1844 Earring

The empire's soldiers acted immediately upon the orders of Long Huan, the oldest remaining descendant with royal blood. Most people listened to Pearl, but those who didn't listened to Long Huan.

It was either that or leaving the army altogether, which many did as well.

Using the empire's army, they began spreading not just the news about the war and their new leaders, they also started quelling any and all problems that might have arisen in the period of war.

There were many cities that had decided to rise up against the Emperor after learning everything they did, wanting answers. Then there were places where the citizens of that city had attacked the city officials for either not showing what was being shown through the newsboards, or trying to threaten them into not going to help against the Emperor in the war.

These uprisings needed to be quelled in peaceful ways, so the Oathbreakers and the many new additions to their rank chose to do just that.

Aside from that, the soldiers also had the task of relocating the many displaced individuals because of the war. Thankfully, the war itself had happened just in the Dragon Capital, and that too on the side of the Dragon Capital where there were no residents.

Even so, many of the people had to leave that area, and most of their houses and properties had been destroyed. While it would be hard to compensate them, they still needed to be taken care of.

Those that ran away from the city weren't very far away. They were gathered around the grass plains about 50 kilometers away from the city, waiting for the war to be over.

The soldiers went to help just them.

Long Hanjue, along with his mother, and many of the others who worked or lived in the palace were found on the other side of the Dragon Capital, toward the north.

They were brought back, and Long Huan met his younger brother for the first time then.

Long Huan couldn't believe how similar his younger brother looked to Long Fangyu. Not everything was the same, but there was a resemblance.

"Father is dead," Long Huan told his brother. "He was slain in battle, killed by the King of the Southern Continent. I aided him in that."

Long Hanjue remained silent for a while, giving only a single nod in response.

"Do you hate me for it?" Long Huan asked. "I helped father get murdered. Do you despise me for it?"

He looked to both the empress and his brother.

"Biologically, the Emperor was my father," Long Hanjue said. "But the truth was, he never truly was my father. He never held me in his arms. He never taught me anything. He didn't even look at me when we met."

"Sometimes I wondered if he even remembered I existed," Long Hanjue said. "So, no. I do not despise you, brother. While I never hated him or wanted him to die, like you might have. I never loved him either."

"He never loved me, so why should I love him back?" Long Hanjue said. He pointed to his eyes which were as dry as ever. "See this? This is the number of tears I shed for his passing. Nothing."

Long Huan couldn't help but feel the pain hidden behind Long Hanjue's voice, the sorrow of losing a man he so wanted to love, but could never bring himself to. A man that was nearly a father, but never was."

He reached out and gave his brother a deep hug. "It is just the two of us now," he said as he tightly gripped his brother's shoulders.

Long Hanjue simply nodded.

The empress to the side shed some tears, but those were not tears for the passing of the Emperor but rather tears for seeing her son be loved by someone in the family for the first time.

The Emperor never cared for his son, and Long Fangyu put himself to work to forget about his mother's death. As a result, from childhood until now, Long Hanjue has been alone.

However, for the first time, he had someone who truly looked at him. Someone who truly cared for him. Someone who would hug him and call him a brother.

Seeing this, she couldn't help but feel a wave of relief wash over her. The Dragon Emperor's death meant that she no longer had to continue the facade of what she was.

She was no empress to the Empire. She was just a pawn, used by the heads of the Head legion to give the Empire a figurehead to be placed on the throne next to the emperor.

In the end, all she was was a servant. Nothing more.

Today, with the Dragon Emperor's death, she had been released from her shackles.

Finally, today, she was free.

* * * * * *

Alex and Pearl met up with Bai Jingshen and Scarlet outside of the Eastern Continent, pulling out the bisected corpse of the Dragon Emperor.

The Dragon Emperor was now fully pale, his body mostly shrunken after death, a husk of what he used to be.

"He is dead, brother Shen," Alex said.

Scarlet flew next to Alex, holding his hands with her human hands.

Alex felt pulsing energy move into him, healing energy. Scarlet was directly providing it to him without using Phoenix fire.

Bai Jingshen looked at the corpse before him with his human eyes. "So this was the man that killed my Granddaughter?" he asked.

"And grandmother," Pearl added. "He killed my grandfather and grandmother too."

Bai Jingshen's eyes blazed with fury upon hearing the words. "I see," he said. "Then I cannot have him die just like that."

The beastman pulled his right earring and placed it in his palm before him. As he did, the earring began glowing.

Suddenly, a monumental aura erupted from the earring, pouring out with bright light that caused everyone but Bai Jingshen to reel back in surprise.

Alex barely managed to watch it after a moment, activating his Demon Eyes to the most he could at the moment.

What he saw with his Demon Eyes active sent shock reeling through his mind.

The energy that had been produced by Bai Jingshen's earring consisted of almost all elements, including space, time, and many more that he simply could not understand.

It was an amalgamation of everything out there, and it slowly fell into the body before them. The light disappeared all of a sudden and they all saw the Dragon Emperor's corpse slowly gain life.

Almost as though the Dragon Emperor was coming back to life, his body gained muscle and his skin grew color.

And yet the corpse was still a corpse, bisected still.

Then suddenly, Alex's mind reeled in shock as he sensed a small spiritual impression coming from the corpse.

Bai Jingshen clutched onto the ring and did something. As soon as he did it, a spirit with the body of the Dragon Emperor flew out of the corpse, going directly into Bai Jingshen's palm.

Bai Jingshen caught the spirit and quickly stored it in his Soul space. With the spirit gone, the corpse returned to its previous state, with a shrunken body and pale skin.

Alex, Pearl, and even Scarlet watched in wide shock as they could not understand what had just happened.