"What is happening here?" Suddenly the sky rumbled. When everyone glanced up, they saw the Emperor himself. At the same time, a part of the sky instantly darkened. Crimson lightning bolts began to flicker around Aditya. Boooom....!!!
As the Emperor exerted his power, an earth-shaking force bore down on the 8 Peak 5th-order cultivators. This wasn't just intense; it was a torrent of overwhelming might that even the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister couldn't escape. The force of it was so ferocious that in merely the blink of an eye, every one of them was driven to their knees, crashing into the ground with such impact that it spider-webbed beneath them, fracturing the earth as if it were glass under a hammer.
The pressure enveloped them like an invisible tidal wave, mercilessly crushing them. Had any ordinary human been in their place, their bodies would have burst apart in the first second, scattering like droplets from a burst water balloon. For these cultivators, though, their exceptional strength allowed them to withstand it, albeit barely.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Their faces drained of color, turning ghostly pale as beads of sweat-drenched their bodies, making it seem as if they had been caught in a downpour.
This invisible force was so unrelenting that it squeezed the breath from their lungs and left them gasping for air in vain. Some felt as if their very bones were on the verge of splintering under the weight of this force, their bodies creaking alarmingly and threatening to give way.
The sensation was akin to being caught beneath a giant's fist that was trying to crush them into the earth itself. The overwhelming power of the Emperor was clear. As Aditya appeared all of the Dragons moved back a little bit. Aditya landed in front of Amber and coldly looked at the Crown Prince. At this moment, the Crown Prince was also staring at Aditya. His eyes were full of hatred towards him. A few seconds later, Aditya stopped pressuring them. As if he continued them some of them were going to die. This was Aditya's way of punishing the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister for thinking that they could do whatever they wanted in his Empire. This wasn't the Dune Sovereignty. This wasn't his daddy's home where he could do whatever he wanted. This was the territory of the Dragon Monarch and everyone regardless of their status had to follow the Monarch's rules. With a shaky body, the Crown Prince somehow stood up. While gasping, he glared at the Emperor.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})'Damn you.....!! Dragon Emperor, I swear on my family's name, one day, I will destroy the Istarin Empire and kill you.' Garrick has never felt this humiliated in his life before. "I don't care what reasons you had for bringing this many Peak 5th-order cultivators to my land." Aditya coldly said. Aditya didn't care if this was going to strain their relationship. If they want war, Aditya would be more than happy to bring war to them. "Crown Prince, I am disappointed. I thought The Dune Sovereignty would be more mature than this." Since they had decided to test Aditya like this, he had just returned the favor the same way. An eye for an eye!!
A tooth for a tooth!!
They had treated the Istarin Empire with disrespect by deciding to bring 8 peak, 5th-order cultivators, Aditya had just returned the favor in the same way. In front of this crowd, he had publicly humiliated the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})This act from their side was also a security threat to the Istarin Empire. What if one of the Peak 5th-order cultivators started attacking civilians? There is no way that Aditya would leave them without repaying the favor. "Amber, please escort our no longer welcomed guests to the teleportation array." Saying that Aditya turned around and teleported back to the Dragon Palace.
He was no longer interested in this matter. He no longer wanted to have a meeting with the Crown Prince or the Prime Minister. He did not want to see them in his Empire anymore. "Follow me," Amber told them to follow her. At the same time, the guards opened the southern massive doors for them to enter the City. 'I knew that this was a bad idea. Now we have ruined our relationship with the Istarin Empire. Now we can no longer buy Flying Ships from the Istarin Empire.' The Prime Minister felt regret. Although there was a plan to eventually destroy the Istarin Empire but it wasn't supposed to be done now. The plan was to become an ally of the Empire and get as much benefit as possible. But the Empire never accepted their proposal to join the Cosmic Tide Alliance. This was their last shot. Now that their relationship had worsened, it was impossible to buy Flying Ships from the Istarin Empire.
'I guess, we will need to think of another plan.' Eldric thought in his mind. 'Maybe, we could send our spies to steal a flying ship from one of the allies of the Istarin Empire. Yes, it might be possible.' The more the prime minister thought of this opportunity, the more he felt that this might work. 'Hephaestus Kingdom would be the perfect target. The Kingdom's security isn't that strong. Our spies will be able to sneak inside the Kingdom without any noticing and steal one of the flying ships without arousing any suspicion. Even if the Istarin Empire becomes suspicious, the Empire would have no evidence against us.'
'I thought talk about this to His Majesty once we return. This might be our only option now.' The Prime Minister did not let the failure of one plan stop him. As soon as he saw that their plan had failed, he began thinking of another plan. In some way, Prime Minister Eldric was the brain of The Dune Sovereignty. Without Prime Minister Eldric, The Dune Sovereignty would struggle a lot. The Prime Minister was irreplaceable. No one could take his place. This was the sole reason why they had traveled all the way here. The Flying ships were something that could change the way wars are fought. The Dune Sovereignty hoped to get flying ships before the Istarin Empire started selling them to other Empires. The plan was to buy at least a few flying ships from the Istarin Empire. And then The Dune Sovereignty was going to try to make its own version of Flying Ships using its advanced knowledge in the field of magic. The Dune Sovereignty has been suppressing magic advancements from the rest of the world. In order to maintain its superiority in the field of magic, the Empire invests 3.9% of its entire GDP into Magic research and every year that percentage is slightly increasing. At the same time, the Dune Sovereignty has the largest Magic research institution in the six continents. The Empire has invested heavily in research and education. It is the Empire that has the highest literacy rate in the six continents.
The Empire feels that there should be no superior in the magic field to them. This is the reason why whenever a Kingdom or dynasty makes a breakthrough in the field of magic or makes a very amazing invention, the Dune Sovereignty tries its everything to get that technology for themselves. For weaker Kingdoms or Empires, they just first threaten it with war if the Empire does not listen then they attack that Empire and destroy it. They have done this many times in the past. Whenever any genius mage or cultivator arises, sometimes they kidnap that person and forcefully make that cultivator obey the King. They have done this in the past, especially with their neighboring Kingdoms and Empires.
To seek more Magic knowledge, they have even sent a lot of their men to the Main Continent.
Despite being The Dune Sovereignty over being 15,000+ years old, till now, the Empire hasn't been able to find a genius runemaster. This has been one of the biggest problems of The Dune Sovereignty. Without a genius runemaster, rebuilding their own version of Flying Ships is going to really tough. For a short period, The Crown Prince and the Prime Minister had become the center of attention in Azure City. It was because of the humiliation that they received in front of the crowd that was waiting to enter Azure City. Within a very short period of time, the news spread to every corner of the City. As Amber led them towards the center of the city where the largest public Teleportation array was, Garrick felt the stares of thousands upon thousands of citizens on him. Till he left, he was gritting his teeth. He was fuming in anger. As he never had been humiliated like this in his life before. No member of the Royal Family had been ever humiliated like this before. This whole incident has brought great shame and ignominy to the Flameheart Royal Family.
This was a day that the Royal Family would want the whole world to forget. While Crown Prince Garrick and everyone else along with him were making their exit from the Istarin Empire after being humiliated by the Dragon Monarch in public, someone else was making his entry to the Azure City from the Northern gates. As he entered the city, he immediately heard news of what had happened to the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister of The Dune Sovereignty.
