The dark emperor grinned upon seeing King Hanequin so seemingly startled. He couldn’t help but to feel quite pleased by having been greeted so quickly as Cier was not a very patient man. Pulling back his hood, their eyes became locked onto one another. Gazes of equal hostility. Today there would be no sense in any more formalities. And so, he continued to smile at the other male, though inside his entire spirit remained shattered. 

“I am Cier, the Imperial ruler of the Seddowian Empire!” His voice boomed against the high ceiling, embedded was nothing less than purpose and distrust. It was more than made clear he meant much more than business. “I have scoured many lands in search of a killer..” He spoke with just as much spite in his voice as his stare, “To the exception of myself, the entire Croste bloodline has been slaughtered. A contract had been made on our heads.” 

“My dear boy, Prince Zaun, merely five years of age and my only child, lays dead. He was to follow as not only my successor to the crown, but all of my power..” 

Once he had seen his abilities as a gift to cherish and pass down for generations and generations, was now nothing but a curse. Just a cold reminder of what he loved most, his dear family, had slipped though his hands like sand from a broken hourglass, leaving him to endlessly bleed. Although this brutish man had a whole army behind him, loyal, and relentless, Cier stood isolated, unable to unsee the memory of all the bodies laying limp, and unable to unhear his own cries. Forever this would haunt the emperor. Not only must he find the one who called for the contract, but find someone to relieve him of the burden he could no longer control through his grieving heart. 

So despite his smirk and the laugh he let loose, the emperor stood strong, holding back his despair. To explain himself was as if he were reliving the entire tragedy. Cier wanted to strike Hanequin where he stood. And it wouldn’ve been so easy to send the energy dancing in his hand through that blade to kill him instantly, yet he knew better than to act so quickly. No answers could come if he did so. Though even if he were to spare them, there was no going back in his invasions. Five other kingdoms had already fallen in his pursuits of justice. Only once his goals were achieved would he happily surrender, already having accepted the gallows, the guillotine, or worse for his fate. But to avenged those that he had lost so suddenly, he felt it was his right. Even if the peaceful Seanate was unlikely to be blamed.

His mind had not yet stirred the solution to his problem, what he would soon propose once he met Hanequin’s own successor. Not until he locked eyes with the young lady would he given her too what would have been a charming smile if not for the dire circumstances.

“If you cannot prove your innocence, I shall strike you dead with a single bolt!” His lungs thundered, the static within his palm only amping with his rage.