Beastmaster of the Ages

The peaceful Vermillion Bird fell into chaos the moment news of the brewing war reached them. Most of the cosmic gods were afraid of the incoming troops from Torch Dragon and Aquamarine. Complaints rang out nonstop all over the world.

”It’s all Imperator Cheng and Imperial Daughter Qingluan’s fault! Their good relationship with Li Tianming brought this disaster to us!”

”We’re going to be attacked by two worlds that are supported by the Adjudicator! How can we possibly survive this?”

”It seems that something horrible is going to happen here. Sigh...”

Vermillion Bird Capital was the center of all the uproar.

***

Meanwhile within Ignisruler Palace, Imperator Cheng stood tall, clad in his flaming phoenix robes. The flames that surrounded him shrieked like powerful vermillion birds. He looked ahead at the plaza before the palace where countless cosmic gods knelt.

They were by no means weak, with most of them being at least fifty thousand meters in height. They were also of rather high status in Vermillion Bird, with most of them being nobles of some sort who had enjoyed the plentiful resources of their world. Yet, they were the first ones to show weakness when trouble came knocking, pleading as they knelt and cried tears of blood.

”This is our blood petition! Imperator Cheng, please lead our whole world to apologize to the Adjudicator! Let us join the group that shall set out to punish the sky plunderers! Only then can we staunch the Adjudicator’s rage and make Aquamarine and Torch Dragon pull their forces back!

”If we don’t acknowledge our mistakes, all life in Vermillion Bird will perish along with the ancient legacy of the imperial clan! We beg you, Imperator Cheng!”

All the other cosmic gods kowtowed until their foreheads began to bleed just like the representative that spoke for them.

”My dear brother, please join the Adjudicator’s side!” The leader of the group was a ninety-thousand-meter-tall cosmic god in dark-red robes. He was the strongest being after the imperator himself, Prince Liehun, brother of Imperator Jiang Cheng. He served as the representative of the interests of Vermillion Bird’s elite.

He rose and faced his brother, eyes filled with sorrow and pleading. ”Brother, the people of Vermillion Bird have nowhere else to turn to now that the Adjudicator decided to act against us. The only thing we can do is to apologize and placate him. That way, we will be spared complete annihilation! Fraternizing with the sky plunderers will lead our entire kind to certain doom!”

As he spoke, the cosmic gods behind him kept on pleading nonstop. Their voices could be heard all across the capital.

Imperator Cheng watched the whole thing with a stern expression, scanning the people before turning to his brother. All of a sudden, he gave the prince a flaming slap on the face! It was so loud that it stunned everyone there.

”Apologize to the Adjudicator? For what, then? What did we do wrong? Beg to be allowed to join his side? Since when did Vermillion Bird ever have to kneel and submit to others?!” Imperator Cheng raised his brow, exuding the authority of an imperator. His powerful will spread across the entire capital immediately.

”Not to mention, the Adjudicator is an outsider! He’s not a denizen of the Realm of Chaos! He lorded over us like he was the absolute ruler who wanted nothing but peace, yet he became the one who started this conflict unprovoked! He’s nothing but a conniving alien with uncontrolled ambitions!

”Vermillion Bird has never been afraid of being wrapped up in war, not back then, not now, not in the future! We will protect our homes with our lives, whether we’re fighting against other Chaos denizens or the so-called Adjudicator! This is our land! This is the universe of the Chaos denizens! Nobody will be allowed to trample over our heads unchallenged!”

Those words caused everyone in the plaza to quiet down. The kneeling elites were stunned that their heartfelt request was completely useless. They didn’t expect Imperator Cheng to be such a hot-blooded fellow.

”Brother, you can’t do this!” Prince Liehun didn’t lose his cool after the slap. In fact, he doubled down on the sorrowful waterworks.

His wife, a noble lady of seventy thousand meters in height, stood behind him. ”My dear...”

She sighed and came to hold her husband up. Not turning to look at the imperator, she said, ”Since he is mired in the old world, we should stop trying to persuade him. The people of Vermillion Bird did use to reign supreme, but that was during a time without the Adjudicator. Since the Adjudicator’s arrival, he’s the only ruler in the Realm of Chaos. Some people will only accept reality once they ruin Vermillion Bird’s entire future.”

Her cold mockery was directed at Imperator Cheng and Jiang Qingluan. The imperator, however, didn’t dignify it with a response. There was nothing he could do to reawaken those who had chosen to kneel on their own accord. He only sighed at the sight of all these people abandoning the most precious things that their ancestors had passed on to them, their spine and guts!

Seeing that their petition was pointless, the group left with Prince Liehun. The prince’s wife smirked before leaving and said, ”Perhaps some people are still waiting for reinforcements from Nullity. I think they’re still on cloud nine. The Adjudicator’s attack will keep them too busy defending themselves to come to our aid!”

Imperator Cheng watched them leave quietly, knowing full well that the wife’s words were fully in line with her husband’s. That allowed Prince Liehun to keep up the pretense of being the loyal figurehead who was just trying to do the best for his people.

***

A few cosmic gods approached Vermillion Bird from afar. They were Jiang Qingluan, Sage Chen and Sage Xing. They rushed back immediately after hearing about the imminent attack. Even though they were still far from the capital, they could already feel the chaos there.