The attendant bowed low, his voice carrying through the quiet hall with practiced calm.
“Your Majesty, the Mother Empress is waiting for your audience.”
Kaiser lifted a brow, the faintest trace of amusement softening his usually unreadable expression.
He gestured with a slow wave of his hand, granting permission.
The doors began to open at once, their polished wood gliding apart like the breath of a waking giant.
She had withdrawn from the suffocating scramble of court politics long ago, yet her absence had only made her influence more absolute.
To the outer world she appeared distant, almost removed, but those who understood the currents beneath the surface knew the truth.
Power clung to her presence like a second skin.
Even the silence that followed her steps carried weight.
Her authority had not weakened after the abdication of the former Emperor.
If anything, it had deepened, settling into the court like an unseen tide.
People spoke carefully when her faction was mentioned.
Many believed that she would stand as the true pillar of the Empire for years to come, perhaps even longer.
Such whispers were taboo, yet they continued to live in the shadows of the palace.
Kaiser watched her approach, his gaze steady but touched with a quiet, instinctive caution.
His mother embodied her title with effortless grace, the figure of an Empress who needed no crown to command obedience.
Her cultivation…
was something Kaiser had no idea about.
Even he, who carried royal blood and authority, could not trace its depth.
She was unfathomable to him in every angle.
If he had to name the truth, he would say it plainly in his heart.
His mother was terrifying.
And in a world shaped by power, that terror was its own form of security.
As she crossed the threshold, the hall seemed to adjust around her presence.
The air grew still.
The servants lowered their heads.
And Kaiser felt that familiar, subtle weight settle over his body.
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She raised her hands softly, almost as though her hands were feather, but when the hands were raised fully, there was no one present in the room.
Kaiser smile widened.
He didn’t say his servants to get out of the room…
“If you’re satisfied with establishing your dominance, can you please get on with your purpose…”
An elegant smile curved along the Empress’s lips, softening the regal poise that usually framed her expression.
She paused before him, her gaze warm yet razor sharp beneath its surface.
“How are you, Kaiser?”
The use of his name landed with the weight of deliberate intent.
In that single breath she peeled away his title, his rank, his authority as Emperor, leaving only the son she had raised.
And the question itself was no simple inquiry.
She knew exactly how he was.
She always knew.
The recent tension with the Steward of the Court was not something she would pretend to be ignorant of.
Especially when Aurelis, the Economic Chancellor who had been crossing his path at every opportunity, belonged to her faction.
This was her subtle strike, a gentle blade hidden behind a smile.
Kaiser met her eyes, understanding the layers buried within her simple greeting.
He had no energy to dance around her cunning today.
Politics within the palace had already drained more than enough from him, and he despised the quiet games of misdirection that the court thrived on.
So he said nothing.
He simply closed his eyes and steadied his breathing, drawing his focus inward.
The tide of Qi responded, rising from his core like a silent ripple across still water.
Cultivation was the only space where titles, power, and schemes could not intrude.
The Mother Empress watched him, her smile lingering for a heartbeat before fading.
His silence told her everything.
And for all her teasing, she did not push further.
The Empress folded her hands behind her back, her gaze drifting over the quiet hall before settling once more on Kaiser.
“The Competition of the Supreme is nearing its preparations.
Tell me, Kaiser, will you join in on the fun.”
He exhaled slowly, opening his eyes from his cultivation trance.
Her tone was light, almost playful, yet every word carried purpose.
He could feel it.
“Mother, you already know that I hate riddles.
If something weighs on your mind, speak it plainly.”
Her lips curved again, this time with a deeper amusement, as if she had been waiting for that exact response.
She stepped closer, her presence poised and calm, and continued with a voice that echoed gently through the hall.
“This event will draw the brightest prodigies within the continent of Godfall.
Those who rise from sects, those who train under ancient temples, and those born from the legacy of the Clans.
Every path of power will converge.
Every name that matters will be there.”
Kaiser listened, his expression settling into one of quiet focus.
Her gaze sharpened a little, though her voice remained serene.
“And because every major power will be represented, the court has come to a unanimous decision.
The Emperor will stand as the representative of the Dawn Family and lead the our team venturing into the Spatial Dimension.”
The hall fell into a hush.
Kaiser had known what this Competition of the Supreme was.
The one where the younger generations build mock Empires and Sects and vie for Supremacy.
This event was known throughout the Continent, and there was no way he wouldn’t, but he was thinking that he would lay this one down, because he was nowhere near the level of those prodigious talents that was present in the continent.
The Empress watched him carefully, waiting for the stir in his eyes, the shift of breath, the quiet resistance or acceptance that would reveal what he truly thought.
‘If she says that it has come to an unanimous decision, then it means that the old monsters present in the shadows have stirred…
But why do they want me to lead the team?’
‘They know perfectly well that leading a group of teenagers that want to find who is the Supreme of their age is…
How am I supposed to fair among such monsters?
Why can’t I just enjoy my life?’