Undercurrents

Back in the Imperial City, the King was having a daily meeting with his court officials.

When suddenly, a messenger came, barging in the court chambers. The court officials that were inside stood up, flaring as the messenger were panting with his hands on his knees.

"How dare you! Do you know what punishment is in stall for interrupting a Private Court meeting?" one of them said.

Before the others could spit out their own complaints, they were silenced by a gesture of the King. He stood up and solemnly stared at the young man, asking.

"Speak, what is so urgent?"

The young man continued panting, barely getting out the words "Attack…there is an attack…at the Red Dusk Academy…and at the special space of the Academy."

Suddenly there was uproar within the Court Chambers but once again, before they could all spoke the King's voice silenced all of them. This time however, they could all sense anger and worry in the King's tone.

"Carefully, retell the events that have happened." The King seemed to have managed to reign in his emotions, asking about the overall situation.

"Yes, your Majesty, the first thing that happened was…" The messenger began to tell the story of what happened.

From him, the king learned that an expert from one of the Empire's closest enemy, the Hundred River Empire came and threatened to eradicate the Red dusk Academy if the headmaster didn't show himself.

Faced with this threat, the headmaster wouldn't back down and appeared to confront the enemy. They exchanged words there were boasting included within, as well as threats. But finally, the headmaster learned what the enemy was there for. He was there to arrange a Martial competition between the two Empire's greatest Talents in three month's time.

The headmaster took the challenge as he believed in the talents that could be found in the Crimson Sky Empire. They settled on the terms and conditions of the battle.

Each Empire will send ten talents each and must not exceed the cultivation of Advanced level of the Spiritual Root realm with the age of below 25. A pool of precious materials and substantial amount of gold coins from both empires will also be given to the winning team.

There would be 10 matches with a one versus one format in a gauntlet type arrangement, one 5 versus 5 format and four 2 versus 2 format. The side with the most wins out of all the matches wins.

After the terms were settled, the enemy expert actually attacked underhandedly but luckily the headmaster was much craftier and managed to block the attack while dealing a critical hit on the enemy. Such a maneuver not only boosted the Academy's morale for the upcoming competition but most importantly, it sent a clear message.

We are not pushovers!

"Good! Good! Those bastards from the Hundred River thinks we're just gonna take this humiliation lying down?! Reward the Academy by adding ten thousand gold coins and a hundred Blue tiger pills." After hearing what has transpired at the Crimson Sky Academy. The King decided to reward them for their bravery and for not losing the face of the Empire.

Ten thousand gold coins were not much but a hundred Blue tiger pills were something. Blue tiger pills can stimulate the person's hidden potential, resulting to a period of growth.

Hearing this, one of the court officials that was from the Academy bowed respectfully showing his gratitude.

"And then? What happened to the Academy's secret space?" Once the issue about the Academy was lifted off his shoulders, the King asked about the thing he was most concern about. His own beloved daughter was there as an official, how can he not worry?

"Your majesty…about this…how can I…" the messenger started mumbling.

"What is it? Speak!" Seeing the messenger mumbling nonsense the King erupted.

The messenger jumped back in fright but then summoned up the courage to say "Reports say that numerous participants started coming out of the Secret space one by one and most of them complained about an unknown creature that suddenly attacked them."

"And?" The King was starting to get impatient.

The messenger continued "They've asked the academy officials about this and they said that the academy test didn't include this monster. This was proved when a batch of students came out from the Secret space scared out of their wits saying that a friend died under the hands of those creatures."

Hearing this, not only did the King felt even more anxious that even some of the Court officials couldn't hold their emotions in check.

"What?! What the hell is the Academy dallying for? Why haven't they sent their experts to rescue the participants? Don't they know that the children of countless nobles have participated in the recruitment test this time?" The King flared even more.

"Your Majesty, the report about the attack on the secret space happened around the same time the Academy was confronted by the Hundred River expert, they didn't have a chance to send someone while that expert was there." The messenger lowered his head, his body shivered with fear.

"Damn it!"

The King felt furious over the situation but then he took a deep breath and forcefully tried to calm his emotion. He was a King and was his decisions was needed, for him to do this he needed to be calm.

Huu...

"Alright, thank you for your effort to hurry here." The King waved his hand at the messenger sending him away.

"Vanis! take ten of your trusted men and head to the Academy's secret space. Eliminate all enemy and rescue as many as you can. Minimize the casualties!" The King turned to the Knight next to him. He was the King's most trusted guard.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The Knight, Vanis saluted and immediately left the Court Chambers to fulfill the King's orders.

Seeing Vanis leave, The King breathed a sigh of relief, with Vanis taking care of the situation he had one burden lifted from his Shoulders. But even with this he still couldn't stop worrying.

"Your Majesty, what should we do? Our children th-they participated in the recruitment test today, what if something happened to them?"

"He is right, your Majesty. You should punish the Academy for their neglect!"

Soon, one after another the court officials started worrying and voiced their opinions. The King sat and kneaded his head before holding out his arm, silencing them.

"If something did happened to any of your descendants, then as King I will formally apologize as it is also my neglect upon the security of our Empire that something like this has happened. But you shouldn't turn your hate upon the Academy. Doing this will only ensue chaos among our ranks and will affect the Academy's performance in the coming competition. If anything, point your anger on our enemy! The people who plotted against us and have hurt our family."

Such word made some of the officials lower their head in shame. Their empire just faced an attack and now they have suggested an action that will only cause fighting among themselves and splinter the Empire. But hearing the last part of the King's speech their were lifted up from their slump and greedily awaits the moment when their revenge bears fruit.

"Now, continue with your jobs and let us wait for Vanis' report later."

"Please be safe, my dear daughter."

The King ordered them to continue working, not because he wanted them to forget the issue but because worrying will not help and honestly, they just can't do anything about it. If any of the noble family were to mobilize their forces, the King was certain that this will alert the spies. Reporting their movements to their enemies.

Though he worries, he too was forcefully keeping a ball anger inside of him in check. He sat on his throne, his eyes gleaming with sharpness and killing intent.

You Hundred River bastards think you can just come and go in my Empire as you wish? Fine! Go have your fun for today. When the time comes for the Competition to start we will have our revenge. Just you all wait...