The moment Princess Yuki left the room and the door closed with a solid click, Emperor Takeshin swayed lightly like a man drunk on too much wine.
His powerful aura, which had blanketed the chamber like a golden storm, wavered and flickered even as his two aides stepped forward instantly to support him.
A trickle of blood escaped his lips and he gasped and wheezed like an old man after a round in the boxing ring against a heavy weight champion.
"Have a seat, Your Majesty." Captain Colossaria flickered forward in a blur of red and gold, and placed a massive cushioned chair behind him. It thudded softly as it landed.
The hulking construct must have weighed over a thousand kilograms, yet she moved it like a feather.
"Thank you, Ria." Emperor Takeshin sank down with a grateful sigh, his immense frame creaking against the plush seat. He pressed his thumb on a small button at the center of his chestplate. With a faint hiss, the armor shimmered and receded, melting away from his body until it vanished completely from view.
"Ugh, by the gods. That damn armor may be supremely strong, but it is also supremely uncomfortable. Ria, you need to find ways to improve its user experience." Emperor Takeshin groaned and rolled his shoulders, the joints cracking audibly as he stretched his massive arms.
"Of course, Your Majesty. I will get on it immediately and present Mark 4 to you latest by tomorrow." Captain Colossaria accepted the feedback with grace, her tone brisk and precise as she tapped a mental note into her earpiece.
"Overall, I am very pleased with its performance. Without it, I would have been critically injured. As it is, my injuries this time are not light at all." The Emperor exhaled deeply, the weight of reality sinking back into his voice. "The monsters grow in power daily. And their Kings are no longer as easily bullied as before. War is coming…"
Emperor Takeshin's golden gaze finally turned toward Akira, who was still standing frozen, eyes bulging and jaw dangling like a shocked tourist witnessing divine technology in action.
"What the hell? Liquid armor! That's…" Akira's breath hitched, a boyish sparkle lighting his stunned expression. "That's mega cool!"
At the same time, he finally understood why such a powerful emperor and doting father was absent while Princess Yuki battled almost to her death right beneath his nose within the Royal Palace.
He was actually locked in another battle, and it was a devastating one, by the looks of it.
But that realization was quickly buried under a newer, more disturbing one.
"Why is Emperor Takeshin showing weakness in front of me, a complete stranger? And to the point of revealing that he is heavily injured?!"
Akira's trepidation must have slipped into his eyes, because the Emperor suddenly laughed.
"You are a smart one." Emperor Takeshin chuckled, the sound low and deep, like distant thunder rolling through mountain halls. "You must be wondering why I dare to reveal such weakness before you, the Time Anomaly the Shinigami were so desperate to get their hands on."
"Indeed, Your Majesty." Akira blinked and answered frankly, the cool air brushing against the back of his raised neck hair as his instincts tingled this way and that way, not fully flaring up, yet not lying still either.
"The reason is simple." Emperor Takeshin's smile curved, just slightly, into something far more dangerous.
And then, without warning, he unleashed a devastating pressure upon the room.
It came down like a mountain of molten iron, the very air thickening into glass, the walls groaning faintly as if bowed under an invisible weight.
Instinctively, Akira unleashed his full power to protect himself from the horrifying pressure.
"Damn it!" Akira cursed in his heart.
Defending was the only thing he could do.
Screw whoever said that the best defense is offense.
That bastard must have never faced an overwhelmingly powerful foe like the damn Emperor Takeshin!
Powerfully thick Ice Energy surged outward, forming a crystalline sphere around him that crackled sharply in the charged air. The chill radiated from his core, sharp enough to sting the skin and frost the floor beneath his feet.
The barrier was enhanced by Wind Energy, threading through the ice like fine wires through steel, refining it, reinforcing it, like carbon tempering iron into an alloy of unmatched resilience. The energy pulsed with force and finesse, a living fusion of speed and defense coiled tightly around him.
But it had only formed when it was already cracking, fractures spiderwebbing across the icy surface like glass under a hammer, cold mist hissing from the strain. A high-pitched whine filled the air as the shield trembled, pressure mounting until it felt like the entire construct might shatter in an instant.
In front of him, both Emperor Takeshin's and Captain Colossaria's eyes gleamed dangerously with interest—like two hungry predators watching their prey squirm.
"You're absolutely right, Emperor. I bow to your unmatched wisdom and foresight." Captain Colossaria bowed deeply before him, her heavy cloak sweeping the floor with a faint rustle.
"Elemental devour. Or at least something similar to that." Emperor Takeshin's eyes flared with a flash of intense greed, sharp and cutting like a knife glinting in sunlight, only for it to vanish a heartbeat later, crushed beneath the weight of his iron discipline.
"The only one in this world who could grow beyond whatever nature has gifted him during his birth. And very possibly… the key to winning the coming war against the beasts."
"Indeed, Your Majesty. Just say the word and I will dissect him and discover just what allowed him to do such an outrageously powerful thing." Captain Colossaria said with a casual smile, her voice light and cheerful, though her gaze was as cold and invasive as a scalpel.
Akira flinched violently at her words, the skin on his arms prickling, even as he strained to hold his ground beneath the crushing weight of Emperor Takeshin's pressure.
"He is still much too weak to be of use, though." Emperor Takeshin muttered to himself, his tone low and calculating.
Akira gritted his teeth, the sharp tang of blood rising in his mouth as he strained with all his strength to keep his defensive sphere intact.
He could feel every crack trying to spread, every fiber of his being trembling under the weight pressing down on him like a collapsing sky.
He knew it was just a test, and he would be damned if he allowed the god damned emperor to see him broken before him.
"Bastard! Old man, I will make sure I pay this back a thousand fold!" Akira thought bitterly in his heart, the cold fury within him swirling tighter with each passing second.
"Let me try increasing the pressure. Maybe it'll squeeze some potential out of him." Emperor Takeshin said with a mild tone.
"Bas-tard!" Akira gasped, his voice rasping out as another wave of crushing pressure slammed into his body.
It felt like being hit by a mountain made of molten steel and frozen rock, twisting his muscles, pressing against his bones, trying to flatten his very soul.
At that moment deep within him, the ice core he barely understood trembled lightly, and released a stream of pure ice energy into his body.
KABLAMMM!!!!
The stream of pure ice energy surged like a tidal eruption, radiating outwards in an overpoweringly incredible blast of ice energy!
It tore through Emperor Takeshin's pressure in a blinding arc of power, exploding outward with such intensity that the air cracked like thunder and the ground beneath Akira's feet frosted over in a heartbeat.
A sound like shattering glaciers filled the chamber as the unleashed energy howled across the room, the sheer force of it pressing back against the golden aura of the Emperor himself.