CLAIMED

60

"I must commend you all for your bravery in orchestrating an insurrection." Leah smirked as she addressed the terrified elders and higher-ups who gathered before her inside the throne room at the palace. She then clapped seven times. "Well done! You young fellows truly have giant balls of steel. And here I thought killing Alton and Richardson not long ago would desuade you all from ever trying to do something stupid again, but no. You all, for some reason, hate living. Hah."

Her eyes then briefly scanned the room. "So tell me, who is stupid enough to try and go against the sovereign?" Five minutes later, her eyes settled on elder Flounder. "It's you, isn't it?"

"Of course not sovereigness," Elder Flounder answered with his head held low to be respectful. It's not that he wants to be polite to her or accept her as a power of authority in the Azure pack. But for now, he has to continue suppressing his true feelings to not get himself killed. "I admit in the past I never approved of the young sovereign, due to him being weak and, to put it in proper terms, his untraditional conduct. But despite that, I didn't dare go against him as other elders have done in the past, much more now when only a sneeze from him is enough to take my life. I also don't agree with this battle, but that's not important. I'm a servant. Therefore, I have to do as I told without questions."

"For the past few days everyone has been on their good behavior despite their hatred for the pup. They schemed, but they didn't have the guts to go through with it. Well, that is until you arrived here, so the main culprit for this crime has to be you. Unless someone is using you as a scapegoat to act up behind the scene."

"It's a possibility. But I think it might be something else, sovereigness."

"Oh," Leah arched a brow, amused by the way this man humbly and tactfully answered her every statement. She can see how he managed to become a pillar of this pack. "Please elaborate."

"Since this is a command from you, I hope you don't take my bold words as being rude or undermining the young sovereign's authority."

"Humph, just say what's on your mind."

"I believe this insurrection, as you call it, is a result of the people's frustration and anger of losing their loved ones—for being involved in a war they deemed hopeless and has nothing to do with them." Elder Flounder chose his words carefully as he spoke.

"Hm. That's a possibility. But even so, it takes someone with money and strong influence to get people to organize and cause unrest of this scale. And you elder Flounder fit that role."

"You are right, sovereingness. It is indeed within my power to stir up the unrest earlier being a pilliar of the Azure pack. And I can also see where you're coming from, suspecting me. But I'm afraid even if I say I'm not responsible for this crime, it doesn't matter, because you and most people here already believe I'm guilty."

"And are you guilty?" Leah asked with a smile as she sat up straight on Kazan's throne.

"No," Elder Flounder replied firmly, and this time he made eye contact with her, though her gaze was like needles piercing his eyes. "I'm not. Like I said earlier, I wouldn't dare act against the young sovereign. I have no ambition to overthrow the young sovereign or cause chaos. My only purpose is to serve and preserve the Azure pack, as I have done throughout the centuries. However, if the sovereigness said I am guilty, then this servant would gladly take any punishment of your choosing. Including death."

Leah smile. This man is really something else. He's really good at speeches. all the more reason she doesn't trust him. "Don't be in such a rush to die just yet, elder. I'm merely speculating here. There is no actual evidence for your involvement in any of this. If they were, I wouldn't be wasting my breath on you." But something tells her this sly old dog is already aware of this. That's why he confidently came here to avoid further suspicion. If he had chosen to flee instead, then he would have incriminated himself and be branded and probably hunted down and killed.

"Thank you for your generosity." Elder Flounder said. "If that's all, sovereigness. I'll like to leave, if you permit it, of course."

"Why the hurry, elder? The fun has not even begun yet."

"If her majesty has anymore questions to ask, I'm an open book. I'll gladly answer them."

"Oh, is that so? Hm, let me think." Leah ponders briefly. "Like we agreed on earlier, you are a very influential member of this pack. Therefore, your spies must have relayed everything that goes down here, including the war. So my question to you is, What's the real reason you decided to come here now and not before the start of the war?"

"As I told the young sovereign, I had a bounty on my head, so I had to keep a low profile."

"Was the bounty before or after the war?"

But before Elder Flounder could provide a response, something like a nuke hit and laid waste to the palace in a count of seconds. Many buildings in the five-mile radius were also reduced to ashes.

Luckily, Leah sensed the magic, from what she concluded is a very well-cloaked ancient top-tier magic tool according to Nathaniel's knowledge, a millisecond before it detonated and reacted quickly by activating a large-scale magic teleportation. However, she still took great damage from the magic that slipped through the teleportation. Vomitting up blood even.

Many people, including the four generals tasked with watching over her from the shadow, Azure pack elders, higher-ups, guards, and staff members, got severely injured. Some people died even despite her effort to save everyone.

Anyway, before Leah could even take a breath or recover properly after using such powerful magic and at a short notice to make matters worse—the second she appeared at a new location far from the palace—four young men came from out of nowhere attacking her. And before she could respond, the four generals, though in bad shape, barely managed to block these intruders. As a result, the four suffer even more injuries. Nonetheless, they will continue to fight off the enemies, even if it means death.

At the same time this was occurring, twelve other young men appeared, catching Leah off guard and attacking her with their most powerful martial art skill techniques, which caused a massive explosion that rocked the whole Azure City when it collided with its target.