Chapter 4 - A Grand Escape
—FWOOSHHH!
From Zeus' office to the ground, it was a distance that could leave many crippled or inflicted with life-threatening injuries, no matter how healthy or durable they were.
Whereas the wind breezed unbeknownst to the veiled lady's insanity, the broken window was nowhere within her grasp once she stretched out her hand effortlessly amidst her fall.
Rather than accepting a more reasonable escape, this mysterious intruder decided to ignore the alarm bells desperately ringing inside her head.
"Ha.." Instead of a scream, the woman exhaled a heavy sigh where her fear of death was absent.
—FWISH!
"What a humorous expression."
Remembering the reactions Zeus had when the lady made her appearance known, she couldn't resist letting out a little laugh. On the other hand, her dress swayed aimlessly as she took a glimpse of the ground, forming a reassured smile after having to gather her spirits to take a leap of faith earlier.
'Zeus isn't influenced by my actions so far, which implies my decisions haven't caused a domino effect yet.' This conscious thought of hers echoed and brought her a small sense of relief.
'In the upcoming days, the future has a high probability of straying from the main story, which is far better than what the original work had intended..'
'..Since I'm doing my utmost to alter the 'Tragedy' that awaits this nov—'
"Hm?"
In spite of having only a few seconds passed while the lady indulged herself with leisure in her descent, there was a scene of a gentleman poking his head out of the damaged window.
"Aha, I see." She removes her listless grin once she understands the situation, initiating the next course of action right afterwards!
—BOOOOOM!
"..."
In a span of a split-second, tumultuous lightning struck the woman before Zeus narrowed his eyes on how meticulous his foe truly was. The lady even giggled with a sneer at him when she had dodged Zeus' repeatedly without a scratch.
Not only was it an insult to Zeus, his enemy was too cautious to the point where not even the wind could blow her veil away. This entire time, she had been holding onto her cover firmly amidst the attack, prompting no further progress in uncovering this person!
—CRUMBLE!!!
"To the people below, I, Monarch of the Underworld, have demanded your Emperor, Zeus, for a chess match between each others' Representatives!"
Once she had descended close enough to the ground, her outcry was vehement and powerful for all of the knights, servants and so forth to hear, as it reverberated resoundingly to spread the news out in the palace for the rest to hear!
"What's that?!"
"An intruder in broad daylight?!!"
"A chess match?!"
—BUSTLE!
"The Representatives will play on behalf of their sides. Not even the authority of the Emperor nor the notoriety of the Underworld will taint this match." The lady carries on with her announcement.
"There'll be a Chess Tournament for the Olympus Empire to seek out the most talented and skillful of all to play the crucial role of Representati—"
—SNAP!
"Oh my." She quickly evaded the thunder that went by her side!
—CRASSSH!
In a flash of a second, a tree swiftly formed and sprung out of the Imperial Palace's outer wall, wrecking the building itself before enveloping those underneath in shadow and debris.
Breaking at the seams by the tree's weight, the wall promptly lost its foundation as a multitude of bricks were now plummeting down onto the innocent bystanders!
"When has it become a play for her to be beguiled by this?" Zeus mumbles with piercing eyes while the woman feels entertained by it.
—RUMBLE!!
Zeus unknowingly crushes what was left of the damaged window.
If no one were to intervene, causality would spike from this incident! Furthermore, when Zeus notices the lady's scheme to challenge his main priority, he kicks the ground and vanishes from the spot in an instant!
—FLASH!
With lightning engulfing itself in his legs, Zeus speedily dashed from the highest floor to the lowest ground where he was compelled to eradicate the falling debris.
"Fast." The lady comments, standing on a loose branch with a clear view of the show after a charge of light ran past her.
To anyone's surprise, Zeus was the one who went past his foe and didn't bother to give her a glance!
The frightened looks of the nobles, servants and so on couldn't believe their eyes when their Emperor emerged right in front of them as he destroyed the debris on his way, causing them to be extremely flabbergasted!
More than that, they didn't have the time to be baffled once Zeus rained down a thunderstorm to strike down the debris!
—BANNNG!
"Your M-Majesty?!" The repetitive outcry from everyone was outmatched by the lightning's roar!
"Evacuate from this area immediately." Zeus calmly orders his people while shooting down the clunks of bricks!
"Y-Yes! Your Majesty!"
"...! Look out, your Majesty!"
—WHOOOSH!
Without a moment of rest, Zeus shifted his gaze towards the top where his eyes shrunk in vexation! Once the scene of a collapsing tree came into view, his people were now in greater danger, provoking everybody to run in terror upon seeing it, while some stood behind in a daze!
"S-Save.. me!"
"Young Master!! You must run!!"
"Ahhh! Move out of the way!"
"This is something my Blessing can't handle!"
—RUMBLING!
"Your Majesty! We're here to help!" At long last, the guards who had rushed their way from the office to the ground floor, arrived at the right moment to assist their Emperor!
"Spread out and protect the people "
"Everyone! Lend your strength to his Majesty!
Surely but slowly, debris was handled effortlessly by each of the guards who contributed to smashing and slashing! On another side, a dozen had lined up to hack off the branches and sever the roots of the fallen tree amidst their hovering in the sky after a mighty jump!
—CRACKLE!
Apart from that, the Emperor isn't showing any signs of providing his guards with any help in putting an end to the tree. As opposed to his first thunder that had set the tree ablaze earlier, his current actions and movements had halted for no apparent reason in the eyes of many.
As a matter of fact, the fallen objects were already scorched to a crisp, enabling everyone to have an easier time while lessening further damage!
Be that as it may, there were intact leaves fluttering around those areas which were displaying an anomaly in their motion..
..Something was strange.
—CRACKLING!
Shockingly, there were flower symbols that struck a resemblance to the marking Zeus wore on his face! The leaves are clearly life-threateningly lethal as they may have poison like the one injected into him by the veiled lady!
Because of this, Zeus went at lightning's speed to follow his instincts in confirming his hypothesis! And as it turned out, the leaf's marking had transferred onto his fingers, including the swelling and inflammation that were starting to appear!
With a silent response, Zeus took a glimpse of the sight in front of him where leaves were falling down at a rapid rate compared to a second ago. As he crushed the leaf in his hand, he made his move..
—SCREEEECCCHHH!
In an instant, lightning plunges down from heaven to turn these leaves and their poisons into cinders! As a consequence of this flashy entrance, the thunder resounded with an ear-splitting noise, and has already rendered everyone's hearing in a cycle of repetitive ringing!
—CRACKLE!
In a position where Zeus is in a constant flow of channeling his lightning, he was too engrossed in all directions to handle every leaf in his domain, shutting down the ones that were inches away from touching his people!
While thunder is striking at an alarming pace, it was accurately aimed by the Emperor himself to obliterate those leaves that were moving randomly in the air, complicating the coordinations needed to perfectly hit them!
Even so, he managed to surprise everyone by his precision, as the leaves finally diminished in their quantity whereas the guards had already taken care of the trees and the debris!
Sooner or later, people were able to seek safety after evacuating from the scene.
"Your Majesty, the coast is clear!" The guard cried out with a heavy pant.
Unbeknownst to Zeus, under the situation's perils…
'She's gone.' Zeus thought with his eyes, to a place where someone was once standing up on a loose branch earlier, yet there wasn't a single soul there.
Unfortunately for Zeus, he has allowed his enemy a second chance to escape from his clutches once again. In contrast to what anyone would feel in this situation, the Emperor wasn't displaying an infuriated expression.
'A Chess Tournament, was it?'
—Crackle!
In a matter of seconds, his internal body was in the process of detoxification via lightning circuiting in every vein! Because of this method, Zeus is removing all of the veiled lady's poison inside of him by force, which causes the markings on his face to fade as time goes by.
"Heed my orders." Zeus, with his charismatic gaze and voice, directed the guards.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"A thousand of you will patrol around the area in search of those who weren't found or sighted during the intrusion."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" As commanded, the exact numbers of guards have already been dispatched and are currently making haste by separating and searching in multiple areas.
"Excluding a hundred knights, the rest will spread out to the far ends of the Imperial Palace. If the intruder is in your line of sight, do not pursue her and report back to me immediately."
"As you command!"
"Available servants who haven't been injured during the incident, I order you to assist the patrol and wait until the coast is clear before cleaning this area."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Issue a statement to hire diligent and experienced craftspeople for reconstruction."
"All attendants must head into the demolished building to retrieve important documents left behind with the remainder of the knights. You are not permitted to enter my office without permission."
As mentioned by the veiled lady, those documents inside Zeus' office play a crucial role in his grand goal. It's to say that nobody should take a glimpse of it, since they have confidential information about the hidden truth behind the Empire's history in them.
No one must know about it, yet there's already a person who has grasped its existence without Zeus' knowledge. And this individual will undoubtedly become a hassle to deal with, alongside an entire organization acting as her arms and legs to entrap the whole empire in her palm.
'A Chess Match..' Zeus ponders with a grim expression.