The winter of the Yulan Calendar year 10,034 was a miserable one for Jaffney, Emperor of the Ruo Empire.
"Your Majesty." Jaffney's favorite concubine, a water-element mage who was only eighteen, nestled against him, deliberately rubbing her firm breasts against his body. Jaffney was himself a seventh-level warrior, his body reasonably strong. In the past, he would have long since pressed this beauty beneath him.
But today, he had no mood.
"Get out. Get out of here!" Emperor Jaffney impatiently shoved the beautiful woman away.
The brunette stumbled back a step or two, then managed to squeeze out a smile, bow respectfully, and retreat.
Beauty?
His empire was on the verge of collapse—how could he have the mood for dalliances with beauties?
"Everyone get out! All of you!!!" Jaffney swept his arm across the desk, sending books, documents, and decorations flying. They crashed onto the study's marble floor. The maids and palace attendants, terrified, immediately bowed and fled.
"That Baruch Family is too arrogant! Too arrogant!" Fire blazed in Jaffney's eyes, yet sweat beaded his forehead.
He was furious!
But he also felt powerless.
"Why? Why has it come to this?" Jaffney thought, his heart filled with panic and helplessness. "Why have all the Saint-level powerhouses of my Ruo Empire abandoned me? Why have they all disappeared? Are they truly afraid of that Lin Lei? He's only been famous for a few decades—what is there to be afraid of?"
Jaffney cursed furiously.
But he knew his curses were empty words.
Facing the relentless advance of the Baruch army, he had no recourse. His empire's Saint-level warriors had vanished one by one, and he couldn't find a single one. The only Saint loyal to the imperial family had been swatted into a bloody pulp by a Saint-level Tyrannosaurus Dragon on the battlefield.
He had no Saint-level power to call upon.
"What do I do? What do I do? Is my Ruo Empire to be destroyed like this?" Jaffney truly didn't know what to do.
Ever since it became known that the Yulan Empire, the O'Brien Empire, and the Baruch Family had joined forces, many of the Ruo Empire's Saint-level powerhouses had disappeared without a trace. After all, those Saints understood that the alliance of these three powers was tantamount to the combined might of the War God, the High Priest, and Lin Lei!
Not long ago, Lin Lei and his allies had destroyed the Church of Light's Holy Island. Common folk might not know the details, but most Saints were aware. Even the deeply entrenched Church of Light had been wiped out. The Saints of the Ruo Empire knew that resisting would only be throwing their lives away.
Naturally, none of them would come to see Emperor Jaffney or obey his commands.
Without a single Saint, the scales of war had long since tipped decisively in Lin Lei's favor.
"My empire has stood for thousands of years. Am I, Jaffney, to be the one to lose it?" Jaffney was in agony. Just this afternoon, news had arrived from the front: another city had fallen to the Baruch forces. Although the army had fought desperately...
The enemy had three Saint-level dragons!
Even though those three dragons hadn't engaged in much slaughter, just their appearance in the sky, killing two or three enemy commanders, was enough to shatter morale. Many soldiers, upon seeing the Saint-level dragons, had their legs turn to jelly.
How could such a war be fought?
"Your name is Jaffney, I believe?" A raspy voice echoed through the study.
Jaffney, who had been venting his fury, felt his heart seize with terror. This was his study. The study door was closed, with guards posted outside. The door hadn't opened, and there hadn't been a sound.
Yet someone was inside.
Suppressing his fear, Jaffney looked toward the source of the voice.
Two lean men in plain, short tunics stood there. Wearing tunics in the depths of winter wasn't unusual for seventh-level warriors like Jaffney. What terrified Jaffney were the eyes of these two men—a fierce, predatory gaze that seemed capable of devouring a person.
Though they hadn't made a move, their cold, ruthless killing intent radiated naturally from every gesture.
"How... how did you get in here?" Jaffney asked, his voice trembling with horror.
"How did we get in?" One of the lean men, a bald one, sneered. "It was simple. We killed the guards outside, opened the door, came in, and closed it. Just like that."
"Open the door, close it?" Jaffney found it almost impossible to believe. He had been in the study the entire time and hadn't noticed the door opening or closing at all.
A deep terror gripped Jaffney's heart. The cold killing intent emanating from the two men before him sent his thoughts racing. Could they be here to kill me? Acting on Lin Lei's orders? In Jaffney's mind, the only person capable of commanding such powerhouses and wanting him dead was the legendary Lin Lei.
"Jaffney, listen carefully," the lean, bald man sneered. "Our coming here is your good fortune."
"Good fortune? I've had a run of terrible luck!" Jaffney cursed inwardly, but he dared not show the slightest displeasure on his face, lest they kill him in their anger.
The other lean man, with a crew cut of stiff, golden hair, glanced at Jaffney and said coldly, "Our terms are simple. First, grant us the titles of Duke. Second, provide us with several thousand concubines and attendants for our service. Of course, in return, my brother and I will deal with those three annoying Saint-level dragons for you."
Jaffney blinked, staring blankly at the two men before him.
He was stunned.
"Didn't you hear me?" the bald, lean man shouted in irritation.
In truth, the two brothers had endured over five thousand years of a life worse than that of pigs or dogs in the Gobard Planar Prison.
In the Gobard Planar Prison, the peak of the Saint level was considered the very weakest. They had lived in constant terror, surviving one day only to worry about being killed the next. Because there were no natural world elements in the Gobard Planar Prison, the energy they expended had no source of replenishment. The only way to gain energy was to kill other powerhouses and refine the energy crystals within their bodies.
Saints slaughtered each other without mercy.