Chapter 10: Eighteenth Birthday (2)

~10.2~

*****

“Your Majesty, the rebel leader has breached the barrier. She’s coming! Shiori Sakaguchi is coming!” reported one of Shiro’s soldiers, having suddenly rushed in.

“What can we do?” “The rebels have all but won.” “The only forces we have left are in this city!” Panic took over the men before him, but he wasn’t worried in the slightest. He merely tapped his finger and emitted a wave of mana that silenced them.

“Do what you believe is best. If this empire is to fall, then it will fall.”

“But, Your Majesty-”

He held up his hand. “No. I expect that woman will be here shortly. I shall go wait for her in the throne room. There’s not a force on this planet that can stand up to Shiori Sakaguchi aside from myself and I don’t like my chances. The lot of you are dead if you join me. My only order at this point is to evacuate my castle, all of you included. Now go and be done with it. If I win, we shall rebuild. If not, well...” He walked away without another word. He left the room, went to sit upon his throne, and waited.

He didn’t have to wait long. The enormous stone doors to his throne room burst off their hinges and fell to the floor in a loud crash, breaking apart as they landed. On the other side stood two women, one with black hair and one with brown.

“Emperor Shiro Shikigami,” said the black-haired woman.

“Rebel Leader Shiori Sakaguchi,” he replied.

“That’s World Leader to you.” She glared at him as she approached. “The people of this planet desire freedom from your tyranny. As the representative of those people, you are hereby ordered to relinquish the throne or your life. Either way, the people will be free of you. What is your answer?”

He stood up and began walking toward her, katana in hand. “A meaningless question. I will not become your prisoner. If I must forfeit my throne, it will be by death. Shall we begin? I see no point in dragging this out with pointless prattle.”

“Very well. Shall we fight here or move to an unpopulated area? I would rather not involve civilians.”

Shiro smirked. “What’s the point of leaving? If my subjects wish for my removal, what care have I of them? No, this ends here.” Without another word, he leaped at Shiori with a dark aura bursting to life.

Shiori responded in kind, unleashed a golden aura, and met his blade with her own.

*****

“Hello?” Kye shouted. “Hey!”

Shiro snapped out of it. He had not enjoyed his brief trip to memory lane and was glad to be rid of it. “My apologies. I seem to have...”

“I see my name had as much of an impact on you as yours did me.”

Shiro nodded. “Indeed. That life was riddled with mistakes.”

“You haven’t done too well in this life, either. That attack comes to mind.”

“Yes, well... I...” He averted his eyes and sipped his tea.

Kye did the same. “So, what no good are you up to in this life? Our situations are reversed. We are royalty. You are... a terrorist, by our eyes. And you could quite possibly kill us.”

“‘Us?’” He turned his eyes to Alethea.

Alethea’s cup was full. She hadn’t taken a single sip. She was watching intently the entire time, refusing to take her eyes off Shiro for a second. “Sayaka Sakaguchi.”

“I see.” He smiled as he remembered the good times from their past life together. The two of them had worked under him when he became the emperor. It was only later, after the rebellion started, that they opposed him. “It seems I have made a mistake.”

Kye’s glare gave him no room to weasel out of an explanation. “Go on.”

“The day the two of you were born into this world, you were kidnapped, if only briefly.” Kye and Alethea were apprehensive about the topic. Kye had been taken in a pot and developed an irrational... not quite fear, but she was never comfortable around pots after that. “I arranged that. It was particularly difficult to arrange the abduction of a royal, but I didn’t expect to gain neither of you.”

It took everything she had not to react, but Kye somehow managed to hold herself back. However, Alethea had a different reaction. While Kye held back anger, Alethea was having trouble hiding the shock and fear in her eyes. Kye reached over and took her hand to reassure her.

“I knew well before you were born that you were reincarnations, but not in my wildest dreams did I imagine you would be Shiori and Sayaka.” He stood up, stepped away from his seat and table where there was enough space on the floor, and prostrated. “I offer my sincerest apologies.”

His apology came as a bigger shock for Alethea and even shocked Kye. Neither expected the tyrant of a man they knew before to make such an apology. Kye got over her shock quickly and narrowed her eyes. What’s he up to?

“Will you accept?”

“You ask for our forgiveness only after discovering who we are. You should have asked before with no regard to our true identities. Did your time in Eden do nothing for you?”

Shiro looked up, not sure how to respond, and quietly returned to his seat.

“No, I don’t believe you desire our forgiveness. Do you have no sense of time? The world we shared was eons ago. You arranged for our kidnappings, despite spending so much time in Eden, yet you asked for our forgiveness? We have lived and died millions of times since that world. Do you think we don’t have the life experience to see through this farce? You would have had a much easier time convincing Shiori Sakaguchi than Kye Akari, but even then it would not have been easy.”

“I suppose you’re right.” He stood up and walked to the door. “I believe it is best to end our discussion here. However, allow me to leave you with a parting gift.” He noticed they had immediately tensed up. “Information, nothing more. As fellow reincarnations, I intended to save you from your false families. My methods may not be considered just, but I assure you I am not the same man I was as the tyrant. You are under the protection of Allison Barrett, Astarte Atlantis, and a few other elder royals, correct? You may want to ask them about the system.” He opened the door, revealing not the hallway, but a world of purple land and sea. Before walking through, he released a small amount of white mana, enough to coat his body. “They know more about this power than they let on. You claim to have significant life experience. Use it. We shall meet again.” He abruptly closed the door.

Kye checked the door after he closed it, but it led back to the hallway, rather than the strange purple world. She closed the door and looked back at Alethea, who said, “I think our mission is a lot bigger than we thought.”

“There’s one thing I’m certain of,” Kye said. “He doesn’t know our true identities.”

*****

Revision: 1-1-2024