The Dragon's Den

As a Heraclian General and his entourage of body guards walk in towards the Scaradian throne, they bow only to be confused.

"You're not the emperor..." Says the general. "Who are you?"

It was then that the silhouette of a man reading a book raised his head to face the visitors. And as he rose, the book vanished into darkness.

"I am his majesty's right hand." Said the man calmly.

"We are not interested in you, now where is your emperor?" Questioned the general.

"Thirteen..." Said the man.

"Excuse me?" Replied the general.

It was then that the general and his men were caught in fear and disbelief, the man had appeared in front of the general. The general stumbled backwards, sweating.

"It's the number of ways I could have killed you all just now, but now I'll have to change it to twenty-four." Said the man smiling as he turned to walk back up the stairs only to sit back down near the throne. "His majesty has left me with all external matters, so whatever your concerns you have with the emperor will have to go through me."

"Very well..." Uttered the general. "And your name?"

"You may call me Ren."

"Very well Ren." Said the general as he cleared his throat. "Recently, it has come to our attention that Scaradia took part in a battle which caused Solaria to experience heavy casualty."

"And what of it?"

"We wanted to make it very clear that our king would prefer it if your nation would stay out of our war with Lunaria for the time being."

"Hmmm...and if we don't?" Questioned Ren. "Are you going to wage war upon us as well?" He added as if taunting.

"Possibly, yes." Answered the general.

"Interesting..." Replied Ren. "That would be quite the problem, however, I am afraid that we cannot comply."

"What?!" Yelled the general in an outburst. "You would dare go to war with Heraclia..."

It was then that the Heraclians fell face flat on the ground. Unable to yell let alone speak as well as move an inch.

"You seem to have forgotten where exactly you are Heraclian." Said Ren as he brought out a book from a dark rift in the air. "This is Scaradia, and we do not fear anyone, even if it means your king." He added as he resumed reading. "Once I lift my energy from this area, you will return home and tell your king that you were unable to meet with the emperor due to him being away. Afterwards, you will never come back here and that if I ever see your face again..." He added crossing his legs. "...Then I will kill you."

It was then that the soldiers were able to barely stand and soon turned to leave immediately without turning back.

"Well that was harsh!" Laughed Nelerad who was sitting atop one of the pillars. "You scared the living life out you jerk!" He added laughing even more.

"It's only natural that Ren show those punks who they were dealing with." Said Shunsui laying back behind another pillar. "If they weren't able to negotiate with Ren, then I don't think they would get anywhere with Ryu himself." He added.

"Yeah...that's true...Oh! I almost forgot!" Exclaimed Nelerad as he leaped down from the large pillar. "Aren't you both going to be taking your promotion exams pretty soon?"

"Eh...oh right...I completely forgot about that..." Said Shunsui as he yawned. "When's yours scheduled Ren?" He added.

"Tomorrow." He replied still reading.

"I'll be sure to watch then..." Said Shunsui as he smiled. "Well this was a boring afternoon, all we really did was sit around the throne making sure nobody touched it."

"What's next on the list of agenda's Ren?" Questioned Nelerad.

"We are going to consult with Ryu regarding his assassination attempt when he was in Lunaria." Ren replied. "What information do you have of the assassin?" Ren added.

"Apparently he's some wanted criminal big shot in Lunaria." Answered Nelerad as he stroked his chin. "Did Ryu really release a tenth of his power back then?" He exclaimed.

"Apparently..." Said Shunsui. "Well to be more precise...it was more like seven to eight percent."

"Yes...Ryu did also mention that this assassin was quite the persistent one..." Said Ren closing his book. "And that his fighting style is of the same category as yours Nelerad." He added smiling.

"Oh? Haven't gotten that in a while..." Said Nelerad as he leaned against a pillar. "So there's someone out there who's considered as the same type of warrior as me huh..." He added.

"Don't mind it, I heard the the fool was beaten around like a fool." Laughed Shunsui.

"That is true." Said Ren. "However, Ryu did say that that assassin had no energy aura at all."

"Well whatever!" Exclaimed Nelerad. "Shouldn't we be going now? Ryu wouldn't want to be kept waiting."

"Yeah...you're right..." Said Shunsui as he got up.

It was then that the three Hydra's walked down the center of the halls, exiting the castle to be saluted by the other Scaradian soldiers.

"Get our horses." Ordered Ren as they soon rode off towards the Scaradian borders close to Magnux.