"Uh, sorry, let me begin again."
The old man seemed embarrassed while he spoke.
"Let's start with the old Imperial Family. At that time, my father was still the Emperor, and although he wasn't the most virtuous man of the universe, he wasn't a tyrant."
Traces of nostalgy could be seen on the old man.
"My big brother was born far before I was, but my father felt that he shouldn't become an Emperor. He didn't have a precise reason, just his intuition, but the intuition of a ninth level immortal can't be underestimated, so he worked hard to have a second son. You should know that for strong people, having children is far more difficult than for mortals."
Yale nodded when he heard the last words, he knew that very well.
"When I was born, my father planned to make me the successor, but the family had rules. Although if the Emperor wanted to choose a son to succeed him, the order of birth didn't matter; only those that became immortals and obtained the legacy training method from the Imperial Trials can be chosen as the Emperor. Thus, my brother was still the successor since he was the only one fulfilling the conditions. However, he wasn't happy with just being the successor until I have grown up…"
The old man clenches his fists until blood appeared on them.
"His ambitions were far too great, he always dreamed of becoming an unparalleled existence on this universe, my father's decision was correct, he wasn't someone who should become an Emperor, but he should have killed him. If he had killed my brother when he had that bad feeling about him, everything would have been different."
Yale felt that the old man was starting to lose the focus again.
"Sorry, I got emotional. The tragedy started the day I became an immortal and went to the Imperial Trials. Despite its name, it wasn't really dangerous, just some time-wasting traditions, so I went there directly after making the breakthrough. A great mistake."
Even more blood appeared on his clenched fists.
"My brother predicted it, and he knew that it was his last chance. Once I cleared the trials, I would be the official successor. Since he was born a lot of years before me, he was already a ninth level immortal at that time. Moreover, since he liked to battle, he had an important position in the army, which helped him to turn a great part of it against us."
His big brother had planned that for a lot of years, and there were enough people hungry of power on the army to make a small army of his own.
"It was a surprise attack. While I was at the Imperial Trials, my father was killed by a surprise attack of one of his own guards, who betrayed him to follow my brother. I was also assaulted by a ninth level immortal inside the Imperial Trials. However, they wanted me alive to execute me publicly while claiming that I rebelled to become the Emperor immediately and not just the successor. With my father's death before I completed the trials, my brother became the Emperor automatically, so he wanted to show his power to the others."
In fact, it was illogical to think that the old man would have killed his father before obtaining the qualifications since his brother would be the one benefited in that way, but the brother didn't care about that because if someone didn't believe him, he just needed to execute it.
"Wait. I can't believe that a ninth level immortal was killed by another ninth level immortal that easily even if it was a surprise attack."
Yale was sure that the Emperor was extremely strong, or he wouldn't be able to rule the whole universe, so it was difficult to believe that he died with just one attack.
"I had the same doubt when I heard it. After investigating about it, it seems that he obtained a certain item from a higher universe by smuggling."
After hearing that, a word popped out from Yale's mouth.
"Existence Eraser?"
He had already dealt with people with smuggled Existence Erasers twice, so he wouldn't be surprised if there was a third case.
"No, I suppose he wanted one, but there were rumors that our father survived to be erased once, and although it was just a rumor, I doubt that he dared to risk offending the Council of Gods. The thing he got was poison, one strong enough to kill a ninth level immortal if it entered into his body. The weapon that killed my father had that poison on it."
It wasn't cheap obtaining smuggled items, so it wasn't strange that he could just afford one item at that time. After all, he couldn't use the resources of the universe at will before becoming the Emperor.
"I wasn't killed, but they destroyed my chances to train more in the future and put me in jail while waiting for the execution day."
It was for that reason that the old man looked so old and was still at the same level as at that time.
"I survived because of my brother's overconfidence. He didn't expect that I had a treasure with me that would teleport me far away. It was a present from my mother before she ascended due to becoming a Minor God."
Yale and Tofesh were surprised that the mother of that old man was a Minor God because, in that case, it was strange that she hadn't descended when trouble happened, or at least, she could have done it later to avenge her husband and the rest that died.
"Probably you guessed it, but my brother and I have different mothers. His mother was from a big family in the universe, with a lot of reputation, but my mother, despite being the Empress, she didn't have any background at all. She started from nothing and became a Minor God before my father, really impressive."
The eyes of the old man showed tears at that moment.
"She was very gentle and talented, but for that reason, she left when I was still too young. The original plan was that she descended once she had a chance to do it, but she died. I don't know why, but my father confirmed it."
At that moment, Yale understood why she hadn't acted at all.
However, at the same time, his intuition was telling him something that he couldn't believe.
"Do you have any picture of your mother?"
The old man nodded, he didn't know why Yale was asking for that, but since Yale had come from another universe, it wasn't impossible that he knew something about his mother.
Once Yale saw the image, his suspicions were confirmed, no matter how unrealistic they felt.
The image of the old man's mother was identical to the Minor God that saved the Demigod that Tenir served in the past.
Yale couldn't believe it was a coincidence, he was sure that the Minor God's death was something related to the betrayal of that old man's brother.
"Do you know about her?"
The old man seemed to notice Yale's reaction when he saw the image.
"I saw a picture of her before. The previous boss of my subordinate owed her life to her, but if she is the same person I heard of, she really is dead."
Yale just told the truth. He wasn't deeply connected with that woman, so he was more concerned about if that old man's big brother was related somehow to her death than anything else.
After all, if that Emperor had contacts with people at higher universes, the situation would be trickier than expected.
"I guess that it is already great that I learned a bit about her that I didn't know. What was ai saying before this?"
The old man thought for a moment before continuing to speak.
"After escaping, I had been hiding while slowly obtaining information about the new Emperor. I knew that I would never be able to oppose him with my puny strength, but just hiding from him turned into a big problem for him, so I have been pleased with this until now."
The life of the old man after fleeing wasn't too interesting. It basically consisted of hiding while trying to create more skills to hide. After that, he spread rumors whenever he could.
Although he was found some times, he was never caught.
"The Emperor has been building strength for a lot of time. This invasion will be the first he does, but the number of ninth level immortals under him can be counted in thousands. He had been patient for a lot of time to ensure victory."
Thousands of ninth level immortals weren't something that Yale and Tofesh could beat directly. If they come in small groups, it would be possible, but facing thousands simultaneously wasn't realistic.
Of course, those high numbers came with a price. Except for the Emperor and his mother, no one else had the capability to reach godship in their lives.
The mother of the Emperor and her family helped him with his betrayal plan, so they were considered the Imperial Family, although the only real member was the Emperor.
The Emperor didn't even have kids for fear that they would betray him like he did in the past.
He was a coward that wouldn't act unless he was sure that he couldn't fail. Although he seemed brave and reckless on the outside, that was only a facade.
