Demon Emperor : The Secret Of Reincarnation

The Fallen Emperor

"Rise, Lander! Do not die before you know who betrayed you!"

The voice cut through his fading awareness.

Lander opened his eyes.

The sky above glowed deep red. Dust hung thick in the air, mixed with the scent of scorched stone and blood. He lay upon the floor of his shattered palace. A few paces away stood the black throne he had built himself from the heartrock of Mount Tianxu.

A drop of blood fell from his chin.

It struck the armrest of the throne.

Lander stared at the crimson stain for several heartbeats.

"So I am still here."

He tried to move his hand.

His fingers trembled but would not lift.

"Do not move."

Marvek’s voice came from beside him.

Lander turned his head.

Marvek knelt nearby, pressing one hand to the gash in his own abdomen. His sword lay discarded several paces off. Seraphine stood behind him, and Darius held back the troops who pressed forward.

Lander gave a weak laugh.

"You have not killed me yet?"

Marvek met his gaze.

"Not yet."

"Why?"

"Because we have not found what we seek."

Lander tried to sit up.

His body collapsed back at once.

Pain spread from his chest all the way to his fingertips. The final blow had shattered his defenses and torn through his inner energy channels. His demonic core still beat, but every throb felt like a crack widening further.

"How long?"

Marvek frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"How long can I hold on?"

Marvek did not answer.

Lander gave a faint smile.

"Five minutes?"

"Less."

"Two?"

Marvek lowered his head.

"If you keep forcing your body, perhaps a few dozen breaths."

Lander closed his eyes for a moment.

He no longer tried to work out how to defeat them. He sought no flaw in their formation and counted no remaining soldiers. His empire had fallen. His body was broken. The people who had once stood at his back now ringed him with drawn blades.

Only one question remained.

"Who?"

Marvek lifted his face.

"Who started all of this?"

"Lander."

"Do not call me Your Majesty."

Lander opened his eyes.

"I do not ask as an emperor."

He gestured weakly at the blood seeping from his chest.

"I ask as someone who once trusted you."

Silence stretched out.

Seraphine lowered her gaze.

Darius set his jaw tight.

Marvek shut his eyes.

Lander looked at each of them in turn.

"Two hundred years."

He drew a ragged breath.

"I gave you lands."

"You did."

"Armies."

"You did."

"Access to every secret within the empire."

Marvek looked at him.

"You did."

"I never once checked to see if you misused any of it."

Lander’s voice grew softer.

"Now I ask for one thing."

He gripped the stone floor beneath him.

"The truth."

Marvek glanced at Seraphine. She shook her head slowly. Darius turned away.

"It serves no purpose."

Lander looked at him.

"Serves no purpose to do what?"

"To tell him."

Darius stepped closer.

"He will not live long enough to do anything with what he hears."

Lander laughed.

"So you are afraid to tell me even now that I am dying?"

"It is not fear."

"Then what is it?"

Darius fell silent.

Lander forced himself upright. Fresh blood welled from his chest wound and spilled across the stone, creeping toward the base of the throne.

"I have already lost my empire."

He wiped blood from his lip.

"I have nothing left to protect."

His gaze hardened.

"So tell me."

Marvek clenched his fists.

"The orders came from within the palace itself."

"From whom?"

"It is not so simple as that."

"Make it simple."

Marvek looked past Lander to the black throne.

"The one who held the final key."

Lander followed his gaze.

The throne.

Understanding struck him.

"That cannot be."

"Why not?"

"Because only one person ever held that access."

Marvek said nothing.

Lander stared at him.

"Who?"

Before Marvek could speak, Seraphine stepped forward.

"Enough."

Lander turned toward her.

"If you keep asking, they will kill you before you learn the answer."

"Is that not what they intend anyway?"

"It is not."

"Then what do they intend?"

Seraphine held his gaze a long moment.

"We want you to leave."

Lander frowned.

"Leave?"

"Abandon the throne. Depart the empire. Never return."

"And in return?"

"Your life."

Lander laughed.

"After you have destroyed everything?"

"We can still clear a path for you."

"No."

"Lander."

"I will not abandon this place."

"Why?"

Lander looked at the throne stained with his blood.

"Because this is more than stone."

He touched the carved back of the seat.

"I built it after the last great war. Every part of this realm was raised by people who believed they had finally found a home."

His eyes shifted to Marvek.

"I will not hand it over to someone who dares not even show their face."

The masked figure who had stood apart finally stepped forward.

"Still stubborn."

Lander looked at him.

"Still alive."

"Not for long."

"Perhaps."

Lander leaned back against the throne.

"But before I die, I will know who sold me."

The masked man stayed silent.

Lander studied them one by one.

"Not Marvek."

Marvek stiffened.

"Not Seraphine."

Seraphine turned her face away.

"Not Darius."

Darius stared at the ground.

Lander narrowed his eyes.

"Which means someone stands here who is not among them."

The masked figure gave no reply.

"Am I right?"

Silence answered him.

Lander smiled.

"I know this person."

Marvek said at once, "Do not."

Lander looked at him.

"You know who it is."

Marvek would not speak.

"Marvek."

"Forget it."

"Who?"

"Forget it!"

Marvek’s voice cracked.

Lander fell still. The ever-calm general now looked at him with desperate intensity.

"Do not seek this person."

"Why?"

"Because they will come seeking you."

"Good."

Lander drew breath.

"I will wait."

Marvek shook his head.

"They are already here."

Lander froze.

His gaze moved slowly across every face in the chamber. No stranger stood among them. No one he did not know. Only those who had been at his side from the very beginning.

Marvek swallowed hard.

"The one you trusted above all others."

He paused.

Lander stared at him.

"Who?"

Marvek closed his eyes.

"The one you have always regarded as family."

Lander waited.

Marvek spoke the name at last. A name he had never doubted in two hundred years. A name that had always stood closest to his throne. A name he had never imagined could belong to an enemy.

"Druella."