<h4>Volume 2, Chapter 8 : Difficult Decisions</h4>
“Papa?” Baolilong opened its eyes and did not understand why Li was looking at the silver mask in a daze.
Li awoke from his thoughts, and at the same time he realized there was someone nearby, so he instantly put the mask back on. Li med himself for being not vignt enough.
“You don’t have to cover your face, it’s me.” Blood Wolf jumped out from behind a tree whileughing
Li didn’t know how to respond to a Knight who keptughing and joking, and didn’t have any chivalry. So he did what he do best: stood there with an expressionless face, while waiting for the other person to strike up a conversation.
“So? Have you decided?” Blood Wolf asked curiously.
Li was confused for a moment and asked: “What decision?”
Blood Wolf opened his mouth and said in disbelief: “The decision of whether you want to be a Prince in the Dragon Empire… Hey, it’s a rather big deal, don’t tell me you forgot about it?”
He really did forget… Li thought for a moment and remembered; when Barbalis was telling him about Anise’s real identity, he did mention something about being a Prince. It was another problem to which Li didn’t know how to react, so he simply said: “Let me think about it some more.”
“What’s there to think about?” Blood Wolf said: “To an Assassin who doesn’t want to kill, staying in the pce as a Prince would be a dream thates true. All you have to do is learn the etiquette of the court, no one will force you to kill, so you can live there peacefully.”
Li frowned and answered: “It goes against my wishes.”
“Then what’s your wish?” Blood Wolf asked curiously.
“To be a healer.”
Blood Wolf was silent for a moment, then blurted out: “Is that your wish? Or is it Princess Anise’s?”
“It’s Anise’s, but I will fulfill her wishes.” Li answered without hesitation.
“Oh? Do you really think if you fulfill her wish, she would be happy? Don’t you think she wanted to save you and not be a copy of her?”
Li remained quiet. He didn’tpletely understand what Blood Wolf said.
Without getting any response from Li, Blood Wolf sighed:
“You know, Li, you’ve been an Assassin who obeyed orders for twenty years. Your biggest problem is not having thoughts of your own.”
Blood Wolf walked up to Li, and patted his shoulder: “Think about it. What’s important here is what you want to do, not what Anise would do.”
Li hesitated. He began wondering if his thoughts were better than what Anise might have nned. As he was thinking, he reached the dorms unknowingly, and at the door, he saw Kaiser and the others waiting for him. Kaiser’s face was filled with discontent.
“Li-dage, you’re finally back. Let’s go eat.” Purity smiled in relief, and grabbed Kaiser, who had already beenining about his hunger, taking him to his favorite hot pot restaurant.
Having finally eaten, Kaiser finally eased the tension on his face. As he munched on dessert, he looked at Li, who was feeding Baolilong.
“You really love disappearingtely!” Kaiser flung his finger in disdain. Seeing Li wasn’t going to answer him, Kaiser exploded. He ced both his hands on the Assassin’s shoulder and said:
“Exin everything to me now! When the hell did you be Lancelot’s apprentice?”
‘Here we go’, Li thought, exining to Kaiser and the others what had happened.
When he said he was considering whether he should be a Prince, the other three’s jaws almost fell into the hotpot, being cooked as human jaws.
“Dammit! You and I are in different worlds!” Kaiser yelled: “I’m still wondering what I should eat for my next meal, you’re actually considering about whether you’ll be a Prince?!”
‘You and I ARE from different worlds…’ Li thought to himself.
“So is Li-dage going to be a Prince?” Purity asked hesitantly.
‘This question again.’ Li remained silent. He waspletely clueless as to what he should do. Out of habit, Li raised his head and asked Kaiser: “Kaiser, what should I do?”
Kaiser snapped: “How would I know. I’m not the one bing a Prince.”
Seeing that Kaiser refused to answer, Li’s face sank. Purity felt bad, so she said to Kaiser: “Kaiser, I will get a te of Kobe beef, why don’t you exin things to Li-dage?”
[T/N: Kobe beef is a rare style of Japanese meat. It is sold for about $180 USD per kilogram in Japan. In the United States, One Kobe beef burger cost around $40.]
‘Kobe beef…’ rays of light came out of Kaiser’s eyes. He suddenly adapted professional attitude and started to analyze the situation:
“You have two choices. First choice, you be a Prince and live peacefully, not to mention you’ll never have to worry about food. Second, you stay in the Academy, living in a world where tomorrow may note, and you don’t know when Barbalis would expel you.”
“I know.” This was why Li was frustrated. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed he was better off being a Prince than staying here. However, Li remained hesitant, and his biggest problem was not knowing why he was hesitating. But he can never ignore his hesitation and immediately be a Prince.
“Besides, during the past few adventures, our luck has been damn amazing. Coming back alive from those journey should be listed under the ten wonders of the world.” As Kaiser finished, he suddenly raised his head and asked Li without thinking:
“If you didn’t have to keep your promise to not kill, would you have beaten Miluo?”
Li hesitated, and answered: “I could have killed him.” An Assassin never defeats his opponents, he just kills them.
“But you didn’t. If it weren’t for Purity and me using our unmastered magic, we would have all died in Miluo’s hands.” Kaiser said coldly.
Hearing these mes, Li yelled quietly: “I can’t kill.”
Kaiser suddenly stood up, and yelled angrily:
“In this world, if you don’t kill, then you’re waiting to be killed! If you want to die, it’s none of my business, but if one day you have to kill to save us, what would you do? If you do what you didst time when you faced Miluo, who was absurdly powerful, then you better effing be a Prince. Stay in your dark pce, because there will be more than enough Knights to protect you!”
Purity and Meinan’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets. They couldn’t believe Kaiser would talk in such a manner especially when he was talking to the best Assassin.
Baolilong was chewing on a piece of meat and looked confusedly at confrontation between Kaiser and Li.
Li looked at the angry Kaiser, and his heart had finally decided the ce he should go — the dark pce…
Only in such a ce, Li could keep his promise with Anise. It was also a ce where Li wouldn’t have friends giving up their lives in order for him to keep his promise. Li sighed and said with calm resolve: “I understand. I will leave.”
“Li-dage!” Purity’s widened with disbelief. She could ept Li’s decision and leave the Academy just like that.
However, before she was able to stop him, Meinan grabbed her to prevent her from saying anything. Meinan shook his head to express to Purity that she should not interfere.
Kaiser continued: “If you can’t judge right from wrong, then you’re better off hiding inside the pce.”
Li stood up, and without saying anything else, he walked out of the room. He thought it was about time for him to find Blood Wolf, follow him back to Dragon Continent, and grow old living inside a pce.
* * *
While being held back by Meinan, and not having a chance to stop Li, Purity exploded. Her hands were clenched into a tight fist and yelled at Kaiser: “Kaiser, did you know what you just did? Li-dage will really leave for the Dragon Continent and you won’t be able to see him ever again!”
Kaiser lowered his head and chewed on the beef, and mumbled: “It’s not so bad to be a Prince!”
Purity was so angry that she used her hand to pull out the Kobe beef that was halfway inside Kaiser’s mouth. A fight for the beef soon ensued. Meinan watched from the sidelines and sighed: “Kaiser, your way of caring for someone is rather unbearable.”
Li walked out of the restaurant. He felt depressed and empty.
Kaiser’s usations felt like a twisting de through his heart. If he caused three deaths because he didn’t want to kill, wouldn’t it be the same as killing?
Li as getting more and more confused, and his steps got faster and faster. He wasn’t heading towards the principal’s office, but instead in all sorts of random directions. Even Li didn’t know where his destination was…
“Papa!” Behind him, Baolilong was continuously running, but it still wasn’t able catch up to Li. Baolilong was worried that papa would disappear, so he yelled loudly. However, being in a terrible and confused mood, Li ears had blocked all sounds. No matter how many tears Baolilong cried or how loud it yelled, Baolilong saw that papa was getting further and further away.
Suddenly, a shadow grabbed Baolilong, and took huge steps towards Li. When they reached Li, the person tapped Li’s shoulder. Li suddenly turned his head.
“Blood Wolf?”
* * *
“Ahhh!” Purity screamed explosively on the headboard of Kaiser’s bed. Even Kaiser’s specially-made thick pillow was no match for Purity’s scream. Two hundred decibels of terrifying voice reached Kaiser’s ears.
The biochemical noise weapon, Purity vs. Kaiser’s unbeatable sleepiness. The former seemed to be winning…
“What the hell do you want?” Kaiser couldn’t take it anymore. He got out from under his pillow and startedining.
With tears in her eyes, Purity grieved: “L-Li-dage has already been gone for three days. Is he really noting back?”
Kaiser turned, and pretended he didn’t care:
“He went to enjoy his life as a Prince in the Dragon Empire. Why the hell would hee back to the peasants he only spent a few months with? He didn’t even say goodbye before he left! Hmph!”
‘Looks like Kaiser was also unhappy that Li left without a word…’ Purity and Meinan concluded.
“For Li to leave on the same day you had the confrontation… He was probably hurt by your words.” Meinan sighed.
Kaiser’s body twitched a little on his bed: “I was just telling the truth.”
“No matter what, you should go ask the principal. Perhaps Li is still on campus, and he just doesn’t want to see us.” Tofort the irritable Purity, Meinan quickly suggested with a smile.
Who knew that as soon they spoke of the devil, he arrived. The principal kicked open the door, and then rushed in. He immediately asked Purity: “Where is Li?”
All three of them were confused: “Didn’t Blood Wolf bring Li to Dragon Continent?”
Barbalis was stunned. He had been frustrated for three days because he couldn’t find Li. Since something happened in the Dragon Empire, Blood Wolf had rushed back to the Dragon Continent, so Barbalis came to find the trio who were closest to Li, but he couldn’t believe that these three would say that Blood Wolf had taken Li.
Barbalis scratched his head in confusion: “Blood Wolf didn’t take him. Both he and I haven’t seen Li in thest three days.”
Kaiser and the others widened their eyes. ‘Where the hell was Li?’
Purity’s face turned pale: “C-could it be that Li-dage got really angry at Kaiser? Could he have done something stupid…?”
Kaiser snapped back: “You’re thinking far too much! If an Assassin would kill himself just because I yelled at him, I would make a hell of a living from this special ability. Besides, Li still has to follow his promise not to kill. Suicide the same as killing!”
“Could Li have run away from home?” Meinan suggested with hesitation. But as soon as he did, 3 pairs of eyes stared at him. He then lowered his head in shame.
Barbalis frowned and murmured: “Could Miluo put his n on motion this quickly?”
“What did you say about Miluo?” Kaiser rushed up, and grabbed Barbalis by the cor. Even Barbalis wanted to run away from the crazy look in Kaiser’s eyes.
Barbalis sighed:
“I guess it’s fine to tell you. Miluo had ran away from the Dragon Empire. From what the Emperor told me, it seems Miluo had teamed up with an underground group, and nned on turning the Empire inside out.”
Kaiser and Meinan took a deep breath. Purity asked: “This doesn’t have anything to do with Li-dage, does it?”
“Of course there is!” Kaiser yelled loudly: “There are two things Li has that are important to both sides!”
“Dragon cross ne!” Barbalis said with a frown.
“Sacred White Dragon!” Meinan added.
Purity understood now, and she covered her mouth with both of her hands in fear.
Kaiser paced around the room, as he tried to collect himself:
“Li is really strong, and he was close to the Emperor’s daughter. Unfortunately he is also the master of Miluo’s child. Now both sides probably want Li on their side. No wonder the Emperor would request that Li to be a Prince. Li was practically a gosu who fell out of the sky.”
Kaiser suddenly stopped. He looked at Barbalis and asked sharply: “Old geezer, you said Miluo had already acted, what did you mean? Do you already know Miluo’s n regarding Li?”
Barbalis replied seriously: “As you’ve said, Li would be a huge advantage to both sides. We’ve guessed Miluo might do something to Li soon. Either bring him to his side or… kill him!”
“Li has been missing for three days.” Meinan tried to remind everyone of the seriousness of the issue.
Purity couldn’t help but scream, while Kaiser paced back and forth while pulling his hair.
Tuning his brain gear to the highest, Kaiser attempted to make sense of the situation. He finally yelled:
“Not possible! It’s impossible for Miluo took him, at least it wasn’t Miluo who did it!”
“Why?” The other three asked.
“It’s not easy to take Li by force. There would have been be a huge battle at the very least before Miluo can capture Li. But there hasn’t been any battles around the Academy.”
Kaiser bit on his finger: “Who could possibly take away Li without making a fuss?”
“A Sorcerer!” Meinan brushed his hair confidently, and said the conclusion what he deeply believed:
“By using the unfamiliar Sorcerer spells, could someone take such a powerful Assassin.”
“Who cares! Let’s find Li-dage and bring him back!” As soon as Purity thought of the horrors Li being in the hands of Miluo, she immediately bawled. Who knew how much Miluo would torture Li?
Barbalis hesitated, and stuttered: “I do have a way…”
“Then tell us!” Three of them yelled together.
“We could use the senses between dragons.” Barbalis shrunk his body, and said timidly: “But there are only three Dragon Knights in the Academy… And the closer the Dragon Knight’s rank to Li’s, the better. Which means…”
“Daylight!” Kaiser and the others yelled in unison.
After Kaiser yelled, he pulled his hair again: “Damn, we just finished messing with the Knights. Li even defeated Daylight. How the hell are we going to get him to help us?”
“Purity must save Li-dage! Even if I have to threaten Daylight by sending the whole Academy into a dark hole, I’ll do it!” A chilling expression floated on Purity’s face, which made the others shiver. The words “Human Weapon” emerged in their heads…
* * *
Li was deep in his self-me and regret. Because of his negligence, he had fallen into a terrible predicament. This made Baolilong hungry, and it could do nothing but lie sobbing in Li’s arms.
That day, Li ran into Blood Wolf. Without thinking he gave Blood Wolf his answer — to be a Prince in the Dragon Empire.
Blood Wolf smiled and asked Li to follow him. Li followed him to a small field in An, and five or six other people suddenly appeared. These weren’t enough to worry Li worry, so he quietly waited for Blood Wolf’s exnation.
Blood Wolf gave Baolilong, who had fallen asleep, to another person.
“These are Sorcerers. They can transport us directly to Dragon Continent.” Blood Wolfughed, and he beckoned Li:
“Let’s go, we can now go to the Dragon Continent. There you can livefortably and without any worry as a Prince.”
Li hesitated. He didn’t think he would be leaving immediately. He said: “I need to say goodbye to Kaiser and the others.”
“What good bye, you will be the royal Dragon Empire Prince soon. The Emperor wouldn’t be happy if you’re friends with such lowly peasants.” Blood Wolf seemed a bit hurried.
Upon hearing Blood Wolf’s disagreement, Li’s eyes turned cold. And with an even colder tone, he asked: “Who are you?”
Li nced at Baolilong, and he tried to use telepathy to call him, but there was no response. Li frowned.
Blood Wolf was stunned: “Me? I’m Blood Wolf, the Dark Knight Blood Wolf.”
“No matter who you are, you’re not the Blood Wolf I know.” Li narrowed his eyes. That easygoing Blood Wolf would never say something like ‘lowly peasants’.
Blood Wolf’s expression changed, stomped his foot and yelled: “Binding Symbol activate!”
A magic circle suddenly appeared on the ground, and it was covered in indecipherable runes.
Li’s outline quickly shed towards the impostor Blood Wolf, but before he reached him, a transparent wall separated them.
If Li used Broken Silver and forced his way out, he wouldn’t be trapped. However, as a result, the impostor on the other side of the wall would end up being pierced by Broken Silver. Because of this reason, Li hesitated, and it gave a chance for the impostor to yell for backup:
“H-hurry, use Illusion of Paradise!”
The other five immediately started an incantation. The spell made Li, who was standing in the circle, feel weight on his eyelids, and his body started to be uncontroble.
Li used the Assassin’s Strong Will, and forcefully rammed the unguarded part of the circle.
With one hit, the wall started shaking violently, and cracked slightly. Though it was quickly repaired with magic, the six of them who maintained the symbol were in a state of shock. The impostor yelled again: “Use Lightning spells to hit him.”
“It will kill him!” One of them hesitated.
Li stood still and attacked with what seemed like an infinite amount of hits.
When they couldn’t repair the wall fast enough, the crack became bigger and bigger. The six of them no longer hesitated, three bolts of lightning headed towards Li. But unexpectedly, Li easily sidestepped it, and Broken Silver continued to erge the crack.
The impostor trembled with fear. Without any hesitation, and without any time to ask others for help, he chanted a spell: “Element of fire, obey me… Fire Bomb!”
Li suddenly feel a heat wave behind him. He turned around, only to see a fireball shrinking, and then finally exploded. The magic circle where he was trapped was in range of the explosion, so Li had no ce to run. He could only use his back to take this attack.
The six of them looked at the explosion nervously. If this person dies, they would be in big trouble. After the smoke cleared, the impostor yelled: “H-He’s still awake.”
That’s right, Li’s silver eyes were looking at them coldly. With another charge, Li broke a foot-wide hole in the wall, and the impostor, who was closest to the hole, received a jab on his shoulders. He yelled in pain, then screamed: “Beat him up, or we will all die here!”
Without thinking, they all unleashed their most powerful attack into the magic circle. In a sh, Li’s body was submerged under the colorful lights from the spells. Terrifying bolts of thunder, huge boulders dropped, and invisible wind des…
“Damn, he’s going to die.” The impostor pressed down onto his shoulder, which was continuously bleeding, and cried out. He didn’t expect them all to attack at once, or use their strongest spells.
Under the ferocity of these spells, even the wall couldn’t handle it, and it fell into pieces. And the ground on which the magic circle was, became a huge crater.
When the smoke cleared, the impostor kept feeling uneasy. Although he thought it would be impossible for Li to stay alive. And even if he was, there was no way he’d be able to move…
Right before the impostor’s face, appeared a pair of ruthless silver eyes. A line of silver light passed by him, and a stream of blood oozed out the impostor’s chest.
However, the ruthless killer was not satisfied. He suddenly appeared before his next target, and frightened him to the point where he fell on his knees. Nevertheless, before he even any felt pain, his stomach was sliced open.
The Assassin found another his next target, but before his Broken Silver could chop the target’s hands off, it was stopped. Countless vines held the Assassin tightly, and he was no long able to move.
The Magician who almost peed in his pants, mustered all his encourage and yelled: “Bind!”
The strong vines tightened around the Assassin. After the sounds of cracking bones filled the air, the Assassin, whose body was covered with injuries, finally spat out blood like a fountain, and fell unconscious.
The Magician who casted the binding spell didn’t dare to get any closer.
He immediately casted dozens of the strongest vines, then sighed in relief. However, he wasn’t brave enough to check whether the Assassin was dead.
The impostor, whose body was oozing blood like a fountain, finally received healing from his aplice, and then said weakly:
“Three rank-A and two rank-B Magicians, trying to catch a single person. We even used deceit. Still, we ended up with two seriously injured… No wonder, master Miluo valued him greatly.”
* * *
When Li woke up, he realized he was hanging in the air. Ayer of thick steel chains locked him in ce. In addition to the chains, he was also locked inside a steel cage.
Even though Li felt extremely weak, he was still able to sense the unusual energy continuously flowing through the cage. Touching it was definitely out of the question.
Without needing to examine himself, Li already knew he was in a horrible state. A sharp pain began to manifest from his body.