Shrill, heart-wrenching moans of a woman echoed throughout the enormous hall of the Emperor's bedroom.
The huge, towering walls were gold-plated, shining as sunrays from the broad windows fell over them and bathed the hall in a golden hue.
On the walls, intricate yet bemusing art of many unknown beasts had been done. Some looked like dragons and serpents, others like humans yet oddly disfigured.
Gemstones of multiple colors were engraved on the golden plating to color the bizarre figures.
Vale Umbrae, not to his surprise, felt himself being drawn into the odd figures even though he had been looking at them for the past 300 years.
He knelt on a huge bed in the middle of the golden hall. His hips swayed back and forth with a practiced rhythm as if he had been doing it for ages.
In front of him stood a mature lady, bent forward, her hips raised, and her hands sinking deep into the silky bedsheet.
Paw! Paw!
"Ahhh!'
With each thrust of Vale, the lady moaned at the top of her lungs. The moans, however, didn't seem like those of pleasure but deep pain and loathing.
Looking carefully at her shaking figure, it seemed as if the lady was trying to move away from the constant pounding but couldn't.
An invisible force held her in place, restricting any unnecessary movements.
Her milky white skin shone with sweat, and her bright orange hair felt like wild flames falling over her arching back. She had wide hips, a curvy waist, and beautiful yet tight breasts.
From her exquisite features alone, it was clear she belonged to a royal family. Such a beautiful woman could spark war between Empires.
Yet despite all of that, Vale Umber didn't feel an ounce of excitement about fucking this beautiful lady. After all, no matter how exotic the dish, it would still taste bland if you ate it three times a day for years…perhaps centuries.
"As beautiful as ever!" Vale commented, studying the intricate art on the wall. Unlike everything else, these walls never bored him. Every time he studied them, he saw something new.
"How wonderful!" Vale whispered.
Paw! Paw! Paw!
"Ahhh, you demon, I hope you die a cruel death!" "Ahhhhhh!" The orange-haired lady below him screamed with immense hatred and loathing in her voice.
Vale slowly turned his head to look at the lady, and after a while, he said in a monotonous tone, "Oh, that is for sure."
"After what I have done in my life, there is no way my death won't be the cruelest." For a moment, centuries worth of memories from his reign flashed through his eyes, and Vale could only sigh.
After a short pause, he continued, "But I hope... after that, everything will go silent."
For a moment, Vale got lost in memories, but soon he felt something and snapped back to reality.
Suddenly, Vale grabbed hold of the lady's butt and started thrusting faster and deeper.
The movement was so fierce that the enormous bed shook, tremors running through it.
"Ahhh!"
The lady screamed, feeling her back was about to break from the fierce thrusting, and finally, with a curse, she let go of what she had been holding back all the time.
As he felt her cumming, Vale sensed a surge of energy moving into his body.
Finally, he released the lady, and she fell to the bed.
Soon, Vale raised his hand and scrutinised it.
In the middle of his palm, a small, flaming ember manifested itself out of nothingness.
Vale focused a little, and soon the tiny burning ember was now the size of an elephant as it floated over his head. The flames crackled, radiating a terrifying heat, but neither Vale nor the lady was affected.
With a snap of Vale's fingers, the huge ember disintegrated into nothingness.
Vale then looked out of the window into the plain, green gardens and the empty land far beyond.
His eyes suddenly squinted, and in a moment, far away in the empty lands at the end of his sight, an enormous ball of flame shot down like a meteor, colliding with the land.
Tremors rose from the impact, along with smoke and dust, creating an enormous mushroom cloud.
"I see, quite a useful spell!"
It took a few seconds for the sound and waves to arrive, but with a swipe of his hand, Vale calmed them down.
Looking back, he saw the lady watching this miracle with grim eyes.
"Just to keep this spell away from me, your family colluded with the demons, breaking the most severe law in the empire. How foolish!" Vale said, gazing into the lady's eyes, which now fell silent as if the realization had dawned on her.
"No, not just for the spell!" The lady said, shaking her head crazily.
"We heard the rumors about the... tournament. We didn't want our husbands… our sons to be killed, and every Emberhart woman who holds the bloodline to be raped!
"That's why we colluded with demons; at least they are far more human than you will ever be!" the lady wailed.
"Emberharts aren't the only ones who will participate in the tournament; every royal family in the human empire would, and every woman is responsible for cultivating with the competitors of the throne. If they succeed in killing them in the Duel, it would be better to get fucked than get your whole family killed."
"Now the whole Emberhart family is dead!"
"Perhaps the next emperor would have been from your family only!"
"Maybe your son; I heard he inherited this spell too!"
The lady flinched and was silent for a while until she muttered in a trembling voice, "Spare my son!"
"Wish granted," Vale mumbled, and with a swipe of his hand, the lady's head fell to the floor.
A fountain of blood emerged from her decapitated neck, but before it could stain the bedsheet, her lower body disintegrated into ashes.
Unfazed by the death, Vale stood up and exited the bed.
He turned to a mirror on his side and studied his visage.
Dubbed "The Mad Emperor," the tenth and reigning human emperor... Vale Umbrae didn't look like a human from any angle.
His skin was covered in vicious scales, stitched from the hides of numerous beasts. On the arms, it was crimson, with a circular pattern, and on the chest and legs, it was dark blue with thin triangular patterns.
One eye was a serpent's, the other a human's. Two black fangs jutted from his mouth, and long, multicolored hair that changed color every second fell to his shoulders.
His right hand was polished metal, while the other was water that somehow didn't spill. At last, the face was shaped in an odd way, with the recognizable features of multiple beasts.
At the bizarre sight, Vale clicked his tongue. "I can hardly change back into the human form, and the bloodlines are growing more chaotic each day."
"It looks like the time has come."
"It's time to choose the next human emperor!"