Proper preparation.

The standoff didn't last long. The only elderly from the rebel group reacted first.

"It's Valen Sunwell!" He shouted, "Don't let him escape! We'll never get a chance like this again!"

He wasn't the first to act though.

While Lee's eyes widened at the sight of six swords lighting up on fire, suddenly something obstructed his field of vision. He blinked a couple of times only to realize it was one of the rebels who as a phantom appeared in front of them, intending to cleave the whole family in halves with one slash, but the sword was blocked by the emperor.

What happened next Lee couldn't comprehend, but only because he barely saw anything. If the guy who attacked first move like a phantom, the emperor was like a wind. He simply disappeared from the spot and the attacker's hand that held the sword already fell to the ground.

When he arrived in front of the rebel group, Lee, Tess, Alan and the rest were showered in the rain of blood and gore that splattered all over the place after the body of the first attacker fell apart piece by piece like in slow motion.

But the massacre only began. Apparently the emperor decided to leave the guys with the flaming swords for desert, because he first cut down the regular ones. They died not showing any resistance and without sound, but no matter where the emperor appeared, it was followed by a fountain of blood blooming right after.

The sight was so captivating, Lee didn't even bother to clean off the intestines that had fallen on his head and shoulders. This was what he was looking for! Not the moron Freewon nor the clowns below the cliff. What the emperor just showed was what those guys in the underground pyramid did!

These were the real superhumans!

His feet grew cold though. If Victoria and the young nobles were half as strong, he didn't stand a chance against them no matter how one looked at it. On the other hand, after throwing a quick glance at Powels and Farcries, it became clear some didn't have the ability.

Meanwhile, the emperor surrounded the remaining six who at this point already were burning in a layer of red flames. Their clothes were gone and the grass and the nearby trees already caught fire, but they couldn't care less, because they actually felt surrounded.

Even though they stood around the man covered in blood in a neat hexagon formation, not only them, even the onlookers knew that they were the ones pressed in the corner. Turns out, one has to confront an opponent to truly learn how terrifying they might be.

Left with no other option, the six simultaneously took a deep breath and with loud shouts 'for The Prophet!', 'see you on the other side!', 'God, I'm coming to you!' … died.

They did raise their swords to imitate an attack, but even Lee knew they were about to blow themselves up, creating pillars of fire, like the ones below the cliff did few moments ago. And if Lee knew, the emperor obviously knew as well.

Lee could only guess that the man slashed everyone in halves with a wide whirlwind motion, although he had no clue how the emperor's sword could have had such reach. In addition, the move created gust of wind that almost threw bystanders to the ground and easily put out the flames in surroundings.

The whole event was quick, bloody and surreal. If Lee hadn't witnessed something like this before, he might've started to question his own sanity. In fact, back then those people were much scarier. On the other hand, the emperor didn't have the chance to properly show off either – he wasn't even out of breath!

'The sparks! The power surely lies in those sparks!' Lee was thrilled by what he saw.

No wonder Captain Freewon was ready to sacrifice his crew for such power. Emperor's spark probably was on a whole another level compared to regular ones and the worst thing – Lee once had several in his hands but cluelessly wasted as a household decor.

There was no use of regretting things in the past, but man ... did it sting. If he and Lisa would've become this strong they surely would've turned into world level superheroes. Of course, they were more likely to become super-villains, but that's just a matter of perspective.

***

Only when the last six men fell, the couple of soldiers who stayed back to take care of the horses arrived. The emperor ordered them to guard the three holes and went over to the cliff again. This time he did sit down – apparently the short fight was intense enough and took it's toll.

Alan approached him and said, "Valen, are you …"

"I am great!" The emperor grinned, and the white teeth were the only place not covered in blood on his face, "… So refreshing! It has been some time since I've seen real action, you know?"

"Mhm." Alan nodded, "But you spent so much power … but you did save all of us … thank you …"

"Just consider me owing you one less." The emperor said and focused on the proceedings below, while Alan went back where Tess was currently picking pieces of innards from their son.

Lee was baffled though. It was only normal for his stepmother to take care of him, but shouldn't the emperor clean up to be more representative? Not only the man didn't care – he even took the current look as some kind of badge of honor! Even when the two ministers and their children along with Lee's family went to wash themselves, he proudly walked around like a blood demon till late evening.

***

The next several days were relaxing both for the cavalry and the inhabitants of Elsdon. Lee spent the time mostly bugging Tess about sparks, their origins and usage, but no matter what tactics he tried, her reply was I'll tell you when the time comes.

Her attitude was beginning to piss him off, but Lee guessed those were some kind of secrets because even at home he couldn't find any useful information on the subject in Alan's notes.

In the end Lee gave in, and made his stepmom happy by strolling around the town with her, hand in hand. But Elsdon wasn't that big and after a day they knew every corner of it. Then Lee found another attraction, although Tess didn't like it that much – he persuaded her to show him how the mines worked and what did the tunnels leading to the top of the cliff look like.

For the obvious reason Tess couldn't guide him through the narrow passages and she delegated the job to Alan. Strangely enough the stepfather wasn't against it and the two of them explored the underground for three days.

Already on the first Lee learned why – Alan was gathering a peculiar moss, growing on the walls deep in mines as well as tiny and brittle mushrooms of white color.

Lee had no clue what the mushrooms were for, but he was familiar with the moss. In his pocket he had a half-fist sized, his fist, of course, bundle with the same moss ground in powder together with purple mandrake root.

This was what Alan used on the horses in Maryport and this was the murder weapon Lee chose for the first revenge that was about to happen few days later – during the feast.

When for several months straight Lee couldn't find what Alan fed the horses on his own, he decided to ask his stepmother. Tess, as expected, was shocked to learn he remembered something from that long ago, but took it as another sign of him being genius.

She carelessly told Lee about the few poisons Alan used, but then realized her mistake and went on teaching him to be careful, and never get close to anything he didn't recognize.

That was all Lee needed – he asked her to show him pictures, so he never touched a dangerous plant and without a second thought Tess dug out several dusty books regarding the subject. Lee did feel stupid for previously looking for answers only in Alan's notes, but be as it may, all he needed now was to secretly study the books when Tess wasn't around.

Making the powder itself wasn't that hard – he gradually borrowed the ingredients form the stepfather's storage. The problem was that there was not as much ironcave moss to make the required proportions, but Lee figured since both were poisonous plants, there was no real difference how large dosage of which plant he used.

As the result, now he was walking around with a murder weapon in his pocket, waiting for the feast to finally begin.