The Thunder family was once the ruler of a large plane under the Empire—the Storm Plane—and had put up a fierce resistance during the Empire's conquest. Each member of the Thunder family inherently possessed a stubborn temperament, so even when they were cornered and exhausted by the Empire, they continued to resist to the very end.
Only when the Heavenly God could not bear to see the Thunder family's extinction and bestowed a divine edict did the family stop short of fighting to their last breath and refused to surrender to the Empire.