Chapter 2823 Frog
"Who are you?"
Emperor Fleeting Cloud didn't relax his guard entirely. He didn't bother to raise the alarm. Something told him that not only would he fail, but even if, by some miracle, it all worked out, the Human Race would just end up suffering even more devastating losses.
What surprised him the most was that this boy seemed to also be a human as well. But this ironically put him more on edge.
If the Human Race had someone so powerful, would they even be in this situation?
Leonel smiled and didn't rush the Emperor. However, he also didn't seem to have any intention of explaining himself so swiftly either.
In Leonel's views, although he was quite sure that the two parties that arrived before him were likely involved with the Sea God Race, or at least one of the other two Races that weren't on the verge of collapse, it wasn't a 100% certain.
It was also possible that this Emperor was a spy set by another party, placed here to make the wrong choices at the right times to speed up the collapse of the empire.
Of course, this was a slim possibility, which was why Leonel had appeared so boldly, anyway. But that didn't mean that he would be casual about everything else.
Right now, the two parties knew that a third party had bought the information as well, but they didn't know who had done so.
The fact Leonel was a human could act as a nice smokescreen at the right time if it turned out that this man was a spy for another party.
This was also why Leonel didn't just directly kill him and turn him into a puppet. That might alert an enemy of his plans.
That said, he had observed this Empire in silence for three days. He was being overly cautious only because he only had this one chance and couldn't afford to mess it up, but he was still fairly certain that the Emperor was trustworthy.
At the end of the day, the Emperor was a man that had ruled over trillions at one point in his life. Though his empire had crumbled, he had lived a long life and was more well-adjusted than most.
In the end, he calmed and took a step down from his bed. At the very least, he could have more solid footing like this.
"Good." Leonel smiled. "I have a question for you, then. How much do you want this empire of yours to survive?"
Emperor Fleeting Cloud's pupils constricted into pinholes. They trembled like a faint light in the void.
"What do you mean by this?"
"Don't I mean exactly what I've said?"
The Emperor fell into silence before taking a breath.
"If the Sea God Race has come here just to taunt this old man, feeling free to do so. But I will die on my feet, as will the rest of my empire. Humans are not cowards."
Leonel's pale violet eyes burned for a moment before they focused.
"Humans, huh? Not the Cloud Race?"
The Emperor frowned. Leonel could feel his visceral distaste for this, and it amused him and intrigued him at once.
It seemed that these Humans truly disliked the Cloud Race for some reason.
"We are the Human Race."
The Emperor didn't explain anything further, but this was enough for Leonel to confirm something.
This man wasn't a spy, and if he was, he wasn't aware of it. This wasn't the reaction of a man who had lost pride in his Race.
But now Leonel was curious about the history between these two Races. How was the Human Race both so integrated with the genes of the Cloud Race, and yet so hateful of them at the same time?
"Good. Then I will ask you again. Do you want your empire to survive?"
Emperor Fleeting Cloud took a deep breath, realizing that Leonel was likely not from the Sea God Race.
"Of course I want my Empire to survive. Without Fleeting Cloud, humans will have no home. We will become slaves and never have the right to raise our heads up again."
Leonel nodded slowly. The emperor also spoke like he had no idea there were Humans outside of this Incomplete World. That was another plus.
"Then I can give you an opportunity. However, if you're going to grasp it, it will depend on you."
"Who are you?" He couldn't help but ask this question once again.
Leonel grinned. "Just a human."
"I don't believe you."
"Well, you don't really have much of a choice, now do you?"
"I've already said it. I would rather-."
"Die, then."
Leonel sat there, smiling. He reclined in the chair, but an overwhelming suppression descended. His King's Might took shape and a fluttering violet fog became the long, winding body of a dragon.
It wrapped around Leonel's body, a powerful head leaning over his shoulder.
It opened its mouth and roared.
To the world, it was entirely silent, but to the Emperor, it felt like he was caught in a storm, a beast descending from a swirling cloud of lightning to open its maw right in his face.
He felt small. Like a human looking up to the surface from the bottom of the ocean, like a man staring at the stars in the depths of space, like a child seeing the wider world for the first time.
Fear gripped him to an existential level, and he fell to his knees.
Tears of blood began to fall from his eyes as veins popped across his face.
The difference between himself and Leonel couldn't have been clearer at that moment.
What the old man didn't know was that until Leonel flung himself free of a bit more of the Regulator's suppression, a battle with an Eighth Dimensional Overlord like this old man would take quite a bit of effort though he felt he would win in the end.
However, this Emperor no longer felt this way.
Right now, he was a frog at the bottom of a well.