Kayn sat in a lotus position on top of a nearby building as Cordont organized his people before they began departing from the area. He had his eyes closed as he meditated and thought about his father and the battle to come. Even though his eyes were closed, his Mana Sense was covering the entire city, monitoring everything that happened within.
Occasionally, he noticed a person or two glancing up at him while they departed from their former home, confused but thankful to be alive. Cordont told them that he would explain the situation once they were all relocated to somewhere safe, but for now all he told them was that they were being spared. The less informed found this odd as they knew of the mercilessness of the Death God towards those who stood against him.
Hours passed by as Kayn sat motionlessly until finally Cordont approached his building on the street and stood below it, looking up and waiting for Kayn to come down. He didn't have to wait long since as soon as he stopped below the building Kayn knew it was time to get his information. Everyone else within this section of the city had evacuated by now under Cordont's instruction and leadership, so what else would he be before Kayn for other than to deliver on his promise?
Kayn leapt from his position and gracefully landed in front of Cordont with his hands casually behind his back. Cordont marveled at the fact that it looked like he simply floated down without using any spells or the wings he heard about in the tales of the Death God.
He knew Ezekiel was half demon and half elf, but he kept his wife's information close to the chest. The few times anyone saw her they all just assumed she was a human with a unique lineage that led to her having golden-purple eyes and white hair. Now that Cordont knew Ezekiel's son had wings though, it made him curious as to what Zerana truly was, but he would never ask for fear of being killed by the boy.
"It looks like you've organized and led your people well Cordont. Soon, you and your families won't have to live in fear of that bastard emperor, I promise you that," Kayn said as soon as he landed.
Cordont lightly shook his head, "You shouldn't have to fight this war by yourself, but you're the only one strong enough to stop him. Even at this point, I still don't know if it's enough. Rather than that though, let me tell you about what you should expect upon breaking the final barrier and entering the palace."
Kayn remained quiet, silently gesturing for Cordont to continue to begin his explanations.
"First, you should know that the emperor's family is massive. He has a few official wives, but he has hundreds of concubines that he somehow seduced to be with him over the years. Not a single one of his women are below the 5th stage and many of them are at the 6th stage. You've probably killed a few of them already though as he sent some of the more competent or those he didn't care about to the front lines of the war.
"Most of the wives and concubines he kept by his side in the palace were those who bore his children. As far as children go, they are all extremely talented. Ranging from the 1st to the 6th stage, his progeny have all of the elements that I know of between them on top of high talents with mana. He most definitely picked his partners carefully for what kind of offspring they would give him rather than for love.
"So, before you enter, you'll need to steel yourself as all matter of women, men, child, and race will come for you. We've seen some of his family members in the last year, but not once did we spot him. I don't have high expectations for him in protecting his family. You will essentially be facing a specialized and well-trained army upon entering, but I doubt you'll have too many issues. The only thing that would bother me is the children…"
Cordont trailed off as he finished, but he had heard tale of Kayn's past deeds. Having already slaughtered entire families, why would it matter to him to add a few more to his body count?
Little did he know though, that most of the rumors about Kayn were exaggerated. Kayn had only done that when there was no hope or when he was still learning how to keep Wrath in check as he would sometimes just blow up an entire city without entering it.
This was also neglecting the fact that Kayn truly did massacre entire families of cursed races who were working for the Lich King Mitas. Kayn knew that the trauma from doing that would catch up to him as soon as he deactivated Wrath's hold on his mind, but for now the emotions of remorse were held at bay.
Kayn may seem like a ruthless and merciless killer to most people, even those whom he had saved, but at the end of the day, what he killed most were the dead brought back to life by liches across the continent.
Once things finally calmed down and the various powers were actually able to investigate, they would notice that approximately 75% of the total living population on Lavanth had been wiped out during this war and no small few converted. Kayn had slain all of these undead during his travels, preventing Lavanth from becoming a continent of the dead, but he would probably still be seen by the world as a slaughterer of all. A ruthless killer to be feared and avoided at all costs.
"I see, thank you for the information and for being so loyal to my father after all these years. I advise that you and your group get away from the city as quick as possible, I doubt my fight with the emperor will be contained within the city's boundaries. Not to mention, I plan on giving him a little gift for when the turtle finally sticks his head out of his shell," Kayn's smile looked straight evil to Cordont at that point.
Cordont quickly bowed to his waist and sprinted to catch up with the rest of his group, urging them to move faster as he didn't want to be caught up in whatever Kayn was about to do.
Kayn watched with his eyes and through Mana Sense as Cordont's group sped up and left the city perimeter within a few hours when normally a group that large would probably take a few days to move so many people, but the mages of the group were capable and got everyone out safely.
Kayn smiled, "It's time to fucking burn it all down."
…
Several hours later, the entire city was up in flames or already burned down aside from the single large palace within the last barrier. Kayn's flames were so strong that even the stone of buildings and roads were melting. With the city's population most likely being dead or relocated already, he had no qualms destroying all of these homes.
He accidentally obliterated Palatine to nothing, might as well treat his actual enemy to the same fate. He wanted to see the emperor's face when he saw that everything he built was burned to the ground and nothing of the Carnet Empire remained.
After he was finished with his petty revenge, he floated before the last barrier, glancing over the city that now resembled how one would imagine Hell to look. Black smoke rose from every corner of the city, flames swirled and swayed with the wind as those same winds displaced soot far, far away.
Satisfied with himself, he began his bombardment of the barrier. As he expected, this one was going to be much more difficult to penetrate and would cost him decent portion of his mana before it was brought down. Kayn regulated his mana output to equal what he could recover at the same time and day after day he threw spells at the same spot of the barrier.
Eventually, he created a massive drill using multiple elements in conjunction to create a dense and sharp cone-shaped metallic object which he rotated at extreme speeds before tossing it at the barrier.
After impact, he repeatedly hammered on the back of the giant metallic drill bit with stronger spells, forcing it deeper and deeper into the barrier. He had far more potent spells he could use, but at the cost of large quantities of mana. He was confident in himself with facing the family of the emperor, but he still didn't know what to expect from the man himself. He wanted to keep his mana levels near full so that he was ready for the fight to come.
With a deafening sound of glass being shattered, the last and final barrier keeping Kayn from fulfilling his revenge fell. Oddly though, he saw no one waiting underneath the barrier ready to attack him as soon as it was destroyed.
Kayn waited for them to come out of the palace, but even after a full minute, nothing. Curious, he used his Mana Sense to penetrate deep into the palace despite its anti-spying formations and his eyes opened wide as a look of perplexity washed over him.
There was no one there. Not a single person was inside of the palace. To his Mana Sense, not a single thing was living or even undead inside.
Kayn's look of confusion soon turned to anger as he was so close to obtaining his revenge, only to not find the one person he was looking for. He was supposed to be in this very spot! In his anger, he released the largest wave of Extinction Flames he had ever cast before directly onto the palace, erasing it and any evidence of it within minutes.
After he finished casting his flamethrower of Extinction Flames, Kayn floated in the air, panting as he had neglected conserving mana and pumped more and more into his flames as time went on. As his breathing calmed down, he sat mid-air and collected himself while recovering his mana.
Eventually, with full mana, Kayn descended toward the area where the palace once stood, looking around for any evidence as to how the emperor and his family may have escaped. Fortunately, his search brought results. Deep in what was once a dungeon area Kayn found a large tunnel that had been covered with something beforehand, something that most likely hid it from even Kayn's ridiculous senses.
Without wasting time, he jumped down into the tunnel system and began making his way through it, using the All-Seeing Eyes to spot any traps or whatever may be lying in wait. Nothing of note occurred until he found a massive door deep underground, protected by multiple layers of formations and enchantments.
The door was heavily defended as well as perfectly hidden from all but the most attuned senses, and that was only when they were right in front of it.
Kayn didn't care about the formations and directly destroyed them with Extinction Flames before exerting all of his strength and kicking the massive metal door inward, causing it to fly through the room and into the opposite wall.
As Kayn stepped inside, he froze as his eyes widened in horror, "What the fuck is this?!"