Chapter 1222: Star Imperial Meister

"So, everything was calculated?" Krune sighed, not exactly pleased with such a setting.

However, his mother told him, "A Star Imperial Meister is the strongest of humanity. Only they can kill the terrifying nightmares that plague our world. At present, the only other Star Imperial Meister in the Daxia Empire is the Emperor."

"What about the other Empires?" Krune asked. "Do they have Star Imperial Meisters in their midst?"

"Maybe." His mother shrugged in response. "Such information is sensitive. Even exchanging basic information is problematic since there is a chance of information leakage. There's just too vast a distance between each Empire, not to mention the terrifying Yin Beasts and Nightmares lurking in the wilderness."

She then gently patted Krune, telling him, "Also, you don't need to act like a child before me. With the speed at which your Star Imperial Arms formed, you can definitely remember more than a century's worth of your past life."

"This is how I really am, though." Krune laughed, scratching his nose. Though, he was unable to understand just how someone was able to remember their past lives.

For him, it was different. He was just Krune and him alone. The memories of Su Zixin, Wang Hu, Shi Jiang, and Liu Heng were just those that he inherited after arriving at this realm of suffering. They weren't his actual memories from past lives.

So, he wasn't able to understand just how the current generation Emperor had become a Star Imperial Meister.

'I'll just ignore it for the time being,' Krune thought, sighing inwardly. 'Understanding deeper into the mechanics of this world is unnecessary. I only need what I need in order to kill the Demon and return to the God Realm.'

"A Star Imperial Meister has a lot of duties, especially since the Nightmares in our Empire have become rampant recently." His mother said all of a sudden, shocking him.

"But aren't there a lot of Imperial Meisters? Shouldn't they be able to deal with any Nightmares that come?" Krune asked in confusion.

"Yes, there are a lot of Imperial Meisters, but in the past, the numbers of Nightmares and Imperial Meisters have more or less been matched. But in recent times, the number has been tilted in favor of the Nightmares, especially since the appearance of the Demon in our lands," she spoke.

"The Demon..." Krune frowned.

"Until now, a Nightmare was birthed naturally from the suffering of the people and fed on them. However, the Demon precisely knows what to do to increase the suffering of the people, having been creating Nightmares everywhere," she said in worry, taking out a bracelet from her dress that she wore.

Upon activation, it condensed a large shield of ice, one whose shape resembled the Daxia Empire.

"This is...the Daxia Moon!" Liu Heng's father said in shock. "It's in your possession?"

"Yes." Liu Heng's mother, Daxia Ting, frowned. "I'm sorry that I haven't disclosed this before. But surely you understand my circumstances, right?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to implicate you." Liu Heng's father nodded. "If you don't wish to say anything, I won't pry further. I know the weight of things you have to endure."

Sighing in response, Daxia Ting looked at Krune, pointing at the shield where various bright spots began to appear, "The orange spots are Sun Imperial Meisters, the blue are Moon Imperial Meisters. And similarly, the white are Star Imperial Meisters."

Krune saw the map, looking at the various dots on it, focusing on the white dot in the capital whose size was large enough to shroud the entire capital. In response, the white represented by him was only a tenth in size.

"So, the massive dot in the Emperor?"

"Yes, the size of their dot shows the strength of an Imperial Meister." Daxia Ting nodded in response. "It's a direct representation of how much of an Imperial Arms' power they can manifest."

She then tapped the ice shield once, causing ripples to form on it before all the dots vanished, now replaced by pink, purple, grey, and black dots, saying, "The pink is represented by Yin Beasts, the purple Nightmares, the grey Demon Arms Wielders, and finally, black is represented by Demons."

"There are... three Demons in the Daxia Empire?" Krune was shocked, muttering, "How? Shouldn't there just be one that was created during the Su Family's loss?"

"So, your memories contain that incident." Daxia Ting nodded, saying, "But that was just the second Demon. The first Demon has existed since the founding of the Daxia Empire. It has been sealed in the depths of the Imperial Castle where countless generations of Star Imperial Meisters have taken charge in tightening the seal while trying their best to weaken the Demon. Unfortunately, that monstrous entity has yet to die to this day."

"As for the third Demon, it has only appeared two years ago." Daxia Ting sighed. "I have no clue as to how this was possible, but I fear it's related to the second Demon."

Even as she showed the image, the two dots depicting the second and third Demon were constantly on the move. "How...are they moving so fast?"

"They managed to obtain a flying-type Yin Beast." Daxia Ting sighed. "We have never seen such a Yin Beast to date. So, no matter how many Imperial Meisters we dispatch on their trail, we have been unable to catch them. While they are tired from the pursuit, the Imperial Meisters become susceptible to attacks from the Nightmares the Demons release."

"Then, what about the Demon Arms wielders?" Krune asked, noticing that their position has remained consistent, located in Red Coast Town. "Why haven't they been dealt with yet?"

"That's because..." Daxia Ting sighed, showing four grey dots that have been superimposed on one another, "Their positions cover the entire Red Coast Town. So, unless something happens, we have no trails to find them. Investigation is hard there, especially since Red Coast Town is located the farthest from the capital, so our influence is the least there. Even though the merchant families there are cooperating with us, there is nothing strange to investigate there."

"There's nothing strange there?" Krune frowned before saying, "Are you sure?"