All the Mage Emperors looked at Kali and Gregorio.
Kali only looked at the sphere in her hand with emotionless eyes.
It was like she didn't know what she should be feeling or thinking right now.
Brutus Cesar slowly took in a breath, ready to speak up.
"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE?!"
Yet, Brutus didn't get the opportunity to say anything as Linastra exploded with rage.
"I've just been having the greatest fucking time looking at the sun, and suddenly half the fucking world is gone!" Linastra shouted, the world around her shaking under her might.
"So, again, what the fuck happened?!"
"You owe us an explanation, Gregorio," Emperor Amon said. "I think it would be best if you explained to us what happened. We don't want to jump to conclusions here."
"Explain," Empress Nivera said with a cold and commanding voice.
Kali didn't seem like her usual self, which was why everyone was asking Gregorio about what had transpired.
Gregorio closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He didn't want to kill that many people.
He only wanted to kill Kali.
Yet, Adam, the person that should value life the most, sacrificed his own and several trillion other lives for the personification of death.
Gregorio didn't want to kill Adam.
Yet, things couldn't be changed now.
What had been done couldn't be undone.
"Some minutes ago," Gregorio started, "I found one of my strongest Mage Kings assassinated in her room with her Mana stolen."
Silence.
If the Emperors hadn't already seen what had happened here, they wouldn't have believed Gregorio so easily.
After all, who could possibly kill a powerful Mage King inside their room right beside an Emperor?
Several of the Emperors glanced at Kali.
Death had very mysterious powers and was extremely difficult to sense.
Additionally, Adam and Kali had a clear motive for wanting to kill a Mage King.
If they gathered around 40 to 50 Mage Kings' worth of Mana, they could make their son a Mage Emperor.
Naturally, Abaddon's possible ascension to the Realm of Mage Emperor had been a topic of discussion for quite a while now.
Kali and Adam had suggested killing the Beast Kings to gather the required Mana, but the Emperors declined that.
The Beast Kings were the world's Mana storage. If the Abominations eradicated more Mana, they could simply kill one of them to return the density of Mana in the world to its usual level without having to sacrifice a Mage King.
If they killed all Beast Kings, they would soon have to reduce the number of Mage Kings, which would be bad since the Mages would notice that something was wrong.
Naturally, after a lot more talking, Kali suggested allowing the Mage Kings to fight each other for superiority and Mana.
Like this, it would be fair for everyone, and everyone would get an opportunity to become a Mage Emperor.
Initially, the Emperors agreed but then came to irreconcilable differences with Kali when it came to establishing the rules.
The Emperors wanted to implement a two-party-consent system when it came to the fight.
Kali wanted a one-party-consent system.
Essentially, the Emperors said that Mage Kings were only allowed to fight when both of them agreed to the battle.
Kali said that only one party needed to consent since this was also how the world worked.
The Emperors countered that if Kali wanted it to be like how the world works, everyone else was also allowed to intervene, including Mage Emperors.
That was essentially where the discussions stopped for now.
Naturally, the discussions hadn't been finished yet, and many Emperors were interested in having King Sanctified Death become a Mage Emperor, but they still needed to iron out the details.
And that could take a long time.
Maybe Kali wanted to test the waters by killing one of Gregorio's Mage Kings first?
After all, Kali obviously thought Gregorio to be incredibly weak-willed and to be a pushover.
So what if Gregorio knew what happened?
What would that weak-willed wimp do?
Attack her?
Pfft, he didn't have the guts!
This was how things could have gone down in the Emperors' minds.
"And you attacked Kali because of that?" Amon asked. "Without any proof?"
"I don't care about proof," Gregorio said. "I am one of ten Mage Emperors. I know what happened. She knows what happened. I don't need the consent of a third party when someone kills someone of my Empire!"
Isis, Amon, and Jenny took deep breaths, Linastra gnashed her teeth, and the remainder looked on coldly.
"Continue," Empress Bina said from the side.
Gregorio threw a glance at the gathered Emperors.
He didn't believe that they would suddenly attack him, but he wasn't one that took chances.
"Naturally, I suspected that it was Kali," Gregorio said.
The Emperors threw some glances at Kali.
Kali didn't react.
It was like the Emperors weren't even there.
"I grabbed two of her Mage Kings and took them with me to the Judgment Palace," Gregorio continued.
"Where are these Mage Kings now?" Isis asked.
"Dead," Gregorio said.
The Mage Emperors narrowed their eyes.
"What happened to them?" Emperor Amon asked.
"If you stopped interrupting me, you would already know," Gregorio said with a slightly aggressive tone.
Amon closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down.
"Continue," he said.
"When I reached the Judgment Palace, I demanded Adam and Kali come out," Gregorio said.
"But they didn't."
"Why not?" Empress Jenny asked.
"Ask her. I don't know," Gregorio said.
The Emperors focused on Kali.
Kali didn't react.
"Kali," Bina said with a neutral voice.
Kali didn't react.
"Kali," Nivera also said with a cold voice.
Slowly, Kali's eyes regained focus, and she looked at Nivera. "What?"
"Why didn't you come out when Gregorio asked for you to come out," Emperor Amon asked.
Kali threw a glance at Gregorio.
She wasn't sure what she was feeling right now.
She wasn't really angry that Gregorio had killed Adam.
After all, she also wanted Adam to die, in a way.
But she also didn't like that Adam was dead.
She just didn't know.
"I didn't want to dignify the little tantrum he was throwing," Kali said evenly.
Gregorio wasn't surprised by Kali's lack of anger.
Kali had always been very unnatural.
In a way, it was almost like she didn't have any emotions.
"And then?" Emperor Amon asked Gregorio.
"I killed the two Mage Kings," Gregorio said. "She killed one of mine. I killed two of hers."
The reactions among the Emperors were very mixed.
Some of them thought that Gregorio's actions had been incorrect and that he should have gained proof before doing anything.
Some of them thought that no Mage King should have been killed under any circumstance. The world was already unstable enough.
Some thought that Gregorio should have focused his wrath on Kali, not her inferiors.
Yet, some of them also thought that Gregorio had done the right thing.
"That got Kali's attention," Gregorio said. "She came out of her palace, I confronted her, and she answered with, 'so what if I did?'"
The gathered Emperors looked at Kali. "Did you say that?"
"I did," Kali answered.
"So, you killed Gregorio's Mage King?" Nivera asked.
"No," Kali said.
Silence.
"But you said you did," Emperor Amon said with furrowed brows.
"Yes, to anger Gregorio," Kali answered. "I didn't know why he was here. I still don't know why he did what he did."
Obviously, Kali hadn't listened to the discussion at all.
This made the Emperors think.
Kali had sufficient motive to kill Gregorio's Mage King.
However, she also wasn't someone that lied a lot.
Did she do it?
