Why Aren’t The Clouds Fading?

*Thud*

The 5th prince's body fell on the floor powerlessly.

The blood fell on Vlade's face and some other Halous family members, stunning them to the core.

"ACE YOU BASTARD!!" Vlade screeched in agony as he dashed towards Ace.

*Clang*

Of course, General Luke pulled him back through the chains. Still in rage, Vlade rushed towards the General, only to be kicked by him and falling on the floor, coughing blood.

All this while, the general remained passive and calm, not even bothering to look at him.

"…"

Silence reigned all over the throne hall.

The Halous family members were enraged but what could they do? The one who killed their family member was a Divinity. The one who stands on the apex of the world. They could only swallow their anger.

A woman who looked in her 30s glared at Ace but didn't say anything, her fist was curled up and her body was trembling. Ace didn't fail to notice that detail and laughed.

"Hahaha!

You must be his mother, right? I am pretty sure his wife wouldn't be angry due to his death, quite the opposite, she must be happy. Aren't I right? I mean, there is no way someone would marry a scum like him by themselves, they must be forced" Ace mocked.

"..." The woman bit her lips but didn't say anything. She knows better than anyone she should not offend the person in front of her.

"Wait… aren't you that bitch who was always arrogant and even looked down on my father?" Ace questioned as he recognized the woman in front of her.

"Rosia... right? That arrogant bitch Rosia! You are the one, right?

Where is that arrogance now, huh? Why don't you face me? Why don't you mock me now? Shouldn't you be enraged?

I defeated your husband and turned him into a useless cripple before and now I killed your son right in front of your eyes! Why don't you show your anger and arrogance now!?" Ace mocked.

The woman in question's body was trembling as her eyes turned moist.

Seeing the whole scenario, the 1st prince was enraged and unlike others, who didn't dare show any reaction, he wasn't able to control his emotions and let out a low growl. Ace's smile widened when he saw that.

"You… You must be the 1st prince…

I heard you were really a heaven-sent genius!

Where's your talent now?

Where were you when I defeated your father?

You can't be hiding in the corner, can you?" Ace mocked. The prince didn't answer, but his body was trembling in rage and… shame.

"How dare yo-AGHHH!!" The first prince tried to refute but before he could, his right arm was severed from his body.

"You Dog! You dare bark in front of me!?" Ace snorted.

"ACE YOU!! I'LL KILL YOU!!" Vlade howled in rage as he tried to run towards Ace but this time, The general was prepared and didn't even let him move an inch.

"Hahaha!" Ace laughed maniacally as he glanced at Ace with disdain, "You? You, a cripple with zero cultivation would kill me? What a joke!"

Ace then started walking towards Vlade and crouched in front of his face, Vlade didn't falter as he glared deep into Ace's golden eyes with a fearless gaze. Ace smirked as he grabbed his hair, "I don't like that look on your face."

*Bam*

Saying that, with a huge bam, Ace rammed his face into the floor before he pulled him back up by his hairs, "This is just a beginning, don't worry, I won't treat your family half-heartedly, also, I still don't like that fearlessness in your eyes"

*Bam*

Saying that, Ace smashed his head into the floor again, and,

*Bam*

*Bam*

*Bam*

*Bam*

Again, again, and again, he continued it until Vlade's forehead was covered in blood while his eyes looked swollen, no longer looking at Ace as intensely as it was.

"Yeah... not the one I hoped for, but an acceptable one" nodding to himself, Ace slapped Vlade's face and without caring about him, he stood up and turned towards the Imperial family. He noticed that a woman was attending the First prince's wounds with tears in her eyes and smiled,

"No no no no no, I don't think you guys understand, I wouldn't have injured him if I wanted someone to tend to it." And then his eyes turned cold as he ordered, "Back off!"

The woman wanted to refute but was stopped by the first prince who looked at her and shook his head.

"It seems that the first prince is indeed smarter than that 5th one" Ace nodded approvingly, "But, you still looked at me with hatred and contempt, and since I am the Emperor, I couldn't possibly ignore that.

So your punishment..." Ace pondered calmly. Of course, he and Maeve were the only ones who were calm, the rest of the Imperial family had tensed look on their faces, especially the first prince's wife and mother.

"Hmm... after considering all the possibilities, your punishment should be...

Death."

As soon as those words left Ace's mouth, the first prince's head rolled and his headless body fell on the ground.

"AAAGHHHHHH!!" The first prince's wife howled in rage as she glanced at Ace with hatred. The rest of the family had similar looks on their faces, all the fear they once had was turned into hatred, resentment, and anger.

Facing that, Ace shook his head disapprovingly as he sighed, "Nope, nope, that's bad, I don't see an inch of respect in your eyes, how can you look at your emperor like that? I have to do something about this..."

"General Luke"

"Yes, your majesty"

"The Hallous family was disrespectful to the Emperor, execute them publically," Ace ordered and Vlade's face paled but the Hallous family looked like they were already prepared for it and didn't even budge. Seeing that, Ace smiled as he walked towards Vlade with an Evil smirked as he placed his leg on his head and forced it to the ground.

"Oh, and the execution is only for the males, as for the females..." Ace spoke with a wicked grin as he glanced at the Hallous family, "Cripple their cultivation, take our their cores, and sell them to brothels, of course, don't forget to tell them about their identity, I sure it will bring us a lot of money."

Let alone Hallous family, even General Luke was shocked by what Ace said, only Maeve was standing still with a smile on her face. She didn't care about what Ace did to Hallous family, she would support him no matter what.

"You bastard! We are already at your mercy! Just kill us all!!" This time, the first prince's wife couldn't take it anymore and shouted in fury.

"Huh? Why would I kill you? You are literally a Golden Hen, a gold mine in fact. Do you know how much money I can make? No matter what, you are still from an Imperial family, many people have fetishes like that!" Ace replied, completely unbothered by the hateful gazes the imperial family was throwing at him.

"Why are you doing this...? Please... I was the one who planned against your family... I was wrong... you can torture me however but please let my family go... I beg of you..." A weak voice was heard.

It was Vlade Hallous, the previous mighty and arrogant emperor was now begging with tears covering his face while his head was pressed under his enemy's feet.

"Hoh? Let them go? You think it would be that easy? You killed my entire family in front of me, you, it was your plan, you were behind everything. My father, my mother, my brothers, my aunts, uncles, you killed them all just because you felt threatened. I even tortured and killed your pawns ruthlessly, you think I would let you leave this world so easily? I will show you what despair is.

But don't worry, I won't kill you. There might be some people who would want to play with the previous Emperor's wife in front of him. They would have to pay extra for this thrill. So you still have your uses...

And of course, you are not allowed to kill yourself, if you do, I will torture your wife endlessly, making her scream in pain and agony. And that goes for you all too, if any of you try to end your life, I will torture this piece of trash in front of you." Ace smiled wickedly, he looked no lesser than a demon coming from the depth of hell.

"You are all dismissed!" Ace ordered.

"Yes, your majesty" General Ace nodded with a bow before pulling everyone through chains and leaving the throne room.

…

"Haah! Your revenge is finally completed..." Maeve sighed.

Ace nodded as he hugged her weakly.

No matter how much brave front he put in front of others, right now, no one else was emotionally weaker than him. Maeve smiled as she patted his head, comforting him and calming his heart.

The two stood there for a while before Ace calmed down and pulled Maeve into her bedroom.

He was now truly free, without any burdens, and this was worthy of celebration.

...

3 months later, Ace's Magma element advanced to the 9th layer. This speed was monstrous even for Ace as he took 90 years to achieve Divinity in typhoon element. Ace reckoned that it was due to he has already trained one element and avoided the mistakes he did last time.

Of course, that was just an assumption. Real or not, no one knew.

The empire's situation also improved and the people were happy and approved of the new emperor.

Due to the demotion of 6 noble families, other families tried hard to gain the emperor's attention and worked for people.

The situation related to the defense of the empire came out as a problem as Ace killed many soldiers when he fought his way to the Imperial city. Though the small kingdoms won't dare to attack the empire, the same couldn't be assumed for the beasts and bandits.

Seeing that the number of soldiers decreased, the beast started assaulting villages and towns but this problem was also solved pretty easily with the wealth Ace gained from the 6 noble families. He started placing high-paying missions to eradicate beasts and Bandits which forced them to back off.

The other 2 empires also didn't create many problems as they knew the emperor was a Divinity and was even stronger than the previous one. They even thought that the new emperor is as strong as the other 2 emperors of the other empires.

Yes, the other 2 emperors were stronger than Vlade, Holy Sword Empire survived because the other 2 empires didn't attack it for fear of getting attacked by each other.

It could be said that the position of the Holy Sword Empire was very critical before, but that wasn't the case now as the new emperor is stronger than the previous one.

The only problem the Vorste Empire was facing was the lack of soldiers but that will also be solved soon, as the new batch of soldiers will be received within 2 months.

…

4 months later, Ace was sitting on a volcanic range with a complicated as well as excited look.

He was about to become a Magma Divinity.

No one in the history of this world has achieved double divinity so he didn't know what will happen.

He took a deep breath, sat cross-legged, and started absorbing the Magma Elemental Qi, trying to advance to Divinity.

…

30 minutes passed, nothing happened.

1 hour, 2 hours, 10 hours… nothing happened.

1 day passed, nothing happened.

Just like that, 10 days passed but nothing happened.

'Why isn't anything happening?' Ace thought inwardly, frustrated.

He didn't give up and closed his eyes.

Another day passed but this time, Ace noticed something.

When he was about to pass reach Divinity last time, his core was converted into Seed but this time, he already had a Seed. There is no core for him to convert it into a Magma Seed.

'Does that mean no one can achieve Divinity in 2nd element?' He questioned inwardly but then thought of a crazy plan.

'Maybe if I could somehow separate all my Magma Qi and turn it into a new core…" as he thought about that, an excited glint appeared in his eyes and he quickly closed his eyes to try and see if his assumption is right.

He summoned Magma Qi normally and as it left the Seed, he tried to condense it inside his body, right beside his seed.

The Qi condensed, forming a miniature core before returning back to the Seed.

'It works!'

Ace's eyes brightened as he repeated what he did.

He formed a small core but just as he was about to insert more Qi, the core disappeared.

'Ahh! It's tougher than I thought.'

Ace tried again and this time, he was able to insert Qi 2 times before the core disappeared.

…

He tried and tried again and finally, on the 20th day, he was finally able to form a new core!

"It's done!" He muttered with an excited look.

He then closed his eyes and started absorbing Magma Elemental Qi from the air, trying to advance to Divinity once again.

*Thunder*

Dark black clouds formed in the sky as the deafening sound of the thunder was heard.

It was the appearance of The Heavenly Tribulation.

The golden-colored lightning was seen moving inside the dark clouds; it looked as if Heavens was preparing the accurate punishment for the one who offended it.

Ace opened his eyes and stood up, ready to face it.

*Thunder*

The first bolt was shot while Ace covered himself with wind and moved.

*Boom*

"WHAT THE HECK!?

Why is it stronger than the last time?"

Ace's eyes went wide as he was barely able to dodge the bolt and he questioned loudly.

'Is it because it is my second Divinity? Will it be even stronger when I try to reach The Divinity with any other element?'

*Thunder*

Ace wasn't given much time to think as another bolt was shot.

*Boom*

'This one was a lot faster than the last'

*Pant* *Pant* *Pant*

Ace panted hard as he barely dodged another one.

*Thunder*

Ace knew he wouldn't be able to dodge as he did previously and summoned a big fireball of radius 2 meters, soon, the fireball condensed and turned into a firebolt, Ace smiled and shot it towards the bolt.

*Boom* *Boom*

Both elements clashed and exploded.

'It's done!'

Ace celebrated, he passed the tribulations! Soon, he will become a Dual Elemental Divinity! Who knows how strong he would be by that time!

Ace smiled in anticipation but soon, his smile faded.

'Why aren't the clouds fading?'