(Planet Gaia- Imperial Palace)

(Grand Hall)

Why did her instincts keep flaring up?

Sophie nervously bit her lip while focusing her full attention on the drunken figure of the emperor unsteadily swaying from side to side on the raised platform.

She had already checked the entire room for any possible threat, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

"The the royal what was I saying again?" Emperor Sisrelis asked with some confusion in his voice.

The palace attendants who were supporting the emperor by keeping his body upright looked down at the floor so they would not have to see this shameful display.

No one dared to laugh at the emperor, but several noble heirs were watching this absurdity with derision in their eyes.

"Get your hands away from me you you sons of bitches!" Emperor Sisrelis roared and suddenly threw off the two attendants helping him.

Boom!

With an earthshattering crash, the two men flew into the walls of the grand hall and became broken piles of flesh.

Dead silence.

Despite his wretched exterior, the emperor was still a cultivator in the void stage and his strength was not to be underestimated.

How could a man who survived the bloody battle for the throne be without any great fighting skills or power.

The corpses of the two men were collected by shadowy figures who appeared from out of thin air.

Sophie watched the royal guards vanish from the room with the bodies in hand without making a single sound.

Even with her golden eyes trained on their movements, she could only get a blurry glimpse of their figures before they vanished.

The royal guards in charge of the emperor's safety had cultivation levels much higher than her own so just getting a glimpse of their movements was impressive.

Emperor Sisrelis was now gleefully waving his pudgy hands in the air like a child while swaying unsteadily.

None of the remaining palace attendants were brave enough to go up and offer assistance so the emperor nearly fell down several times.

"Big sister why is the emperor behaving like that?" Lily furrowed her brows and asked curiously.

"Shh I'll tell you after the banquet," Sophie replied tersely and gave her head a small pat.

The invisible tension in the air had not lessened and now goosebumps were beginning to form on Sophie's arm.

Sophie's fangs lengthened unconsciously and a tinge of red could be seen on the corners of her golden eyes.

Emperor Sisrelis must have realised that the room was completely silent as he sat back down on his iron throne and began to speak,

"My dad was a stupid bastard!"

Shocked gasps echoed through the banquet hall as the emperor began to publicly insult his late father.

"He always told me that I wasn't good enough for the throne! That my brother Prince Morelais or my bitch sister Princess Esmeralda would be the victors," Emperor Sisrelis muttered dazedly.

"But I I won in the end. and I personally slashed off the heads of both my dear siblings who my father had such high hopes for."

"Guess they weren't so fucking great after all."

Emperor Sisrelis downed another glass of wine, but his muddled eyes now showed a hint of deep melancholy and regret.

It was a bloody battle to win the throne.

Any individual with sufficient royal blood was eligible to participate which meant that the emperor's offsprings and the descendants of the branch family were allowed to compete.

A deadly tournament would be held where most if not all of the battles ended in death for the unlucky participants.

Emperor Sisrelis was considered one of the more promising candidates for the throne but at the time he was far from the favourite.

And yet he emerged as the last survivor.

Sophie silently observed the jaded figure of the emperor slouched down on his throne and could not help but worry for Cleo.

Cleo had never told her if she wanted to compete for the throne, but Sophie could not honestly say that she would support her girlfriend if she did want to.

Killing your own relatives would create a deep psychological strain on anyone and Sophie did not want her girlfriend to go through the trauma.

Emperor Sisrelis chuckled slightly as he saw his wretched reflection appear on the side of the transparent wineglass.

Black, oily, and messy hair that hung over a face that was a tad overweight.

He was a far cry from the handsome, muscular prince that he was in his youth.

This empire. This throne. This power.

It wasn't worth it.

Maybe it was time to end this misery.

Emperor Sisrelis smiled genuinely for the first time in many years as a sense of relief washed over his body.

He would finally get to rest.

No one knew why he had called for this meeting with the heirs to all the high noble families in the Federation.

And none of the nobles present in the room knew that the ascended warrior who guarded the Imperial Palace had been sent to the frontlines by the order of the emperor himself.

The only cultivators who remained were void stage warriors and a handful of cultivators in the god stage.

Emperor Sisrelis would not have dared to implement his insane plan if an ascended warrior had been nearby as it could have been easily stopped.

But now with nothing holding him back.

It was time for one final performance.

Emperor Sisrelis circulated his qi and got rid of the drunken feeling fogging his mind.

He released the full might of his aura and an enormous wave of energy burst out of his dantian.

The ground beneath his feet started to crack and fierce winds roared through the grand hall as the emperor revealed his strength.

Sophie's eyes were now partially crimson, and she had already grabbed Lily and placed the little girl firmly in her arms.

She made eye contact with Leona who scooped up Chase without hesitation.

"We need to move to the exit door now!" Sophie did not bother to send out a voice transmission and just yelled at the rest of her group.

Meanwhile the emperor on the raised platform had now fully unleashed the might of a void stage cultivator and thick cracks were forming on the palace walls and floor.

The pressure was increasing rapidly, and Sophie felt as though her every movement was like walking through water.

She was not the only one who noticed that something was wrong but very few nobles were also moving towards the exit.

Most just assumed that the royal guards would stop the emperor if things got out of hand so there was a noticeable lack of panic.

"Ladies and gentlemen" Emperor Sisrelis raised up his wineglass with a strange look in his eye.

"Everyone present in this room is connected to some of the most powerful families in the Federation and yet the Imperial Family is above all."

"Why is that?" he asked slowly, and the question echoed through the hall.

No one was willing to give an answer to the emperor as most nobles were already familiar with the fates of those who planned rebellions against the imperial family.

Sophie rudely shoved past several noble heirs and continued to make her way to the back of the hall where the exit doors were located.

The uncomfortable feeling in her stomach was only getting worse and now a vague premonition of death seemed to be hovering over her body.

Lily was securely held in her arms and Sophie glanced over her shoulder to make sure that the rest of the group were not too far behind.

Chase was being gripped tightly in Leona's grasp and Luna was not far from the pair.

However, Sophie could spot Alexander and Clara falling further and further behind as clearly, they were not taking her warning seriously.

"Hurry up!" Sophie didn't have time to be polite and just yelled at the two stragglers to get them to move.

Emperor Sisrelis had noticed the small movements in the crowd but there was no visible reaction on his face.

It didn't matter at this point if some nobles had realised that something was wrong. It was already far too late

Emperor Sisrelis cleared his throat and continued his speech,

"It is not that there haven't been high noble houses who got a bit too greedy and decided to compete for the throne. but all of them have failed."

"All surviving members of their lineage were killed to set an example, their territories were seized by the crown, and their names were erased from all historical records."

"But I'm sure that you all have already heard about these boring events before."

Uncomfortable laughter filled the room as the emperor finished his speech with an almost joking tone.

Sophie could see the exit in sight and walked quickly towards the golden doors that were being blocked by place attendants.

Emperor Sisrelis suddenly switched topics and the tone of his voice drastically shifted to something much darker,

"There have been many fascinating scientific discoveries made over the years especially in the field of spatial warping and time manipulation."

"Warp holes both artificial and naturally occurring can teleport an individual to virtually any place in the universe."

"In fact, beneath the imperial palace there are several warp circles that can be used by the royal family in the event of an emergency."

"And one of them"

Sophie doubled over in pain as her danger sense amplified to an extreme degree where every step, she took sent ripples of panic through her body.

Just a little bit closer

She could see the golden doors just two minutes away.

Sophie desperately sprinted forward and shoved aside the palace attendants guarding the door with a ferocious expression.

She had no time to mind her manners as the floor beneath her feet started to glow an eerie blue colour as a mysterious pattern was formed.

The golden handles were just mere inches away from her hand when the emperor finished his sentence with a sickening laugh.

"Is right underneath us!"

It was the last thing Sophie heard before the world around her shifted and her vision turned to darkness.