1 Everything Starts from the End I

A big royal room, filled with gold and embroidery.

The sunshine brightened the room where only a couple remained; of old age they were, the passage of time showcased itself relentlessly in their wrinkled skin.

"Are you really… going to be okay?" The old lady asked, her body resting on the bed, covered with royal sheets.

She panted, aware that her long-lived life is slipping off this mortal flesh, it is her time to go, yet her beloved remains.

By her side stood an old man, also dressed in royal robes, his visage was as calm as the waters regardless of the circumstances; he'd always show her his best expression.

But even he, an experienced liar, wasn't able to conceal the shiver of his old hands, and she noticed this.

"How many times… I promise dear, I'll manage, It's not like I have that much longer anyway…" He assured her, moving said shivering hand to her delicate wrinkled face and caressing it as if it would slide out of his reach at any moment.

"S-Sure? I don't know if I can trust you on this." She took said hand with care, smiling slightly and saying with slight mockery, just for the sake of leaving her beloved a fleeting memory.

"When have I ever lied to you!?" He said with utter confidence.

But all he received was the 'face'.

"Don't make me answer…"

"Sorry, I promise I'll do well." Scratching his head he assured her once again, she smiled at this gesture, moving her hand along until it found his cheeks; her last strength.

"It's been more than fifty years, and you still scratch your head like this, you truly don't change~"

"..." He only curled his lips, took her hand and allowed her to continue, small butterflies flew around the room and a sweet fragrance permeated it to make the atmosphere perfect.

"You have been resisting for our sakes, darling…" She said all of the sudden, with a solemn expression, her gaze roamed around his body, well preserved for his age.

'You have tried to stay until the end… for all our sakes, fool… you shouldn't have…' She sighed inwardly, feeling as infatuated as she felt fifty years ago, realising she didn't choose wrong back then, not like there was ever a wisp of doubt.

"It's nothing but my own selfishness, I just couldn't allow leaving any of you behind, so… rest well, you deserve it, Sandra." It wasn't a secret; he kept himself healthy and used any possible method to lengthen his lifespan.

Sandra had been the one younger than him, five years younger.

*SOB*

His words produced slightly sobs from his wife, despite the naturalness of death, she didn't want to go… only because she didn't want to leave her lover behind.

'Sisters… I can't stay…' she prayed to the heavens with an apology, feeling how her life is slipping away relentlessly at the marvelousness of the life cycle.

This action shattered whatever remained of his heart, he embraced her tightly as the sobs lost strength.

"Shh, there is no need to cry, we will be together soon. I love you, dear… I'll see you on the other side." Those were his words filled with hope; at this stage, only desiring there is indeed another side.

"…" Sandra's last action was a nod, her breath lessened in strength with every second passed, and she passed in her beloved's embrace.

The noise of cracks could be heard, like someone stepping on the floor, but Constantine didn't know if that was the noise of the floor outside whenever someone stepped or what remained of his heart being churned away.

**

**

'This hurts more than expected Sandra, I should have followed Phoebe's advice, but no… I had to be stubborn and watch all of you leave one by one.' He grits his teeth and rubbed his hurting waist.

Constantine struggled to come down his third steed, Gjallarhorn.

It had been a nice sunny trip, completely opposite to the state of his heart... it made him envious to see the people of his Empire-the one he worked so hard to establish with countless sacrifices- be all so happy around the streets the further he moved from the Imperial Castle where his family was surely crying Sandra's passing.

Surely they'd be sad to know that their lovely granny-like last Great Empress just passed away and their beloved Great Emperor follows.

...

The white horse neighed in confusion, it wasn't placed back in the barn as always, the endless field presented itself in front of it, but it didn't run away.

Rather, look at his master's back.

"You won't leave, don't you…? you don't even understand me... that's how you all are, so loyal…" sighing once again... he didn't look back.

The Great Emperor entered the 'house' a lonely villa on the outskirts of the city capital.

'It's only been a few hours and I miss you already.'

There were six sofas in this humble in size yet regal villa, six seats, five white ones with different mixes of colours and drawings, each describing a personality, then there was a black one with a golden lion carved in it.

The white ones surrounded the black seat.

He caressed every single one of them, there were tiaras in each seat and a big crown on his own, golden and filled with seven gems, each representing one of his conquests.

Moving along the house, he came to a stop in front of a table with dozens of drawings, his wives, their grandchildren, and special moments of his memories, then there was one in the middle, a much younger version of him, with his still shining silver hair, together with a lady sporting the same colours, the only difference between the two of them, was that she was way more beautiful.

Both of them smiled as if just having come out of endless tribulations.

He caressed that particular drawing.

"Mother… I think it is my time too... so many years later without you, I had good company, but they're all gone now..."

As if ageing by the second, the resistance acquired by a rigorous diet and body workout deflated like a balloon, giving way to the truth of an old man's body.

Struggling to move a boulder, he pressed something and there it was... a secret entrance.

Inside that concealed room he had to light up a small lamp... looking sideways even now to make sure there was nobody close, he entered.

There were paintings, so many of them, at least a hundred… all of them belonging to a single lady.

A naked beauty, posing in all her glorious splendour, each instance contained her happy expression, some of them she sported a bloating belly, but all of them... was the sight of a lady having reached the ecstasy of love and the pleasures of the body.

"…" He said no words, enjoying the sight of each one of them as if he were back in those days.

He caressed all of them with infatuation and perhaps, a little expectation.

...

Leaving this secret room that no one except him and the already dead architect knew of, he moved along the house to come across a pile of barrels and bottles, his personal collection, brewery from across this entire world.

There was an old note in one of those barrels.

"Don't drink too much, champ!" - Lucille.

A small sight to the note produced yet another smile as he took a few bottles and sprawled them all over the house, he even took a little more than necessary to splash it on the paintings he had just delighted on.

Constantine took a bottle of refined alcohol, he took the crown from his black sofa, threw it away like a piece of rubbish and sat to have a drink in front of the falling sun, feeling bitter.

He fell asleep there and awoke not too long afterwards, the night having overtaken the day; recalling that he had told his family to come three days later.

"Whelp, it's time to go." He said, hiccuping, with no regard whatsoever for the body he had painstakingly taken care of.

The Great Emperor threw several bottles of alcohol on top of all the paintings, he wanted to make sure... even the secret paintings and then around the house, taking only his crown and several bottles, but after regarding the crown that would surely make even wealthy lords drool, he rolled his eyes and threw it with the paintings, taking only the precious bottles and a book that was on the wooden counter.

*WHOOOSH!!*

Outside of the house, a flame livened up, burning everything to a crisp and causing a spectacle that would surely be remembered in the story of this world as the 'Dance of the Burning Lion'.

With his eyes set on the flames, he waited... aware that those following him would not dare approach so long as he was still here, they'd collect nothing but dust.

'These memories belong to me…' those words contained the overbearing possessiveness of an Emperor, one that wasn't born with a golden spoon... but crawled his way up with his own hands.

Constantine wouldn't share his precious memories with even history itself.

**

**

"I'm too old for this, Phoebe… why did I even promise such a thing, this is definitely the promise I shouldn't have signed for."

He sighed and continued to climb the mountain, the iconic Empyrean Hill of Castille and his last destination.

Eventually reaching the top of the small grass field.

He was surprised to see somebody already there, he even gasped.

"Long time-"

"Oh shit!"

Constantine pointed at the old man who deadpanned as if saying 'you never change'.

"H-Hector!" Constantine actually smiled after a period of silence, believing he had seen a ghost... in fact, the ghost of his accursed friend.

An old man sat on a comfy chair, his visage contained wisdom and he wore regal robes just like Constantine, there was a burned spot in front of him where clearly some charcoal had lighted up the night prior.

"Who else?" The old fellow mocked and leaned against the back of his chair, appreciating the sunset.

"Oh shut your mouth! Do you want to kill me with a scare!?" Jealous at Hector's chair, Constantine grieved at the fact that he didn't think that far, his hands painstakingly holding a bag of bottles.

He did think far...

"Hmph! Killing you with a scare would have been for the best, nothing better to end my emperor days than watching you perish in a pile of your own shit." Hector leaned further as if to accentuate the fact that he was the proud owner of a chair.

Constantine grunted and ended up sitting on the grass, but even then, Hector groaned when he saw something in Constantine's hand that he lacked.

"Hehe~ foolish as ever." Constantine opened his bottle of alcohol and took a sip, openly mocking his Emperor homologue for his lack of insight.

Aside from a small grunt and the other Emperor's piercing gaze, he didn't obtain anything else.

"What are you here for?" Constantine smiled lightly in response and then asked, the fact that Hector made it through the borders without being captured or slaughtered was beyond him, but not something he cared for now.

Even if there was some insider that allowed him in, that's no longer his business... but his son's.

"To kill you obviously, do you think I'd let go of our past grievances?" The old man said threateningly, his gaze fixed on those bottles, yet another reason to kill him.

"…" Constantine watched the burned spot close to where Hector sat.

"It doesn't look like it, looks more like you prepared some barbecue."

"You took too long."

"Go away, you're wasting your time here when you could be with your wife." Constantine said with jealousy, one that died the next second.

"Saline passed away two weeks ago." Hector answered, downcast with his gaze set on the skies.

"…"

"I'm sorry."

"Me too, for Sandra… and the others... Phoebe..." that last name was said with grief.

"Do you want a drink?" The Great Emperor offered, realising that this meeting surely transcends friendship, rivalry and destiny.

"I'm here to kill you!" One of Hector's teeth fell when he said that.

"Oh for God's sake! That was more than forty years ago! Look at us! We're almost senile!"

"You are senile! I'm stronger than ever!" Other teeth fell.

No one would believe Great Emperor Hector's shit.

"See? How can you utter something like that and not be senile? How are you going to kill me, make me die of laughter?" Constantine laughed but then shivered, realising that it is actually possible.

"…" Hector grit his teeth, accepting reality even if reluctantly.

"Be quiet and drink, who knows how long we have, a body can only take so much…" He passed another bottle to Hector, he had brought many, intending to spend his last moments like this.

"You're old, your 'beauty' is gone, Constantine." Hector threw the last jab that his heart contained.

"Things can't remain the same forever…" That was a reality Constantine had accepted long ago.

"No wonder Phoebe loved you more, you had way more vitality than me."

"Oh my friend, vitality I have plenty you should be aware of it, from all the bones in my body, my hips are the ones in the worst condition." Constantine rubbed his pained hips, they had too much action back in the days.

"I didn't want to know!"

"Having five wives is not easy."

"I don't care! I didn't have those issues…"

"Hmph! Don't come at me with that bullshit, you and Saline had twenty children your hips might be worse than mine, also, poor her… you sick bastard." Constantine showed a disgusted expression, even with five wives he never had them go through so many births, yet this bastard... he's merciless.

'Only with 'her' I had four children... it is not that bad...' he thought.

"W-What!?" Hector looked at Constantine with disbelief, publicly, he has only three children, the others are supposed to be secret!

"You thought I wouldn't research my nemesis?" Constantine took another sip, feeling proud of his Empire's intelligence department.

"You never did anything to them." Hector regarded him solemnly.

"You also never attacked mine." Constantine answered with equal solemness.

"It was all a big misunderstanding."

"No, it wasn't… I stole your wife and two of your fiancés~" The conqueror said proudly, taking a jab out at his rival right where it hurts!

"Fuck you!"

"Come on, we're too old to be fighting for this, drink… drink more." Constantine offered another bottle.

Hector drank several more sips in lamentation, when he was tipsy enough, Constantine spoke the last jab.

"Can I confess to you something?"

"Just say it, what can be worse than what we have already gone through, making a friend of you in that accursed academy will always be my biggest mistake."

"I thought you had a cuck fetish…"

!!!

"Fuck you! If I hadn't met Saline, right now I'd be slaughtering you even if that's the last thing I wished for!" The tipsy feeling went through the roof, taking along yet other teeth.

"..."

The two of them continued their silent party until Hector spoke again, throwing a glance from his shoulder as the moon covered the two of them.

"How are those four?"

???

"What are you talking about?" Constantine lifted up his eyebrow in confusion, already feeling rather drunk.

"Your children with Isabella..." Hector threw the bomb with a smile.

!!!

It was as if someone threw a bucket of cold water on his shoulders, his countenance went pale even, Constantine was shocked.

That was supposed to be a secret, even from his wives and children.

"Y-You..."

"Do you think I wouldn't research my nemesis?" Hector smiled, sending back the stone that was thrown at him.

"Thank you... as expected of you."

"You never hurt my children..." Hector took a sip.

"Does this make us brothers again?" The great emperor rejoiced that his last moments would be spent like this.

"Of course not! I still hate you!"

"Fair enough, but... I'm thankful everything went the way it did."

"You got five wives while I got money-hungry whores...I'd be thankful too, but I can't..."

"I don't mean that way! moreover, you got Saline afterwards so be content with your lot!"

"..." Hector cursed inwardly, still feeling the burning pain of falling in the 'coin per climax' scheme back then, a nightmare for those 'rapid-fire' ones like himself.

"I meant that we didn't engage further in warfare." Constantine came to a conclusion but it only drew a lifted eyebrow from Hector.

"You're obviously not updated... our Empires are about to start yet another war... everything because of a silly girl." Hector sighed.

"Don't tell me..." Constantine gasped.

"Yes, Brandon and Octavius are in love with the same girl, I believe her name is Seilah... she's the new saintess of the church... the three of them met in the academy, coincidence?~"

"What a foolish boy, I told him to never run after a skirt dammit, and he's married too... aish." He used this as an excuse to take yet another sip, the pains of a father.

"There is nothing we can do, it seems loops are fated to repeat."

"If it makes you feel better, Phoebe still loved you for a while after we got together..."

"I see."

"She's the one that convinced me to not go after Saline."

"You were planning on taking Saline from me too, bastard!?"

"Brother, she was hot... I don't know why it took you so long to get together with her... just because she was a bastard child? *sigh*"

"I'm killing you, right now, I'll throw you all my teeth! they're loose anyway!" Hector went along with his threat, he took a tooth and threw it at Constantine!

"Hey calm down!"

Yet another war was brewing.

**

**

The moon continued to shine, but as with all moments that are enjoyable in life, they flow away out of grasp.

"What are you going to do now?" Hector asked, struggling to stand up.

"I'm staying here..." Constantine wanted to perish here, this is a special spot.

"I see… I won't, my special spot with Saline is not here... it is in the Greenland Plains, I want to perish there." Hector confessed, aware that he also doesn't have that long.

"Then this is the last time we will see one another, my friend."

"Thank god"

"That's rude..."

...

"It was fun, Constantine." Hector said, giving his long-lasting rival a deep glare.

"Hector, I wish you will meet her again." He confessed, perhaps his own inherent hope.

"You too, take care."

That was the last farewell of two long rivals, two great emperors and two gigantic champions.

...

"Stupid, now if you're gone too, I feel worse... how long will it take before I finally perish." The bottle was finished, yet his life still shines stubbornly.

'Always so stubborn for everything...' he lamented.

For a long time, there was nothing but silence, the feeling of being watched, his subjects reluctant to allow even the most common of commodities.

Privacy.

That was until the world stopped, imperceptible at first, but Constantine eventually regarded the flying stagnant cicadas.

'W-What?' He thought the time has come.

None of his wives mentioned anything about delusions, however…

"I never expected you of all people to look like this, Great Emperor Constantine."

The voice wasn't mighty, rather it was casual… like that of a young man asking for directions.

Constantine blinked once, and by the time he opened his eyes, a man stood in the front, his attire so majestic that he couldn't even describe, as if the stars were attached to it, becoming his belongings.

Rather than show respect to the obvious god in front of him, a drowsy Constantine laughed, once, twice…

"And you are? If you know who I am, do you dare to try anything here?" He spoke with disinterest.

"What is there I, God, don't dare to do?" The man caressed his chin sagely, a characteristic the emperor didn't think twice before pointing out.

"So you're God… what do you want? take me with the cute angels already, or is it demonesses? whatever it might be, I'll take them on!" Constantine opened yet another bottle, believing he'd either pass away being taken by this god or by the headache this bottle is gonna give him.

"I didn't expect this reaction." The God groaned.

"I also expected your old beard to be longer… to think I drank so much that I'm seeing things, ridiculous, I know I have a low resistance to alcohol, but to think a single cup would get me this bad… Lucille, where are you when I need you?"

He released a melancholic shriek and decided to simply engulf the entire bottle in hopes of directly shattering this delusion, that galactic-like outfit is ridiculous anyway, resembles a clown.

"She is in her Sweet Fragrance Realm right now... listen Constantine."

*WHOOSH!*

The bottle disappeared from his hand and the old emperor opened his eyes widely like saucers.

What just happened?

"It is already time for you to die… you last more than you needed to."

"Is that so? I won't fall without I fight… I haven't reached this long for a ridiculous illusionist to kill me; one that looks like a clown... the cherry on top."

"Am I a joke to you, Emperor Constantine? You might be an emperor but I'm a God!"

"Your face is a joke to me. I'm an old man in my last moments, can't I have some time in peace?!" Constantine finally lost it, all he desired was to be left alone.

"You're senile, is this really my son-in-law?"

!!!?

The god spoke in disgust, a father needed but an excuse to openly slander his son-in-law and the emperor is delivering plenty!

Constantine was momentarily awestruck, believing he heard wrong.

"I want to finish this just as quickly as you, I'm tired of seeing your disgusting face."

"Are you really God?" Constantine mocked, believing god would be someone more formal than this useless swindler.

"Yes, I am… and I came here on request from my daughters, which happen to be your wives…! TELL ME WHY I SHOULDN'T JUST ERASE THAT DISGUSTING SOUL OF YOURS RIGHT NOW!?"

Constantine could only look at the God in front of him who for some reason was quite exalted, however, having already received this sort of reaction from many fathers, he already knew what to do.

"Quite exalted ain't ya? keep calm and let's drink, let alcohol drown your frustrations, old man." 

!!!

"You're the old one!"