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I bring you death.
Those were the last words that the Dragon Emperor wanted to hear from the mouths of the White Tiger.
He stood still, unsure if he was stunned or simply lacking in all emotion. He thought what he felt now was the numbness that came with the understanding that everything was over and there was nothing he could do anymore to prevent what he had tried preventing for a long time
Another prophecy was going to be true, wasn't it?
A tinge of pain came and went away as he remembered his wife who tried her best to stop this very thing from happening. In the end, it seemed all they had done was just delay the inevitable.
Maybe it wasn't even that. Maybe it was all just meant to happen this way, and they were all pawns to fate, unable to change what the future held for them.
The Emperor's body slacked as he saw the beasts around Pearl started to fly toward them, charging at them with the intent to kill.
He saw the opposing army begin fighting once again. His heart was simply not in it.
What else did he even have to care about? The prophecy was here and it was true.
Above your realm shall they proclaim your end. A King, A son of a King, and a Tiger pure White.
He turned to look at Alex. The King.
He looked at Zhou Linfan. The Son of a King.
And then he looked at Pearl. A Tiger with pure white fur.
He then looked down at the city that was the heart of his empire. Above his own realm.
"Is this really it?" the Dragon Emperor thought. "Am I destined to die like this? Do I have no chance of survival?"
A part of him refused to believe it. A part of him, that was forged by his wife's love for him told him to fight this thought, but truth overcame all feelings for him at the moment.
No thought remained but the single one. The words of his prophecy went through his mind over and over and over and over as if trying to haunt him with it anew.
A King. Death. A Son. Pure White. Proclaim. Your realm. A Tiger. The words of his prophecies rang loudly like an alarm in his head, and he couldn't help but hear it all as clearly as he had the first time all those years ago.
As the words went over and over in the Emperor's mind, he started accepting that maybe he truly was going to die this time around. He didn't want to, but maybe—
The Emperor paused. What was this?
As the words played in his head, a thought that he had never considered surfaced in his mind, formed by the repetition of the words of the prophecy.
How had he never considered this possibility?
All this time, the Emperor had been focused on the 'who' of the prophecy and had taken the rest of its meaning to be that someone would come and kill him in the future.
It was under this context that he based every action of his from the start. But what if he had been wrong from the very beginning? What if he had simply misunderstood what the prophecy was about?
The wording of the prophecy did not say that he would die at the hands of those three. It only said that they would proclaim his end. While 'End' could mean a lot of different things for the Emperor, he had decided that it was his death that it pointed to.
Perhaps, long ago, he might have considered some other alternative possibilities to the word 'End' in his prophecy, but that was not what surprised him right now.
The thing that made him reconsider everything right now was the word 'Proclaim'.
Above your realm shall they proclaim your end.
They had come, and they had indeed proclaimed his end. They had declared war against him and had called for his death.
But that in no way meant that he was going to die, did it?
The prophecy made no claims beyond the proclamation as to what was going to happen to him. The proclamation itself was the end of the prophecy.
Beyond that, the Emperor was a free man.
The Emperor felt his heartbeat faster and faster. Excitement filled his body, excitement that he had never felt in the longest time he could remember.
He felt free. Free as a bird out of its cage. Free as a fish who escaped the bait.
Free as a man who had escaped the clutches of fate and destiny.
New life reinvigorated the Dragon Emperor, new life filled him with purpose. Many had died in this path for this exact moment and it had come to pass.
Now, it was up to him to honor everyone who died for him. It was up to him to live and survive.
He regained his focus and saw the beasts and the men attacking his group of soldiers at once. Long Huogong was giving orders, but many of the soldiers seemed hesitant to fight at all.
They were not sure whose side they were supposed to be fighting.
The Dragon Emperor took a deep breath.
"Soldiers!" he shouted, immediately catching the ears of every single soldier on the battlefield and outside.
Many of the soldiers fought while lending an ear to him.
"I will not tell you who to choose today. Make the choice of your own accord," the Dragon Emperor said. "But know this, for the past 7 millennia, I have been your sole Emperor. The Azure Dragon has never done anything for you, he has never even known that you existed."
"It was I who ruled this empire. It was I who brought peace and prosperity into this empire. I may have done many things in the past, but I have never acted against the greater good of the empire."
"So when you choose me, choose to know that it is I who holds your best interest at heart," the Dragon Emperor said. "And if you don't choose me, and choose the enemy. Choose them knowing who you make an enemy of."
The Dragon Emperor's aura exploded as might beyond what any of the soldiers had ever sensed from a mortal making their minds shudder. Many of them reflexively fell back into rank and continued fighting for the Emperor.
A few still defected, but the number was far less than it would've been had the Emperor not spoken at all.
The Emperor looked at the armies. His number was now less than the enemies after the beasts were mixed into the battlefield. But he saw no problem in that.
On average, his soldiers were much stronger than the average soldier in the enemy's army. So, he could let them fight without much worry.
"Soldiers, break array and join the battle," the Emperor ordered and the many soldiers that were aiding their leaders commanded.
"Your Majesty," Long Huogang tried to protest, but the Dragon Emperor cut him off.
"Prepare everyone for battle," the Emperor said.
Long Huogang looked back at the 400 or so strong saints that were staying in an array, constantly empowering the Emperor.
"Everyone?" he asked.
The Emperor nodded. "Everyone!" he said and went into battle.
