Emperor Fruit!

The young man stared toward the empty forest in front of him. He rubbed his eyes and even pinched his skin to make sure he saw it correctly. There was no one, why? It was due to the appearance of someone who could only be described as otherworldly. But suddenly...

Ah!

"Huh?!" The young man yelped in shock. Suddenly appearing in front of him once again, inches away was the purple-haired otherworldly being who could only be described as a demonic-looking angel.

"Take off your clothes..." Blade suddenly ordered. The young man blinked his eyes, clearly shocked by what was said. He was an alluring androgynous man. And even though he was confident in his beauty, he wasn't confident that he was on the same level as the one in front of him.

Several leagues separated him from the purple-haired young man.

"Did I stutter? I said strip!" Once more, Blade shouted, seemingly slightly angered. Upon hearing his tone and seeing his expression, the young man instinctively listened. He couldn't help but feel his heart beat with excitement...

As his last piece of clothing fell to the ground, his alluring body entered Blade's vision. Seeing this, Blade disappeared from the young man's eyes. Once more, an empty forest appeared in his vision; this time, his clothing was gone.

Eh?

Was he just ordered to strip... so Blade could get his clothing...?

He stood there for several seconds, still in a daze.

...

...

On a barren wasteland that had just experienced a destructive battle between the heavens and the one who built Nine Heavens... One would see two young women, one with short black hair and the odd one of the group, along with a white-haired phoenix eye beauty who stood next to a young man with lustrous purple hair reaching his ankles, and in noble and elegant clothing.

With his hands clasped behind his back, coupled with his luxurious and newly acquired clothing, he smiled once more, before saying. "This fellow, he's such an honest guy. Unlike some fools I've come across, he obediently listened to me and handed me his clothing... The quality is even pretty good."

Athena's phoenix eyes gleamed with an unknown light as she gazed coldly at the black-haired woman kneeling several meters away.

"What is the reason for this thing...?" Her voice was cold, and she was slightly angered by this unknown woman. Though she wasn't worried, after all this black-haired woman had an appearance that couldn't be compared to her own, she still didn't like other women being near her Blade...

"This woman..." Blade mumbled. His smile suddenly disappeared. Closing his eyes, his purple orbs that seemed to be capable of hypnotizing anyone disappeared from the young woman's view, and her state of mind was instantly affected.

He, Blade, didn't understand why his eyes affected others soo much. But, seeing as Athena remained the same way, he deemed it as only 'normal' lifeforms would be affected by the only Nine Heavens Martial Emperor in history.

Suddenly returning to her senses, the young woman trembled, unable to hide the fright in her eyes whilst staring toward Blade's figure. She understood very quickly how terrifying this figure was. He had merely appeared in front of her once, and she was unable to do anything to resist him.

"W-W-What do you w-want...?" Stuttering, she asked in a cautious tone. Seeing this, Blade approached her, stooping lower to bring his face mere inches away, the scent permeating from his pores went on to enter her senses. It was a pleasant scent that calmed her mind.

"Emperor's Fruit... What is the Emperor's Fruit..." Blade asked with an emotionless and monotone voice, continuing, "Tell me this, and I'll set you free. You can then reunite with that kind little fellow you were just previously conversing with."

"Okay." Now thinking calmly, the young woman sighed, releasing a pent-up air of apprehension that was caused by fear and the uncomfortable gaze of the white-haired beauty.

"The Emperor's Fruit is a special Fruit that does the very same thing that the quintessence of a Law does once it descends into the core. Once one has this fruit, and they're at least a Pseudo Martial Emperor, they would simply need to consume this Fruit...

This universal Fruit would amplify the process of one's reforging of the body to a point where it is downright perverted and by the time t takes to brew a cup of tea, a Martial Emperor would become a Pseudo Martial Sovereign... And this perverted treasure has just appeared.

This one appeared in Sector 13 and several well-known Martial Emperors have already appeared in the location of its birth. At this stage, it is almost ripe and it is said to ripen fully and be ready to be picked in less than a day.

And I got this news several hours ago, adding to the fact that the news would take some time to reach my ears, the Emperor's Fruit must have already ripened and is being fought over, or infinitely close to being ripened."

Thrum!

Hearing this, Blade immediately waved his hand as a large map appeared in his hand. Searching for it as a Martial Emperor, it took less than a second to already conclude the direction he needed to go.

"Hmm..." Turning his head in a random direction, he suddenly wrapped his right arm around Athena's waist, stunning her momentarily, before his figure blurred.

He had disappeared in an instant that was soo fast that it had been some time since he disappeared but these actions were merely done by his afterimages.

He was already several tens of miles away in a few steps!

Boom!

An explosion occurred. The shockwave sent the young woman flying hundreds of meters away and into the dirt of this wasteland. It seemed to have taken some time for certain rules to catch up to Blade's new speed.

Athena's mind hadn't processed much yet as her vision had become blurred. At this moment, she didn't even realize this as her mind was more focused on being in Blade's embrace. Her head settled into his warm chest as she listened to his powerfully beating heart.

Each thump of his heart followed a certain rhythm that seemed to be the rhythm of the cosmos themselves. One would fall into a daze simply listening to it as if this was the heart of creation.

'With my speed, reaching Sector 13 in a few minutes wouldn't be troublesome. Luckily, we're in Sector 15 and with my senses, I'll be able to hear and even see the destruction of a battle between Martial Emperors. Once there are at least two powerful Martial Emperors, I'll reach in time...'

Thinking this, Blade slightly sped up. Though he couldn't go at his fastest pace in fear of reducing Athena's body into meat paste, it should still be enough at this speed.

...

...

Bang!

A fist parted the air and crashed onto the body of a middle-aged woman. Coughing a mouthful of blood, she was sent flying away in a horrible state.

The bulky young man who was the sender of this fist had a smirk on his face, but not for long as before he realized, a pair of blades rushed toward his neck.

Clang!

But, these two blades were stopped by a couple of arrows that were powerful enough to cause the owner of the pair of blades to be sent recoiling several meters.

The woman who shot these arrows had a calm expression. This calm expression on her face, coupled with the light smile, made one a swelling feeling of relaxation.

Puchi!

However, in the next moment, her head was detached from her neck as a long whip appeared out of nowhere, going straight through her neck and spinning in the air, making 'Hua Hua' sounds.

Slash!

A broad sword held by a long-haired middle-aged man tore apart the whip as this man crossed several hundred meters in an instant, appearing inches away from the whip owner.

Bang!

Slashing downward, his broad sword was met with a human-sized shield. Lifting this shield was a heroic red-haired beauty carrying a cold and aloof expression.

Boom!

An explosion suddenly took place as balls of flames appeared around her body, exploding in an instant, and enveloping the broad sword wielder.

Fwoosh!

Parting the sea of flames was a shard of ice that radiated a powerful and frigid aura. The woman who sent this shard of ice had a wrathful expression as her icy blue sword whizzed through the air behind the shard of ice, making its way toward the red-haired beauty.

Swoosh!

Yet, before the sword and shard could meet this red-haired beauty who controlled flames, the wind suddenly acted up and the sword and shard were both caught by it, seemingly being controlled by someone or something else.

Rumble!

Like an earthquake, the ground trembled violently as a feeble-looking young boy seemingly no older than sixteen or seventeen pressed his hand on the ground as beams of earth shot through the surface.

Shing~!

But suddenly, slashing toward the beams of earth were countless shards of metal that were seemingly controlled by the bearded old man who stared at the young boy with anger and annoyance in his eyes.

All in all, pandemonium ensued as these Martial Emperors fought over the Emperor's Fruit several miles away connected to a branch of a tree that sat in the center of a hundred-meter lake.