Lord of the Truth

The news of the deployment of the army of the Azil tribe fell like a thunderbolt on all the inhabitants of the northern region, whether they were giants or *lower beings*. Only now did they know how serious the situation was in there.

The army's deployment was an event watched closely by all the other giants' tribes. and the leader of the Azil tribe, Dawoodar, made sure that this deployment was a clear message to all the other greedy tribes, and indeed the message was heard loudly...

The deployment was a display of excessive force that did not diminish over time, so the army was divided into ten legions. Each of them had an Emperor at their head, and this was the maximum number of Emperors that the tribal leader, Dawoodar, could provide without disturbing the balance with the rest of the *guests*. He was also proud of the organization of the army, which had never experienced war in its life.

These ten legions had tightened their control over the entrances and exits of the city and its streets within just a few hours.

But that brutal display of power also carried with it shame: They were the first northern tribe to move its full army in tens of thousands of years, and against whom? A few terrorists inside their own main city?!

Dawoodar knew the consequences of this decision, but he made it anyway. A bad reputation was better than having his capital destroyed under his watch, and he actually achieved his goal.

The large spread of the army and specialized search teams made movement within the city impossible for Peon and his companion, so they were forced to leave. Richard also stopped mass kidnappings and contented himself with kidnapping one person every few hours. Even the city's residents themselves were unable to breathe out loud.

Security was tightened over Richard as well. How could he not be since he belongs to the same race as the terrorists? A number of high-ranking sages were instructed to stay with him in the same room and torture him on a daily basis to force him to speak of what he knew, they were breathing under his nick right at this moment as he was speaking with Peon! Also, one of the legions was appointed to camp permanently in the vicinity of Richard's residence.

Peon and his companion had already reached safety, but Richard's situation was greatly worrying him, as he knew very well that discovering Richard's energy source was only a matter of time... That is why he sent a call for help to Robin and explained to him what was going on.

*Brreaakk* *Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr*

When Richard felt a number of soldiers approaching, he changed the features of the place to hide the presence of Peon, then he spoke: "...There is no need to do anything, my third brother, I am still enduring this siege because I plan to do something, if I fail or they find out that I am the one who is behind all of this, I will simply get away. I have already made 13 different escape plans, I can implement any of them at any time."

Peon looked into the eyes of the stone face, "...Listen, I know you are a genius, what you did in the Azil tribe proves that you are your father's son, but these 13 plans will not help you in your time of need when a Martial Emperor appears to you out of nowhere and says: Give me your life. You wouldn't have any time to implement any plans, even if you escaped underground, he would split the ground and take you out! You still don't understand the Power of a Martial Emperor yet."

"So what do you suggest then?" Richard stared at his third brother's face with half-closed eyes, clearly not convinced by what he was saying, "Do you still want me to leave and go throw myself into my father's arms and maybe cry a little, and then go to live in peace and dance with the butterflies forever?"

"No, I'm tired of trying to convince you to do so. Since the full army is under my command now, I want you to tell me one thing... What do you want? What is your goal that you want to achieve? What keeps you inside your enemies' capital until today?!" Peon shouted in a low voice and started waving both arms in the air

"You want to know what I want? Do you think you can help me? Okay then.." Richard's calm facial expressions turned in an instant to an angry expression accompanied by a touch of madness, and the green flames ignited in the stones that made up his hair. At this moment, it seemed that he was able to compete with Amon for the title of A demon! Then he spoke in a furious voice, "I want the lives of all the giants of Nihari. I will not leave this cursed planet until I am sure that I have cut off all of them. This ugly city is only the beginning! Do you want to know what keeps me here? I want to meet that pig Dawoodar again, I want him to summon me for one of his worthless parties or to treat one of his filthy grandchildren. If I lay my hands on him, I will take at least half of his life before he kills me. Dawoodar must die at my hands! HE MUST DIE AT MY HANDS!!"

Peon felt weak in his arms hanging in the air and let them fall until they were next to his thighs again, his open mouth and unfocused eyes said a lot as well.

"Do not try to dissuade me from my goal. I have made up my mind and the case is decided." The flame on top of the stone face diminished until it disappeared and Richard's face became calm again

"...Dissuading you? No, I know I will never be able to dissuade you..." A half smile appeared on Peon's face and he shook his head weakly.

The stone face furrowed his eyebrows, "…?" But he waited for Peon to finish speaking

Peon actually raised his head to look at Richard again, "Those words and that look... I've seen it before... We've all seen it before when your father returned to his homeland again, accompanied by an army of demons."

"Tsk~" Richard looked to the side annoyed, as Theo had previously told him what Robin had done to Planet Jura after he knew what had happened, "Even in his revenge he failed. They burned the city of Jura and killed everyone in it, so why did he limit himself to killing only the stronger ones? This is where I disagree with him. If I were in his place, I would not keep anything breathing in that damn world!"

Peon opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it again when he noticed the resolute expression on Richard's face. He had chosen his path and it was over, so he thought of a new approach and continued calmly, "Richard, after my family was destroyed, my father and mother were killed in front of me, then they mutilated my body when I was still alive and cutting off my arm as a form of pleasure before they kill me, but they didn't, they decided to sell me to afford a few more wine jars. I knew at that moment that I would live as the worst kind of slave throughout my life, a slave who was not even worth the food he ate. All I was thinking about was that whoever buys Zara would take me with her so that I might be able to take care of her a little until she grew up and then commit suicide under some tree, that would save everyone the trouble... At least that was until your father appeared one day and gave me and my sister a life we could never have dreamed of."

"..." Richard furrowed his eyebrows slightly, he didn't know why his third brother started talking about the past

Then Peon continued, "Your father gave me cultivation techniques and resources that I could never have dreamed of, and he gave my sister a high status and a comfortable life, and on top of all that, he declared that we were his adopted children so that he would raise our status even more... But I never saw him as my father. You may have noticed that even at this moment, I still call him *Your Excellency*, and not because I am attached to my real father or anything like that, no. It's because I do not deserve to be his son. Until this moment, I am still the naked slave Peon, and these wounds I keep on my face in order to remind me of this truth every day. "

"Please don't talk like that. You know I consider you a brother and--" Richard quickly interjected

"If you consider me a brother, listen to the end!" Peon raised his head to look at the stony face in his eyes, "...Richard, I said all this because I want you to understand something. I live to serve His Excellency Robin and his descendants after him. And it is not only me who feels like that and is ready to serve you, but with this imperial decree, your father has given me the right to lead an army that can destroy the heavens and crush the lands... Do you want to kill off the Nihari giants? Fine, but you won't do it alone."