Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix
The Emperor of the Baharuth Empire, a nation to the east of the Kingdom that often holds early battles with it is currently Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix.
The still-young Emperor has earned himself quite a reputation, referred to as "The Bloody Emperor" thanks to his ruthless purges of disloyal and incompetent nobles, one of whom were Aarche's parents. However, the Emperor doesn't even remember such insignificant people now.
Instead, he holds far more... concerning things within his thoughts, ones relating to the new religion spreading about.
The Emperor could be seen resting on a couch with some fine red wine in hand, his dress as opulent as was worthy of an Emperor, though it did not impede his work in any way.
He sighed, his loyal bodyguards taking notice.
All of them could be seen dressed in full plate armor that is black with a large insignia covering the front. The number of these powerful people could be counted on one hand, and all four stood in the room at this moment.
The reason why Jircniv is stressed about this new religion spreading is simple: While he has a tight hold on all military matters, having good relations with the churches is also extremely important, though not as much with the main enforcer of the Four Gods, the Theocracy, out of the picture.
Still, with change comes chaos, and with religious conflicts come a lot of concerns and issues, after all, this new religion seems to be spreading unnaturally quickly and is spreading through the Empire's nobility at a rapid pace, with the various nobles receiving "dreams" and "visions" of angelic and demonic beings.
He first dismissed it as random nonsense- but with this being a universal thing- he could ignore it no longer.
Still, he cannot just change faith, after all, the original church still holds a large amount of power in Imperial politics, and while he could stomp them into the ground with his loyal army- the unrest caused by it would simply not be worth the pain.
Not to mention this new faith had no priests yet, meaning no healers for the Empire.
He would sadly have to wait for the situation to develop on its own.
Suddenly, one of the Four Imperial Knights as they are known, announced the entrance of Fluder Paradyne, the court mage.
Jircniv stood up, a smile on his face, yet the hurried steps and the wide-eyed look of the mage made Jircniv rather nervous.
"Your majesty-!" (Fluder)
Before he could finish his words, a large silhouette could be seen passing outside, landing down in the castle courtyard.
With a heavy thump, a second one landed on the castle roof, crushing it and falling into a room now filled with crushed human servants.
Jircniv rushed outside, opening a pair of wooden doors which led to a large balcony.
He rushed outside and looked down, his eyes going wide in fear as he witnessed a large glowing white dragon, its impossibly wide and large maw revealing layers upon layers of brilliant white teeth.
Salive could be seen pouring out of its mouth, the stone beneath it was unaffected, but all filth could be seen melted away.
Its head is flat while its forehead had a large spike which was also flat, connecting to the flat top of its head. Its body was much like that of a typical dragon's excluding the large white "spike" protrusions coming out of its spine down the middle of its body, but its wings were anything but standard.
The parts covered by scales, the "framework" that supported the wings, could be seen as normal, but the thinner parts that allowed it to fly could be seen as made out of a jelly-like substance that is see-through. One could still see white veins within this material, constantly moving around as if squirming.
Its tail has a large club at the tip of it, similar to that of a Stegosaurus, though instead of grey it is white.
Knights surrounded the large dragon as archers instead pointed at the other one.
This one had more joined-gether skin, looking less like that of a lizard's and more like that of a bear's, like skin without any fur with this sickly yellow color.
Its maw too held sharp teeth, though this one lacked the layers of them, instead looking more normal in appearance.
Still, that did not make it any less intimidating, a dragon is alone capable of killing everything in this castle, though with Fluder here he should be able to escape.
Speaking of Fluder, he rushed to Jircniv's side, prepared to teleport away at the slightest hint of danger to the boy.
Of course, he knew there should be none.
Jircniv, now more confident with Fluder by his side, looked at the dragons.
The soldiers crowded around them swords in hand, their bravery is commendable, if moronic.
Jircniv now couldn't help but notice the two small children, on on top of each dragon.
The one on top of the white dragon smiled and waved at the soldiers around him, while the one at the top kept a clear view of the entire area, surveying it for any unforeseen threats.
The small child in the courtyard spoke with a large smile on his face, his voice energetic and childish.
"Hi, guys! We're here to visit you all~" He grinned widely, "You should give a warmer welcome to your guests no~?"
Suddenly, the dragon beneath him snarled at a few men who dared to step a bit too close to the creature's liking, touches of the white spit touched their flesh, making them scream in agony.
Thoth smiled, knowing this was merely their sins being purged away, but only a little bit.
Indeed, the dragon he had as his mount can produce the holiest of waters, referred to as the "Divine Elixir" which can be used to turn a person into an angel, with a catch.
Should the sins of that person be too great, instead of being turned into an angel when fully submerged in it, they will instead be burned to death, hence why the men's skin burned.
Most could not pass the test, though a few were simply that pure.
The other soldiers stepped back in horror as their companions stopped burning, the elixir fizzling out as their sins won out. The skin where the elixir touched was pure white with all hairs and such burned away, but color quickly began returning to it. The hair would take a bit longer to regrow sadly.
"Hey hey calm down Elyos! Shhh..." Thoth then patted the dragon's head, earning a low growl.
The yellow dragon rolled its eyes at such dog-like behavior, but no one else dared to do so.
The soldiers who had now stopped "burning" ran away, their bravery gone.
At this moment, the knight captain, a man with a larger belly, short brown hair, and some very prominent muscles, stepped forward.
He stopped a short distance from the dragon as Thoth looked at him, he then returned the gaze.
"What do you seek in his majesty's palace?" (Captain)
The man spoke loudly with confidence, though if he truly felt so was questionable at best.
Nonetheless, Thoth responded.
"Oh right! We wanted to have a good time in our nice tomb, but you meanies sent a bunch of people to take our stuff!" (Thoth)
Aura nodded as Thoth pouted, his arms crossing as he gave a "menacing" look.
"But lord Ainz is a merciful God, and he shall offer you mercy! If only your Emperor would come down to speak to me..." (Thoth)
The knight captain shook his head.
"No, his majesty cannot come down for his safety." (Captain)
"HAHA! You think I ASKED you?" (Thoth)
Thoth then jumped down and ran in front of the man, his movements so fast that everyone thought he simply teleported the second he touched the ground.
He stopped a mere millimeter away from the captain's face, he then grabbed his chin and pulled down, almost snapping it off.
Thoth looked the man dead in the eyes as the latter felt a shiver of dread go up his spine, as if his entire soul was an open book now, whether it liked it or not.
Thoth gently smiled, his lips stretching just a bit further than they should be able to.
"Naughty boy." Thoth then turned to Elyos, grabbing the man by the hand.
"Elyos!" The dragon snapped to Thoth, "Catch!" Thoth then threw the captain at Elyos.
The dragon bit down on the man, his body sizzling as his sins retreated deeper into his soul away from the holy energy seeking to purge them, yet even as they fled to the core, the was no escape, and quickly, the soul got shredded apart by the sins and divinity clashing.
Oh, and the dragon's layered teeth shredding the man's flesh like air and armor like butter also helped to kill him.
He screamed for approximately one second before his soul and body were shredded into pieces.
The soldiers stumbled back in horror as Jircniv stumbled back.
He felt someone of small stature behind him, confused, he turned around to see Aura standing there.
She smiled at him and waved, Jircniv looked around, only to see his bodyguards all on the floor.
"Hello, Your Majesty! We would love it if you could visit the Great Tomb of Nazarick to personally apologize for your insolent behavior." (Aura)
Jircniv took a second to evaluate the situation.
His enemies have two dragons and are so fast his eyes can't even follow them, not to mention his bodyguards, including the old man Fluder, are all on the floor.
And so, Jircniv nodded professionally.
"I shall head out first thing in the morning." (Jircniv)
"Good!" Aura then hopped to the edge of the balcony and waved at Thoth, who looked at her and nodded.
"Right, you all! Seems like I can't stay for much longer sadly, but remember!" Thoth spoke as he jumped up on Elyos's back, "I am always watching~" A couple of eyes popped in and out of his skin, earning a couple of terrified steps back from the soldiers.
"See you soon!" (Thoth)
The two dragons then flew off, the Emperor watching while his guards woke up from their slumber.
"Your majesty!" Fluder said as he struggled to stand, "Are you alright?"
"Yes Fluder, but we'll have to go to that tomb tomorrow or... Well, the Empire is doomed." (Jircniv)
"Do you believe them to be that powerful? So much so that they could destroy your entire army?" (Fluder)
Jircniv shrugged.
"I don't know, but I know that they could destroy the capital with ease with those adult dragons, so that is enough reason to be obedient." (Jircniv)
"I see..." (Fluder)
Jircniv then shouted for his assistant, who is a woman with shoulder-length hair and brown eyes dressed in a long black dress with white lines on the sides, around her waist, a belt could be seen.
The assistant, Loune Vermillion, rushed to his side with a notebook and a pencil in hand.
"Yes, your Majesty?" (Loune)
"Make sure that... What was the new religion called again?" (Jircniv)
"I believe the most popular name at this moment is 'Ainzology.'" (Loune)
Jircniv had a flashback of Aura saying "Lord Ainz" as his brow furrowed.
"Keep an eye on it and stockpile some resources in case we want to suppress it or support it." (Jircniv)
"Understood." Loune then bowed and ran off to do her job.
Jircniv sighed and looked to the distance where Thoth and Aura flew away.
"Tell me, Fluder, did you ever think you would meet a God?" (Jircniv)
"Well... There is a first time for everything is there not?" (Fluder)
"Haha! I guess that's true." Jircniv turned around and walked inside, motioning for Fluder to follow him.
Fluder looked to the sky and bowed slightly and quickly, following his Majesty without a word.
-x-x-x-
Hope you liked the chapter! In the next chapter, you ThothxAura shippers will finally get something to enjoy. ( •̀ ω •́ )✧
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