty..~ I don't want to do anything that we both might regret..~" The woman smiled and giggled softly.
I chuckled softly then walked to Claire and gently grabbed her hand then kissed it. She blushed and looked at me. "Hello, Queen Claire. I am Emperor Ryoma from Yesha. May we talk in private?"
"I- I uh.." Claire looked at me and blushed madly.
'This impossibly handsome emperor came to me and kissed my hand! I can't believe this is happening! What do I do?! What do I say to him?! I can't believe my dream has come true to be with an Emperor! Oh god, I need to answer! Say something you idiot! Say something! Anything!' Claire thought to herself.
"yEeSs I haAve enOugh enNerR-" Her voice cracked really badly then she covered her mouth.
I looked at her and laughed softly. "It seems you are very excited to speak with me and you, miss, can join us."
"The name's Inoka." Inoka smiled at me. "And it is a pleasure to join you."
The two women stood up and they walked to their horses. I whistled for Nebula and she trotted over to me then I hopped on her back.
"I see you have a Mythical Horse. It is rare for one even for a royal to connect with a Mythical Beast." Inoka said and smiled at me.
"Heh...Well I just happened to get lucky. She just kinda appeared and I was able to calm her down and claim her as my horse." I said.
"That's really neat." Claire smiled.
The three of us set off to the castle on our horses and chatted along the way.
Novis grunted softly and his eyes opened. "He must pay.." Novis said softly then his Dark Crest shined on his hand.