Long Tiankong, the Dragon Emperor, stood atop the lake, his senses looking all around for any signs of formations or artifacts hiding the Azure Dragon's body.
In the first place, he couldn't even imagine who could have come here in the past 70 years as he and he alone had the one key to the secret realm.
Without the teleportation key, a medallion, that he kept in his storage, there was nothing he could think of that would allow one to enter the domain of the Azure Dragon.
Just as he thought that, he realized that was not true in the least. There were indeed more things that could aid one in entering and existing a spatial pocket such as this.
There were two swords, in fact, and one of them was with him right now.
But it hadn't always been.
A flicker of thought passed through his mind, one that had been bothering him for a while after his subordinates had told him, but he hadn't put enough consideration for it to come up with anything useful.
Before him, Alex had the sword. But he couldn't have had the time to come by here, could he?
"Brightfalls city…" the Emperor said softly. That was the city Alex had gone to before coming to the Dragon Capital. Why had he gone there?
It was in the Emerald Kingdom, up at the border, next to the Beast Paradise. Had Alex wanted to teleport to the Dragon Capital, he could've gone to any other city, and not Brightfalls exactly.
And that was when it hit the Emperor.
If one were to fly from the Brightfalls city and not take the teleportation formation along the way, they would end up at the Azure Dragon's realm.
Which meant… Alex had most likely been through here and had taken the Azure Dragon's body.
There were many things Alex could do, and hiding himself from the soldiers that surrounded the secret realm for a constant watch would most likely not be able to catch him if he wanted to hide away from them.
"But no," the Dragon Emperor told himself. "He couldn't take away the body at all. Even if he dragged it outside, there are soldiers in the area. Even if he could hide himself, he couldn't have hidden the body at all. How could he have—"
The Dragon Emperor's head turned downward, and he stared at the sword in his hand. Alex had that sword before him.
Alex had come here, with this very sword, and… he knew what the Dragon Emperor's plan was.
"And he must have done it himself," the Emperor realized. "He carved the Soul Space. He took them out."
The Emperor turned, rushing to the teleportation formation to teleport back to the Palace. He was very much certain now.
Alex had the Immortal treasures he wanted. And the Emperor had left him alone.
'No!' he thought. 'I can't let him get away. I can't let him teleport again.'
The Emperor was played with back at the Harmonious Balance Haven, where he had been distracted by Alex while he had done this all.
He didn't want to believe that not just had he been duped into being in the wrong place; he had been duped into letting Alex free entry into the Azure Dragon's realm and to his treasure.
As soon as he arrived back in the Dragon Palace, he didn't bother walking back outside. He directly flew into the sky, hoping that he wasn't too late.
He looked up and saw his subordinates gathered there, and not far away from them, so was Alex.
Alex held onto a talisman in his hand.
'Is he about to teleport?' the Dragon Emperor wondered.
And then Alex spoke.
"I am King Alex of the Southern Continent. To all those that look up to your Emperor, Long Tiankong, I will now tell you his crimes."
Alex's voice boomed in the sky, traveling dozens and dozens of kilometers in all directions, filling the ears of every person in the Dragon Capital and beyond.
Everyone had already stopped what they were doing to look at the sky because of the Dragon Emperor's earlier. And now they were ready to hear Alex's words.
"6000 years ago, your Emperor killed 5 Royal families, belonging to the Kingdom of Lin, Kingdom of Jang, Kingdom of Xuang, Kingdom of Fang, and Kingdom of Fen, by manipulating truths and using deceitful tactics to false fully accuse those kings and queen of treason when they had done nothing of those sort."
"5000 years ago, your Emperor led an army to the Western Continent, to raze it to the ground, to destroy all that was strong and good in that continent, under the lie that he was doing it in revenge for the White Tiger attacking the Azure Dragon, when the White Tiger had instead saved the Azure Dragon."
"70 Years ago, your Emperor then handled the death of the Azure Dragon and his wife, Shi Meiyoung, when he attempted to kill their newborn child."
"69 Years ago, your Emperor attacked his own son and daughter-in-law, and nearly killed the both of them."
"2 years ago, your emperor killed my subordinate, a guest of his in cold blood, and nearly killed me as well."
"Not even a month later, he apprehended my alchemists, and killed all the soldiers that had come along with them, sending their heads to me as a gift."
"I am sure there are many other crimes that can be associated with this man, but these are the only ones that I know of."
"And therefore, as one chosen of the Phoenix, I declare this man an enemy of the realm, and make the Judgment of death on him."
"Anyone who follows him and his commands shall bear the same judgment from me as well."
Alex looked at the Dragon Emperor who had flown to the sky with anger in his eyes, but had to stop himself because of his previous oath.
But Alex had been counting and the 5 minutes were just about to ber over.
"This is war! I have come for your head."
He raised his right hand forward as though presenting something, and his mind, which had been laying heavy on his head, suddenly felt free of all burden.
And above him appeared a colossal ship of nearly 300 meters and 100 meters in width, with a bulbous center that was around 150 meters in diameter.
The Dragon Emperor's eyes widened in shock as he felt thousands of people inside the ship, all of whom were appearing outside.
Thousands of people surrounded Alex in seconds, all in formation, all in uniform.
A foreign army had arrived within the heart of their empire, and a war had been declared.
Alex pulled out Midnight and pointed toward the Dragon Emperor and his subordinates. He took a single deep breath.
'I have delayed as much as possible, but I can do nothing much longer,' he thought. 'It is all up to the rest you. Hurry.'
He then stared at the group in front of him as the Oath to not attack for the 5 minutes disappeared from his chest.
"Charge!"
