Hellbound: Rebirth Of The Strongest Slayer.-Chapter 40: Essos’s Stress

Chapter 40

The battle between the emperor and the Essos army lasted only a few minutes.

Calling it a battle was generous.

The men were never in the same league as him. They died faster than they could think. Within seconds, it was over. The clash that was supposed to begin had already ended.

The emperor stood amid the fallen, his posture relaxed, his gaze calm. No one could see his expression. His face remained hidden beneath layers of obscuring spells.

He surveyed the corpses.

Then something clicked.

"Wait."

Should he not have kept at least one alive for questioning.

As if answering the thought, a mature female figure stepped out of the void and appeared beside him.

"You wiped them all out again."

Her voice was sharp. Irritated.

The emperor froze for a brief moment.

Of course.

It was the empress of the Ardentia Kingdom.

Her presence alone carried authority. Confidence. Overwhelming pressure. She was not just the empress. She was the only person in the entire kingdom the emperor himself felt a shred of fear toward.

The irritation he had felt earlier vanished instantly.

He straightened slightly, trying to defuse the situation.

"Actually, these ones were weak. I only attacked with my weakest golden ball and they still died without putting up any real defense. With how stupid they were, I doubt they knew anything about Essos’s plans anyway."

He said it with complete confidence.

And lied through his teeth. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

It was true that he ended the fight with a golden ball. But he, of all people, knew that no one at the grand level was worthy of facing even his weakest destructive sphere. No amount of combined defense from that army could have changed the outcome.

They were doomed the moment he appeared.

The empress could tell he was lying.

But there was nothing to argue about now. The men were dead. And while her husband was a terrible liar, the part about them not knowing Essos’s true plans might actually be true. Essos had always been secretive.

"Believe me, there is no way I am lying to you," the emperor added, still trying.

The empress waved him off.

"Oh please, Conan. Drop the act. You are far too old for that."

He felt a deep sense of despair at the word old.

Old.

How was he old.

He was only a few hundred years old. Maybe approaching a thousand. That was not old. Not even close.

He did not get the chance to protest.

"Let us seek the Great Sage’s divination," the empress continued. "Maybe he can tell us something about the Crimson Night."

Before Conan could complain further, she grabbed him by the collar.

And they vanished.

Meanwhile, somewhere within the Hwanna Kingdom.

Inside a vast chamber illuminated by several small light bulbs, a man sat upon his throne.

The throne itself was plain white. Simple. Almost unimpressive at first glance. Yet it was forged from Orinus metal, a material far more precious than the ornate thrones most kings and emperors flaunted. Orinus was known as the second hardest substance in the world, surpassed only by one. More terrifying was its ability to greedily absorb the world’s energy and grow stronger over time.

A throne that evolved.

A throne that devoured power.

And the man seated upon it was no ordinary figure.

He wore a simple blue night robe, his chest bare, his posture relaxed. Long black hair flowed behind him, streaked with strands of gray. His purple eyes were captivating, mesmerizing even, yet the aura surrounding him was oppressive enough to make even the most battle hardened veterans feel a chill crawl up their spines.

Unlike Emperor Conan, who radiated calm confidence, this man exuded control.

Dominance.

This was Essos.

The emperor’s greatest enemy.

A figure stepped into the throne room, clad in red and blue military attire. The man halted several meters away before dropping to one knee.

"I greet the Great One," he said, voice trembling with reverence, as if he stood before a god rather than a man.

Essos did not move.

"Give your report," he said calmly.

The soldier nodded.

"The army sent to probe the defenses of the Ardentia Kingdom has been completely wiped out."

Silence followed.

"Is that all," Essos asked, his tone still indifferent. "Tell me who did it. Deathslayer. Warmaker. Or that small one."

Those names carried weight. Each was a thorn in his side. Were it not for the emperor’s protection, he would have erased them long ago.

"Actually... none of them were responsible, my lord," the man replied.

Essos’s brow twitched slightly.

"And who was."

The soldier swallowed.

"One of our men reported seeing him before the army was annihilated."

That finally caught Essos’s attention.

One purple eye opened fully, fixing itself on the kneeling figure.

"What did you say."

The calm was still there, but now it burned.

"I believe the emperor of Ardentia himself was responsible for wiping out the probing army."

For the first time, Essos reacted.

A faint smile crept onto his lips.

"Oh."

His eyes narrowed into slits.

"So that vile Conan acted."

His thoughts raced slightly.

The Ardentia emperor should not have bothered with a probing force. He was lazy. Incredibly lazy. A man who avoided effort whenever possible.

Yet he moved.

Which meant only a few things.

The Crimson Night phenomenon had spread across the world, with Ardentia positioned at its center. The final convergence had also been witnessed within their territory.

His guess was becoming clearer.

"The emperor is hiding something," Essos muttered.

At that moment, another man entered the room. He approached quickly and fell to his knees beside the first soldier.

"My lord."

Essos turned his gaze.

"Any results from the divinations," he asked. "You were overseeing them."

The man hesitated, then sighed.

"We have lost over a hundred veteran diviners and oracles."

The room grew colder.

Essos turned fully toward him.

"None of them left a report," he asked quietly.

The man swallowed.

"No, my lord."

The man shook his head slowly.

"They all said different things," he reported. "Yet somehow... they were connected."

He hesitated, as if even repeating it felt dangerous.

"Some screamed ’hell.’ Others shouted ’burn.’ Flames. Destruction. A few kept repeating the letter V over and over like it meant something they couldn’t finish saying."

His hands tightened.

"But none of them were able to complete a full divination. Not a single one."

Silence pressed down on the chamber.

"Whatever the Crimson Night represents," the man continued, voice lower now, "I believe it is far beyond the reach of our diviners. Too vast. Too... powerful."

He exhaled.

"That is my final conclusion."

Essos did not respond.

He remained seated, unmoving, eyes half closed, as if the words were sinking into something far deeper than thought.

Minutes passed.

Then his eyes opened.

"This confirms it," Essos said quietly. "The emperor has obtained something."

His fingers tapped once against the armrest.

"Or he is preparing to end our eternal feud. Once and for all."

The thought was unsettling. Even to him.

For a brief moment, Essos considered something absurd. Something he would normally dismiss without hesitation.

That Emperor Conan might have made a deal with something beyond this world.

Something hellish.

It made little sense.

Then again, nothing in this world truly did.

"Give the order," Essos said.

"No more probing attacks. Not yet."

The two men straightened.

"Instead, gather intelligence. Everything we can on the Ardentian royal family. Bloodlines. Secrets. Weaknesses."

His eyes hardened.

"And I want a full report on the Crimson Night. Its connection to the Ardentia Kingdom. Not fragments. Not guesses."

"Everything."

The men nodded and withdrew, their footsteps fading until the massive doors sealed shut.

Essos was alone.

He frowned slightly, staring into nothing.

"What are you planning, Conan," he murmured.

Then his lips curled upward.

A slow, wild grin.

"If you think you can use tricks to end me, you are gravely mistaken."

A dark, reddish aura flared around his body for a fleeting second, thick and oppressive, before vanishing as if it had never existed.

"After all," he said softly, "you may have touched the phenomenon."

"But I doubt you gained as much from it as I did."

He closed his eyes again.

Calm. Unbothered. Just like before.

"Let see you try."

To be continued.