Arknights: The Cycle of Light and Darkness

Against threats, one must cut the grass by the roots—this is what you, Father King, personally taught me." Facing Ao Xing's questioning, Ao Jue sneered a few times: "It's true that you, Father King, strongly protected Seventh Brother... but I'm not at ease, just as you were never at ease with that good uncle of mine in Lungmen!"

"—You!"

Seemingly not expecting his rebellious son to retort him on the spot, Ao Xing's eyes widened, and his overwhelming dragon might pressed down on Ao Jue: "Insolent boy! How dare you!..."

"Of course I dare!"

Bearing his Father King's dragon might, which was like Mount Tai pressing down, his own dragon qi was almost completely suppressed by this pervasive pressure. But Ao Jue showed no fear, and instead abandoned his usual demeanor, his voice hissing: "From childhood to adulthood, you thought you gave me the best of everything, but you never gave me one thing—freedom!"

"Freedom?"

Ao Xing scoffed disdainfully: "The Emperor of Yan can have anything, except freedom! Once you choose the path of being above ten thousand, you choose loneliness and solitude. The palace is your divine throne, but also your prison! You are like this, I am like this, and every generation has been like this!"

"But I don't want to become a prisoner of power like that!"

Ao Jue also glared directly at Ao Xing and roared: "There's Victoria, there's Leithanien, why can't there be Yan?!"

"I say! Absolutely not!!"

Ao Xing finally couldn't suppress his rage, his loud roar like surging thunder: "You are treading a forbidden path that our ancestors never permitted! You will lead Yan to the abyss of despair!"

"No! I am the reformer, the pioneer!" Although his voice was not as strong as Ao Xing's, and his aura was much weaker, this was the first, and only, time Ao Jue had directly confronted his father: "I am the only way out for this stagnant Great Yan! And you! You are nothing but a coward with one foot in the coffin!"

"Shut!! Up!!!"

Ao Xing slapped Ao Jue to the ground. The latter, covering his badly swollen cheek, sneered at him: "Can't win with words, so you resort to force? Just like our ancestors a thousand years ago, never knowing change, never bothering to see the outside world—"

"—No deity can protect a nation forever. Even a true dragon will eventually fall. Great Yan needs not just a powerful monarch, but also a powerful people to support this great nation!"

"You! What do you know!" Ao Xing stepped forward, grabbed Ao Jue by the collar, and lifted him to his chest: "Only the strong are gods, and only gods lead the people—this is the promise our ancestors made when they overthrew the old gods and established new ones—it seems you've forgotten all about it."

"No! I haven't forgotten!"

Ao Jue's eyes were cold, looking at his Father King, the existence he had always revered as a god, but who now seemed like an ordinary old man before him. "So, I must become a new god! Overthrow the old dynasty and establish a new, even more prosperous dynasty's god!"

With a gnashing of teeth, the Great Yan First Prince said: "That's why I stole 'Xuanjia' from your hands, built 'Dragon Claws' to counter the 'Dragon Guards', built 'Blood Guards' to counter the 'Imperial Guards' (羽林 - Yulin), and built 'Wolf's Fang' to counter the 'War Wolves'... I want to prove that my divine throne was not granted by you, but was—stolen by me!"

"Hmph!"

Snorting angrily, Ao Xing threw Ao Jue to the ground and said disdainfully: "Do you think your subordinates could accomplish anything?"

Ao Jue remained silent, but his eyes clearly showed defiance.

"Dragon Claws were utterly wiped out by the Dragon Guards. More than 1000 Dragon Claws managed to injure only 10 Dragon Guards... that counts as a battle record, I suppose. And the Blood Guards were eliminated before they even made contact with the Imperial Guards... You picked the wrong person. Reguluss Harvey is not someone easy to deal with."

Leaning closer to Ao Jue's face, Ao Xing gave his eldest son a deep look. "As for 'Xuanjia,' do you think you were very clever? I tell you—those 500-plus people, I specifically gave them to you! I even instructed them to obey your commands until death!"

"...And you made their deaths utterly worthless."

Ao Jue bit his lip until it bled. The Yan prince said in a hoarse voice: "So, you were prepared all along?"

Ao Xing glanced at him disdainfully. "Your methods are not clever, and your secrecy is poor—do you know how many informants I placed in your Dragon Claws and Blood Guards? Do you know how many people truly supported you when you were preparing your rebellion?"

"I..."

"I even once fantasized that you could truly take the throne from me by force—that's why I acquiesced and even ordered the Xuanjia soldiers to follow you. Otherwise, do you think your fake tiger tally could truly take even half a piece of Xuanjia from me?!"

Ao Jue remained stunned for a long time, then suddenly lowered his head, his shoulders shaking.

"Hmph hmph hmph... Hehehe hahahahahahaha!"

The Great Yan First Prince began to laugh wildly, laughing until tears streamed down his face, laughing until his whole body convulsed, laughing uncontrollably. In his laughter, there was mockery, desolation, sorrow, and a touch of liberation. "There's nothing more to say—only that the victor is king, and the defeated is a bandit."

"Jue'er... turn back now, and you can still be the Great Yan's First Prince." Ao Xing looked coldly at his wildly laughing son: "Don't be so stubborn. If you want the throne, I can give it to you—but when I don't give it to you, you cannot take it!"

"Cannot take it... and couldn't even take it..."

Looking up at his father, Ao Jue suddenly stood tall, then bowed towards Ao Xing.

(I have no way back—even if I turn back, I will not be a bird in that cage...)

(So, farewell... Father King.)

When his head touched the ground for the third time—this being the most solemn and formal ritual of showing gratitude to parents in Yan—the once formidable Great Yan First Prince allowed his own dragon power to shatter his internal organs.

The son of the Dragon, fell from the nine heavens.