Chapter 1448: I’ve Always Wanted A Brother

Of course, after what had just happened, Northern only grew more cautious, and it showed in the darker cast of his gaze.

Rigel, though, had gone stiff. He gulped once under the weight of that stare. Then gulped again.

’Who would believe me if I said he was my younger brother. He looks so scary!’

Even so, the young prince pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly, and by the time it left him his face had settled into something as still as water, deflecting all that dark scrutiny without a ripple.

"Listen. Father does that to everyone, it really is because he cares about you and—"

Northern cut right through his words.

"Do not sell me that bullshit. Not your father, none of you care, about me, what happened to me, or my mother?"

Rigel frowned.

"That’s a rather untrue statement, brother."

"Do. Not. Call me your brother."

The prince’s mouth opened, then closed again, and when he finally spoke he sounded like a man being asked to prove the sky was up.

"But you are though."

"I don’t think you were willing to believe that half a dozen minutes ago."

Rigel sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Listen, if you were put in my shoes, you would be just as skeptical as I was. All my life I have searched for my younger brother, and all my life the wildest and funniest people have come to me, claiming to be him. See, you wouldn’t actually believe this, but do you know an entire family spent a fortune changing the face of their son, and then brought him to me? They almost had me fooled, if not for Reis."

He glanced at Northern, resolved and focused.

"This is how convincing these people can be. And I had to be extra careful!"

Then the prince leaned back in his chair and let his eyes wander, and they kept snagging on the small figure standing behind Northern, the one wearing the skull mask. The child seemed ordinary enough. Still, it was difficult to forget the bloodlust that had come off it minutes ago, the kind that promised his whole body would be shredded apart before he could so much as move.

And not to talk about the damned beast of a person who had fought him and dragged him here.

’How does he have a Tyrant serving him? Where did he get all these power monsters from?’

He was confused, and he was trying to hide it. Not that Northern could not catch it slip.

Northern smiled deviously as he noticed it.

And so Prince Rigel continued, his voice dropping a little.

"I can somewhat tell... you’re an imperial."

That cockiness finally leaked out of Northern.

"Why? Because I have accomplished so much? On my own?"

Prince Rigel’s gaze turned dark.

"You have gone as far as one would expect of an Imperial Prince, the difference between you and us, is that you’re wild... it seems."

Northern chuckled. Then he laughed, and he laughed so hard and so long that Prince Rigel started shifting on his chair, hands flat on his knees, waiting for it to be over.

Then it stopped, all at once, and Northern leaned forward until there was nothing between them but a foot of stale air, looking straight into the Prince’s eyes.

"Don’t compare me with any of your people. I will singlehandedly shred apart your nation and put it together, wanna try?"

The Prince forced a smirk onto his face, and it did not sit well there.

"Hey little bro, that’s rather bold of you to say. Have you ever fought a Transcendent? No, let’s start with a Luminary? You do know we have a handful in the Empire right. If they decide to take you serious, you will be exterminated from the surface of this world."

Northern said nothing for a moment. Inside his bowels a fearsome storm of anger turned over, and his thumb dragged once, slowly, across the calluses of his palm.

The Empire really thought it was the shit. And the sad thing was, they weren’t so wrong.

Even though he had subordinates, especially if he was to depend on the generals of his Echoes, could they hold their own against Luminaries. Except for Lord and Abyss Tyrant, he wasn’t sure about the others.

But at the same time, he had Bairan and Revant.

Northern exhaled.

’What am I even worried about?’

Even though the Luminaries were not an issue, he wouldn’t deny the fact that he was super cautious of the Emperor, since he had no idea what a Transcendent was like, or what they were capable of.

But Northern threw the thought away and focused on the young Prince.

"Right now, you’re a prisoner of war, and how you will be treated will depend on how loose a mouth you decide to have."

The prince’s jaw tightened.

"Brother, do not leave my well being to these Ryugan bastards, even father will not forgive you for that."

Northern chuckled dryly.

"If I did that, that would be doing you a favor."

He stood up at last and walked out of the room, leaving his brother there with the chair and the closing door. Abyss Tyrant followed him without a sound. Lord went last, stopping at the threshold to turn that bone-white mask on the Prince for one long, petrifying beat before stepping out after them.

They all descended the passageway together, their footsteps flattening against damp stone, and soon enough they came out of the Tower into open air.

After that, Northern sent a message to the Admiral, and it was for the King to summon an emergency meeting.

Although it was vague, he had a feeling that the Emperor himself might begin to get more involved. And the thought of it made his skin crawl quite uncomfortably.

’Maybe it’s a good thing that Bairan ditched his position. I wonder, if he can go toe-to-toe with a Transcendent. I should ask him, since he has some of his memories.’

Northern thought all of that, and then he stopped thinking and brought the hammer down.

The half-shaped sword lay across the anvil with a sullen orange line still burning along its spine, and every strike threw up a fistful of sparks that died before they reached his wrist. Ring. Turn. Ring again. The heat pushed steadily against his face while he worked, hunting for the weapon that would finally fit his hand, through trial and error.

So far, there had been a great deal of error.