5.

The news of Palthory’s sacking spread quickly, the few survivors having caught the destruction on recording devices and managing to get some camera surveillance from some buildings that weren’t outright destroyed.

The Imperial Bride title somehow managed to spread, even though no else had heard that title outside of Sovereign Addam’s room. They paced back and forth, listening to the newscaster drone on and on, the name “Imperial Bride” getting them angrier and angrier. They looked up from their pacing, staring at the screen that showed the still going fire that cursed Palthory. They smirked, seeing their form against the flames, wings wide and spotted with viscera as they poured the blood from a head into their mouth.

His Majesty was laying on a couch made up of a fabric that would keep an impoverished family feed for generations, watching the Imperial Bride pace once more. As the bus they rode in on the way to Palthory rounded a corner, he could still see the smoke rising from that paltry kingdom, even if it seemed like cigarette smoke from this distance.

“Why are you this way?” he asked, turning his attention back to them.

“I am no bride,” they answered, the venom in their voice strong enough to put down an elk.

“Then what are you then?”

The question made the Imperial’s mouth twitch. What were they? Not a human like this cocky bastard, for one. And they were never a bride, some joyously ignorant woman who was happy to trade in her own life to the whims of a man who barely tolerated her outside her sex. No, never a bride. Nor an imperial for that matter.

Before they could answer the bus slowed down. His Majesty raised an eyebrow, looking at his watch for the date.

“Well, either we drove at the speed of light or we’re being pulled over…”

He stood up, making his way to the front of the bus where a barricade of law enforcement stood. He grinned, his eyes lighting up.

“Wonderful. Simply wonderful,” he whispered, a small chuckle escaping.

“Are we being detained?” was the first thing out of his mouth as he stepped off the bus, that obnoxious smirk playing on his face.

The law enforcement drew their guns, His Majesty raising his eyebrows.

“Oh, so it’s worse than a detainment, how… Low class of you,” he said, eyeing the officer who seemed to be the captain.

“Put your hands behind your head and get on your knees!”

His Majesty howled with laughter, but he put his hands behind his head, taking a step forward. The clacking and shifting of the officers getting ready to shoot made his grin even wider. Another step.

“One more step and we will fire!”

His Majesty stopped, looking at each officer’s face, as if he was studying them.

Another step.

Bullets flew until each clip and magazine was emptied.

His Majesty fell backwards, that goofy smile still on his face. His trainee watched him fall from the stairs of the bus, eyes wide as black blood oozed from his bullet wounds.

His Majesty started to laugh, the laugh seemed to echo as if they were in a tunnel. The officers dropped their guns as he slowly sat up, wiping the blood from his mouth. The blue-grey eyes that were one of his staples for his looks turned jet black as he stood up.

“Where are you GOING?!” he roared as the officers scattered down the road or back into their cars. He cackled again, wings longer than the bus erupting from his back. He took his last step forward before lifting himself into the sky, flying past the runners and landing in front of them.

“Where… Do you think you’re GOING!?” he asked again, the black blood staining his clothes. The officers screamed in horror, falling back on their asses and pissing themselves as His Majesty flew towards them, grabbing two of the officers and flying high with their struggling bodies before dropping them, his trainee getting splashed with blood as the exploded in front of them. He swooped down again, flying through a few more, his wings slicing them in half. When all but the captain were dead, His Majesty walked up to their soiled, scared self and pulled them up by the collar.

“You dare assault the man who RULES?!” he bellowed, holding the officer higher in the air. The officer started to cry.

“Who told you?”

No answer.

His Majesty sighed, shrugged and disemboweled them by shoving a hand into their belly and tossing them aside.

With a deep breath, he wiped the dust off himself, walking back to the bus. His trainee stood outside, arms crossed.

“Well? Did you figure out what you are?” he asked, staring at them with blue-grey eyes.

“Better than you,” was their reply before heading back into the bus.