With the entire Baraken fleet on the planet, the Tartarusios was surrounded. The message from Kaiser the Second was stiff.
At that moment, Kaiser the First made his way toward the control room. As he walked through the halls of the ship, he clenched his chest. The doors to the control room opened — there he was, the old emperor himself, accompanied by Mahin and Tarko.
Everyone turned to look at him. Youri, not knowing who the two old men were, said, "Hey, are you sure these two didn't sneak in from that place you were?"
Oscar replied, "No, they didn't sneak in. In fact, the old man in the middle is the previous emperor — Kaiser the First."
Youri frowned, confused.
Mahin suddenly cut in and asked Oscar, "Captain, the emperor wishes to speak with his son, if he may."
The situation was already complicated, but now it had become far more so.
Oscar said, "What do we have to lose?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Go on, old man, give it a try."
A little later, a call came through to the Baraken main ship. Kaiser the Second smiled as he received the news, thinking it was the surrender of the Tartarusios. But what was about to unfold, not even he could have predicted.
The call came through and was displayed on the main screen. There it was — the face of his father, the man he had once banished to the deepest pits of hell, now standing in front of him. He could barely recognize him; after all, all that time in the Labyrinth had done a number on him.
All the crew present with Kaiser the Second were shocked at the sight of their former sire. Before Kaiser the Second took rule over the Baraken Empire, he had always stood in the shadow of his father — the Great Kaiser, the emperor who brought peace to the United Empire and the Planetary Alliance. After all, he had ended a long war that his great-grandfather had started. It took more than it gave, but peace always does.
With that peace came consequence. To maintain the hard-fought order, Kaiser the First was rarely home — always away on diplomatic missions, buried in work. This left a great gap in the young Kaiser's heart. He had lost his mother at quite a young age; she died when he was just seven, in a crash that took her and all her servants' lives.
Maybe with the loss of Tatiana, Kaiser had buried himself in more work — to escape reality. But in the end, it was no proper choice.
The young Kaiser was sent to live with his grandparents at the age of ten. That was where he grew close to his now late grandfather, Ludwig Baraka — a renowned man and a great emperor in his own right. Ludwig himself was raised by his grandfather, Frederic Roches, the leader of the revolution who took control of the Empire by killing the rightful emperor of the time, Molio Trifonov, and changing his name to Frederic Baraka — the name that lives on to this day.
Frederic lived by the sword and died by it. He was killed by his son, Florian Baraka, the father of Ludwig. Due to their conflicting ideals and hunger for power, Florian one day, as they walked in the royal garden, took his sword and pierced it straight through Frederic's heart.
To this day, the true reason why Florian did what he did remains unknown. But that act stripped him of his right to the throne, and he was exiled. That led to young Ludwig becoming emperor at just fifteen.
Ludwig ruled mostly in peace, though he was known to be a bit of a war junkie at times — perhaps a reflection of his years under his grandfather. But like all men, he aged. He eventually relinquished the throne to his son Kaiser and decided to live in the countryside, spending his days watching his grandson — just as his grandfather once did.
After the unfortunate accident that claimed Tatiana Baraka, Kaiser's only son came to live with him. Ludwig taught him many things: fencing, battle strategy, and even how to talk to women — for Ludwig was a renowned womanizer in his youth. But there was one lesson he drilled into the young Kaiser's mind, a saying from his grandfather that stayed with him forever:A great ruler is one who is feared by his enemies. For to be truly feared takes a different kind of heart.
Those words dug deep into the young Kaiser's soul.
At the age of fifteen, Kaiser the Second lost another important figure in his life — Ludwig passed away at seventy-eight. That changed something inside him, something that would later define his destiny.
On the young Kaiser's twentieth birthday, he requested to take a trip with his father, under the pretext of catching up. The date was set — the 18th of February, 4813. It would be remembered as the day of Kaiser the First's death, or so everyone thought.
That day, as they traveled toward their countryside villa, the young Kaiser's plan was already in motion. Every servant, every guard, everyone aboard had cut a deal with him — some for money, others for power or position. Everyone had something to gain.
As the ship veered off course toward the Labyrinth, Kaiser the elder understood what was happening. He looked into his son's eyes and wondered — was that the same look his grandfather had when he stabbed his own father through the heart?
To him, it would have been better for his son to kill him outright rather than send him to rot in that pit. But he was powerless now — fate had other plans.
At the present moment, Kaiser the Second stood from his throne, staring at the screen. His father — old, bruised, and battered — looked back at him. Then the old man spoke.
"Greetings, my son. It's been a long time. You probably thought I was dead, but somehow I survived these past fifteen years. I see my absence hasn't stopped the Empire's growth — that, at least, is good news. So, my son, I have two things to say to you.
"The first is that I forgive you for everything. To be honest, I forgave you the very day you sent me to the Labyrinth. I know I wasn't a good father, so you had every right to do as you did.
"The second thing I wanted to say is this: please abdicate the throne and step down as emperor. The time we've had has come to an end, and I think it's time to let go."
Kaiser the Second slammed the armrest of his throne and glared into the screen.
"How dare you say that to me — after all you did! You ask me to step down? My father is dead — he's been dead for fifteen years! You're just a ghost talking nonsense. So look at me now… and I'll show you what I can do."