Chapter 146: Chou Part 9: It's Hammer Time!

Sakura's POV:

After leaving Sir Shinji to handle elder Riku, I ran across the rooftops towards the emperor's royal bed chambers. There I found him. That bastard I have been cursing all year.

"Uncle Hinata!"

The pig was face deep in a woman's cleavage. Had circumstances been different, I would have been too embarrassed by the three naked individuals sprawled across the bed to even speak, but for some reason I was eerily calm as I could feel my rage boiling inside me.

"Hm? Did this great emperor not tell you he did not want to be disturbed! How dare you-!" Emperor Hinata's words trailed off as he noticed who was interrupting his fun.

"Though it's only been a year it feels like an eternity!"

"Hey, who let you in here?! GUARDS!" One of the women screamed.

"Not a day went by where I didn't think of you and what you did!" I spoke as I unsheathed my blade.

"W-Wait! Sakura! Put that down!"

"NO! Stay back!" The other woman screamed as she threw a pillow at me, to no effect.

"I often have nightmares of that day! I cradle my father's head until I wake up screaming his name!"

"No stay back! I'm unarmed! Your father wouldn't approve of harming an unarmed opponent! Do you intend to bring shame upon him!"

I stopped right in front of his bed after hearing his words. It was true, my father would never approve of harming an unarmed combatant. However, that was not why I stopped.

"You! YOU DON'T GET TO TELL ME WHAT MY FATHER WOULD HAVE WANTED!" I said, as I cut off his hand.

My father had been an honest and honorable worrier. It was why he was so easily fooled by this pig of a man. No matter how much evidence pointed to this pig being behind the assassinations, he would deny them outright on account of their blood ties. He was too softhearted for his own good, and so this malicious scoundrel managed to get the better of him. Even if he was alive, I doubt he would approve of me taking revenge on his behalf. That's why, from the very start, I resolved to take revenge, not for him, but for myself.

"AAAAHHHH! MY FUCKING HAND! YOU BITCH! UGH!"

"AAAAAAHHHHHH-!"

"AAAAAHHHHH-!"

I quickly kicked him aside as I slit the throats of the two screaming women.

"Your majesty! What is the matter?! We heard screams!"

"KILL THAT BITCH!"

"Stop right there! I am Ryu Sakura! The rightful heir to the-! *swoosh*!"

Before I could even finish my introduction, those hooligans swung their blades at my head. It would seem as though there aren't too many people still loyal to me within the palace walls.

*Swoosh*

*Thud*

*Thud*

I swiftly dispatched the two soldiers, who seemed awfully weak to be put in charge of guarding the emperor's bed chambers. Back when I was last here, you had to be at least a golden core cultivator or the equivalent to be stationed here, but these people might not even have reached qi refinement stage yet.

However, they were enough of a distraction for that pig to escape this room alive. That said, with his bleeding arm, tracking him down shouldn't be too hard.

…

Ryu Hinata's POV:

My name is Ryu Hinata, and I have been wronged.

I was born as the 3rd prince of the great Ryu empire. Just because I was born later than my older brothers I was denied the right to become the next emperor as I was merely the spare of a spare should my two elder brothers die.

If this was a time of great discord, I might have had the hope of my brothers falling to some political scheme or assassination plot. However, our father was one of the greatest political minds of his generation, hence the empire experienced one of the most peaceful periods in its history. As such I wasted my youth on frivolous things as I waited for the day I was given a small land to live on as I faded into obscurity. But then one day.

"The 1st prince has fallen ill!"

My eldest brother contracted an illness. How he had caught this illness was up in the air, until I suddenly recalled a woman of ill repute I had invited to the palace. I had heard she was good at her work, however her chest left much to be desired and her face wasn't anything of note, so I had sent her away without touching her. However, I do recall my eldest brother coming to visit me on the same day. The reason why this is relevant would be because I had heard the woman in question had died not long after, showing many of the same symptoms as my brother. It had been unintentional, but I may have been the one who killed my eldest brother, and as a result, I was moved up the successor rankings.

I had kept the matter about my involvement in my brother's death a secret as I didn't want to cause me unnecessary trouble. However, I needed more. Just one more time, if I could just kill one more person without getting caught, I would become the next emperor.

That was the start of a decade-long effort to end my elder brother's life. Though it proved rather difficult with my brother's strong physique, courtesy of his bloodline. Fortunately, he is a naïve fool who would never suspect his own blood to try and kill him. Hence, as long as he didn't find me holding the dagger to his throat personally, he would deny any evidence to suggest me to be the culprit, no matter how damning it may be. However, things started to get complicated.

"It's a girl! The first princess of the Ryu Emperor has been born!"

With the possibility of another heir being born, I had to act fast to prevent my targets from multiplying. By tradition, the next monarch of the Ryu empire is to be first chosen from the ruling emperor's children, before their siblings. I had been caught off guard by my brother's first child, but I took special precautions to prevent his wife and concubines from being able to deliver him more children to bar me from the throne.

That said, the problem of Sakura that pest was always in the corner of my mind. I tried many things. I had a servant drown her, a maid poison her meals, an assassin sneak into her room at night. However, as dimwitted as my brother may be, he was nothing if not protective of his daughter. He would take special care that he and his most trusted subordinates were always there to protect her at all times, making my efforts in vain. But finally, I managed to get them both.

I had heard from my informants that my brother was planning to come to pay me a visit in person, meanwhile, Sakura was going to take shelter in the countryside until the danger in the palace subsided. This was the chance I had been looking for, I quickly sent my son with my most trusted men to ambush that pink-haired thorn in my side, while I prepared to receive my brother here.

He had suspected nothing as he drank the poison I had prepared especially for him. One of the many benefits from his awakened bloodline was high poison resistance. However, as a royal myself, I had access to the knowledge of which poisons he would be susceptible to. I watched him squirm and struggle in his final moments as he finally came face to face with the truth he had been denying for so long. But of course, he was a stubborn one. He refused to go down without a fight and so I had my men, kill him. I still recall the tears spilling from his eyes as he stood on the balcony, his head slipping off his neck before plummeting onto the front gate below. I then ordered my men to set the mansion ablaze as I had no further use of it, since I would be living in the imperial palace from this day forwards. Though, my men couldn't locate my brother's head for some reason. It would be bad if anyone discovered evidence of my actions, hence I had ordered them to fetch his head so we could burn that too, however after a day of searching I grew impatient and decided to leave it be. It was probably just eaten by some critter or something.

I heard that there were some minor complications regarding my niece, but it's no matter. After only half a year, there is nobody left in this country that can oppose me anymore. And now I am finally at peace.

I spent every night in luxury. As the new emperor there isn't a woman who won't offer me her body should I ask. As the leader of a superpower, there isn't a soul who won't bow their head in my presence. And as the emperor of the Ryu Empire there is nothing, I can't acquire should I wish for it. My life was perfect, until my little oversight came back with a vengeance.

"Though it's only been a year it feels like an eternity!"

"AAAAHHHH! MY FUCKING HAND! YOU BITCH! UGH!"

"KILL THAT BITCH!"

Only one year ago, that little girl would faint at the mere sight of blood, yet she somehow killed my two concubines without any hesitation after cleaving my damn hand off. How did she even acquire the physical strength to swing a blade like that? Did she awaken her bloodline?

"Shit!"

I had used the two guards outside my room as a distraction to escape, but what now? If she has awakened that bloodline, she could easily match a golden core cultivator in brute strength. My brother was considered on par with a nascent soul even though he wasn't even a cultivator, if she has truly awakened then it won't take her long to dispatch those two guards and come after me. If I recall, my informant elder Riku should be somewhere in the palace, if I could only buy some time until he gets here, I would be fine. Surely, with all the sounds of her hacking and slashing every servant on her path towards me, it won't be too long until he hears about the commotion and discovers her. As for why I know she is slaughtering everyone in her path.

"Oh, uncle!"

*Scraping sound*

It's because I have been sending everyone, I pass towards her to slow her down.

*Huff**Wheeze*

However, it seems like it was unnecessary as she seems to be taking her time chasing me down, the halls. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest, while I could hear her bloodstained blade scraping against the floor as each and every unhurried step she makes becomes louder and louder as she draws ever closer.

I mustered the last of my strength as I ran towards the palace treasury. My hands were shaking as I dropped the key to the vault on the floor. When she finally turned the corner to see what I was doing she suddenly quickened her step, but it was too late, I had gotten through the door and had already set it too close. The doors of the palace treasury were crafted and enchanted by the empire's best smiths and mages, even a nascent soul would be unable to crack it open by force once it is closed.

"HAHA! UGH! MY ARM! JUST YOU WAIT UNTIL RIKU GETS HERE!" I screamed through the closing gap in the vault.

"…!"

"OH, DID I FORGET TO MENTION! ELDER RIKU WAS MY INSIDE MAN IN THE PALACE! WITHOUT HIM I WOULD NEVER HAVE KNOWN ABOUT YOU AND YOUR FATHER'S MOVEMENTS BACK THEN! HAHA! WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I spoke as I watched the girl stick her hands through the gap in the vault.

Just as I was wondering if the girl was intending to let her hands be snapped off by the closing door, she suddenly grabbed on to the edges of the vault and started forcing it back open.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?! DO YOU HONOSTLY THINK A LITTLE GIRL LIKE YOU CAN-!"

*BANG*

Before I could finish berating her, she had forced the doors back open.

"That's impossible! Even if your bloodline was awakened-!"

"There was an incident, many generations ago, where a prince got caught in the closing door and died! After that, there was built in a safety measure in case this should ever happen again! If the doors experience a certain amount of pressure upon closing, they will open back up temporarily before closing once more!"

"W-What!"

"Father always said you were never all that great at history! Well, it doesn't matter! There is nowhere to run now!" She spoke as the palace treasury began to close once more.

"N-NO! I-! AAAAAHHHH!" As I reached towards the closing door, that bitch cut off my leg.

I could feel the blood draining from my body as I grasped something buried beneath the piles of gold. It would seem as though the heavens have not forsaken me yet, as I realized what it was.

"I have suffered a great deal to make this night happen! And I'm intending to savor every second of it! Hm?"

"DIE!" I screamed as I swung the Ryu family's secret weapon. The legendary grade 'Kaguya Mochi Hammer'.

I swung it at her, activating its enchantments as it sent her flying into the wall so hard, she left an imprint of her back on the walls. This hammer was said to be a gift granted to our ancestors by the moon goddess. With its power, even a non-cultivator like me can crush the skull of a dragon in one hit. Hence, why that girl was bleeding in the corner from just one swing, despite her bloodline being awakened. Now I just need to open the door, while she is out and lock her inside while I go look for a doctor to treat my wounds.

"Damn it you bitch! I should have killed you earlier you little shit!"

Even with the best medical practitioners in the country, they can't replace a missing limb. Should I not die from loss of blood first I will make sure that girl loses all her limbs before I throw her to the dogs.

"Where do you think you're going?"

*swoosh*

Before I could even react, I lost my last hand as I was about to open the vault door.

"AAAAAHHHHH! *Wheeze*"

"HAHA! As your appearance would suggest! You squeal like a pig!"

I could feel my consciousness fading as she sliced my last leg off. The last thing I saw, was that wicked girl pick up the hammer, lifting it up high as she.

*SQUELCH*

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