In the imperial palace.
Emperor Devis was sitting on his big golden throne, looking towards the nobles, which were first restrained by royal soldiers, and then dragged before him.
Looking down at all of them, Devis could barely controll his anger.
"Who was it?" he asked, his voice dangerously low.
All nobles were standing in line according to their rank. The highest rank, Dukes, were in the front line.
All four Dukes possessed [ A-Rank ] abilities, and their reputation and economic power was strong as well. Their private military strength was also powerful, but..
... No matter how much strength or money they had, it was nothing compared to the imperial family's resources.
All of them stood silently, nobody answered Emperor's questions.
"So nobody is going to confess, hue?" Devis raised his hand and pointed his palm towards them. " [10× Gravity ]."
A sudden heavy pressure fall in the room, forcing all the nobles to fall on ground and kneel before Devis.
"Your majesty! Pardon me, but it's not right to treat us like this. We are not criminals. We are innocent." shouted a middle aged man.
"I agree with Duke Raven. We are respected nobles, who have served the empire for a long time." said the man beside him.
"If restraining us and then forcefully summon through the teleportation gate was not enough. You are now insulting us like this." another high ranking noble expressed his discontent.
One by one, all nobles started to shouting.
Emperor clenched his hands into fists and stood up from his throne. First he descended through the stairs, then slowly walked towards the kneeling nobles.
Reaching the man who first spoke, he looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Duke Raven, do you think it's insulting to kneel in front of your Emperor? Are you now that superior to me, that you are teaching me how a Emperor should do his things?" Devis said in a low voice, looking at his right hand's palm.
"And what did you say? You don't want to be treated as a criminal. But i think this treatment suit you better, instead of giving you respect."
Devis turned his gaze towards all the nobles, scanning their expressions, and continued,
"You poisoned the crown prince of this empire. As a Duke you must have known that it's a capital crime, right?" he asked, leaning his body near Duke Raven.
Duke Raven was taken aback.
Colour drained from his face,"N-No your majesty. What are saying? Me? Poisoning the crown prince? I would never even think about doing something so vile!" he immediately protested.
"Hahahaha..." Devis laughed, veins bulging on his neck.
"You must believe that royal family is weak and incapable of doing a proper investigation."—he tilted his head slightly—"Maybe i was too soft as a ruler."
Devis grabbed Duke Raven's hair and raised his head a little,"You need to remember, that no matter how high your rank is, you are still a subject of Aegis empire. The empire that was created by my ancestors to protect the human race. You wouldn't exit today if not for my family." he said, looking straight in the eyes of Raven.
"And the moment you saw an opportunity to overthrow us, you poisoned my son, a boy of later generation than you. Were you too scared to try these tricks on me?" his jaws tightened.
Unable to control his anger any longer, he raised his hand and...
*SMACK*
*CRASH*
Loud and crisp sound echoed there, making everyone flinch.
Duke Raven fell on the floor, with the red mark of emperor's palm on his left cheek. His lip was busted and few teeths were missing.
As previously mentioned, royal family had exclusive access to the special food, that had magical properties. So, Devis also had a much stronger body than many strength type ability users. He controlled his strength while slapping Duke Raven, otherwise...
Feeling that he might really die, his mind was working hard, trying to escape his current situation.
"Arrgghh... Why.. ugh.. I-I'm innocent. I'm really innocent." Raven said with swollen lips, while rubbing his cheek.
Emperor looked at him for a while, then shook his head,'Act all you want. I will never let you get away!'
"Send the Royal investigators inside!" emperor turned away from Raven, and ordered the guards.
Soon, three people entered. All three had their face and body hidden under black cloaks.
Emperor looked at them and said,
"These are royal investigators. None of you have seen them before, since they do their work in different disguises. Their abilities are truly best suited for doing investigations."
Pointing his finger towards the man in middle,"Start the interrogation.", Devis ordered.
Looking at the situation escalating, Duke Raven started sweating profusely.
'No. I can't let this continue any further. If they finds out... I have to stop it!' Raven thought, his heartbeat increasing.
Investigator obeyed as ordered and moved towards Duke Raven. He extended his hand to grab Raven's hand.
Raven moved away slightly, not wanting to be touched by him.
"Y-Your Majesty, it's too much. I can endure if you slap me, but i absolutely cannot allow you to make me a subject of interrogation. I'm not some criminal. Please, believe me." Raven pleaded, feeling the hold of death tightening on him.
Seeing the unwilling attitude of Raven, Emperor exhaled a heavy breath and raised his hand towards him.
"I'm not your friend, Duke. I believe only in evidences, and these guys have already found many of them already." Devis moved his hand in a downward motion.
"What they are doing right now is nothing more than a show or rather warning for other nobles. But first of all, you still need a bit more discipline.[ 20× Gravity ]." he said, his eyes slightly glowing with black light.
The pressure on Raven increased immediately, his body laying flat on the cold marble floor, and bones being crushed with every moment he tried to make. He was now completely unable to move.
'Urggh! You asked me about why i never went against you. This is the reason, you monster.' Raven thought, his eyes filled with jealousy and hatred.
This time investigator grabbed his hand successfully.
"[ Voice Of Truth ]." he muttered.
"Duke Raven, were you involved in the incident of auction house?" he asked, his voice rough.
'No, this is not true. I'm innocent.'
"Yes, it was my plan to mix poison in his drink and kill him... Hue?"—Raven's eyes filled with dread realising the words that he just spoke,
—"But instead of mixing the poison separately, i used a specially made glass, that already was poisonous itself." his mouth kept moving against his will.
'That's not what I wanted to say. Damn it. What type of ability is this? It's finished! I'm doomed now!' Raven thought, his hopes of survival getting crushed with every word he spoke.
Investigator didn't stop and asked another question,"Were other nobles also involved in this?"
"No. It was my own plan." Raven confessed.
"And how did you know, that crown prince was in that auction house?"
"My people were keeping an eye on him. They couldn't infiltrate, so they stayed outside the palace, and waited for him to leave. It was a long term plan."
Emperor was really surprised after hearing his answers. He knew that there were many enemies waiting for Leon's demise, but till this incident happened, he never doubted these dukes.
The enemies he worried about were of other empires, of other races. This incident was truly an eye opener for him.
***
Investigation continued, but in the end, Leon's whereabouts were still unknown.
"Throw him inside the prison!" emperor ordered.
Royal guards grabbed Duke Raven and bound a black collar around his neck.
'The [ Ability Restraining Collar ]! I never thought it would be used on me someday. What future Emperor, i don't even have any future left anymore.' Raven thought, a sad smile playing on his face.
What was his crime?
Poisoning a crown prince. The highest level crime in the empire. Punishable by whole family's execution.
Raven is going to be executed publicly. Since the emperor is still a kind hearted person, his family might be spared, but their noble rank will be demoted several levels.
Rest of the nobles were also interrogated, but none of them was found involved in this incident.
Emperor removed his ability from them, allowing them to stand up.
"You can return to your estates now. But don't forget, that royal family is not something you can touch. I can erase your households and create other nobles, like my ancestors did in the past." he said, looking at them with threatening look.
The message was clear— Try to harm Leon and there will be no next generation of your family.
Nobles left using the teleportation gate. Their bodies were trembling, some were trembling because of fear, others because of humiliation and anger.
Despite having countless thoughts running in their minds, nobody had the courage to say anything.
They knew better than anyone else, that who was the most dangerous person in the empire.
New generation might think of him as a kind hearted ruler, but if Leon is infamous because of being weak, Devis was infamous in his youth for his ruthless and tyrannical personality.
Devis only changed after meeting a woman of unknown background, who later became Leon's mother, and then disappeared one day.
After the nobles left, Emperor also went to his room.
*COUGH* *COUGH*
*DRIP*
"It's gotten worse, just by using my ability for a little." he muttered, blood dripping from his mouth.
'I tried to prevent this from happening, but it still happened. If i could, i would just send him away from here, rather than keeping here making him the target of these greedy nobles.' he thought, walking towards his bed.
'But... There are more dangerous things outside!' emperor thought, as he wiped the blood off his face.
[ Name: Devis Aegis
Age:38
Race: Human
Ability: Gravity Manipulation ( S-Rank ) (+)]