"Your Majesty, with all due respect, giving up the Catalina Islands would be the end of My Empire. We would be struggling to make ends. The food prices are going to rise and millions of people are going to starve to death. Giving up the Catalina Islands isn't an option for me and for my people." The Methia Empire Jonathan sounded really righteous.
"Don't pretend as if you care about your people. If you really cared for your people, then you wouldn't have increased the tax rate in your Empire. You have been squeezing money from the common class people. If you lower the tax rate, then your people would be able to afford food and other commodities."
Hearing this Jonathan's face turned ugly. Whatever Aditya said just now was very true. In the whole continent, his Empire had the highest tax rate. Every year millions of people were sold as slaves due to high taxes.
"An....Anyway, I am not giving up the Catalina Islands." Jonathan also refused to give up his territory just like Lucas.
Aditya's coldly looked at Jonathan for a moment. The cold stare was making Jonathan feel uneasy. He felt nervous and frightened. After all, the man in front of him had defeated the strongest 5th-order cultivator. If this man wanted, he could end their lives within a few seconds and no one would be able to stop him.
"Spencer, continue reading."
『4. The Oracle Alliance shall give 12 billion gold coins as compensation to the Istarin Empire and its allies. Each Alliance member will have to pay 2 billion gold coins as compensation. The 12 billion gold can be paid in cash or in the form of assets. The money has to be paid within one week.』
Hearing this, all the other Emperors looked at Lucas. This meant that each Empire would have to pay 2 billion gold coins. Only the Echo Nexus Empire and the Mystic Spring Empire were rich enough to have billions of gold coins in cash. As for others, they didn't have that much money in cash. And if they wanted to raise this money, they would have to sell a lot of their valuable assets.
"12 billion gold coins? Are you out of your mind? There is no way we can pay this much money within a week."
"Hehe!" Everyone turned their eyes at Alicia who had remained silent up to this moment.
"Aric Darkwood, if I remember correctly, then recently you spend 100,000,000 gold coins building a gold statue of yourself that is over 70 meters tall height And you also have secretly bought 200,000,000 worth of gold from the Echo Nexus Empire to build multiple gold statues of yourselves and your wife."
Apart from Aditya, no one really has seen the Guild Leader of the ?????????????? ???? ????????????????. Alicia went to meet Aditya because she was somewhat curious about her finance, who had suddenly changed. Alicia sent her subordinates to meet the Emperors or Kings of each empire or Kingdom to discuss the conditions to open her guild's branch in their territories.
"This isn't true." Aric immediately refused. Aric Darkwood was the Emperor of the Queenstown Empire. The Queenstown Empire is thought to be the poorest member of the Alliance. But it turned out, Aric has been hiding his wealth.
Hearing Alicia's words, others looked at Lucas and Aric in a mix of shock and surprise. "Your Majesty, is that true?" Reese Gilliam, who is the number one bootlicker of Lucas asked in a shocked tone.
"Yes, it's true." Since the matter was out, there was no reason to hide it.
"But you said that in order to build that statue you had to take a big debt. You said something about fulfilling your dreams." Jonathan who was the Emperor of the Methia Empire asked. Jonathan considered Aric as a friend. Both of them often talked and spent time together.
Aric did not reply. He instead lowered his head and kept quiet.
"That's not all, Last year, your Empire earned a whopping 700,000,000 million gold coins in profits just by selling Starfire Berries." Alicia smirked under her veil.
"Aric is that true?" This time Lucas looked very shocked and shaken by this fact.
Starfire Berries are a special type of Magic fruit that only grows in the Vastmanna Islands which are under the control of Aric. The Starfire Berries are small, luminescent fruit that glows with a soft, celestial light. When consumed, it grants temporarily enhanced agility and night vision and also temporarily increases the cultivation speed of the cultivator.
The Starfire berries are highly valuable due to their demand. Almost every Empire wants Starfire berries. It takes an entire year for Starfire berries to ripen. Given the benefits of the Starfire berries, Lucas made a rule for Aric. Aric would have to sell all of the Starfire berries to the members of the Oracle Alliance at a cheaper price.
But Last year, Aric told everyone that due to a lack of rain, there has been a decrease in the production of Starfire berries. Lucas trusted Aric and didn't really look into this matter. Aric used this chance to sell large amounts of Starfire berries outside and make a lot of profits.
"Your Majesty, this isn't true at all. This bitch is telling lies. This bitch shouldn't be here. This bi......????????!!
Lucas only saw a blur when the next second, Aric who had been sitting on his left was sent flying.
????????.....!!!!
Everyone saw Aditya standing. Aric was nowhere to be seen. Looking back, they all saw a large hole in the walls.
Outside, the Ice Elves who were around the house were shocked to find the Queenstown Emperor lying in the snow 100 meters away. His face was completely disfigured. His nose was broken and bleeding. Several of his teeth were also broken. Aditya's punch had also cracked his skull. His whole face was covered in blood.
He was grunting like an animal that was about to die.
"Istarin Emperor, why did you do that?" Lucas stood up, looking completely angry.
However, Aditya did not back down. "How dare that bastard disrespect my wife?" Fierce Crimson lightning flickered around Aditya's body. His eyes turned red. His pupils turned into a vertical slit. Red Scales began to grow over his skin. Aditya was slowly transforming into his Dragon form.
Seeing all this, other Emperors slowly back down in fear. Even Alicia was stunned seeing Aditya's anger. But deep down, she really felt warm.
『???????? ????. ?? ??????'?? ???????? ???????? ?????????? ???????? ?????????? ???????????? ??????????????. ?? ???????? ??????. ?? ???? ?????????? ???? ?????????? ?????? ?????? ???? ?????????? ?????? ?????????????? ???????? ??????????????.』
『?? ???? ?????? ???????????? ??????????????』
『?? ???? ?????? ???????? ???? ?????? ??????????????』
『???? ?????? ?????????????????????? ???????? ??????????????'?? ????????.』
Hearing this Lucas instantly began to regret his outburst. The look in Aditya's eyes told him that he and his allies were screwed. Even though he and his allies bought their strongest men with them, even if all of them joined hands to fight this monster, then also no one would be able to stop him.
'If things have come to this, then I have no choice but to use it.' Things had come to the point where only one party could live. And another party had to die.
"Istarin Emperor, you leave me with no choice." A dark Aura surrounded Lucas. The Aura was very cold and sinister. Lucas's eyes turned black. His skin color turned black. The Mana in his body began to change its nature.
Ahhh........!!!!
Lucas suddenly let out a loud painful scream. It was as if he was in great pain. No one could explain what was going on.
Even Aditya felt a big threat from this man. "Get out of here," Aditya told his allies to leave.
"Too late." Aditya widened his eyes seeing Lucas turning into a completely different man. Two black horns had grown on his head. He had bat-like wings. His skin had turned completely black. At the same time, Aditya felt Lucas's Aura was rapidly getting stronger.
"I hope you liked my gift." Aditya saw a black energy orb in front of him. Seeing this, Aditya knew that something very bad was going to happen.
Alicia suddenly found herself hugged by Aditya. She also noticed a transparent layer of skin was covered her entire body. Aditya was focusing entirely on protecting Alicia. Before she could understand what was going on, a huge explosion took place.
??????????????????????????!!!!!!!!
A huge explosion took shook the core of the island. Even the neighboring islands heard the sound of the explosion. The whole of Blackburn village was shaken by this explosion. The shockwave of the explosion destroyed all of the houses and seriously injured many ice elves. Some unfortunate, Ice-Elves had died along with some soldiers that Aditya and others bought with them. It was because the soldiers were very close to the house.
Ah......!
Alicia felt her whole body was in pain. But fortunately, no bones in her body were broken. Other than some minor burns, she was completely fine. But Aditya wasn't fine at all.
Opening her eyes, the first thing that she saw was his relieved face. "Fortunately, you're alright." He said in a tired voice. He then closed his eyes and buried his face in her bosom.
However, seeing him like this, Alicia panicked. Her hands felt something wet. She widened her eyes in shock seeing his blood in her hands. His back was severely injured. The explosion had burned his skin and exposed his flesh.
Aditya focused entirely on saving Alicia. With so little time on his hand, the first thing that he prioritized was saving the woman who had loved.
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