Kebo Pasate, a duke of the Sakast Empire from the Kebo great house, one of Sakast's nine original noble houses, and the father of the handsome man Zhou Heng had beheaded, slowly opened his eyes and looked at the black-clad assassin kneeling below.
"You're saying a Level 1 new-generation Blue Star player, wielding the Sakast Imperial Sword, beheaded my son with a single stroke in the marketplace? Are you certain you saw correctly-that it was the Sakast Imperial Sword and not something else?"
The black-clad assassin below did not reply, merely remaining respectfully on one knee.
"I see... It seems... that one ultimately cannot bring himself to do it, and is going to move against us... But... is it time?" With a trace of puzzlement, Kebo Pasate rose. His enormous, fat-pig body truly made him look like a pig.
"I will seek an audience with the emperor. Notify the other eight. Tell them the Sword Sacrifice is about to begin. If they don't want to die, they should all seek an audience with the emperor." With that, Kebo Pasate vanished from the spot, heading for the palace in the deepest part of Sarendona.
The moment he appeared, Naren Sakaste was sitting on the Sakast Imperial Throne, holding a young daughter and teasing her with his fingers.
"Pasate pays his respects to the King..."
"What brings you here..."
Faced with Kebo Pasate's audience, Naren Sakaste did not even raise his head. He continued playing with the daughter in his arms, making her giggle.
"My King, may I ask whether you have begun the Sword Sacrifice?"
"You... remain so... perceptive..."
Naren Sakaste stopped teasing his daughter. As he turned his gaze toward Kebo Pasate, he said quietly, "Are you so eager to go to your death?"
Under the emperor's gaze, Kebo Pasate